Week 31: Grandparents' House

Week 31: Grandparents’ House. Describe your grandparents’ house. Was it big or small? How long did they live there?

What a great week to start the Geneablogger's posts again! One of my favorite childhood memories was visiting my grandparent's house. My grandparents, Jeanne and John, lived on Irving Avenue in Dayton, OH from about 1978 until 2006. I don't know for sure but I'd guess the house was built around the 1940's. It is on the edge of the University of Dayton student neighborhood and is a small 2 story which had been divided into two separate living spaces - downstairs and upstairs. My grandparents lived downstairs and they generally rented the upstairs apartment to college students (usually grad students because they were less noisy!) The house itself had several features that were fascinating to myself and my siblings and cousins as kids. These included a closet under the stairway big enough for us to all pile in and built a fort out of couch cushions and blankets and a swinging door between the kitchen and dining room. The backyard was also fun, with a big tree that was perfect for climbing and tons of snails that we were fascinated with.
The side yard usually had a patch of rhubarb and in the summers I loved to pick fresh rhubarb to eat (I think I was the only one of the kids who liked it because it was so tart!
I can guarantee that all of the grandkids have some wonderful memories of times spent at the Irving Ave house! I would guess that a favorite for everyone would be remembering my grandfather racing down the sidewalk next to our parent's cars as we would leave their house. Even though he is no longer able to run, Bop will still do just about anything to get a laugh out of his grandkids and now, his great grandkids.

Wordless Wednesday - Franjo Starcević

Tombston Tuesday - Croatia Part I

Last month my mom and I traveled to Croatia. We stayed with some of her grandmother's family that she found when she visited in 2009. We were searching for any of her grandfather's family that may be left there (more on that in later posts).

While we were there we spent 2 days in the town of Aleksinica in the region of Lika. This is where my great-grandmother, Anna Vrkljan, was born and lived until she came to the United States in the 1920's. She left behind a sister named Marija. Marija's granddaughter (my mom's second cousin) and her family was who we were visiting.

One stop we made in Aleksinica was the church and cemetery. Below is a picture of Marija's grave. She was buried with her son, Marko, and his wife Ivka.


The inside of the church was beautiful and we had a wonderful 2 days there.