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Tappan Zee H.S. First Annual All Sports Banquet 16 June 1949

November 6, 2016 by John Leave a Comment

In going through the records and documents my mom had, I came across the program for the Tappan Zee H.S. First Annual All Sports Banquet.

tz-all-sports-banquet-1949

The reason it was saved is because my mother’s brother John Post was one of the athletes. This was his junior year. In addition My mother Mrs. Frank Hess and my grandmother Mrs. Charles E. post served on the committee for the banquet.

Two of the Distinguished guests were Phil Rizzuto then shortstop of the New York Yankees and Peter Carlisimo who then coached Football at Scranton University and later let the NIT tournament.

John Post wound up his high school career with 16 varsity letters. This was the most ever earned by any athlete in Tappan Zee High School history . His Senior yearbook lists the following:

Football 1, 2, 3, 4

Baseball 1, 2, 3, 4

Track 2, 3

Bowling 1, 2, 4

Golf 1, 2, 3

Fowler Certificates

May 21, 2015 by John Leave a Comment

I was going through some of my mom’s things and came across a large book (11 X 17) called “The Passing Show” I could tell it was old but I didn’t know why she had it. As I started to look at it, inside the front cover were the following two certificates.

Then on the first inside page my Aunt Ethel Fowler wrote down an index of family names with pages listed. On those pages were listed Births, Deaths and Marriages for the listed families. This work of gathering this information was started in 1954 and it looks like it wasn’t updated after the beginning of 1956 since my cousin was listed but I was not. I will need to compare this information with the information I already have in my files.

It is interesting to see that in the early 1900’s you were by law required to serve in the Fire Department. Unfortunately for my Great Grandfather, he only lived 9 months after he became exempt. He died at age 32 and left my Great Grandmother a widow with 3 small children to raise. She did it by herself with the help of her parents and younger siblings.

From Aunt Ethel’s Certificate, it looks like not all students made it into High School. It required an examination, good scholarship and correct deportment. How many students today would meet these requirements?

Another Conversation with my Mom

September 6, 2013 by John Leave a Comment

Tonight I was visiting my Mom and we got talking about genealogy and family history. Somehow the conversation turned to her friend Maxine Howell who lived in the big house across Haring Ave from her parents house. We talked about several families that lived in that house (I remember when the Morrison’s lived there.) and that Maxine’s family rented it along with her extended family. In any case she indicated that Maxine and her whole family worked on Handwerks Farms both in Blauvelt, NY and in Florida in the winter. It was through this friendship with Maxine that my mother met my father who also worked on Handwerks farms. My Dad had a car so he came to visit Maxine and her family. My Mom indicated that her and my Dad double dated with Maxine (she didn’t say who Maxine went with) to at least the Auto races in Patterson, NJ.

I always wondered how my Mom and Dad met each other. I remember my mother talking about going to the Hess farm in Old Tappan NJ for strawberries and eggs, but that was when she was young.

I didn’t know that Handwerks had a farm in Florida and that my Dad had been down there before he met my Mom. When they got married they moved to Florida and farmed. Now I know why.

Mom mentioned Maxine’s aunt in Florida that she kept in touch with and I said “Is that the one who would send us Christmas gifts that were either the wrong size or something we would never use?” and she replied “Yes, at least she was thinking of you.”

Does anyone else have more to add to this story?

If you are interested in where Handwerks farm was, the old farmhouse is on the corner of Blauvelt Rd and Van Wyck Rd in Blauvelt, NY right next to the South Orangetown Middle School. A large part of the area surrounding the farmhouse was part of the farm. The school was built on part of the farm. My sister Karen was in the first class to go through that school for all 3 grades, sixth, seventh and eighth. My cousin Debbie and I were in the second class to go there for three years.

A conversation with my Mom

January 26, 2013 by John Leave a Comment

The other day I was visiting with my mother and she had just gotten off a phone call from her friend Frieda Mueller. As we were talking she said she loved it when Frieda would tell stories from when she was young in prewar Germany. We then discussed how important it is to capture those stories. Mom said I hope she has them written down, and I responded yeah, but they are probably in German. Mom then started telling me her own story that she was reminded of by talking with Frieda.

“When I was a little girl, probably around eight, I was in the garden weeding with my grandmother (Elizabeth Maria Moehring whose parents both came from Germany, and German was spoken in their home). As we were weeding, a garter snake came my me and I screamed. My grandmother reassured me ” Don’t worry about him, he is more afraid of you than you are of him.” I remember this like it was just yesterday.”

I don’t think I had ever heard that story before, and if I didn’t share it here, it would probably be lost forever.

Do you have similar stories that are a part of you that would be good to share that haven’t been written down somewhere? What are you going to do about it?

Marriage of Frank Hess and Jeanne Elizabeth Post

January 20, 2012 by John Leave a Comment

My mom asked me to keep this booklet from their marriage ceremony and she gave me a note card with a drawing of the church where they were married. I thought it was best to share it with everyone.

Document is found here:

F Hess and J Post Marriage

Christ Church Sparkill NY — Christ Church, Sparkill, NY Where Jeanne Elizabeth Post and Frank Hess Jr. were married.

Josephine Fowler’s Bell Labs ID card

November 1, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

The attached pictures are of an ID card that my grandmother had when she worked for Bell Labs in New York City. She went to Tappan Zee High School in Piermont NY but then went to a business school in NYC to finish-up. This was probably her first job since the date on the back was 10/1/18 and she was only 18 years old.

Bell Labs was the research arm of the Bell Telephone Companies. What was known as AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph). Bell Labs is still a part of AT&T today. Verizon was a Baby Bell that was broken off in the 1980’s.

Ancestors of Jeanne Elizabeth Post

October 30, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

The chart below shows the first seven generations of ancestors we know about for my mother. Some of these lines go back another six or seven generations. What this doesn’t show are the siblings of our direct line ancestors and their families.

One interesting this to note is that in the last generation shown, Barbara Luz and Michael Luz are brother and sister and their children were married. In addition Joseph Teufel (Barbara Luz’s husband) and Catharina Teufel are brother and sister and their grandchildren were married (second cousins).

Ancestors of Jeanne Elizabeth Post