Good Carma I

My cousin Carma recently found some old negatives in a box at her parent’s house. Her parents live in the farmhouse that my mom was raised in, and my grandfather’s family lived in. There are a lot of memories there and I am thankful that my family is still there.

Back to Carma. She took the negatives to a Walgreens, I believe she said, and had them developed and then published several of them on facebook and made us all cry.

I snagged them off facebook so I could share them here as well. The majority of these are from a trip my grandparents took to Colorado when my uncle Marv (mom’s brother) was part of a group called “The Gospel Echoes.” I don’t know if the group was headquartered there or what but I know he was in CO for a while. The Gospel Echoes are still around today but I wasn’t able to find a lot of history online. I’m sure that my cousin Cheryl (Marv’s daughter) would know a little more about it.

My grandparents had 7 children and the youngest three are the ones who joined them on this trip. The oldest two, my mother and aunt Esther were both married at this point. I don’t know where uncle Fred was, but perhaps he was old enough to have a job or something.

From left to right: Merlin (Mernie), John Jr. (Donny when we were kids), Grandpa – John P. Schwartz (don’t you love his hat?), Devona (Ony) and Grandma Katie.

Don’t they look like Swiss tourists? They were pretty close. My grandpa’s great-grandparents (I think that’s right) immigrated from Switzerland to Indiana back when it was the west. My grandparents were Amish not long before these pictures were taken and held to many of the traditions they were raised with. Both of my grandparents could yodel, and did so together (in harmony from what I hear.) I long to see them again in heaven just to hear that, because I never did while they were alive. Grandma Katie would yodel for us now and again and I was fascinated by it. I was more fascinated by her popping her dentures out into her lap and then yodeling…because that was just hilarious. She would act so proper and tell us no she wasn’t going to act so silly and then when we least expected it, out they came. I loved to watch her shake with giggles along with us granddaughters during sleepovers at her house.

My beautiful aunt Ony. She was 10 when I was born, so I wasn’t around yet here. She was born when my mother was 17 and my aunt Esther must have been 16, so she definitely had at least three mom’s growing up. She was my hero as a kid. She was so pretty and funny and sang so beautifully and played guitar and wow. Yeah…she was my hero.

I love what Carma wrote on facebook about this picture: “He died before I was born and I have only seen pictures of him on the farm. It was so cool to see this side of him too. Taking his family on vacation, cleaning off the car:)”

I was 7 when he died and have few memories of him. He was quiet, and I remember respecting him greatly. I did have the advantage of going to the same church as he and Grandma Katie. I remember him requesting to sing a song one time…in my mind as a child I assumed it was his favorite. It was called Beulah Land and it became my favorite for a while too, because it was grandpas.

I like the smile on his face here. I also enjoyed the contrast between relaxed Grandpa and frozen Mernie.

These two guys provided hours of entertainment for little nieces. They were comedians, farm experts, Domino building geniuses, singers, musicians and more. I adored them as a little girl and I kinda still do.

My favorite picture. Uncle Donny walking on his hands. One of the more distinct memories of being at Grandma’s house when she lived on the farm is of Mernie and Donny chasing each other around the house this way. When I saw this picture on facebook I think I may have giggled out loud.

There are more pictures to share but this is long enough for today. Thank you Carma!