Sunday

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Parents

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.
This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf
This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf
The prompt for the week is:    
Parents
The Brief:
  • Names / Nick Names
  • Where were they from?
  • Where were they born? - 
  • Were they migrants? Born somewhere else from where they were living
  • How did they meet?
  • Photos
  • Anything you want to share about your parents

My Mother's Growing Up
My mother had told me growing up that her real name was Joan Ann and when she became an adult, she put the names together to create Jo Ann which she had gone by since then. However, upon finding the 1940 census, I found that she was known as Joanne then. I think the person doing the census misspelled her name (which is common) on the form. Also, as you can tell by the census, my mother was born in Pike County in Pennsylvania in the US. Her parents names were Louise and Janet Gauquie and she was the oldest child of the marriage.
1940's census showing where Joanne & parents were living

In the 1950's, my grandfather and grandmother moved their family from Pennsylvania to Newburgh, New York. I believe my grandfather transferred from his job in one of the Pennsylvania railways to a job at a railway in Newburgh, New York.



My Father
My father's name is Matthew Gerald. He was born in New York City; however, my grandparents actually lived in Linden, New Jersey. His parents are Matthew and Jean (Genevieve/Genowefa) Schmitz. He was the oldest child of the marriage.

1940's census showing where Matthew & parents were living
My grandparents moved from Linden, New Jersey to Newburgh, New York after my grandfather got out of the US Army (in the Medical area) and made a gentleman's agreement to buy a Bar & Grill in Newburgh, New York. In the mid 1940's the family moved to Newburgh.

Nicknames
His mother, Jean, had a few names - born Genowefa in Poland, migrated to US and then went by Genevieve or Gennie. It wasn't until she married, that she went under the name of Jean. My father is named after his father Matthew. He has many names he uses - Matt and Jerry/Gerry are the top nicknames. My mother usually just refers to him as Hardass. In fact, growing up I didn't know my father's real name and it wasn't until after my mother overheard me telling someone that my father's name was Hardass, she sat me down and explained what his real name was.
January 1956 - Jo Ann & Matthew with his parents and brother, John

How My Mother & Father Met
Upon the move, I believe sometime in the 1950's my mother met my father and they married. I do know they were dating in January 1956, as is shown in this camera labelled date.

They stayed married until the  mid-1970's when they divorced.



My Mother's Life After Divorce
My mother getting ready for work in 1996.
When my mother left my father, she had no real skills, so she tried to get a job that would pay anything, so we could have some place to live. My father would have Charlie live with him most of the time. However, this was not to last very long and in the 1980's, my brother came and lived with us until he moved out.

My mother eventually got a position as a factory working in Walden, New York. Its been several
names but two names that come to mind were Champion and AmPac, but everyone in Walden calls it The Bag Factory as they make the bags you buy to put gifts in for birthdays, special occasions and holiday. She worked there until she retired because of her knees in early 2000's.

My mother's also had some boyfriend's. There were very few in the first few years after the divorce, but eventually had a few long term relationships. The first long relationship was with Lyle Goldsmith, which lasted about 10 or so years. The other long relationship has been with Dave Weimer and this is her current relationship.

My mother and I in 2011
She loves her cigarettes, watching her crime TV and playing her online games. She does have a dog and loves dogs. Cats, as much as she likes them, she has allergies and they set them off. She used to drink; however, her stomach cannot deal with it since she reached her 60's.

My Father's Life After Divorce
My father and his second wife, Louise in 2011
My father kept the house we had lived in. In fact, he lived there until the 1990's and then moved. My father was single for a few years and remarried in the 1980's to a person called Louise. She had adult
children, so children were not a factor. They are still married today and have moved, like I mentioned, from Newburgh to Wallkill, New York.

As for employment, my father has his pension with the US Navy as he saw out his 20 years. After that he did some factory repair work with some employers. I do remember going to see him at his job with huge machines in Middletown, NY. He did that for a few years and then decided to slow down a bit. He did work for school districts where he ran the internal mail bags from school to school on a daily basis. He did this until he retired in the early 2000's.
My father in his suit for a VFW function in 2009

He loves the US Navy and the submarines and has been into serving via the VFW in different levels. He's also had memberships at the Black Rock Hunting Club for gun shooting and he was actually a registered gun trader until the 2000's. We also made bullets for the variety types of guns. In recent years he's slowing down and has given up formal VFW duties, but still goes to decommissioning of submarines and reunions.He does like his John Wayne and Elvis movies. He loves his dogs and his PT Cruiser.
My father and I in 2010.



  Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.    

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Favourite Colour

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.
This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf
This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf
The prompt for the week is:    
Favorite Colour
The Brief:
  • Do you have a favourite colour? and if so why?
  • Do you like vibrant colours or darker colours?
  • Do you associate anyone with a particular colour? If so who and why ?
  • Does your favourite colour reflect your personality?
Yes, I do have a favourite colour. I don't know why other than I like the colours I do. I do think I try and reflect my favourite colours when out of work or studying. Now that I've given you a bit about the colour, I better tell you what colours they are. They are shades of blues and greens. They make me feel restful and relaxed. The blues look good on me because of my blue eyes, but the greens are usually only around the house and remind me of the forest.

My husband likes greens, so when we even had to choose the colours for our wedding, it was a blue/green colour.
Our Wedding with the girls wearing the blue/green dresses
Our house colours were again blue/green to me but the place we went to and the husband both considered it tones of green.

Moving in day into our house with the green colour - kitchen & hallway

Even now, we have been talking over the colour to repaint the inside of the house, and again it was green or blue/green colour to make a reappearance. We have painted one room - the study - and the entry into the house, but really have to do the back part of the house where we have trialed colours and it looks pretty strange.



Our entryway into the house - notice the colour on the walls?

Our study - again - notice the colour on the walls?
I've always worn shades of blues because it highlights the colour in my eyes.

Jo at the Senior Prom in 1991.

  Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.    

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Cars and Transport

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.
This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf
This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf
The prompt for the week is:    
Cars and Transport
The Brief:
  • Did you have a car in your family whilst you were growing up?
  • What methods of transport were there? And what did you & your family typically use?
  • Your Driving Test
  • Where Did you learn? - Can you drive?
  • Your first car?
  • Your Favourite Car?
  • Do you name your cars?
  • Can you remember the registration details? And perhaps explain what the registration means.
The Family's Cars
This is an interesting topic as most of the time we've had cars in my family. My mother finally got her drivers license just before she left my father when I was under 4 years old. My father had the drivers license up until then. I can imagine it was very difficult for my mother up until she got her license as my siblings are all older than I am and we all know just how many accidents and cold children have.

After my mother left my father, we didn't have a car for years. Instead we walked from where we lived, outside of the main part of town, into town for school and work. I can still remember the winter when my mother and I got up and left to go to work and school and it was snowing like crazy out. There was that much snow, we had to walk in the road because people hadn't shoveled yet and it was half way up to my mother's chest and she stood about 5 foot 4 inches tall, so that goes to show you just how much snow there was. Anyhow, we stopped once to warm up in a small restaurant and get something warm to drink, and then continued on to school and work - only for both of them to be cancelled because of the snow. It wasn't long after we bought a car when I was about 8 years old.

On the other hand, my father had a car when I was that age (below is a visitation day when I was about 6 or 7). My father has always had a range of car. Currently, he's had his PT Cruiser which he loves.
Jo with her father's car in Newburgh, NY

My License & Cars
I received my first permit when I was 16 - as is common in the US. Because of my good grades, my mother's boyfriend, Lyle, bought me my first car - a used Chevy Citation(below) he got a great deal on - only cost him $500 US back in 1990.
My Chevy Citation in front of our apartment (middle 3 windows)

Upon being taught, I was driving down a very narrow and dirt road during either the summer or spring. I was going very slowly past parked cars on the road (they were on the right and there was just enough room on the left to pass them) and all of a sudden some idiot came down the driveway at a good speed and I saw it and stopped. Thankfully I did that or else I would have gotten T boned. The idiot stopped, looked up and his jaw dropped because he didn't even see me until then. Then he just continued on like there was nothing wrong with what he just did. However, with me being a beginner driver, I started to shake. I got us back home, went up to our apartment, opened the window and proceeded to rip up my permit and throw it out the window.

However, within a year, I knew I had to get my license in order to get a job and some freedom. Ever since then, I'm very careful with how I drive because of that. In 1990, I finally got my license.

I haven't had that many cars in my driving time. Like I mentioned above, my first car was a Chevy Citation. I was going to take my drivers test in that one; however, on the day I was to go take it, it started to rain and my wipers wouldn't work, so I ended up having to take my mother's Isuzu Pup truck instead. I never drove this car/truck at all, so I was really nervous because of the parking involved, not being used to the car/truck and the rain. I drove the the testing site to get used to the truck before the test - a 20 minute drive is all I had. Then I went through the test, and passed. Shocked both myself and my mother that's for sure! 
 
Jo's Drivers License results


Since then, I've had a Nissan Sentra which we got while I was at college in the early 1990's. However, once I left and moved to Australia, my mother's boyfriend was driving it about 3 years later and the tie rod broke and made the car undriveable. 

I drove my husband's Holden Commodore when I first moved to Australia and then later his 2 Ford station wagons, before I had enough saved to get myself a my first car. I was driving on my international drivers license and by 1998 or 1999 I got my Australia license, and I bought a
Daihatsu Charade II (below). I bought it from a used car yard. It did fairly well and lasted about 4 years. When pump's, and other major stuff started to go wrong, we decided to go and get either new cars or almost new cars as it seemed as we were always fixing them.

Jo's Diahatsu Charade II on the car lot where she bought it
In 2007, I bought my Toyota Yaris. I paid for it brand new and drove it off of the car yard.
Picture after Jo drove it home for the first time
 I still have this one even after it was vandalized later in 2007 at a train station (below).

The back of the car after it was vandalized
Then in 2012, when I was on my way to an appointment, a young girl wasn't paying attention and decided to hit my car with the front of her car (and I did my best to avoid it by pulling out of the way but wasn't completely successful - if I hadn't done that my car would have been wiped out).

Moments after the accident - a picture I used for the insurance claim
Anyhow, my car was fixed and I'm back on the road since then.

Keep Safe & Happy Traveling! 


  Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.