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The Thumb's Christmas

  Our daughter, Anne, was a prolific artist when she was young. Our refrigerator door was full of her drawings, paintings, and school artwork. She liked to create little books, too, as she was also a natural storyteller. One Christmas when she was about eight years old, Anne wrote and illustrated a Christmas story for her little brother, James. If memory serves, she drew her inspiration from a book she had recently gotten from the library by illustrator Ed Emberley. He wrote and illustrated The Great Thumbprint Drawing Book . In it, Emberley showed how to make a variety of animals and people using a thumbprint as a starting point. The creations are simple and charming. It's amazing what you can do with a blog of ink and a few black lines. It's art that's accessible to anyone. Anne's story is called "The Thumb's Christmas," and is based on our family. There is a thumb with glasses (Anne), a thumb with little hair (toddler James), a thumb with a mustache (Ji...
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More Travels and Photos with the Little Lady on the Move


Uh-oh. I made a blooper. Apparently Grandma's chronology of Mom's travels were continued under the heading "The First Merry Xmas," beginning with December 19, 1937, in her Baby Days book. Thinking they were only about Mom's first Christmas, I mistakenly skipped over the entries for Dec. 19, 1937-March 13, 1938. This is a catch-up post; I'll finish up the final pages in a future post.

More of my Mom's outings and travels beginning late 1937 into early 1938, noted by my grandmother Margaret Simonik Kozlina.1



Dec. 19 Went to Connellsville & Grandma & Grandpas & back home.
Christmas Day Went to St. Mary’s Church & Grandma & Grandpas & back home, stayed home, Daddy had to work.
Dec. 25, 1937
Rec’d Coat & Hood Set frm Aunt Ann
“ Dress “ “ Mgt. & Uncle Steve
Dec. 26 Went to St. John’s Church, Grandmas & Grandpas & then to a party in Daddy’s place & back home.

“Daddy’s place” was a bar that Grandpa Thomas Kozlina ran for several years before he, Grandma, and the family moved to Cleveland. It was called Tommy’s Place and was located in Continental No. 2 in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

This ad for Grandpa Kozlina's tavern Tommy's Place ran on 30 December 1937.2


Dec. 28 Went to Dr. then to show & then to Mrs. Romeo’s, Aunt Mgt’s & Uncle Steve’s & back home.
Jan. 2, 1938 Went to St. Mary’s Church, back home, then to Lemont, then to show in Masontown, kuma’s Balaban’s place back to Lemont and home.

Kuma translates to godmother in Croatian. Mom’s godmother was Anna Kozlina, Grandpa’s sister, so I’m not sure who Kuma Balaban is. Perhaps the family used the term kuma as an honorific for other close lady friends or relatives.3

Jan 6, 1938 Went to town, Aunt Mgts’ & Uncle Steve’s & back home.
Jan. 9, 1938 “ “ St. John’s Church, Amateur Hour at State Theater Lemont & back home.

Amateur Hour was a radio variety show broadcast from the State Theatre in Uniontown. It was sponsored by Cohen’s Furniture Company in Uniontown, which often held various promotional giveaways and contests.


Part of a Cohen's advertisment, noting a refrigerator giveaway and Cohen's Amateur Hour.4

Jan. 16, 1938 “ “ “ “ , Fairchance Andy Shurley’s, Lemont & back home.
Jan. 23, 1938 Aunt Mgt’s & Uncle Steves, Mr. & Mrs. Zwitt’s place to see Mrs. Petish, Lemont & back home.
Jan. 30, 1938 I got my picture taken, then went to Lemont & back home.
Jan. 31, 1938 Went to see Doc. & did some shopping & back home.
Feb. 13, 1938 “ Lemont & back home.
Feb. 20, 1938 “ Connellsville, Lemont, town to get my picture taken, Uncle Steve’s & Aunt
Mgt.’s, Lemont & back home.

The sweet photo of Mom (above) is the one mentioned in the 20 February 1938 entry, taken when she was about four months old. It was later published in a local newspaper (below) in a clipping kept by the family.5



Feb. 21, 1938 Went to town & came back home.
Feb. 22, 1938 over Gmitters to see Sonny Chirepko.

The Gmitters were related to the Simonik family by marriage. Grandma Kozlina’s sister Josephine married Andrew Kendro; his grandmother was Anna Gmiter Buranovsky. Grandma’s parents had Gmitter neighbors in North Union, Fayette County, and apparently rented a house to them in the 1940s and 1950s, noted in Anna Simonik’s 1950 probate info.6

Feb. 27, 1938 Went Lemont, Uncle Steve’s & Aunt Mgt.’s, Franklin Hall, Lemont & back home. I got my pictures, I was 4 mos. old.
Mar. 6, 1938, Went to St. Mary’s Church, Aunt Mgt’s & Uncle Steve’s, back home, Lemont & back home.
Mar. 7, 1938 Went to town to see Doc. & came back home.
Mar. 13, 1938 “ “ St. Mary’s Church (had Missions), Aunt Mgt.’s & Uncle Steve’s, back home then to Lemont & back home. Rec’d a Sacred Heart Pin frm Aunt Ann from the missions at Lemont.

A mission was an intensive period of prayer, sermons, and services usually held over several days or evenings, intended to revitalize a church congregation. Roman Catholic missions were typically run by visiting priests, and held outside normal services like Mass.


Until next time...

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NOTES

1 Baby Days, baby book presented by Katherine Kurutz to Anna Margaret Kozlina's family, ca. 1937; privately held by Nancy Gilbride Casey, [address for private use,] Tioga, Texas, 2023. Book inherited by author from her mother Anna Kozlina Gilbride, 2010.

2 "Dance Tonight," Uniontown (Pennsylvania) Morning Herald, 30 December 1937, p. 2, col. 4; digital image, NewspaperArchive (https://access.newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/uniontown/uniontown-morning-herald/1937/12-30/page-2/ : 5 June 2023).

3 Google Translate, "kuma," Croatian "godmother," (https://translate.google.com/?sl=hr&tl=en&text=kuma%0A&op=translate : 5 June 2023). Also: St. John's Church, Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Certificate of Baptism for Anna Margaret Kozlina, 21 November 1937, naming George Salinger and Anna Kozlina as godparents. Original certificate in possession of Nancy Gilbride Casey, Tioga, TX, inherited from her mother Anna Margaret Kozlina Gilbride, 2010.

4 Cohen's Founder's Sale advertisement, The Morning Herald (Uniontown, Pennsylvania), 28 January 1938, p. 15; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-herald-cohens-ad/125894698/ : 5 June 2023).

5 Anna Margaret Kozlina, 28 February 1938, unidentified photographer, Baby Days, baby book presented by Katherine Kurutz to Anna Margaret Kozlina's family, ca. 1937; privately held by Nancy Gilbride Casey, [address for private use,] Tioga, Texas, 2023. Book inherited by author from her mother Anna Kozlina Gilbride, 2010. Also: "Big Girl," clipping from unidentified newspaper; privately held by Nancy Gilbride Casey, [address for private use,] Tioga, Texas, 2023. Inherited by author from her mother Anna Kozlina Gilbride, 2010.

6 Private Kendro Family Tree, managed by ncasey, Ancestry, last modified 23 July 2022.




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