Posted by Dick - the Historian on November 14, 1999 at 20:10:53:
Aunt Mary’s Stories
Last evening, Saturday November 13, Liz and I met Sheila and Aunt Mary at the Greyhound Taverne on the Dixie Highway in Kentucky, very near their almost life-long home on Arcadia.
Aunt Mary was fit, trim and just the way we always remember her. Her infectious laugh and her wonderful sense of humor shone through. Sheila and I plied her with cues and questions and she gave us a lot of incite into some of the lesser known facts of the family.
We discussed the Redelberger side of the family. Grandma Reiling was raised in Cedar Grove, IN which is on Rte 52 southeast of Brookville toward Cincinnati. Her father was a tavern/pub keeper and they were quite poor. Both she and Aunt Lil went to Louisville to work and she was apparently in the large department store in Louisville….I don’t the exact nam but will find it…..
It was there that she met Grandpa Reiling. I believe that Aunt Lil met Uncle Ray Barlow in Dayton when she came to live with the Reilings after Grandpa was brought to Dayton to work for the Elder family.
I am not sure what happened to Grandma’s parents but will talk again with Sheila to get that fact. Liz and I want to go to Cedar Grove and get a picture of the pub and put it on the web.
Grandpa Reiling was one of two brothers, himself and George. His father was also George. They were also not of means. He went to grade school through the eighth grade and then in lieu of a first year in high school repeated the eighth grade. He apparently indicated that this was the most "boring" year of his life. He met Grandma through her position in sales. He was recruited to come to Dayton to work in the dry goods store of Robert Elder. He started in the basement in some ?? department.
Great Uncle George married Lilly and they had one child who apparently died of some infectious problem as a young girl. Apparently Aunt Lilly was a bit strange to start with and this led to a life-long time of not talking about their daughter. Apparently, also, Dad (Walter) came home from medical school one year while Uncle George and Aunt Lilly were in Dayton and mentioned the daughter. Uncle George was so relieved that he could discuss his daughter and was equally impressed with Walter’s knowledge and insight.
Where did the nam Walter come from??? Dad was quite frail and ill when he was brought home for the first time. I am not sure which of the aunts was around, but I think it was Milly. She was so anxious to get him baptized before he died and she searched in her missal and found that January 5 (his birthdate) was the feast of St. Walter (which in reality it was not) but he was baptized as Walter. … and so the tradition continues. I am afraid to find out exactly which Saint is really honored on Jan. 5!!!!!
Aunt Mary met Uncle Ed at a reunion of the U.D. Uncle Ed and Walter were classmates. Walter introduced Uncle Ed to Aunt Mary as he knew that Uncle Ed lost his first wife, and Sheila’s mother, to leukemia.
There is more to come, but I wanted to get some of this aboard. If anyone can fill in gaps, etc. please let me know. Also if there are pictures of this generation out there….send them in and I will scan and publish. Dick