My Parents - My Super Heroes! Amazing Lives During Extraordinary Times
Hanna and Josef spent the last 25 years of their lives as well-respected business people in a suburban community just outside of Munich. Having raised 3 children and having worked hard all their lives, they were ready to retire. The business was sold, and soon afterwards my parents died.
I love my parents more than ever before. Literally. Here's more of our story...
My Mother - As A Little Girl In Vienna
My Mother - Johanna Nowak
A single child...
Mom was born in 1922, in Vienna, Austria. As an apprentice in her mother's business - she learned the milliner trade. Hatmaker, modiste - there are probably not many more of them around. Vienna was and is a very fashion-conscious city and my grandmother's business was successful until the war destroyed everything. But the war also brought German soldiers into town, and that changed my mother's life significantly. My Dear Parents
Mom, Dad and Kids...
My Father - Josef Thiemermann
A middle child of seven siblings!
Dad was born in 1914, in Leinefelde, a small town in an area that would become the Russian-occupied East Germany, for 40 years after the war's end.At age 14, my father joined a working band as an apprentice for clarinet and saxophone. He took classes during the day and played gigs at night.
During WWII, he fought at the Northern front, mostly in Finland and Norway, where he got injured and returned home to Germany and Austria. He spent the last year of the war playing in marching bands at events in those two countries, whose "unification" was in progress at that time.
My dad's youngest sister died from an illness at age 19. Two of his brothers were killed on the Russian front.
One day in 1944, Josef's band participated in a parade in Vienna, when he caught the attention of a beautiful lady on the side lines...
My Dad On The Alto Sax - Second From Right...
Falling In Love In Vienna...
I believe it was spring time...
I was born in 1949, in Munich - and Lane became my godfather.
Thirty years later, I emigrated to Texas myself and married Lane's daughter Susan. In the picture below you see Lane, Steffi, and their children Susan and Victor - back home in Texas during the 1960s.
27 years later, I found Squidoo.com - but that's a whole 'nuther story...
Timeline Of My Superheroes' Lives
They never gave up!
- 1930 - 1940
Growing up in two countries in between two wars - WWI ended in 1918. Mom became a hatmaker and dad learned to be a musician. Dad's family ran a small farm and produced their own produce and meats. I remember the wonderful sausages I got to taste, years later. The picture shows my father's parents.
- 1940 -1950
My parents met and got married, but my mother encountered difficulties in leaving Nazi-occupied Austria. She had to flee and cross the border river at night. Then she spent weeks traveling in cramped freight trains to reach Munich - a trip that today takes 3 hours by car on the autobahn.
My mother started a neighborhood hatmaking business from their first small apartment in Munich. She also bought a special small machine and repaired stockings during long night hours. My father worked as a door-to-door salesman for soaps, a worker in a rubber factory (which ruined part of his health), and a part-time musician at night. - 1950 - 1960
This picture shows my mother, her parents, me and my sister Doris.
My mother's dad was a skilled carpenter. He helped to build our first retail store by dividing a room of our 2-bedroom apartment and breaking through a wall to create a separate entrance door for our customers. Mom expanded the business and offered notions, textiles and fashions in our tiny store.
Dad finally found steady employment as a civil servant for the Department of Justice. He slowly phased out his musician gigs and focused on keeping the business books for the store. There were no computers back then, and everything had to be entered and calculated by hand into thick volumes of ledgers. - 1970 - 1980
We moved the business into a large retail space located in a heavily-trafficked area of our suburban community. Meanwhile, both of my sisters and 1-2 part-time employees worked for the store. By 1979, my father had reached his retirement age and my parents decided to sell the business. Neither one of my sisters wanted to take over the store, and I was by that time already established in my activities as a record producer and arranger. The sale brought in a few thousand dollars, not nearly enough to compensate for the sheer amount of labor and health sacrifices invested by my parents. Nevertheless, mom and dad decided to leave their work life behind and enjoy their senior years by relaxing and gardening in our little weekend place in the country. It didn't work out that way.
In September of 1979, my father died of a massive heart attack, at age 65. My mother moved into an assisted living home and died nine years later of a heart attack in her sleep, also at age 65.
Dad - "The Life Of Every Party" And Gardener; ----- Mom With Her Mom (Oma)
My Dad Knew How To Entertain His Guests!
He was truly the life of many parties...
I honor his legacy by demonstrating this hilarious game of speed and deception to my annual guests at the Driftwood Lodge in Alaska.
The Rooster
Chef Keem entertains his Alaskan lodge guests weekly with this hilarious game of speed, deception, and potential loss of hearing. After 5 seasons of performances, the "rooster" remains "unslapped".
curated content from YouTube
My Parents would be proud of my new candy creation...
Espresso Sea Salt Caramels Truffles!
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Espresso Sea Salt Caramel Truffles - My Best Candy Ever.
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Raving reviews of "Chef Keem's Espresso Sea Salt Caramel Truffles!" Here's why they are better than any other sea salt caramels on the market: I cook a rich and smooth "dulce de leche" caramel from scratch and flavor it with intense Mexican Vanilla i...
My Parents Loved Music!
These were some of their favorite artists...
Glenn Miller's All Time Greatest Hits
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Live at the Royal Albert Hall
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Classic Sinatra: His Greatest Performances 1953-1960
Release Date: 03/28/2000
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Twilight of the Gods: The Essential Wagner Collection
Release Date: 08/11/1998
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Der Oktoberfest Hit-Mix
Release Date: 01/30/2007
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Dealing With Germany's Past...
These books are extremely relevant today!
Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS
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As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Escape from a Siberian Labor Camp and His 3-Year Trek to Freedom
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Attacks
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My Father's Country: Story of a German Family
Release Date: 05/06/2008
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On Hitler's Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood (P.S.)
Release Date: 01/31/2006
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Blog Posts On "Honoring Parents"
- Ramban on the Torah: Honoring Parents and the Ten Commandments
- Many question the placement of the commandment to honor parents in the first half of the asseret hadibrot. Assuming the dibrot divide evenly between commandments between man and God and interpersonal mitzvot, why does honoring parents ...
- Freedom from toxic people: Honoring Abusive, Evil, Toxic ...
- Honoring Parents, and other commands like do not divorce, etc. were written in the absence of abuse, or more accurately stated, the absence of evil. God is love and He is good, therefore, what He has to say pertains to those who are ...
- Honoring the Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners « Read More ...
- Honoring the Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners. By Parents' Choice. For more than 40 years, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards have encouraged the artistic expression of the African American experience through literature and graphic ...
- Should I Get a Christian Tattoo (Even If My Parents Don't Like It ...
- The command to honor father and mother never ends. It is part of the holy will of God, and is applicable to every person, regardless of age. When you're ninety, you'll still have an obligation to honor your parents, even if only in ...
Please visit my new website ChefKeem.com...
Hilarious cooking (and other) videos and some seriously good recipes!
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They're watching everything we do here on Squidoo...
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- LotusPetalYoga LotusPetalYoga Jan 11, 2010 @ 12:28 pm
- Wonderful and inspirational story of love and kindness, and the ability to do great things. Thank you for sharing.
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- OhMe OhMe Oct 18, 2009 @ 3:54 am
- Just popping back to this wonderful lens to tell you Thank You for all you did to make me feel welcomed the first few months on Squidoo. I also wanted to Bless this great lens so Thank you and Blessed!
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- Shelly Shelly Oct 5, 2009 @ 10:41 pm
- What a wonderful telling you have here--a love story (actually 3), danger, intrigue, saddness, joy--and a great belly laugh at your performance of "The Rooster! You have a rich heritage!
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- foreverme foreverme Sep 29, 2009 @ 3:02 pm
- Very enjoyable! I really enjoyed the family history.
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- Sep 21, 2009 @ 8:52 pm
- Hi Mom and Dad! I'm sure you're well aware of your more than awesome offspring down here, carrying on with the good work. See you on the other side. Love Darcie
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We are told that most alcoholics never make it into recovery. They die prematurely - in car accidents, from liver and heart diseases, or a variety of other related causes. Of those who find the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous or similar institutions of...
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We met online, in January of 2006. In May, we moved together into a new Austin, Texas apartment. In August, I married my wife and my superhero at a remote fishing lodge in Alaska. Soon, we'll celebrate our second anniversary. In this lens I will tel...
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Superhero Squidoo
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As part of her Squidoo Superheroes project for charity, Anne Reidy asked me to profile someone who inspires, who leads, who makes a difference. This was a surprisingly easy choice. The Acumen Fund is patient capital. They invest money in companies r...
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