And Then...

In 1966, Grandmom and Grandpop came to visit. We had just purchased a new Nash Rambler station wagon so were all set to go on a road trip. Grandmom wanted to visit her grandparents' birth place in Marienweiher, Germany. After much researching as it was a small village, we found it on a Deutsch road map. A friend of Joe's, Rob (Mike) Michauk came with us. He was born in Hamburg and his family came to the states when he was a little boy so was fluent in German. Dad had to get clearance as it was just 5 kilometers from the East German border. The scenery was breathtaking. We drove over this hill and looking down saw the village sitting there between the hills. The odd thing about it was that I had in my possession a
postcard with a picture of it that was sent from one brother to the other and dated 1907 and the oddity was that the village looked just the same. It gave me goose bumps. Marienweiher is a farming community with the pigs and geese walking through. When we drove down, the men of Marien. came over and admired the car, wanting to look at the engine, etc. We felt like celebrities. I guess you just didn't see many new cars around there. Mike located a Max Ott who owned a gasthause and even though it was past lunch, fixed us some bratwurst,bread and of course, beer. Through interpretation, we learned that he was related to Grandmom Brumbach (Zaph) and there was just one other brother who was ill and lived in another area. There is a story about the town and its name but I won't go into it now. We were shown the family homestead, the grave of the first Brumbach who was also mayor of the town and the church. It was a wonderful day.