April 6, 2003

Grandma (Alma Louise Gebauer James) related stories from when she was a child in Germany.

One day, she was playing with the rings that hold curtains on rods, and put one on her finger. She got it stuck and could not get it off. Her father ended up sawing the ring off her finger.

Another time, she was upstairs and stuck her head through the rails of the bannister and got her head stuck. Her father had to cut the rails to get her head out.

Often, she would be playing with her friends and would be the last one home. Sometimes she would suddenly notice that all the other children had disappeared, and she would be late getting home. This got her into trouble so her father would tell her she was a bad child. One of those times, she got in trouble and her father stuck her in the cellar for a while. She remembered that her father never hit her, but was strict about punishing her. She felt that she needed that guidance in her life at that time.

She used to keep her hair in two braids. One day she decided to cut them off. She got into bad trouble.

She recalled being able to wander around town and didn't have to worry about being unsafe. She often played in the streets, but once automobiles started showing up, they had to be a little more careful. One time she wasn't paying attention and ran into a moving car, but didn't get hurt seriously.

She grew up without electricity and telephones, but at some point, they had electricity brought to her home. They had an outhouse in the back and no plumbing when she was young, but they did get plumbing later, but only cold water. Water had to be warmed on the coal/wood stove.

Children played together a lot because there were no TVs or radios in homes. She used to like sledding with the children on the streets. One day, she accidentally caught her coat on a nail or something on the sled and ripped it. She was afraid to go home and get into trouble. She decided to cut her coat short (it was a long coat) and when her mother saw it, she said it looked nice as a short coat. She was surprised that she didn't get into trouble.

She recalled that in school, they would open and close each day with a prayer (she made a comment that it was during the war, and that's what those "bad" Germans did -- Grandma is quite sensitive about how many Americans felt about Germans at that time). They had a religion class for an hour a day. They had separate school and church graduations. She wore colorful clothes for school and dark blue or black clothes for church. Every year, her class would have a party. One day her class was having pictures taken and the Communists threw rocks at them. The Communists were growing at that time. She was surprised to find out that the professor's son was at the head of the Communists in her town.

In school, the girls learned to sew and take care of babies. The boys would learn a trade and serve in an apprenticeship for three years with very little pay.

Several sad things happened in her childhood. When she was 6 or 7, her mother died. Grandma remembers her mother having a goiter on her neck that was removed by surgery. She died at the hospital. My father asked people back in Schlotheim and they said she died of TB. Grandma doesn't seem to agree.

She adored her grandparents. One day, she came home from school early because she couldn't seem to stay still in class. Her grandmother took her right back to school. She couldn't believe that her grandmother, whom she greatly adored, would do such a cruel thing to her. She remembers being very sad when she lost her grandparents.

It was also very sad to lose her little sister.

-- written by Kenny James