Caroline Engelhardt, sometime in approximately 1970 is our best guess. As she’s outside and without winter clothes, maybe it’s summer?
7th Birthday
Today, I turned seven years old. I live at 94 E. Market Street in Long Beach, California, our apartment is in the back right up the stairs. With a note from my dad, I’m allowed to pick up cigarettes for him at a small store on our side of the street. Sometimes, I even get enough money to buy ice cream. My father works for Owens-Illinois on Fruitland Avenue in Vernon, a glass factory making bottles. Life is a bit upside down while my mother still lives in New York, though I won’t truly appreciate that for years.
Happy Holidays
It’s Christmas Day 1969 in Buffalo, New York, with me and my sister Shari at Grandma and Grandpa Kurchoff’s.
Baby Caroline and Hanns Engelhardt
Caroline’s father, Hanns Engelhardt, and her in 1968.
Stephanie and Grandfather Christian Engelhardt
This is Christian Engelhardt holding his granddaughter Stephanie Engelhardt at some time around 1967 or maybe even 1966, but we’re not sure. Christian is Hanns’s father (father of Caroline and Stephanie) and lived in Höchst just outside of Frankfurt for the majority of his life. Christian’s professional life was that of a teacher and was the encouragement behind Hanns becoming a lawyer.
The church in the background is from the year 830 A.D. and is the oldest building in the Frankfurt area.
Easter Sunday
My mom, Karen Marie Kurchoff, is in the pink hat on the left while my father, John Michael Wise, sits next to her at the head of the table. My sister Shari Lea Wise sits in front of the Easter Bunny with my grandmother Hazel Kurchoff and grandfather Herbert Kurchoff to the right. I’m in my mother’s lap. We are having brunch at the Jafco Marina & Restaurant on the Niagara River in Buffalo, New York. Today is Easter Sunday; I just turned three years old last Monday, and my sister will turn two years old on June 4th.