"My Special People" by Sue08080

Everyone in my mother's family seems to have two names. Her parents, sister and brother came to the US from Slovakia, then Czechoslovakia, in the last century. None of them spoke English at that time. In Ellis Island two letters in their last name were reversed and a new name resulted.

My mother was born years later in the States. When she was six her mother sent her to school with a neighbor's child, also six. This little friend took care of registering her and mom's name went from Stephanie to Stella! She's called Stella to this day.

Mom's sister, Hedy was in her late teens when she came to America. Learning English was a great challenge, but she did it well. She didn't like it that people had trouble with her name, so she used her middle name, Mary. Doesn't the name Hedy have a certain charm? I guess they hadn't yet heard of Hedy Lamarr.

My Aunt Hedy remained Hedy to the family. She lived and worked in NYC for years. I think, judging from her look in this photo, that she probably had a great time in the "Big Apple". I certainly hope so!

My Uncle Cyril also chose to use a different name, Russell. I have no idea where that came from other than his wish to be a real American. Cyril also moved to NYC where he was a part of a vaudeville troup. He was said to be very handsome, athletic, and brilliant. The vaudeville group of which he was a member were tumblers, acrobats, etc. They needed a name change but never got one, as they were called The Gay Boys. Can you believe it!

They toured all over the US and Canada and were booked to appear in Japan when Cyril got sick. He returned home and died in his twenties of a bad blood transfusion. He had pernicious anemia and was given the wrong blood type at the U of P Hospital in Philadelphia. He died in 1936.

My grandfather Gustav, became Gus in America. Only my grandmother Anna remained Anna in her new life. That's ironic as she lived here for over 40 years and never learned English. Her heart was in Slovakia. I'm fortunate that my parents are alive and well.

I visited the graves of my grandparents, aunt and uncle today. I guess that's why I wrote this Album. They are on my mind. I miss my grandmother and aunt and am sorry that I didn't get to meet my grandfather and uncle.

I think I'll enjoy looking at their photos here.

“Death does not come with old age, death comes with forgetting.”
Gabriel Garcia Marquez