THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES CHICAGO

Last week I had the opportunity to go to Chicago with my mom.

She wanted to finish her funeral arrangements. 

No, she's not sick but she did not want to leave that burden on us.

 

 My good friend to the left is Elda.  My mom and I stayed at her home

My mom in the middle and my mother-in-law

 While at Rosehill Cemetery, I saw this very old map of Chicago.

It is dated 1886.  The gentleman that helped us finalizing

her arrangements was a walking encyclopedia of

who is buried in the cemetery and their life history.

 This beautiful family helped my mom in my dad's memorial service.  

It was really great getting together again

 Great friends

 As we said goodbye to our friends, my mom wanted

to go and see our old stomping grounds.  This park

my brother, sister and I spent a lot of time playing.

It is across the street from where we were living.

 This tree was third base when we played baseball.

It was not this big when we were playing. 

Lots of memories flooded as my mom and I

remember playing with our friends in this park.

 This apartment building was the first placed we lived

in when my family and I moved to the United States.

We lived on the top floor.  It was nice to see

that it has not changed.

 This was the second apartment building that we moved to

after a few years.  It was right next door to the 

first apartment we lived in.  In this building,

I met a girl my age who became my first friend

in the United States.  Her name was Barbara

and she was Polish.  Her family were wonderful.

I remember her father being a great cook.  

We were introduced to Polish cooking through him.

 Lots of roller skating was done on this sidewalk.

 Charles Darwin Elementary School.  This was the

first school I went to.  I did not know any English and

my teacher did not know any Spanish.  My teacher, Miss Wolski,

was great!  My mom tells me that I learned how to read,

write and speak English in one month because I was

determined to learn it.  There was no bilingual program at that time.

I'm so grateful for that.  I learned English through the Dick and Jane books.

 Humboldt Park United Methodist Church is where my

father was a pastor.  We were there for seventeen years until

he was transferred to another church.  This is where I met

 my husband and where he asked my father permission to marry me.

 This was the parsonage of Bethany United Methodist Church.

The house is the only thing left standing since the church

was demolished several years ago.  This is a beautiful home

which has now been converted to offices for the hospital

right next door.  Both my mom and I were sad to see the changes.

I guess we were hoping things would have stayed the

way we remembered.

On our way home to Indiana on Lake Shore Drive.

Thank you Chicago for the wonderful life

and memories.