My Visit to My Great-Grandfather Adolph Regenstreich's Grave in Ozone Park, Queens, New York 10-16-15

While I was in New York City for the About.com Expert Event annual conference, I decided to take the time to seek out the grave of my great-grandfather (my father Arthur Schneider's grandfather and his mother, my Grandma Fannie's father).

Adolph Regenstreich

Until recently, all I knew about Adolph Regenstreich was that he was the father who came from Romania of my Grandma Fannie Ragin Schneider.

My Grandma Fannie was one of the youngest of 8 children   The names of Adolph's children were Rachel (always called Ray), Theodore (nickname was Teddy), Molly, Dorothy, Clara, David (Dave), Fannie, and Sidney

The oldest sister was named Ray (short for Rachel) and Ray was actually Grandma's half sister since Adolf's first wife, Golde, died when she was very young.  Adolf remarried Esther after Golde died and Esther, like Adolph, died of tuberculosis when she was very young.  I seem to remember Grandma telling me that her older sister Ray and her other older sister Molly did most of the cooking!

When the siblings (with the exception of Teddy) moved to California, they changed and shortened their last name to Ragin. (My uncle Bobby told my husband that Adolph Regenstreich real name had been Abraham Jacob Levine, but to protect his family, he changed his name to Adolph Regenstreich so he could somehow avoid having to serve in the Romanian-Austrian army since men with Jewish sounding names were drafted first.)

Fannie Ragin (Regenstreich)

Ray's grandaughter, Luci Rollins Janssen, connected with me and my father recently.  She found us after searching through ancestory search websites!

Ray (Rachel) Regenstreich Rollins

During a very recent trip to Luci's home, I was shown a photo of my great-grandfather's gravestone and also given a copy of his death certificate.  He died in 1914 in New York City.

So....early on Friday morning, October 16, 2015, I made a call to find out exactly where in the Acacia Cemetery Adolph Regenstreich was buried.

First I was told abruptly, "Call back Monday," but when I told the person that answered the phone that I would not be in NYC Monday, I received a call from Susan (on her day off) who ran the office at Acacia Cemetery.  Susan "bent over backwards" to help me find my great-grandfather by asking someone named Marcia who was answering the office phones to search for my great-grandfather on the microfiche records. Susan then gave me detailed directions over the phone on how exactly to find Adolf in the very huge cemetery which is the largest Jewish cemetery in New York City!

After I talked to Susan, I got on a subway train in mid-town Manhattan and took a hour plus long subway ride to Ozone Park, Queens.  When I got off the train, I met and linked up with my study partner, Dena Leff, from Partners in Torah (Dena lives about 30 minutes from the Acacia Park cemetery), and together we found Yassir 41 where Adolph Regenstreich was burried. Dena explained that that area was a section of the Acacia cemetary that was for a certain synagogue.

We stepped into a huge space and began searching for Adolph's gravestone.  It seemed like a hopeless thing to do, since there were so many graves in that space.

For a moment, I thought I found the gravestone, but realized the grave I found was for someone named Harry Regenstreich, not Adolph.  (Was Harry a relative?  Maybe...I took a photo of Harry's gravestone which said he was 25 years old when he died in 1902.  My father says that Grandma Fannie's oldest brother Teddy stayed in NYC to take care of a relative or brother...was Harry Regenstreich related to that person?)

I just kept searching and searching and walked by gravestone after gravestone.  I was about to give up, but finally, I found Adolph Regenstreich's stone!  It was huge and was in the very center of Yassir 41, on the left and only 13 spots from the center entry!

I shook when I saw his stone and grave.

Jo Ann and Her Study Partner From Parners in Torah Dena Leff at Jo Ann's Great Grandfather's Grave

After taking many, many photos, Dena read some Hebrew prayers outloud and then she told me that I was supposed to talk to my great-grandfather and tell him about his family, so I began to talk and talk and told my great-grandfather about my Grandma Fannie and I told him all about his other children, Grandma's brothers and sisters, who I got to know well when I lived with Grandma in the late 1970s.




This was a very memorable experience, and was made even "more memorable" because Dena was there.  In the approximately 14 years I've studied with Dena and Partners in Torah, Dena and I have only met face to face three times:  In 2007 when she organized a "Spur of the Moment Bar Mitzvah" for my son Joel, in 2014 when my daughter Annabelle and I attended her daughter Shira's wedding, and on Friday, October 16, 2015 when I visited my great-grandfather's gravesite.  Dena and Partners in Torah made that experience so, so meaningful!  And...all three experiences were the best learning experiences ever!

Before we left, Dena instructed me to put a rock on top of my great-grandfather's gravestone to show that he had been visited.

THE BEST LOST AND FOUND STORY EVER!

For as long as I remember, since I was a child, our family has been used to my dad misplacing things and always finding them.

For my entire life, it seemed like my mom, my dad's secretary, me, my sister, my brother, my kids, my grandmother, my sister-in-law, my brother-in-law, my nieces and nephews, my cousins, and my husband and friends have helped my dad find keys, pens, phones, even cars!, important papers, phone numbers, passwords, electronic devices, books, jackets, .....etc...the list goes on and on.....we are used to it...

Of course, my dad always finds everything he temporarily misplaces...

Today was the BEST Lost and Found Story EVER!

My dad misplaced his Kindle reader and looked in what he described as "All the Usual Places." It seemed to be gone, but he was determined to find the device and retraced his steps over and over again.

Finally, he went to a bench in a public place where he'd been reading and didn't see the device when he arrived there, but thought he'd ask the man that was now sitting on the bench if he'd seen the reader.

The man promptly pulled the device out of his bag and told my dad he'd just put the device in his bag hoping that the rightful owner would return to the bench and ask if he'd found it. The man who was sitting on the bench explained he had decided to wait at the bench protecting the device rather than leave the reader out in the open for someone to take.

What an amazing story and also this proves there are still honest people in this world! And...my dad has his reader tonight and continues to enjoy reading the books on it!

Valley House 1960 and 2015

The first house my family owned was in Canoga Park, California. Here's a photo of the way it looked then in 1960 and the way it looks now in 2015!

I Have a Feeling That My Family Doesn't Fit In "Little Boxes"....

Two weeks ago, on August 19, 2015, my husband, Dan, and I, took our daughter Rebekah to college. We did the usual "parent thing." We moved her into the dorms, went to the new student-parent weekend, and hugged Rebekah good-bye as she began her new life and adventure as a college student and freshman.

Well...that was not meant to be.

 A week later, Rebekah realized she'd chosen the wrong college for herself, for her future, and for her passions.  She withdrew from Colorado Western State University on Friday, August 28, and on Saturday, August 29, Dan and Annabelle drove to Gunnison (while I was away in Lake Placid) and brought Rebekah home.

By Tuesday, Rebekah had lined up an interview, and instead of spending this year living in a college dorm and doing the "liberal arts college student thing," she will be doing an internship at the Colorado Springs Conservatory, developing her musical talents and acting skills, teaching young kids at The Conservatory, and she also has been chosen for a lead role in two plays at The Mezzanine!

Rebekah will eventually go to a college or university that is right for her. It will be one where she can follow her passions.  The Conservatory is committed to helping her meet that goal.

This experience has made me realize that the Schneider-Farris family and the way I brought up my children in a unschool-homeschool-skating lifestyle means we do not fit into "Little Boxes".....

 

Little Boxes

Words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1962

Sung by Pete Seeger

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same

Rebekah Goes Off to College! 8-19-15

Dan and I took Rebekah to college this week! She's going to Colorado Western State University in Gunnison (and there is an ice rink across the street from the school!) She is looking forward to doing a bunch of outdoor things and is so grown up and mature and ready!  We are so proud of her!

Help! My Husband's 87 Year Old Uncle Has Been Tricked and Is Trapped at Villa St. Francis Nursing Home in Kansas City, Kansas!

Can a person be forced against their will to stay in a nursing home?

Two weeks ago, my husband and his brothers and cousins saw their Uncle Ben Farris and his wife Alma.

Alma and Ben took a short trip from their home in Visalia, California to see Ben's family in southern California and were told that Ben and Alma would be moving to Kansas so that Alma could be closer to her daughter.  Ben was told he'd be living with his wife and her family.  They were excited about beginning a new life near Alma's family.  All seemed fine.

A week later, Ben and Alma arrived in Kansas, but instead of being taken to his wife's family's house, Ben was taken to a nursing home called Villa St. Francis against his will!  Before he knew it, he was trapped there.

A day or so later, Ben called his nephew and asked if he could come and get him out of the place since he described conditions that were "more than horrible."

The nephew promptly went to Kansas City, but when Ben and and Dan's cousin tried to leave, the police were called.  Apparently, a doctor has put in writing that Ben is incompetent!

Ben is being held as a prisoner at Villa St. Francis and against his will and against the wishes of his family!

Dan and his family just saw Ben, and Ben is certainly not incompetent.  He's 87 years old, and fine. There has been some instances of short term memory loss, but nothing to justify the incompetent declaration!  Also, apparently Ben uses a walker to help him walk and is not able to drive.

It seems that Villa St. Francis Nursing Home in Kansas is holding 87 year old Ben Farris against his will!  

In addition, Ben is now not allowed to receive calls or visits from his family (except from his wife Alma Farris and his step-daughter Susan).

Ben is totally isolated and has been left alone.  He says there is nothing to do except watch TV and eat meals at this place and is very bored.

The whole thing is horrible and it is hard to believe his wife allowed this to happen!

It seems to be that Ben was tricked by his own wife Alma Farris and his wife's family!

I have heard his wife and step daughters's family are now trying to sell Ben's house and take all his money away from him too.

A lawyer has been hired, but apparently the lawyer has been not been able to do much.  While Ben rots there in a place that is like a prison, he could die!    

I've seen what goes on in some nursing homes, and the conditions are sometimes worse than what existed in work houses in England.

My husband's family wants their uncle out of this place soon.

HELP!

Miracle Photo...8-7-15

Those who have known me and Dan for many years know that this photo represents a miracle (and answered prayers)!!!!