As I mentioned in early 1964, Dad received orders for Germany. We were excited as well as apprehensive to be going so far away. Do you remember all of the "shots" we had to get? Billy caused a riot by kicking the needle out of the medic's hand. After packing our Hold baggage and the moving truck left, we headed for Grandmom's house in New Jersey. Dad stayed with us for a couple weeks and then left for Rhein Main. We stayed with your grandparents until late September. While there, we visited Joan Stone (our neighbor in Lake Charles) who was based at Westover A.F. Base in Massachusetts. We stayed with her a week and gave grandmom a much needed break. I remember Joan had a Volkswagen and we crammed everyone in - that was eleven of us. In the beginning of September, you went to Laurel Springs school for about three weeks and then we left for Germany.
Our first home was in Langen about twenty minutes from the base. We rented a second floor apartment from Fritz & Anna Werner. It was a big airy apartment with three bedrooms. In about three months, our small amount of furniture came in. Fritz went into shock when he saw our huge refrigerator. He had a small one that went under the cabinet. However, his family really loved us and went out of their way to make us welcome. There was Lisalotta and their dog, Barry as well. Later on, a Greek couple moved into the basement apartment. Prior to that, Anna had a little store set up with treats you could buy. Another family, George & Darlene Keeney moved a couple of doors away and Benders next door so we were becoming an American-Deutsch Street. One of the things I recall was the Soccer tournaments down the street. I'm sorry I never attended. We did most of our socializing with other couples in the Air Force. Another thing that amazed me was the number of bicycles on the street. You would see Grandmoms peddling along the street with sacks of groceries in their baskets. While living in Langen, we met Joan and Vern Wells and their two boys - Curt and David. I think this chapter is going to be long so will stop for now.
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3 comments:
Amazing you still recall all those names of people!
Both of my girls have this gift. I think moving around like we did, we formed lasting friendships. It gave us some kind of "base" for our existence.
I remember Langen-Oberlinden very well! It was there that I started sleep-walking, though. Do you remember that? Jane and i made friends with Dieter and Wolfgang and adored them. I also had a big crush on Billy Shea (eldest of Mrs. Keeney's kids), and her daughter, Sherrie was a good friend. Marsha Bender moved in nearby- remember the car accident that put Mr. Bender in the hospital- Joe was with them, but nobody else was hurt- thank goodness. I had a terrible time in school with Mrs. Esterhaus, who was worse than the nuns in Georgia. Boy, did I dislike school! 5th and 6th grade were much better, and I had some really great teachers in 7th grade at Gateway Gardens- Mr. Withrow in particular. He took us on all kinds of great field trips- and Mr. Morgan, the music teacher, took us to see the opera, Carmen. I have lots of memories of spending time with the Wells' and Shavers and of our time in base housing with Beverly Brown and Linda Phillips...And Anne Harris from whom we inherited Pepper...
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