I was almost five years old when Allan was born and remember very little about his birth, except that Grandma Hoene came from Illinois to Idaho to help take care of us. And I really missed my Mom because Grandma was cranky. I probably asked Dad day after day when Mom was getting out of the hospital because Grandma seemed so mean. I do remember Mom telling people how happy she was to have a baby boy after the three girls. I'd only ever seen baby girls clothes - dresses, sweaters, and hats. I'd never seen rompers, pants, and T-shirts. I'm quite certain we sisters treated him like a baby doll and later made him play "house" with us.
I do remember Allan's first birthday, but not who may've had a camera to take this picture. Mom made the cake and then took it outside and set it on the lawn and let Allan crawl toward it. He performed for us by getting his hands full of cake and frosting.
I think this picture was taken by a professional photographer. Mom made our dresses and she probably was grateful there was one boy so she only had to make three dresses. I think they were red and white .
I doubt if Mom and Dad even owned a camera back then - picture taking was rare in the early 1950's. Mom treasured her pictures and photo albums and we kids loved it when she got them out and let us look through them. The albums were stored under the drawers in hallway "linen" closet. It was an ordeal just to get them out.
This picture may have been taken the same day, only outdoors and with our Dad.
This Christmas was the beginning of Allan's handyman experience - finally he had a younger brother to get him away from playing with dolls.
Happy Birthday, Allan, 1958
As much a picture of Allan as a picture of the old cabinets, that he so joyfully got to rip out!
Maybe painting barrels for the Cottonwood Park?
Allan graduated from high school in 1969 - at the height of the Vietnam War. He made a wise decision to join the Navy with the hope he'd get GI benefits to pay for his college education.
Mom insisted we get a family picture taken before Allan left for the Navy all the while praying he'd come back home and not be a war casualty.
Allan wrote such great letters while he was in the Navy. The letters exposed us back home to the larger world with his stops in Singapore and Hawaii. Allan wanted to shop for all of us while he was overseas and that's how we got our Pentax camera, Mom and Carole got real china, and his brothers got to take care of a reel-to-reel music system, and we all got wooden salad bowls. He spent most of his time on an aircraft carrier so getting to real land was a serious reward. I'm so grateful the way Allan shared his experiences with us.
When Allan got out of the Navy he joined our brother Don at the University of Idaho, graduating with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1980, on the day Mt. St. Helen's blew up. Allan married a California girl, Lisa, and he's only returned to Idaho for family visits and vacations. I admire his ability to remember details and conversations from years past. Whenever I talk to him on the phone he asks about my kids, the grandkids and all our siblings. He added another dimension to the Kopczynski reunion in McCall this summer with his great conversations and memory.
Men in Blue!
Happy Birthday Allan! I pray that you'll enjoy many more and secure that job we've all be praying for!
My sister, Connie, received a new bicycle for Christmas so Karen and I made a date to ride with her on the Coeur d'Alene Trail. It is one of many rails to trails, built on former Railroad beds. We parked in Heyburn State Park with a goal to ride to Harrison and have ice cream. It took us awhile to get her new bike loaded on my rack and before we even got to Moscow we decided we'd better stop at Follett's and get another bar so our bikes would ride well together. Good thing we did, because my bike tires were almost flat and the young man ensured our bikes were secure on the rack.
More than just the ride, Karen, Connie and I needed some special sister time
It was a glorious day and we decided to take our time so we stopped and took lots of pictures.
Ah, sweet Success!
We enjoyed Salmon Caesar Salads at the Gateway Marina
Not only did we have a great ride, we had time to reflect on our blessings, share concerns about our children, and plan our next Sister's Weekend.
A highlight for me was listening to Connie tell Garry how much she enjoyed the day. "When we first started all I could do was look down at the path, but on the way back to the State Park, I looked around and noticed the Lake and all the beautiful scenery. And my butt is not even sore."
I was just 14 when Larry was born - getting ready to move into high school a St. Gertrude's Academy. My mother insisted that I leave her and the new baby and spend a week with my Aunt Doriene who delivered her fifth child, Melinda, on August 10th. I really wanted to bond with my new baby brother but instead suffered the agony of pleasing Uncle Joe, herding the Jacobs kids, and being so scared when Aunt Doriene started hemorrhaging. I guess, as a peace offering, Mom chose me to be Larry's godmother with my cousin, Jim Reed, as the godfather. I really never did spend much time at home after Larry was born because my "job" was to live with my aunt and uncle, Johanna and Ben Engel. They paid me $30/month to cook and clean for them during the week. I spent weekends at home, but that wasn't much time to bond with Larry because I had a steady boyfriend and life was all about being a teenager in the early 1960's.
My brothers and sisters remember how much I acted like a foolish teenager in those days, even screaming when the Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan show in 1962. Do they remember this new dance craze and how all my girlfriends realized we could dance and didn't even need a partner for this one? It was the most popular song when Larry was born in August, 1960.
I remember how twisted or upside down our Christmas celebration was in 1965 when I'd been earning money from a real job for several months and I couldn't wait to give Larry the most popular toy that season, A Talking Bugs Bunny! You pulled a string and among other things this stuffed animal-toy said, "What's up Doc?" I can still see Larry laying on the couch the whole Christmas season because he was sick and he barely even looked at this great gift! I found this picture from a website called Collectible Toys and the Bugs Bunny is now worth $225! I probably paid $3.95 or less for it 47 years ago. Larry and I talked today about our expectations and how often we are disappointed when we set our expectations too high. As I recall I wasn't as much concerned about Larry's health that Christmas as I was disappointed that he couldn't enjoy the Bugs Bunny chatter! How childish!
Look how handsome Larry was for my wedding in 1966!
After I left home and got married my brothers and sisters often called each other by nicknames. Why would anyone call this sweet child Wimpy? The older brothers teased Larry mercilessly when they were still at home and I always wanted to come to his defense. Larry had to find his own way through the maze of life in Cottonwood and I remember how he consumed himself with old radios, tearing them apart and rebuilding them. The basement became his workshop and he could get all the old stuff he needed from the Electric Shop. Later he "graduated" from radios to music, enjoying Allan's reel to reel tape player during the time he was in the Navy. Larry still enjoys music and has made many CDs for me over the years, including wonderful Christmas music. His high school years were filled with hours of work in the dark room at Prairie High School developing and printing pictures for the yearbook. All these early interests led him to an Electrical Engineering Degree, a vision for Locomotive Park in Lewiston and a love for photography. Those projects prove he didn't deserve to be called Wimpy!
The bedroom Larry shared with his brothers
Larry and Don during the kitchen remodel project!
Larry and I bonded several times over the next 40 years. He sent me the sweetest cards and notes that I have squirreled away somewhere. He took thousands of pictures over the years, but this is one of my favorites. I think Karen was about four years old!
Larry helped us put in the sprinkler system when we bought our Clarkston house in 1977. He also helped us plant 10,000 trees in our vacant lots, probably in 1979. When we sold our Clarkston Heights home in 1990 we moved into Grandma Tillie's house, but then her house sold and we were basically homeless, so Larry invited us to live with him. He was single then and had 3 bedrooms so Karen, Roy, and I moved in with him until we moved to Boise in April, 1991. Ironically Larry's children all attended elementary school in Clarkston and he said many times he wished he'd have purchased our house instead of the one in Lewiston! We shared many moments over the last 20 years, but nothing as emotional as the day our Mom died. He called me around noon at Juniper Meadows and said that he'd expected Mom for lunch at 11:30 and he was concerned because she was "never late." He called again at the same time the police officers walked into Juniper Meadows with the news about our Mom's accident. We spent the next several hours together phoning all our brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins in Illinois. The next day we headed up to Cottonwood together to get into the house and begin planning the funeral. I'm grateful Larry's office was so close to Juniper Meadows and that we were able to be together for the next several hours when we often looked at each other and said, "we don't know what to do."
When I retired from Juniper Meadows Larry knew what to do...he hired me to work for Edward Jones when Mary Kay was out of the office. I was a little apprehensive and he said, "you just have to answer the phone and listen to old people." It's been another great experience - a retirement career and opportunity to watch him interact with people.
This trip down memory lane brings intense feelings of gratitude for the moments we've shared over the years. Larry, my retirement boss, my financial advisor, my god son, my inspiration, my brother. Thank you for being who you are, for sharing your faith, and for treasuring memories and trinkets! God bless!
The Benedictine Sisters at the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood, Idaho, invited all alumni of St. Gertrude's Academy to the Monastery this weekend to celebrate with all graduates of the Catholic high school. The Sisters opened the school in 1928 and it closed, as a Catholic high school, in 1970.
The weekend celebration began with Mass presided by Father Lyle Konen, C.S.s.R., a 1949 graduate. Father Gerry Funke, class of 1972, delivered the homily. The Kopczynski families were well represented at this reunion. My brother, Allan, and sisters, Carole and Marilyn graduated from SGA. Connie and Joan attended the same school, but when they graduated it was called Prairie High School.
I was honored to read the 2nd reading from Colossians, when St. Paul encouraged the followers of Jesus to dedicate themselves to thankfulness. Father Gerry spoke about the Benedictine values that encouraged all students to have a vision and a way to serve the larger community by prayer and work. The last song, "Holy God We Praise Thy Name," brought back lots more memories of attending mass in the chapel when I was a teenager and more feelings of gratitude for my Catholic education. Many graduates have moved away from Cottonwood and shared Father Gerry's comment, "it wasn't until I left the Camas Prairie that I realized what a beautiful place this is."
I enjoyed connecting with my classmates from the class of 1964, Eloise Arnzen Riener, Pat Winkes Schmidt, and Sister Barbara Bielenberg.
My sister, Marilyn, enjoyed a special visit with her classmate, Patty Arnzen, class of 1966.
Most people spent time visiting about their grandchildren, the challenges of Facebook and smart phones, and just catching up on all the years since high school.
Former Geometry teacher, Jerrry Wren and cousins, Ed Kopczynski and Wayne Wimer
Cousin Jim Reed and Classmate Pat Nuxoll
Ed's wife Josephine Kopczynski and cousin Debbie Kopczynski Stubbers
Cousin Colleen Kopczynski and her husband, Mel Jackson
My dear friend, Maxine Frei (1966) and her husband Ron Williams
My in-laws, Don and Mary Jean Wessels Arnzen (1958)
I don't have pictures, but I also had a nice visit with Edna Rickman and her son, John. Hal Rickman taught school at the Academy for several years in the 1960's and Edna and my mom became good friends, sharing their love for quilting. Marilyn and I visited with former teacher Leo Lapke and his wife and Aggie. They lived in Spokane for several years with their eight children, and Marilyn remembers the kids, some of whom are working for Catholic Charities now.
Marilyn's daughter, Karlee, asked her to take a picture of our family home. A new family is growing up there and making some changes to the outside of the house, but we hope they are experiencing the same joy that we did growing up there. A former neighbor, Donna Mager, told me she remembers playing in the orchard behind our house, building trails and secret hideaways.
Marilyn and I attended Mass at St. Mary's this morning. Their new pastor, Father Paul Wander, announced that he thinks coffee hours after Mass are important and said if people don't sign up he'll keep harping about it until they do. I remember talking to Mom years ago on the phone and it seemed like she always had something to do with the coffee hour, either making cookies or setting up the tables. Marilyn said Mom would've liked Father Paul because he talks fast and moves the mass right along. I always feel so much at home in that Church. The music always touches me and Marilyn and I both commented on how beautiful the music is every time we visit. When Mom and Dad were still alive and I would travel to Cottonwood I would tell my friends I was going "home" for the weekend. Well, Cottonwood doesn't feel like home anymore since they are gone, but I still have feelings of gratitude for the experience of growing up in a small town, surrounded by Benedictine Sisters and a large extended family.
