Old photos from Omi & Opi

Aunt Christine & Onkle Viktor visited Opi Oct 19 - Oct 26, 2009. We cleared more space for Opi to live in. We cleaned and cleaned, and Aunt Christine spot painted, including the kitchen borders, and all the floor moldings. We worked very hard for four days and then spent three days visiting and having fun. Opi is very happy with his clean house.

Next spring some of us may need to do the front and back yards!

There are lots of photos in the house. All the grandchildren walls, photo books (all in one place now), plus a huge box under the guest room chest of drawers (lots of photos that didn't make it to the books). There are also boxes of negatives in several different places.

We found these photos we don't remember making the family circuit

so we thought we'd share them.

Here we go!

Omi's mother, Anna Fuchs (born Kleinschrodt). I think this is shortly before she died. She died when Omi was about 24, her father died several years later. Omi said she took after her mother for the love of her family, children, animals, and nature. Children and animals even followed her around the town Obernbreit. When their house was bombed in the war, she saved her cat, the family bible and her wedding dress. She was buried in her

wedding dress as was her wish.

End of the picnic, New Haven Conn. Note Uncle Charles is under a year old, so I think this is early 1955 when Opi was still at Yale.

Great Aunt Chris & Great Uncle Carl Schmidt. Aunt Chris & Uncle Carl went extra lengths to make Omi feel at home in a new country. Their children both died of childhood illnesses in the 1920s. Aunt Chris was a kind and nurturing friend to Omi, and an inspiration to others.

After Aunt Chris' husband died she moved to Utah to make friends with her sister, Opi's mother. She called her sister every day - even though the conversation was all about the sister, our grandmother, Mum. She was warm and nurturing to all her sister's grandchildren. Note that Uncle Charles has his photo in the place of honor - on the piano!

This is Honey Girl, Mum's dog (Opi's mother's dog). Uncle Victor & Aunt Christine both loved sitting with her and sharing cookies and dog biscuits - yes the dog & the children ate the cookies AND the dog biscuits.

Kuziel & Cannon Cousins with Opi and Cannon Cats. We were all close to the Kuziels and loved visiting them in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Kuziels in the late 60s. Frank Jr, Martin, Uncle Frank, Wanda, Cindy and Aunt Isabelle. Uncle Frank was of Polish & Austrian background was very kind and a terrific Uncle. Aunt Isabelle many of you know for her gentleness and warm heart.

1965 Birthday party for Mum (Opi's mother), behind her is Pop (our grandfather), and next to Mum is Aunt Christine! Plus some of our dozens of cousins from Opi's 6 brothers and sisters.

Mid 70s visit with Great Aunt Chris, Mum - we were having a snack! Aunt Chris had a goodie cupboard above her kitchen sink where she kept the favorite goodies of all the great nieces and nephews. If you were older and responsible you were tall enough to get the goodies you wanted and share with the younger shorter cousins. There was always ice cream and fixings for sundaes in the freezer! Both Mum & Aunt Chris played piano so Uncle Victor had fun playing duets with them. And they sometimes played duets together.

Baby Rosie in Point Fermin (San Pedro) house. 4029 Carolina Street - check it out on google maps! It was a fun big house with lots of bedrooms, close to the Pacific.

Omi's dog Fifi - Point Fermin

Opi with Grandchildren!

Aunt Christine, as Woglinde visiting Germany 1983

Early 80s visit to Germany. Behind Omi is her sister Anna, to her right is her beloved brother Paul, and on her left is her dear sister in law Greta. The three young women in the back row are Pauls three daughters, Omi's nieces. Omi also had a brother Hans, he fell off a tractor as a young man and had brain damage. But he was very popular and fun - like Omi. The whole town showed up for his funeral. Hans had an apartment in Pauls house, all his family took care and loved Hans. Omi's mother asked Paul to take care of his older brother

for the rest of his life, he did!

1988 Family Party - where in the world are Omi & Opi? Freiberg East Germany.

Omi and Opi having a picnic in Freiberg.

And that brings us to Hillsboro. Opi with one of his bunnies a few years ago.

Love to all, Onkle Viktor & Aunt Christine

Please Pray For My Mom

Hi Everyone, this is Jessica. I think most of you know a little about what has been going on with my mom, I just wanted to do a little update and ask each of you to pray for her.

My Mom's health has been rapidly declining over the last several months, and we're not sure what is going on. We visited in July and she was the worst I have ever seen her. She has dealt with her chronic back pain almost my whole life and I have seen her go through some very hard times, but not like this. While we were there she was collapsing pretty much every time she would stand up, even if it was just to walk down the hall to the bathroom. She would be walking and then all of a sudden without any warning whatsoever her body just goes down hard. Every time I saw this happen it made my heart stop, scared that she would injure herself, break a hip, leg, or cause more damage to her spine. My family says that since our visit the falling has gotten even worse.

Luckily, my Dad was finally able to convince her to use a wheelchair. However she still falls many times a day just taking a few steps to the wheelchair, or sometimes she tries walking to try to keep her back and muscles from completely freezing up and weakening. Those of you know my mom well know how stubborn she is and how hard she has fought to keep a positive attitude and overcome her pain, so it has been very painful and emotionally hard on her to use the wheelchair, like it means she is giving up.

It's not just the falling. She has been dealing with bad stomach pain for nearly two years now, that my parents had written off as an ulcer. But over the past couple of weeks the pain has become unbearable. She finally went to the Dr. and he ordered many, many tests, it may be a bad ulcer but there are other much scarier possibilities. Friday the pain became very intense, my Dad rushed home early from work to bring her to the emergency room where they stayed late into the night. They did many more blood tests, x-rays, and ultrasounds, they found gall stones but we are still waiting on most of the test results.

I home tonight to see how she is today, and my Dad said she seems to be doing worse today. I talked to her for a minute just to tell her that I love her, and she tried talking to me but she was so quiet I couldn't hear or understand her.

I am scared, and I am worried about my mom. My family is scared. Please pray for her and send her your love. I know that she is not up to talking, but she needs to feel everyone's love and kindness right now.

Thank You!

Love,
Jessica

EVERYONES PLEASE PRAY FOR JACKSON BARTHOLET AND JILLIAN BURTON;

*Our fun and super handsome little Jack has some kind of an awful infection in his body that has sent his white blood cell count much too high! So Laurel said they put him on a 10 day course of a very strong antibiotic and then they'll wait about a week and retake his blood work.

*Our sweet little Jilli is scheduled on Sept.2nd to have an MRI on her brain and also a EEG (electro encephalogram) As hard as this is for us, hopefully we'll get some answers.

Everyone please keep Jackson and Jillian in your thoughts and especially in your prayers. I believe in the power of prayer just like our Mother and Omi did!
Love to you all ~Melody~

LET'S ALL SHARE AND PRAY FOR EACHOTHER; WE NEED OUR FAMILY LOVE AND PRAYERS!

~I realized today that our Cannon Family has had too many very serious medical scares that we should all be aware of:

~ Our wonderful brother,uncle & *FRIEND*... BILL had to have heart surgery in S.L.C. Utah about a month or so ago and I (melody) did'nt even know. We all wish him a heart felt recovery and send him lots of hugs and prayers,we love you lots Bill!(most hugs from me)

And to you our dear sweet Christine, we all love you so much and are sending all our hugs your way too! (Of course I love you the most.)

~ I'm sure all of you know about our *PRECIOUS LAURELS* ongoing health trials and fears!

Laurel we all love and adore you and want you to fall asleeep every night knowing that we're all thinking about you and praying for you.We all know there is no one in this world with the faith and the courage like our Laurel and Russ. We love you both, You really are such a beautiful example to all of us!

(I really love you my boombanner.)

~ I just heard the other day from Isabelle that My/Our Amazing brother, uncle *HERO*etc. CHARLES has been having a very tough time again from all of his"toxic" medicines he had to take to get rid of his tumor. We're so sorry!

He broke a couple ribs about a month ago and Dad just told me tonight that he broke some more, so he needs to go in for a bunch of more medical tests.

We all love you so, so much Charles and wish we could all be there to hold your hand and feed you some yummy food. We'll all be with you in our hearts and in our prayers though.

(You know I love you the most.)

~ Our sweet little precious *JILLIAN* has been having increasingly "scary episodes" with her head banging, biting herself, kicking till bones break! They've become so violent we've been having to video tape them for the doctors. We're very, very worried and would be so, so grateful for all of your support and prayers.(I love you my sweet baby girl)

~ I also found out on facebook that our sweet *FOWLER FAMILY* all got the yucky, awful swine flu/H1N1!!!! I know! Thank goodness they're all o.k.! Our lovely ROSIE did break a couple ribs coughing so hard though...we're so sorry! We all love you guys! (especially me)

~ Several days ago I went on Rik and Eva's blog and my heart stopped when I read that our sweet beautiful *EVA* that we all love and adore had a very, very, very serious scare with her life!

When I read what Rik wrote on their blog with tears rolling down my face, all I could think was thank you MOM, thank you OMI for guiding Rik to finally get her to that hospital!

We are all so grateful that we get to have you here with us and slowly recovering. We love you EVA. We love you RIK and we love you little FIN! (of course I do the most) You are all in our prayers and I know that Omi is your "special gaurdian angel" watching over you ... she promised us she would be!

~ So I guess I'm asking and hoping that all of us will please try to become a little closer as an extended family and share our good times and also even share our harder times. Because we're a family and we really do all love and care about eachother very, very much and these are the times when we need eachother most!

And we're not just any family..... we're *THE CANNON FAMILY*.... and we promised mom and omi that we would!

~Lots of hugs and kisses to everyone of you fom me. You all mean so much to me in my life~

~Melody~ xo xo

BURTON FAMILY PICTURES WITH OPI... LOTS OF FUN!

I'll always be my "Daddy's little girl"

Now that's one great looking 85 yr. old man!

James 14yrs.old with his awesome Opi

All the handsome guys!

*FAMILIES REALLY ARE FOREVER*

*look how cute Dad is in his 501 jeans

Opi climbed up on the really high ledge....CHUCKLING!

WE ALL LOVE YOU SO MUCH OPI...THANKS FOR BEING A PART OF OUR BURTON FAMILY!

Jason is finally home from Ethiopia for a little visit!

Opi and Jason...wonderful friends!

Jason we all love you so so much...especially your Mom!

~We Love You Sweet Omi~

We all miss you so much...especially on you birthday!

You really are the sweetest, most loving woman we all have ever known!

We feel so blessed that we get to be your; children and grandchildren forever and ever!

~WE LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH AND MISS YOU EVERY SINGLE DAY~

ICH LIEBE DICH XO XO XO XO

Happy Birthday Omi!

Happy Birthday sweet Omi!  We sure do miss you!  We wanted to celebrate your life on your birthday... because you are the apple of our eye :)

We had a pretty display of pink snowballs on top of chocolate doughnuts, and then topped off with real whipped cream... yummy!

We all made a wish :)

then mom made a deliciously, creamy strawberry shortcake in your honor!

Omi, we love you and love the legacy you have left us! I want to be just like you someday:) xoxoxo!

Sharing for Mothers Day 2009

Congratulations Moms!  These are some pictures I have.  A few were in Charles' 2000 family reunion photo CD.   Love to you all, Viktor Onkle.

1941 Elfriede with her mother Anna on the haywagon.  Grandfather Adam Fuchs is leading his beloved horses.  

Oma Anna was always followed by animals, her cat, dogs, lambs, cows - they just followed her through the town streets to the pastures.  Your Omi loved her kind, considerate, hard working mother.   After the 1945 bombings burned the house, she had everyone go out to the fields to fill in the bomb holes and start planting while they lived in the basement below the burned out house.

The barns were also bombed and all the animals (horses, cows, chickens, pigs) burned too.  Opa Adam's hair turned white overnight. 

In 1939 Elfriede's favorite german shepard was drafted into the Nazi army.  She just told me a couple years ago how heart broken she was as a young girl to loose her favorite dog.

Spring 1950 - with nephew Gerd Beck (I'm just a couple months away!).   One reason Opa married Omi was this - Omi was popular with all the children in town.  They would all follow her through town, singing and dancing... 

Baby Victor - Omi talked for years about the beautiful robe Opi got her for the hospital!

Sitting with new baby Victor & nephew Gerd.  When Omi's sister Helene was badly wounded in 1945, Omi helped raise Gerd in Fuerth.  Opi met Omi in Fuerth LDS meeting.  Helene's husband Georg was LDS, Helene converted when she married Georg.

German and American LDS families go for an outing 1951.

Helene on left, husband Georg, nephew Gerd, Omi, Victor baby, Opi.  All in an amercan car, I think Omi said it was a Lincoln.

And the whole well dressed group picks flowers.  Mind you this is only 6 years after the 

war ended.  And yes, Omi's sister Helene has her Sunday arm on (she lost her arm in the 1945 bombing)

Taking a Sunday walk - again, well dressed Germans & American.

Winter 1952 - check out the hat!  yes Omi told me these were fur coats.

1953 Summer in New Haven - nice summer outfits.

1954 Sunday dinner with Opi's mother Phyllis (Gilbert) Cannon.  This is a good picture of Mum, and yes she fed her collie Honey Girl at the table.  Honey Girl often sat on the porch with me, I would give her my cookies in trade for her dog biscuits.  Omi found us once, and was a bit upset.  But the dog loved to share.

Easter 1956 - well dressed egg hunters.

About 1963 - Opis Parents Mum & Pop got out of the New Haven cold and visited us in California.  Boy they loved it - I remember Mum laughing as she took her shoes off at the beach.

I think this was about 1962.  Opi's youngest brother Chick was in the navy - he frequently visited us in California.  It was fun, he'd take us all to his ship on visiting day.

This is about 1966, Centerville.  We're all here with Opi's brother Gilbert (on the left, his wife must have taken the photo), our cousin Loralee (next to Victor) and Opi's Aunt Chris (Mum's sister).  Aunt Chris was a warm, caring and close friend to Omi, she made Omi feel at home in the U.S. from the day she arrived.  Aunt Christine is named after Opi's Aunt Chris.

This is the early 70's. The three Red Head sisters were singing at the piano.  Rosie Croasdale was helping me play the piano.

2000 family reunion - I like this attempt to get everyone to pose!