Thankful Thursday - My Kids

Kids - they come in all sizes and shapes.  Each one a gift from God.  As I ponder my life and look back on the blessings God has given me I find my four children at the very top. God blessed me with healthy children, for that I am thankful....but He could have also given me a special needs child and for that I would be thankful.   All children are a gift from God...even the unborn

Jack is from Taiwan - he came to the United States when he was 13 and then to us when he was 15 and has been a part of our family ever since.  He has 4 children....all boys. 

Bill is our first born and he lives near the beach in southern California and does well at his work.

And then came Kimberly - married now with 2 cats and a  dog and a GREAT husband.  She works hard at two jobs and lives not too far from us.

And last but not least we have Robert.  Single, working hard at a job and a half, and living within 200 miles from us.   

Now just by looking at these cuties don't you think I have a lot to be thankful for?

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Psalm 127:3 KJV




Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Happy Birthday Kimi~

To our newborn baby, to our babe in arms, to our little girl, to our sweet friend, to our only daughter, to a 

beautiful young woman - we wish you a most happy birthday

Kim Warren

February 24

Long Beach, California

WE LOVE YOU!   

Have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY



Kim Warren

February 24

Long Beach, California

WE LOVE YOU!   

Have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY



Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Bits and Pieces on the Motzko Family

Maria Motzko (far left) was my great grand-mother, Hattie Motzko (next to her) was Maria's 4th child, Helen Motzko (middle) was the wife of John Motzko (one of Maria's 10 children), Catherine Motzko (2nd from right) is Maria's oldest daughter, and finally, Mary Motzko (right) was my grandmother and Maria's 3rd child.

Helen Sergeant Motzko was one of my mother's, Margaret Troyer (Mary Motzko's daughter), good friends.  Frank and Viola Motzko also had a daughter named Helen Motzko (I say this to help keep from any confusion over the two Helens)

The picture on the right is of an unidentified Motzko girl taken in 1922.  She is probably the grand-daughter of Philippe and Maria Motzko. The last of Philipp and Maria's children was born in 1899.  (I'm hoping someone will come across this blog and can help in identifying her)

When Maria Fietzek Motzko came from Prussia to the United States with her husband it is said that her sister Francesa Fietzek Reh and her husband came at the same time, or shortly thereafter. (I'm so glad because I cannot imagine being 24 years old with a husband and new baby and traveling to a new land thousands of miles away to start a new life! This way at least her sister was somewhere nearby).

Mary Post Warren

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Memory Monday - Our Trip to Texas



Most of our vacations were limited to the state of California because with 3-4 kids and sometimes some of their friends or cousins it was just easier. But in 1975 we packed up Kim, Billy, Bobby and cousin Wendy for a long trip to visit my sister and family in Houston Texas.  I kept a diary of the trip but can't find it...I remember rereading it 10 or 20 years ago and maybe I threw it out.  There were comments such as we stopped at McDonald's for lunch and it cost us $10 (this is for six of us mind you!). We stopped for gas and it would cost less than $10 to fill up (back when gas was less than $1 a gallon).  Then there was the hotel we stayed at in El Paso where we paid $15 for the room and got a free breakfast for all plus we could all sleep in one room! (I'm not sure with 6 of us in a room we got much sleep)!   What a gold mine that was....we had driven from Tucson to El Paso and the kids were hot and tired.  There was a pool at the hotel and the first thing most of them did was jump in it.



The Alamo



We then drove from El Paso to San Antonio where we had dinner and visited the Alamo....and it still being about 8pm and only a couple more hours to Houston (or so we thought) we packed up and made the trip, arriving in the middle of the night (somewhere around 3am).  In hindsight we should have spent the night in San Antonio - but then that's what memories are made of!  



 Bobby was only 5 years old when we took the trip - the only things he says he remembers are the nights stay with Uncle Jim (my brother) and family in Tucson, Uncle Jim taking all of them to the air museum at Davis Monthan Air Force Base (where Jim was stationed), and a visit to the Astro-Dome in Houston.  

Kim and Wendy were 6 1/2 and Wendy remembers a LOT.  I'm impressed since she was so young.  I'm sure Bill remembers a lot too as he was 8 when we took the trip.



Busch Gardens

 Wendy says:  "I do remember the trip to Texas! It was lots of fun and pretty stressful, too. It was the first time I'd been anywhere really hot. When we got there we were in air conditioning but the heat in the car on the way was something else.

"I remember: 

-stopping in Palm Springs at a friend of yours house (they had a pool  and we needed to nap)

-eating cheese cubes and sitting in the back of the station wagon

-low level bickering with the boys to pass the time

-passing funny roadside attractions (was there a giant tepee?). Bill had quite a bit of money he'd been saving up for souvenirs so in the run up to each place there was much pleading and fast talking to get you guys to pull over

-waking up in the night to you and Uncle Howard having a small fight (because that is what couples do when it is 3 am and they have been driving all night and I think there was some fear we had missed a turn)

-finally getting to stop at a hotel in the middle of the day. It was very nice - a Holiday Inn I think. Everyone else was so excited for the pool but all I could think about was napping in the air conditioning:)

"And that was just the trip there! Then there was AstroWorld, the Alamo, and the Air and Space Museum. Pretty cool stuff!"

Mark's Birthday Party



Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

p.s. the 'giant tepee' was somewhere between Phoenix and Tucson (or so I'm told by son Robert)

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 6)

After almost a week of blogging about my dad, Hays Coulter Post, this will be my final tribute to him for now.  Thursday, February 25th it will be 23 years since he passed away...last Monday, February 15th he would have been 97.  I still miss him to this day.

Not only did dad enjoy the things spoke about in previous posts (camping, fishing, golf, Boy Scouts, his church) but he was also a very committed family man.  He had five children (3 girls, 2 boys) and 15 grandchildren.  There had one great-grandchild when he died. The picture below has all but two of the grandchildren (born later) - it was taken in 1977 at one of our large family gatherings.

Please see my other posts on him to get his full story:

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 2)

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 3) 

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 4)

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 5) 

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

 

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 5)

This week I've been writing about my dad and what an awesome man he was.  You can see the other posts by clicking on any of these links - they tell the story of his life:

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 2)

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 3) 

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 4)

 Dad's favorite hobbies were golf and fishing, if he had to give up one of them I believe it would of been golf....fishing was his favorite.   Not only was fishing his passion but the time he spent with my brothers fishing had such an affect on my younger brother that he became a commercial fisherman.  As a child when we would go camping, dad would take the boys and head for the stream, lake, ocean to catch our dinner.  Many is the night that we'd eat fresh fish cooked over the campfire. 


A favorite story my sister tells is the time that dad and our Uncle Bill went fishing and were approached by a gentleman from the 'California Fish and Game Department' who asked them for their required fishing licenses.  Uncle Bill pulled out his and showed it to him and then it was dad's turn - well dad didn't have one - so he struck up a conversation with the man and asked him if he knew 'so-and-so' who also worked for the Fish and Game Department.  Amazingly the man knew him and they started talking.  After talking for awhile the guy left, never asking dad for the license.





Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

 

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 4)

Hays Coulter Post (in the middle )

Not only was my father a man dedicated to his family and his church he was also committed to the Boy Scouts of America and received a membership award in the mid 1970's for 50 years of being either a boy scout or a boy scout leader.

During his many years in scouting he was involved with the Sea Scouts (thus the dapper uniform above) and earned the Eagle Scout award (the highest award possible within the Boy Scouts of America).  He also received a  Silver Beaver Award from the Catholic church for all his work with scouting in the church. After he died, in 1987, the Pomona city council held a moment of silence in honor of all the scouting work he did for the community. My mother received a plaque.           

                                                         (Dad with my brother Jim about 1945)

He encouraged both or my brothers to join the Boy Scouts.  They were Cub and Boy Scouts but neither of them had the commitment to the organization that my dad had.

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 3)

Today I'm posting some special pictures of a special person in my life....my dad....it's funny that as I go through the pictures I have there are so few of my dad as a child.  I only have one or two snapshots and a couple of professional pictures.  Did people not take many pictures in the early 1900s, or did they just toss out what they had?


I'm scanning pictures that I've taken over the last 45+ years and I'm willing to wager that I've taken over 10,000 pictures (seriously).  That sounds like A LOT to me and we don't even have grandchildren!  There would probably be a gazillion pictures if we did!

In the picture on the left - dad is being held by the woman.  I'm not sure who she is...maybe his mother or one of his grandmothers or an aunt?  Hays' brother O.J. is the older boy with the darker hair.

Hays Post and Elizabeth (Coulter) Dingler

To the right is Hays Coulter Post with his cousin Elizabeth Coulter (Dingler).  She is the daughter of Luci Hays Coulter's oldest child and only son, Camillius Coulter. 


Check out these posts also:


This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 2)

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved



                                                                                                                                                                                                             

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad (part 2)

Hays Coulter Post married Hays Coulter Post married Margaret Elizabeth Troyer on October 4, 1941 in Santa Barbara, California.
They had 5 children - James Joseph, Mary Dana, Martha Lucile, Hays Christopher, and Susan Dorothy.

They lived in Long Beach California for a couple years before purchasing their first home in Los Angeles California in the mid to late 1940's.  In 1957 they sold their home in Los Angeles and moved to Pomona CA to be closer to family.

Hays' mother Bess Coulter lived with them a short while when they lived in Long Beach....until she passed away.  I'm not sure of the time frame or how long she was living with them  but I get the impression from mom's diaries that it was a few months.

Hays was a family man - he loved his wife and children.  He worked nights as a printer to provide for his growing family.  He worked for a newspaper in Los Angeles and upon moving to Pomona he worked for Avery Label in Monrovia.

There were family camping trips, family get-togethers with extended family, and church that he was involved in with his family.  The 1940's and 1950's were a great time to raise in family and he did it well!

This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad





Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

 



This is Dedicated to One I Love - My Dad

Today would have been my dad's 97th birthday.  He was born February 15, 1913 in Venice California.  He died February 25, 1987, in Pomona California.  He was 74 when he died peacefully in his sleep.  He lived continuously in California from birth to death. 

Hays was the only surviving son of Orvey and Bess Post.  He had one brother who was alive when Hays was born but O.J. died within a few years after Hays' birth (I haven't done research on him yet so no specific dates).  There were three other brothers/sisters born before Hays but they either died at birth or shortly thereafter.

Hays Coulter Post - birth name is a combination of his mother's maiden surname and his maternal grandmother's maiden surname.

Hays grew up with the movie industry of Hollywood.  First the silent movies and then the talking movies. He told his kids that he once worked as an 'extra' in a movie just because he was at the studio all the time.  (His mother and grandmother were both seamstresses/designers at MGM).  Hays also told how as a baby before the Hollywood days - that his mother and grandmother would travel with the traveling theatre and that he had a dresser drawer for a bed.

Dad graduated from Venice High school on the 22nd day of January 1932.  Venice High School was/is in the Los Angeles City High School district.

So since the month of February has so many memories of my dad - for the next ten days I will be mostly dedicating this blog to one of the first loves I knew.





Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Let the Fun Begin - 2010 Winter Olympics

As we gear up for the beginning of the 2010 Winter Olympics I am reminded of the 1984 Summer Olympics in southern California.  The games start today - February 12 and run through the end of the  month...they are being held in an bordering United States city, Vancouver B.C., Canada. The torch has been on the go since October 31, 2009.  Olympic Torch Relay Interactive Map

The 1984 Olympic Torch Relay ended in Los Angeles, after traveling 33 states plus the District of Columbia. The torch was continuously carried by runners on foot.


 We had the privilege of having the torch runners within a couple blocks of our home in Lakewood California.  We all bundled up and went and sat on a street corner and watched them run by.  What fun it was....LET THE FUN BEGIN.




Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Thankful Thursday - My Siblings

Today I'm most thankful for my brothers and sisters.  I am the 2nd child of 5 siblings

My brother James Joseph (back left) was 15 months older than me.  Jim passed away on December 27, 1993 at the age of 51.  I thank God everyday for the time I had with him before he died.

That's me, Mary Dana, on the left in behind Jim.  I was born in 1943.

Third in line is Martha Lucile - cutie, isn't she?

Number 4 is Hays Christopher, standing behind Martha  He was named after my dad but goes by the name Chris.

Last but not least was Susan Dorothy (the one with the smirk on her face).

Of all my brothers and sisters I'd say I'm closest to Martha...she's only 18-19 months younger than me and we got along fairly well as children.  Jim was the eternal big brother - I was very close to him prior to his death and was blessed to live within 120 miles from him so was able to see him quite often.  Chris and Susie were those pesky little brother and sister that I probably ignored more often than not - I hear from them somewhat but haven't seen them in sometime.

Aren't we a cute looking group?  I figure I must be about 9 or 10 in this picture - so it would have been taken about 1953. 



Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved



Wordless Wednesday

U.S. Geiger Naval Ship

Postcard picture of the ship that took my husband to Germany in 

1958 for a 3 year tour of duty in the U.S. Army





Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved

Fun Stuff

Not genealogy or family related but something I thought was funny....as seen recently near Interstate 35 and Wrenshall, in Wyoming, Minnesota.

I haven't posted a blog in a couple days because I've been a little busy with my new cell phone and programing it...new cell phones are so much fun!  Plus I lost some major data and pictures from my computer (even though it was backed up 2x) so I've been replacing it.  Fortunately I had the CD's with the original info on it and was able to upload it back on my computer.  I think what I did was saved my info to a file and then worked with the info deleting and adding to some of it and then didn't save it correctly thus backing it up incorrectly.  Makes sense to me...hope it does to you!  I need an external hard drive - my genealogy stuff will not all fit on one flash drive anymore so it gets confusing when I go to back-up.

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved

Hays Coulter Post

Hays Coulter Post - But Who is that Woman?





Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Hedvig Lucy Motzko revisited

I goofed up a lot on my post of January 6, 2010 on Hattie Motzko so I thought I would redo it.   Since posting the other post on Hattie I've also received a beautiful wedding photo to post here.  Don't they make a most handsome couple?  I have to say all the Motzko 'girls' were beautiful.


Born in Bermidjii MN, Helvig Lucy (aka Hattie) Motzko (b. 10/14/1885 Bermidjii MN; d. 5/3/1963; buried: Morris Hill Cemetery, Boise ID) was the fourth child of Philipp and Maria Motzko.

Hattie Motzko married Thomas E. Gleason (b. 1/29/1878 NV; d. 11/11/1949 ID) September 4, 1912 at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Nampa ID.

Hattie and Thomas had 5 children - Robert Bernard (Killed in WWII),  George Patrick,  John W. Gleason, Thomas J. Gleason, Mary Ellen Gleason (Normoyle)

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved

Thankful Thursday - Cell Phones

I spent most of the week checking out cell phone plans.  What a pain in the tush!  Thank God it only comes but every two years!  I've been with the same company since 2003.  I wasn't unhappy with their service but I wasn't thrilled with it.  We'd lose our connection in the house and it could be frustrating (never happened if we weren't at home).  So after doing my research, mostly via internet, I made the decision on which one to change to and just DID it.  The kids are all on the carrier I chose so we'll be able to talk to them and not have to worry about daytime minutes....you know 'friends and family' is what it's all about!  

So my thankful Thursday thought is 'it's over' (for 2 more years).  Oh, and I'm thankful I get a Blackberry too....not the newest version but looks close to me!





Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved

2 Samuel 22:50 Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.

Wordless Wednesday - Lucie's Dolls

My great grandmother, Lucie Hays Coulter, worked for MGM as a dress designer and dressing the movie stars for the shows/movies they were in.  Lucie is on the right.  This is just one of many photos that I have from what I call "Lucie's Collection".  She designed and made the dresses for the dolls shown here for one of the movies she worked on.  For more information on Lucie please read my other posts on her.


Lucie Hays - Continued 

Lucie Hays - A 'Mother' to the Stars

Lucie Hays

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Memories - Camping



Hubs with oldest son @ Yosemite



As a child I remember going camping with my parents and brothers/sisters and Grandpa Troyer. I swore as a teenager that 'when I get older I will never camp again'....how things changed.  Two years after marrying we were on our first family camping trip in beautiful Yosemite. Bill was 13 months old.  We had to borrow our camping equipment...but what fun we had!  

Dad and Me

 To the right is a picture of  my dad and me putting up a tent.  I'm not sure exactly where this was taken but in California there was much camping available close by, both along the beach and in the mountains.  We could literally drive 30-50 miles and be in another world. We camped a lot along the coast at the beaches as well as in the mountains, the desert, or where-ever.  Many times we drove up the coast to Sequoia, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and others. 



Hubs at Lake Cahuma in the Santa Barbara Moutntains


One of our favorite camping spots was Lake Cachuma, behind Santa Barbara.  It was near Solvang (a quaint Danish town).  One time we were there with our youngest son and his friend.  Howard and Robert were in the back of our truck wrestling - Robert kept yelling 'child abuse, child abuse', a ranger came up and asked if there was a problem - Robert said 'yes, he's trying to abuse me'....the smart ranger just shook his head and said 'you look like you need to be abused'.......we all roared!  Of course there was no abuse going on and the ranger was smart enough to see that but what a load of trouble we could have been in!

We camped at Cajon Pass (between southern California and Nevada) on weekends so Howard and our friend and all the kids could watch the trains go by. We camped at Featherly Park and O'Neil Park in the heart of Orange County, located close enough to the freeway that we could hear the cars and trucks whiz by at night.  We camped on Catalina Island a couple of times with the kids and church groups.

We've even gone a few times since the kids have been gone from home but now we stay in cabins or motels!  These old bones don't do well on the ground anymore.

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved

Psalms 89:11   The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them.







Memory Monday - The Orange Tree

When our kids were growing up we had this beautiful orange tree in our backyard.  This tree literally bloomed almost year round (I tried to find a picture with it in full bloom but nooooooo there was not one to be found).  Our kids joke now about how they were 'forced' to eat these oranges....they'd come home from school and say "I'm hungry" and we would tell them to go pick an orange from the tree.  Fresh squeezed orange juice was our drink of choice. The oranges tended to be a little sour at certain times of the year so I'd squeeze when they were sweeter and freeze the juice to have later.  I spent hours on end squeezing and freezing it.

My parents had a plum tree in their yard - we had a ton of plums at our disposal during the spring and summer months.  Rather than freezing these (wasn't sure how well they'd do) I would make plum jam by the gallons...we'd seldom have to buy jam for our peanut butter and jam sandwiches or toast.

After several years we thought we'd give the kids a break from oranges and we planted a peach tree but alas the tree only gave us a couple peaches a couple years after planting....and then we moved before it had a chance to bloom again.

Now we live in Phoenix where the fruit trees abound...grapefruit, orange, and lemon trees are in most peoples' backyards.  We live in a condo and have no tree and no where to plant one.  I have to go to the grocery store and pay an arm and a leg for fresh fruit!  Oh to get my fruit tree back............

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved



Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.