52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2025; Week 29 "Family Gatherings"

FAMILY GATHERINGS:

When thinking of holidays in the past, I remember those holiday celebrations with my paternal family.  It became tradition that each Thanksgiving my father's family would gather at my paternal grandparent's home to celebrate.  The group would include my grandparents, my father's brother and his family, his sister and her family and my grandmother's brother and his family.  It was an every year occurrence and something we looked forward to.

In going through some old photos I came across seven different photos of myself as an infant at the Thanksgiving celebration in 1948 when I was just 2 months old and the Thanksgiving celebration in 1949 when I was 14 months old.  

Here are some of those photos with the various members of my father's family: 

1948:

My mother, Eloris Kijak Schulte, with me:

My father, Mylen Schulte, with me:

My uncle/godfather, Melbourne Schulte, with me:

My grandfather, Elmer Schulte, with me:

1949:

My grandmother, Ella Wellhausen Schulte, with me:

My grandparents, Elmer and Ella (Wellhausen) Schulte, with me:

My aunt, Virginia (Reske) Schulte, with me:

My parents had lost their first child, Kathy, in 1947 when she was only 6 weeks old.  I was born 11 months later and though we were then living in St. Joseph, Michigan, we would frequently travel back to Detroit, where my father's family was, to visit the family members there.  As it turned out, I was to be the only niece and granddaughter in my Schulte family and I remained very close to my father's family throughout my life.

I am pleased to have many photos of my early years as my parents were proud owners of a camera and they used it constantly.  

These photos have stood the test of time but not so much the Polaroid photos that came out some years later.  It proved to me that "newer" is not necessarily "better"!

copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2025; Week 6 "Surprise"

RED CROSS NOTICE:

In 1943, both my father, Mylen Schulte, and his older brother, Melbourne Schulte, were in two different branches of the United States Military.

My father was serving in Central America with the US Army Air Corps and my uncle was in the Pacific with the US Navy.

My father was single and he would not marry until 1946.  My uncle, however, had been married for 2 years and had left his pregnant wife at home in Detroit, Michigan where she was awaiting the birth of their first child.

On December 11, 1943, my aunt, Virginia Reske Schulte, gave birth to a baby boy and named him after his father, Melbourne Schulte, Jr.  As was common in the military, when the father was in the Armed Forces, the Red Cross sent a notice to the new father informing him of the birth of his child.

This is the notice that was sent from the Keesler Field Camp and Hospital Service Committee of the Red Cross:

However, the surprise was that the Red Cross inadvertently sent the notice to the incorrect Schulte soldier, sending it to my father in Central America.  

The above notice has been saved in my family all these years with my father keeping this card which has caused much laughter in the family.  I don't know how long it took for the correct new papa, Melbourne Schulte, to receive notice of the birth of his son but eventually he was notified. 

Melbourne and Virginia Schulte with baby Melbourne, Jr. in Detroit, Michigan, 1944:

Today that little baby is 81 years old and he was blessed to have had his parents in his life well into their 90's.  

copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte