Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Here's The Whole Story As Told By My Father, Deceased At 82 In 1996...
You're looking at a photo of an article from The John's Hopkins Journal dated Spring, 1981. I can't read it either. There's a story here, so I'm going to copy all the letters that went back and forth leading up to this being printed. This is going to be a long blog, probably the only one I'm going to post in October. It explains who our end of the family is better than I can though, which is a big relief...
From: Stanley E. Blumberg, Director, Johns Hopkins University, Office of Alumni Relations, Baltimore, Maryland, August 21,1980
Mr. Richard Stollenwerck, 186 Avenue Victor Hugo, 75116, Paris, France
Dear Mr. Stollenwerck,
You may remember that we almost met in Paris two years ago, when you were unable to accept my invitation to be the luncheon guest of our alumni tour. We had a great time, by the way, so much so that we were able to repeat the event when university president Muller visited Paris last summer.
This communication is far removed from that occasion and may be the most bizarre you have received in many a day. Upon receipt of the enclosed letter, our very best sleuthing leads to an Edward Stollenwerck. He attended Hopkins from 1907 to 1911, ran the 440-yard event in 1908, and died in 1925. He was probably one of three brothers who were undergraduates here during the early 1900's, Guy and Frank being the others.
I have no idea if you are part of the same family, but you are our best prospect by far. The medal is your to claim.
From: Mrs. R.D. Mongomery, 2618 Lincoln Avenue, Richmond, VA 23228, No Date
Athletic association, Johns Hopkins Unversity, Baltimore, MD
Gentlemen:
Some years ago I found a medal (xerox enclosed), dated 1908 and engraved "400 Yds Run."
For further indentification, the R does not carry the final downstroke.
For several weeks, I inquired at our Westhampton Post Office, since the medal was found in the parking lot, in the event some one may have called there for the medal. I, also, watched our local papers for several weeks.
When these efforts proved unsuccessful, I stored the medal in a far corner of my desk, where it remained these ten years.
When I uncovered the item the other day, a co-worker suggested writing to your office with the possibility of tracing the family of the medal's owner.
If you have information leading to some one in the Richmond area, I shall be pleased to make contact. It is a lovely medal and should be in the pssession of family members.
I do regret not having contacted you when I found the medal-just did not think of writing to you.
Thank you for your help.
...I'd like to know what Blumberg meant by sleuthing. My guess is they went to the 1908 440 Yard Run track and field records and found out who competed. Then they matched those names to the same names of alumni on the books in 1980. If a running teammate had the name Smith for example, all the 1980 Smith alumini got the same letter from Blumberg. Just guessing...
From: Richard Stollenwerck, Paris, France, September 16, 1980
Mr. Stanley E. Blumberg, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Dear Mr. Blumberg,
Thank you for your intriguing letter of August 21 which I found on my return from summer vacation.
It may be pure coincidence, but my father's name is Edward Carroll Stollenwerck. He was born in Baltimore and his father died when he was just 11 years old.
So the long lost medal may have belonged to my grandfather, although I have no idea whether he attended Johns Hopkins or ran the 440-yard event. How the medal wound up 72 years later in a Westhampton parking lot is totally beyond me.
I am taking the liberty of forwarding your letter together with the note from Mrs. Montgomery to my father in the States who, I asume, will be able to solve the mystery.
My grandmother, incidentally, is still alive and will be 90 years old soon. If the medal does indeed turn out to be her husband's, she will be absolutely thrilled to claim it.
Thank you for getting in touch with me and please let's do get together the next time you're in Paris.
From: Edward C. Stollenwerck, Dorsett, Vermont, October 17, 1980
Mr. Stanley E. Blumberg, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Dear Mr. Blumberg,
The enclosed letter is self-explanatory but I do want you to know how appreciative we are of you efforts in this matter. I guess it's a small world, as they say.
Incidentally, the brothers were Edward Carroll, the eldest, and Guy Victor. Frank was a cousin. All are deceased.
Many thanks for your interest and help with kindest regards.
Enlosed letter from Edward Stollenwerck, Dorsett, Vermont, October 17, 1980
Mrs. Montgomery,
You recently wrote a letter to the Athletic Association of Johns Hopkins University about a medal you found some ten years ago in the parking lot of the Westhampton Post Office.
Johns Hopkins forwarded your letter to my son, Richard who has worked and lived in Paris for some ten years and who received his MA degree through the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He was contacted because the alumni records showed him to be the only graduate probably living and possibly related to three individuals named Stollenwerck (Frank, Guy , and Edward) who attended Hopkins in the early 1900's.
Hopkins' records show that Edward attended the college from 1907-1911, ran the 440-yard event in 1908 and died in 1925.
At least part of the mystery can be stated as solved because Edward Stollenwerck was my father and, of course, Richard's grandfather whom he never knew. As a matter of fact he died when I was 10 so I hardly knew him myself.
But you might be interested in hearing a bit about him. His family settled in what is now known as Selma, Alabama before it became a state. He and his parents moved to the Baltimore area after his birth in Selma. At Hopkins he was a stellar athelete playing football and lacrosse and holding Southern Conference records in sprints. He also was extremely musical and I vaguely recall having seen a Hopkins song book which carried his name as a contibutor of music, if not words, to several of the songs.
He was an immensely popular man with many talents but with it came the inabiltiy to drink and thus he died an alchoholic in his early thirties.
His wife, my Mother, was born and raised on the Maryland Eastern Shore in Chestertown where sho lives at the present time. She is 87 and a couple of years ago renovated and moved into a house in Chestertown into which her grandmother went as a sixteen year old bride 150 years ago. She continues in good health and was amazed at your find--and very appreciative of your kindness as evidenced by this generous effort of yours.
My Mother had no idea how the medal may have reached Virginia and, in fact, the memory of any medals at all escapes her. However, my Mother's baby sister (76) and I both remember way, way back either a shoebox or a cigarbox containing a pretty sizable number of medals won by my father. I suppose that in moves made from, say, 1925 over the next several decades the box, if in fact there was one, could have been lost or misplaced, if, indeed, it would be the kind of thing which would be held on to at all over the years.
So the mystery of it's being in Virginia I guess will never be solved.
I am very conscious of the fact that considerable time has lapsed since your original letter was posted. How long it stayed at Hopkins before it was sent to Paris I don't know. But in France my son was away on vacation on its arrival and after he sent it off to me here in Vermont I then was away and thus the embarassing delay in reply to your generous offer to make the medal available to now family members.
If the offer still stands, I would be very happy if you could send it to the above Florida address where I will be by the end of next week. I have there the only substantial evidence of my Mother and father and my early life together (I being an only child) through a scrapbook carefully put together in World War 1 concerning their lives in the Army in which he was an aerial gunnery instructor. I will incorporate your letter, copies of which are enclosed for you, and the medal into the scrapbook with the hope that it proves less errant than the medal collection.
Incidentally, my Father's full name was Edward Carroll Stollenwerck and was nicknamed Stoney. That nickname must be catching because his sister Alice was also called Stoney as am I and each of my sons, Richard and James.
Many, many thanks for everything. I do wish it were possible for me to thank you personally face to face. For this in the future I will keep my fingers crossed.
...My father was 66 when he wrote this letter, not too old. He was retired though, and had been for over ten years. He had a lot of time on his hands and I remember him looking for things to do. This letter writing project following up on the medal was perfect. It shows he writes in plain talk and is easy to understand. He makes sense. I think he should have done more of it. Mrs. Montgomery returned a short typwritten note of acknowledgement mentioning she was a secratary to the editor of her Baptist state paper and her husband Ray was with a local auto concern. But wait, there's more...
From: Stanley Blumberg, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Maryland , December 1, 1981
Dear Mr. Stollenwerck,
Pardon my tardy reply to your gracious letter of Oct. 17. Considering it's amazing contents, I should have responded much sooner.
Actually, my neglect has not been total. I have mentioned the bizarre series of events to many people, including the editors of the Johns Hopkins Journal. With your permission, they and I would like very much to do a story in the Spring issue. In fact, if at all possible with the principals concerned, we should like to arrange a get-together either in Baltimore or Chestertown with appropriate press coverage.
In connecting with either prospect, will you kindly provide answers to the following questions:
1. Has Mrs. Montgomery returned the medal to you?
2. Would you and your mother approve of the type of publicity I have suggested?
3. Could your mother come to Baltimore?
Many thanks for getting back to me at your earliest convenience.
From: E.C. Stollenwerck, Hobe Sound, Florida, December 10, 1980
Dear Mr. Blumberg,
I think it is a great idea if the following information continues to make it practical.
1st: Mrs. Montgomery did send the medal per the enclosed copy of her letter transmittal.
2nd: I would approve of the publicity and I presume my mother would have no objection.
3rd: My Mother could not come to Baltimore and I feel that practically she would not bring anything to the table anyway. My Father's death took place in 1925 and she was married twice afterward. Her third marriage was for about forty years up to the time of her husband's death . Furthermore, she never lived in the past at any time and I am convinced she has few if any contributory recollections of her marriage to my Father. As to his undergraduate life at Hopkins, I am sure she never knew him at that time. At least the only college she ever mentioned in connection with her youth is the Navel Academy where she hung out a lot. Therefore, if I were you I would stick with Mrs. Montgomery, me and, if you wish, my son Richard.
I go monthly to visit my Mother in Chestertown and could easily come or go via Baltimore. If you wished to do so, the last week in January might be a good time all around. I am having a cateract operation on the 6th or I would make it earlier. At any rate, let me know if I should put anything down on my calander.
Incidentally, two Hopkins names associated with my Father were Corbin Street and Eveleth Bridgeman, if this is any help. They were both graduates of the Medical School--I don't know about the University.
All the best and thanks for your interest.
...A series of short notes went back and forth about photgraphing the medal for the Journal. My Father gave up and wrote to Stanley Blumberg, "I fear that I would not have the medal photographed properly for publishing and accordingly am enclosing it so that the Journal can direct the matter to its satisfaction. It can be returned to me afterward. I would like four copies of the Journal--one for me and one for each of my three children who have followed this with interest"...
From: E.C. Stollenwerck, Hobe Sound, Florida, February 9, 1981
Dear Mrs. Montgomery,
Well, you certainly started things up when you found that medal.
For instance, just look at the enclose correspondence which has taken place since since my last letter to you and your very nice reply.
The letters back and forth to Hopkins are self explanatory, but the one to my son James bears a bit of ellaboration.
In the first of the Hopkins letters a Guy Stollenwerck is mentioned. He was my uncle and had two daughters, Elizabeth and Ellen, my first cousin and thereby second cousins of James. Elizabeth, or rather Betty, has lived in and about Memphis for all of her life and is the widow of a doctor. I think it must be about 45 years since I saw her in Memphis on way driving to Louisiana when I was about 20 years old.
Ellen is another story. She attended college in Bronxville, N.Y. (Sarah Lawrence) when I lived in Greenwich , Connecticut. She contacted us and we used to see her from time to time. She married a Greenwich lad and lived in England for a while. She was divorced and married again and subsequently divorced. Her third husband died while she was living in California and she, fortunately, has remarried and still remains in California. During this period my two sons met her and from time to time saw a good deal of Ellen.
Now, at Ellens's third marriage in California, James met Betty for the first time. She initiated a conversation about a family geneology book put together by Frank Stollenwerck, also mentioned in an early Hopkins letter. They met again at Ellen's most recent wedding, at which time the book came up again. James expounded on you and the medal and all the circumstances and correspondance. Not only does does Betty want a copy of all this but also does Ellen and another relative in California, Idealette, who, I believe is a first cousin of their father.
On top of this, it looks as though James has become interested in the entire project and appears to be on the way as family custodian for family data--all due to you.
The other day I happened to find a photo which I didn't know existed. Then I remembered that it was of my Father when in college at Hopkins. I had some copies made and enclose one for you so you could visulaize the subject.
Also, many thanks for the Xmas greetings.
I'll keep you posted of any further developments.
With all best regards.
From: E.C. Stollenwerck, Hobe Sound, Florida, February 9, 1981
Dear James:
I enclose herewith a copy of all correspondence having to do with the medal, from which you can make other copies for interested parties such as Betty, Ellen, and Idelette. Your brother and sister have been provided copies by me.
I also enclose the geneology book compiled by Frank Stollenwerck and his wife. I mention in the letter to Mrs. Montgomery that Frank S. appears in the first letter from Hopkins University.
In this book it mentions that the name Stollenwerck appears to have come from Aachen, otherwise known as Aix-la-Chapelle, located at the juncture of France, Holland, and Belgium. It was the first German city to fall in World War II and I was there. We had a small unit of about 25 guys and we moved into and took over a small apartment building to live in for about a week. The soldier in charge of arrangements and repairs found out that many of the local residents bore the name of Stollenwerck to the extent that he would hire no civilians who were not so named. Actually, within a fifteen mile radius of Aachen the name is as common as Smith is in New York.
Although the book states that Aachen was so beaten up in the war that probably the really old documents could be located now, as a matter of fact the city was not beaten upto any great extent and I suggest that it is not the location of documents which would prove difficult but rather the culling out which would be unbelieveable due to the number of people in the area carrying the name. But, if sometime you don't have anything else to do-----------.
Take care of yourself and all the best.
...I've got Good News and Bad News...sorry to be trite. The Good News is on my 40th birthday I went to Aachen and attempted to reconnect with our European reletives. I'll tell this story in another posting because it's a tale unto it's own. The Bad News is I never got around to sending copies of the correspondence to Betty, Ellen, or Idelette. In fact I can barely remember Betty or Idelette or their request for more information. I lost track of Ellen about twenty years ago when she got married for the fifth time and moved to Sun Valley Idaho. I think I heard she was back in Los Angeles, but I can't be sure...
So there you have it, right from the horses mouth. I couldn't top it, could I? I will say this: the exercise of retyping what my Father wrote is an eerie experience. It's like him talking through me, which is something I bet few people can say they've done with their own parent(s) who are gone. I miss him.
Posted by Jamie Stollenwerck
¶ 5:41 PM
You're looking at a photo of an article from The John's Hopkins Journal dated Spring, 1981. I can't read it either. There's a story here, so I'm going to copy all the letters that went back and forth leading up to this being printed. This is going to be a long blog, probably the only one I'm going to post in October. It explains who our end of the family is better than I can though, which is a big relief...
From: Stanley E. Blumberg, Director, Johns Hopkins University, Office of Alumni Relations, Baltimore, Maryland, August 21,1980
Mr. Richard Stollenwerck, 186 Avenue Victor Hugo, 75116, Paris, France
Dear Mr. Stollenwerck,
You may remember that we almost met in Paris two years ago, when you were unable to accept my invitation to be the luncheon guest of our alumni tour. We had a great time, by the way, so much so that we were able to repeat the event when university president Muller visited Paris last summer.
This communication is far removed from that occasion and may be the most bizarre you have received in many a day. Upon receipt of the enclosed letter, our very best sleuthing leads to an Edward Stollenwerck. He attended Hopkins from 1907 to 1911, ran the 440-yard event in 1908, and died in 1925. He was probably one of three brothers who were undergraduates here during the early 1900's, Guy and Frank being the others.
I have no idea if you are part of the same family, but you are our best prospect by far. The medal is your to claim.
From: Mrs. R.D. Mongomery, 2618 Lincoln Avenue, Richmond, VA 23228, No Date
Athletic association, Johns Hopkins Unversity, Baltimore, MD
Gentlemen:
Some years ago I found a medal (xerox enclosed), dated 1908 and engraved "400 Yds Run."
For further indentification, the R does not carry the final downstroke.
For several weeks, I inquired at our Westhampton Post Office, since the medal was found in the parking lot, in the event some one may have called there for the medal. I, also, watched our local papers for several weeks.
When these efforts proved unsuccessful, I stored the medal in a far corner of my desk, where it remained these ten years.
When I uncovered the item the other day, a co-worker suggested writing to your office with the possibility of tracing the family of the medal's owner.
If you have information leading to some one in the Richmond area, I shall be pleased to make contact. It is a lovely medal and should be in the pssession of family members.
I do regret not having contacted you when I found the medal-just did not think of writing to you.
Thank you for your help.
...I'd like to know what Blumberg meant by sleuthing. My guess is they went to the 1908 440 Yard Run track and field records and found out who competed. Then they matched those names to the same names of alumni on the books in 1980. If a running teammate had the name Smith for example, all the 1980 Smith alumini got the same letter from Blumberg. Just guessing...
From: Richard Stollenwerck, Paris, France, September 16, 1980
Mr. Stanley E. Blumberg, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Dear Mr. Blumberg,
Thank you for your intriguing letter of August 21 which I found on my return from summer vacation.
It may be pure coincidence, but my father's name is Edward Carroll Stollenwerck. He was born in Baltimore and his father died when he was just 11 years old.
So the long lost medal may have belonged to my grandfather, although I have no idea whether he attended Johns Hopkins or ran the 440-yard event. How the medal wound up 72 years later in a Westhampton parking lot is totally beyond me.
I am taking the liberty of forwarding your letter together with the note from Mrs. Montgomery to my father in the States who, I asume, will be able to solve the mystery.
My grandmother, incidentally, is still alive and will be 90 years old soon. If the medal does indeed turn out to be her husband's, she will be absolutely thrilled to claim it.
Thank you for getting in touch with me and please let's do get together the next time you're in Paris.
From: Edward C. Stollenwerck, Dorsett, Vermont, October 17, 1980
Mr. Stanley E. Blumberg, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Dear Mr. Blumberg,
The enclosed letter is self-explanatory but I do want you to know how appreciative we are of you efforts in this matter. I guess it's a small world, as they say.
Incidentally, the brothers were Edward Carroll, the eldest, and Guy Victor. Frank was a cousin. All are deceased.
Many thanks for your interest and help with kindest regards.
Enlosed letter from Edward Stollenwerck, Dorsett, Vermont, October 17, 1980
Mrs. Montgomery,
You recently wrote a letter to the Athletic Association of Johns Hopkins University about a medal you found some ten years ago in the parking lot of the Westhampton Post Office.
Johns Hopkins forwarded your letter to my son, Richard who has worked and lived in Paris for some ten years and who received his MA degree through the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He was contacted because the alumni records showed him to be the only graduate probably living and possibly related to three individuals named Stollenwerck (Frank, Guy , and Edward) who attended Hopkins in the early 1900's.
Hopkins' records show that Edward attended the college from 1907-1911, ran the 440-yard event in 1908 and died in 1925.
At least part of the mystery can be stated as solved because Edward Stollenwerck was my father and, of course, Richard's grandfather whom he never knew. As a matter of fact he died when I was 10 so I hardly knew him myself.
But you might be interested in hearing a bit about him. His family settled in what is now known as Selma, Alabama before it became a state. He and his parents moved to the Baltimore area after his birth in Selma. At Hopkins he was a stellar athelete playing football and lacrosse and holding Southern Conference records in sprints. He also was extremely musical and I vaguely recall having seen a Hopkins song book which carried his name as a contibutor of music, if not words, to several of the songs.
He was an immensely popular man with many talents but with it came the inabiltiy to drink and thus he died an alchoholic in his early thirties.
His wife, my Mother, was born and raised on the Maryland Eastern Shore in Chestertown where sho lives at the present time. She is 87 and a couple of years ago renovated and moved into a house in Chestertown into which her grandmother went as a sixteen year old bride 150 years ago. She continues in good health and was amazed at your find--and very appreciative of your kindness as evidenced by this generous effort of yours.
My Mother had no idea how the medal may have reached Virginia and, in fact, the memory of any medals at all escapes her. However, my Mother's baby sister (76) and I both remember way, way back either a shoebox or a cigarbox containing a pretty sizable number of medals won by my father. I suppose that in moves made from, say, 1925 over the next several decades the box, if in fact there was one, could have been lost or misplaced, if, indeed, it would be the kind of thing which would be held on to at all over the years.
So the mystery of it's being in Virginia I guess will never be solved.
I am very conscious of the fact that considerable time has lapsed since your original letter was posted. How long it stayed at Hopkins before it was sent to Paris I don't know. But in France my son was away on vacation on its arrival and after he sent it off to me here in Vermont I then was away and thus the embarassing delay in reply to your generous offer to make the medal available to now family members.
If the offer still stands, I would be very happy if you could send it to the above Florida address where I will be by the end of next week. I have there the only substantial evidence of my Mother and father and my early life together (I being an only child) through a scrapbook carefully put together in World War 1 concerning their lives in the Army in which he was an aerial gunnery instructor. I will incorporate your letter, copies of which are enclosed for you, and the medal into the scrapbook with the hope that it proves less errant than the medal collection.
Incidentally, my Father's full name was Edward Carroll Stollenwerck and was nicknamed Stoney. That nickname must be catching because his sister Alice was also called Stoney as am I and each of my sons, Richard and James.
Many, many thanks for everything. I do wish it were possible for me to thank you personally face to face. For this in the future I will keep my fingers crossed.
...My father was 66 when he wrote this letter, not too old. He was retired though, and had been for over ten years. He had a lot of time on his hands and I remember him looking for things to do. This letter writing project following up on the medal was perfect. It shows he writes in plain talk and is easy to understand. He makes sense. I think he should have done more of it. Mrs. Montgomery returned a short typwritten note of acknowledgement mentioning she was a secratary to the editor of her Baptist state paper and her husband Ray was with a local auto concern. But wait, there's more...
From: Stanley Blumberg, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Maryland , December 1, 1981
Dear Mr. Stollenwerck,
Pardon my tardy reply to your gracious letter of Oct. 17. Considering it's amazing contents, I should have responded much sooner.
Actually, my neglect has not been total. I have mentioned the bizarre series of events to many people, including the editors of the Johns Hopkins Journal. With your permission, they and I would like very much to do a story in the Spring issue. In fact, if at all possible with the principals concerned, we should like to arrange a get-together either in Baltimore or Chestertown with appropriate press coverage.
In connecting with either prospect, will you kindly provide answers to the following questions:
1. Has Mrs. Montgomery returned the medal to you?
2. Would you and your mother approve of the type of publicity I have suggested?
3. Could your mother come to Baltimore?
Many thanks for getting back to me at your earliest convenience.
From: E.C. Stollenwerck, Hobe Sound, Florida, December 10, 1980
Dear Mr. Blumberg,
I think it is a great idea if the following information continues to make it practical.
1st: Mrs. Montgomery did send the medal per the enclosed copy of her letter transmittal.
2nd: I would approve of the publicity and I presume my mother would have no objection.
3rd: My Mother could not come to Baltimore and I feel that practically she would not bring anything to the table anyway. My Father's death took place in 1925 and she was married twice afterward. Her third marriage was for about forty years up to the time of her husband's death . Furthermore, she never lived in the past at any time and I am convinced she has few if any contributory recollections of her marriage to my Father. As to his undergraduate life at Hopkins, I am sure she never knew him at that time. At least the only college she ever mentioned in connection with her youth is the Navel Academy where she hung out a lot. Therefore, if I were you I would stick with Mrs. Montgomery, me and, if you wish, my son Richard.
I go monthly to visit my Mother in Chestertown and could easily come or go via Baltimore. If you wished to do so, the last week in January might be a good time all around. I am having a cateract operation on the 6th or I would make it earlier. At any rate, let me know if I should put anything down on my calander.
Incidentally, two Hopkins names associated with my Father were Corbin Street and Eveleth Bridgeman, if this is any help. They were both graduates of the Medical School--I don't know about the University.
All the best and thanks for your interest.
...A series of short notes went back and forth about photgraphing the medal for the Journal. My Father gave up and wrote to Stanley Blumberg, "I fear that I would not have the medal photographed properly for publishing and accordingly am enclosing it so that the Journal can direct the matter to its satisfaction. It can be returned to me afterward. I would like four copies of the Journal--one for me and one for each of my three children who have followed this with interest"...
From: E.C. Stollenwerck, Hobe Sound, Florida, February 9, 1981
Dear Mrs. Montgomery,
Well, you certainly started things up when you found that medal.
For instance, just look at the enclose correspondence which has taken place since since my last letter to you and your very nice reply.
The letters back and forth to Hopkins are self explanatory, but the one to my son James bears a bit of ellaboration.
In the first of the Hopkins letters a Guy Stollenwerck is mentioned. He was my uncle and had two daughters, Elizabeth and Ellen, my first cousin and thereby second cousins of James. Elizabeth, or rather Betty, has lived in and about Memphis for all of her life and is the widow of a doctor. I think it must be about 45 years since I saw her in Memphis on way driving to Louisiana when I was about 20 years old.
Ellen is another story. She attended college in Bronxville, N.Y. (Sarah Lawrence) when I lived in Greenwich , Connecticut. She contacted us and we used to see her from time to time. She married a Greenwich lad and lived in England for a while. She was divorced and married again and subsequently divorced. Her third husband died while she was living in California and she, fortunately, has remarried and still remains in California. During this period my two sons met her and from time to time saw a good deal of Ellen.
Now, at Ellens's third marriage in California, James met Betty for the first time. She initiated a conversation about a family geneology book put together by Frank Stollenwerck, also mentioned in an early Hopkins letter. They met again at Ellen's most recent wedding, at which time the book came up again. James expounded on you and the medal and all the circumstances and correspondance. Not only does does Betty want a copy of all this but also does Ellen and another relative in California, Idealette, who, I believe is a first cousin of their father.
On top of this, it looks as though James has become interested in the entire project and appears to be on the way as family custodian for family data--all due to you.
The other day I happened to find a photo which I didn't know existed. Then I remembered that it was of my Father when in college at Hopkins. I had some copies made and enclose one for you so you could visulaize the subject.
Also, many thanks for the Xmas greetings.
I'll keep you posted of any further developments.
With all best regards.
From: E.C. Stollenwerck, Hobe Sound, Florida, February 9, 1981
Dear James:
I enclose herewith a copy of all correspondence having to do with the medal, from which you can make other copies for interested parties such as Betty, Ellen, and Idelette. Your brother and sister have been provided copies by me.
I also enclose the geneology book compiled by Frank Stollenwerck and his wife. I mention in the letter to Mrs. Montgomery that Frank S. appears in the first letter from Hopkins University.
In this book it mentions that the name Stollenwerck appears to have come from Aachen, otherwise known as Aix-la-Chapelle, located at the juncture of France, Holland, and Belgium. It was the first German city to fall in World War II and I was there. We had a small unit of about 25 guys and we moved into and took over a small apartment building to live in for about a week. The soldier in charge of arrangements and repairs found out that many of the local residents bore the name of Stollenwerck to the extent that he would hire no civilians who were not so named. Actually, within a fifteen mile radius of Aachen the name is as common as Smith is in New York.
Although the book states that Aachen was so beaten up in the war that probably the really old documents could be located now, as a matter of fact the city was not beaten upto any great extent and I suggest that it is not the location of documents which would prove difficult but rather the culling out which would be unbelieveable due to the number of people in the area carrying the name. But, if sometime you don't have anything else to do-----------.
Take care of yourself and all the best.
...I've got Good News and Bad News...sorry to be trite. The Good News is on my 40th birthday I went to Aachen and attempted to reconnect with our European reletives. I'll tell this story in another posting because it's a tale unto it's own. The Bad News is I never got around to sending copies of the correspondence to Betty, Ellen, or Idelette. In fact I can barely remember Betty or Idelette or their request for more information. I lost track of Ellen about twenty years ago when she got married for the fifth time and moved to Sun Valley Idaho. I think I heard she was back in Los Angeles, but I can't be sure...
So there you have it, right from the horses mouth. I couldn't top it, could I? I will say this: the exercise of retyping what my Father wrote is an eerie experience. It's like him talking through me, which is something I bet few people can say they've done with their own parent(s) who are gone. I miss him.
Posted by Jamie Stollenwerck
¶ 5:41 PM
Comments:
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Amazing story. Thanks for taking the time to transcribe it all. I just turned 35 so it really struck home to me as to the fragility of life. He was a handsome devil like all us Stollenwerck men! Also another speedy Stollenwerck--- somehow I missed that gene, I guess I will blame my mother's side for that.
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