I awoke this AM from a dream of a long ago memory ! It was spring 1936, I was a little girl in a pretty ruffled dress at the wedding of my mothers only sister to a man who always smiled ! Tho’ they were both a bit old for the occasion ! Now I believe there must be a reason for the dream, never dreamt of them before ! My Aunt Olga must not be confused with “old” Aunt Olga, this was my godmother, born in a flat on Willow in Hoboken, March 25, 1910, Good Friday. My Pop called her his “hot cross bun”. As a girl she played piano and soloed as a choir soprano in several local churches. Exceedingly ambitious, graduated from Katherine Gibbs, she became a bilingual court stenographer and translator in N.Y. court system. She met her future husband, college graduate and rising “management” at Hanover Bank downtown. Of course their “paradise” ended with Pearl Harbor, as Selective Service rapidly drafted 1 A’s, single, married, no children, college degree, those on the edge of age 38, before they avoided draft eligibility. My uncle was fluent in English, German and French, he became part of the cadre of those administering justice and prosecution of war crimes, an experience from which he never truly recovered ! My aunt became the companion and driver of Anne Morrow Lindbergh when she lived in New Jersey years ago and loved her job. They worked hard, were kind and loving, sharing a long life together, entering the Bergen Pines Veteran’s Home where they both died in late 90’s. Rare indeed, yes? The greatest generation !!
Sincerely, Claire B.
Claire V. Bogdanos 