My Most Touching Post about Uncle Alfred Margheim

This is my father Ernest Ludwig Margheim's family group: 

You see that his younger brother Alfred was born in Nov. 1923, 2 years after Dad was born and Alfred died in March 1933, at the age of 9. I've written several articles about Uncle Alfred. You can find them if you go to this link, and scroll down and read them: http://beckysgraceandglory.blogspot.com/search/label/Alfred%20Margheim

When I was cleaning out Dad's house at the time he took residence at a Care Center, I reached for this box, not knowing what it contained. 

To my surprise, this is what I found when I opened the yellow J.C. Penney box. I made me gasp.

I knew before I touched these little shirts that they had belonged to little Alfred.

When I took the shirts out of the box, I found everything that I've pictured here.

Alfred's monogrammed handkerchiefs

The Book of Knowledge booklet was provided by the Grolier Co.

This little notebook was homemade with art work as the cover.

A sample of a poem included inside the homemade notebook.

Alfred's signature inside the front cover of his notebook.

I've read other poems written by Alfred so I think this is an original poem. 

Both my dad's and Alfred's names are on this book they must have shared.

This was a spelling tablet from 2nd grade in WaKeeney, Kansas, while the other items are from his 4th grade school year in Longmont, Colorado.

This is the view inside the box when I lifted the shirts off the top. 

One of the most touching items in the box. This is the ribbon from the bouquet of flowers from Alfred's funeral, given by his School Friends. 

At Rest

It's cool to see the information this gives. Alfred was 8 years old, in the 4th grade on October 3, 1932. He weighed 62, while the average for his age was 67 lbs. He was 53 inches tall. Keep in mind, this was just 5 months before he passed away from pneumonia. 

My Grandma Mollie Margheim obviously stored these personal items of her little son in this box. Here are his necktie, suspenders and part of his belt. How sad it must have been for her to pack this box!

Here's Alfred's toothbrushes, pencil, ink pen and ruler.
The small round object with his baby picture on it is a tape measure. 

A view of the bottom of the box with a close-up of Alfred's marbles.

Some of the dried flowers that were preserved from his funeral. 

This little boy's marbles from 1933!

This is the back side of the little tape measure. 

At Thanksgiving, 2012, my dad was with our family for dinner. I brought "Alfred's Box" into the living room to show him. Here's a picture of him showing it's contents to his great granddaughter Alyssa Klein. 

What an opportunity for my dad to look through his brother's little box and remember!

And such a wonderful opportunity for my granddaughter to learn from her great grandfather the stories he was able to recall about his life with his little brother. 

Dad visits the grave of his brother Alfred in the Hygiene Cemetery
near Longmont, Colorado

And finally, this is one of my favorite pictures of Dad (front left) with
Alfred (front right) and their parents, John and Mollie (Amalia Koleber) Margheim.  

In the final days of my father's life, it was Alfred that he spoke of most often. I'm happy that they're together again, for all eternity! What touches me the most is that my grandma packed that box up with those assorted items from her little boy's life. Then she kept it the rest of her life. Fortunately, Dad retrieved it when my grandma died and also kept it the rest of his life. The miracle is that I found it and can pass it on. It was really special for Dad to be able to sit with Alyssa Klein and show her too. She'll know what it meant to him. And this box gives us a window into a little boy's life from 83 years ago.