Wordless Wednesday: A Stringer Full

My Confirmation Class from 1962

You never know what you might find when you start cleaning up your office! When I was organized paperwork in my office yesterday, I came across this photo of the Confirmation Class of which my brother and I were members. It was taken at Trinity Lutheran Church, Great Bend, Kansas in May, 1962. Since these were the classmates I'd gone to school and church with for ten years, I'm still able to recall the name of everyone in the photo. Here goes:

Back row left to right: Marsha Brack, Larry Hanken, Alice Hackerott, Vernon Dunekack, Rev. Arlen J. Bruns, Wilena Wyrick, Lloyd Willard, Judy Helmke, Dennis Margheim.

Middle row, left to right: Larry Fry, Roger Bailey, Jennifer Kruckenberg, Judy Kayartz, Becky Margheim (me), Kathy Rosencrantz, Rita Niedens, Gary Ehler, Mike Stanton.

Front row left to right: Linda Suchy, Norman Krug, Jolene Orebaugh, Doug Ehrlich, Jackie Baldwin, Bruce Helander, Patty Price and Ron Odegard.

Milo Flanders Working the Cattle

This picture may just look like a couple of men long ago working with their cattle on a farm. But it has much more significance to me, which is often the wonderful thing about pictures. Last month I was blessed to be found on Facebook by a cousin...actually the daughter of my first cousin, a young lady whom I've never personally met. One of her interests is in touching up old photographs. Today she emailed me this picture. I haven't seen it before and I'm thrilled to have it. The man in the background is my maternal grandfather, Milo Flanders. I don't know how old he was in this picture, but he moved from Illinois to Barton County, Kansas before he was 12 years old, and since he's a young man here I know this farm is somewhere near Comanche Township, Barton, Kansas.
I can't wait to see what other goodies my cousin has for me. I'm so grateful to Facebook for all the wonderful connections I've been able to make through it.

My Ancestors' Immigrant Ships

This is the ship Lucania, which sailed from Liverpool and landed at Ellis Island on 24 June 1904 bringing my great, great grandparents, George 'Daniel' and Mary Elisabeth Meier Dietz to America from their home in Kratzke, Saratov, Russia.

This is the ship Umbria, which sailed to Ellis Island on 14 July 1904 bringing my great grandparents John 'George' and Catharine Elisabeth 'Katy' Dietz Koleber and my grandmother Amalia 'Mollie', along with her two older brothers George Jr and Daniel. Katy was the daughter of Daniel and Mary Dietz, who sailed on the ship pictured at the top. The manifest of the Umbria on which my great grandparents were listed as passengers says their Port of Departure was Italy. The Port of Registry for the Umbria was Liverpool. Both ships were owned by the Cunard Steamship Company.

Wordless Wednesday: Becky and Dennis