Birthday

Lessee, my little grandaughter is Johann and Maria's great-great-great-great-grandaughter, right?

Johann

Paul

Anton

Mike

Me

Josh

and

Kendall, who's THREE today!

The party's at her house this afternoon. A sincere thank you to Johann and Paul!

Cool conversations

I had a wonderful chat with Math's daughter Louise last night. She added details and connections I didn't know about--for one, that the actual diary was a little black book. Of course! A "notebook" in 1914 wouldn't have been the clumsy big thing we used in school, it would have been small enough for a breast pocket, beside his pencil. That explains his short sentences and abbreviations!

She's only 83, so she didn't know that there was an older 'Math E Hesch" in the Pierz area when her dad was writing early on, or that he would have been her uncle. (He died in Minneapolis, at the home of his daughter, when Louise was 5, so no wonder).

We talked about the Hesch uncles who'd died before she was born--Frank, John and Joe--and about the Gottwalt descendants of their sister, Rose, who still need to be contacted for the reunion. Whew! Good thing we both like to talk!
.....
The other night, I called a Waumandee family contact (Jane), in Arizona for the winter, and got the number for another person who NEEDS to be at the reunion. He's the son of...follow me here...Paul's brother Math's son Valentine's daughter Edna. Got that? Talking with Jane was really interesting because she knows the people living in Waumandee now, and who their parents were, and how they connect.
THANKS, Jane and Louise!

Math's Diary--Part One--April 14th to 17th, 1914

(This is part of a notebook diary kept by Math Hesch during a trip he took with his brother Ted in the spring of 1914. Click DIARY on the sidebar to see only the diary entries. Enjoy!)

THE TRAIN RIDE TO NYC

The first page of the diary is mostly a list of towns the train went through on the way from Rice, Minnesota to New York City and the docks. It took 2 days, and yes, they went through part of Canada.
If you'd like to see what he wrote, check the DIARY file over on the left sidebar. He mentions farmers planting and rock fences, gravel pits and the size of towns, the muddy Susquehanna River and the mountains in Pennsylvania. He appreciated seeing the engines on curves, and riding through a mile long tunnel near Vosberg, Pa.

Oh, and here's the New York Times weather report for 16 April 1914 and one from the 13th about Berlin:

In part 2, they're on-board the Olympic. "Some boat!"

Chicken for supper

This was probably taken in the 50's, and it's SO grandpa! The coveralls, that hat, the ever present dog, and no smile...lol I don't recognize the building behind him for sure, but it might have been the tool shed/granary between the house and barn...or else, the picture was taken at one of his kids' farms. Who had that wagon, behind the dog?
"Pa, wir brauchen Fleisch für das Abendessen, werden Sie töten einem Huhn?"
("Pa, we need meat for supper--will you go kill a chicken?")

Introducing: Math's Diary

In 1914, Math and Ted Hesch took a trip to Europe. He reported it this way in the Pierz Journal:

16 April 1914

"M.E.Hesch of Buckman called at the Journal office Saturday: Math and Theo will soon leave for a European trip during which they intend to visit Oberschleisen, Rome, Lourdes, Berlin, Paris and other points of interest. They may be gone until about the first of November."

Math started writing for area papers in 1905--I'd guess this was him talking. In reality, they were gone for 10 weeks, from mid-April to the middle of June.

The coolest thing is that Math kept a journal of the trip, but it was mostly written in sentence fragments, with few periods. Obviously, his intent was to spur his own memory once they got home. He probably didn't expect it to still be around 94 years later, or that his granddaughter Joan would transcribe it. But it is, and she did. She also gave a copy to the Morrison County Historical Society in Little Falls. That's where I found it, and asked for a copy.

I've had it in my file for a year or two, and mentioned it to Larry one day. He asked to read it, so I scanned it and emailed it to him in Georgia. (Larry and I have been researching the Hesch family online for over a year, so his interest was more than idle curiosity).

He's an excellent researcher, and after he read the journal, he mentioned the Olympic--did I know what a famous ship that was? And Maths' reference to sitting "under der linden" in Berlin--did I know that's the famous strasse that passes under the Brandenburg Gate?

Oh, my. Obviously, there was much more to Math's Journal than I thought. In fact, there was so MUCH we could figure out--so many puzzle pieces to fit together, along with discoveries we've made about the Heschs and Otrembas--that putting it online here is natural.

What we intend to do is add it in sections, as we get 'em finished. Each section will have the DIARY label, so you'll be able to read them all together eventually. There are many links that'll show you places they saw, all online. What an AMAZING world we live in!!

Larry says:

I've always enjoyed leafing through old digital records, finding electronic needles in haystacks. When Marlys shared this diary, I saw that it wasnt long, but it WAS crammed full of detail. Initially our first explorations were to define things Mr. Hesch talks about, what did he mean by this phrase, where exactly in Europe is that place they passed though. After a few tentative searches we discovered just how vast the world wide web truly is and the great weath of information it contains.

Our challenge then became seeing just how much the internet could be used in reconstructing a trip taken 95 years earlier, using a diary transcribed from a hand-written original. How many of the places they went could we re-discover and nail down, how many of the most obscure things he mentions could we still find traces of? Our philosophy on tracing the obscurities being that if he found it worthy to jot a note about it, he wanted to remember it. We have both learned a lot in taking part in this experiment; I hope you enjoy our results.

ANOTHER mystery!

(Click to enlarge )

Judging by the apparent ages of Carol, Bev, Rich and Bob in this photo, it was probably taken when dad returned from WWII (he was inducted in June of 1942, and honorably discharged in September of 1945)...so it couldn't have been earlier. The question is, WHO is the man on the left?

My first impression was Aunt Katies' Gary, but he wasn't born till '47! Was it his dad? Emails to Gary and Bob (I'm avoiding last names of living persons, ok?) didn't tell me either, but Bob thought it was Uncle Tony....what do YOU think?

How come our parents didn't teach us German?

I've often wondered why we weren't encouraged to learn the language our parents were born with--we could've talked with them and grandma and grandpa so easily--but while it wasn't discouraged, we knew little beyond Verstehen and kleines Kind and the words to Silent Night.

Mom told us that in grade school in Buckman, they were punished for playing baseball in German, and mom and dad used it as their private language over our heads (Sollten wir die Kinder auf?), but those wouldn't be good enough reasons to discourage us, would they?

Larry and I stumbled on the answer when the name RAUSCH turned up in FBI files from 1918 that were recently put online. It's not a pretty story.

Patriotism, in 1918, was a necessity. America was at war with Germany, and buying war bonds was a 'patriotic duty'. At the same time, in Minnesota, many of the immigrants who'd fled Germany 30-50 years earlier were now successful farmers, providing food for the war effort. BUT, they spoke German. That alone was suspect, and if someone heard you wonder about family who still lived in the old county, you were probably a Hun Sympathiser. If you were less than enthusiastic about killing Germans, a simple letter to the FBI got you investigated, no matter how much you loved being here.

Sadly, Minnesota (home of so many German-born citizens) went one step further, by setting up a "Public Safety Commission" to root out seditious aliens. HERE is the form German people were required to fill out during that year, the Alien Registration and Declaration of Holdings. Thankfully, the commission was short-lived, but just think how you would feel answering those questions even today.

"Let the work you do.." from the Minnesota Historical Society document website.



If you're curious or incredulous about the temper of the times, check out THESE PAGES .


Our parents were born into that furor. To say that older German-born or

German-speaking people were scared is an understatement.

Grandma and grandpa were both born here, and yet, they spoke German.
"Es wäre besser, Englisch zu sprechen"....so they spoke German only among themselves, and didn't encourage us to learn it.


This poster is not of the Statue of Liberty, but of Germania, in flames. It's from 1917.









Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
-------------------------------------------
Added much later:
Larry found this letter in the Stillwater Mn newspaper from December 1917.  As I was re-typing it (to make it translatable) I realized how hard they were trying to make it sound reasonable and legal.



ALIEN ENEMIES OF UNITED STATES MUST REGISTER, UNDER AUTHORITY OF PRESIDENT


Mayor Kolliner is in reciept of the following letter from Attorney General Gregory, in regard to alien enemies of the Uniter States.  Mayor Kolliner has placed the matter in the hands of William E. McNaughton, chief of police, and will follow out the instructions of the Attorney General to the letter.
The communication in question reads as follows:


DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C.
December 26, 1917
To His Honor the Mayor,
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the President has issued a Proclamation dated November 16, 1917, containing, among other regulations in relation to German alien enemies, one requiring their registration, reading as follows:
"19.  All alien enemies are hereby required to register at such times and  places and in such manner as may be fixed by the Attorney General of the United States, and the Attorney General is hereby authorized and directed to provide, as speedily as may be practicable, for registration of all alien enemies and to make and declare such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary for effecting such registration; and all alien enemies and all other persons are hereby required to comply with such rules and regulations; and the Attorney General in carrying out such registration is hereby authorised to utilize such agents, agencies, officers and departments of the United States and of the several states, territories, dependencies and municipalities thereof and of the District of Columbia  as he may select for the purpose, and all such agents, agencies, offices and departments are hereby granted full authority for all acts done by them in the execution of this regulation when acting by the direction of the Attorney General.
After the date fixed by the Attorney General for such registration, an alien enemy shall not be found within the limits of the United States, its territories or posessions without having his registration card on his person."
I feel that the registration of such persons in your city as are required to be registered as German alien enemies can be most promptly and efficiently carried out by your police department.
The plan contemplated is to have the German alien enemies fill out the registration affidavits at the police station in your city, and there recieve registration cards.  This Department will furnish all necessary affidavits, cards and other forms and issue instructions for the work.
I trust to hear at your very early convenience that you have instructed your police department to administer the details of this registration under the general supervision and direction of the Department of Justice.  Meantime will you not have your Chief of Police immediately forward to the United States Marshal in your district as accurate estimate as possible of the number of German alien enemies in your community?
In view of the material assistance which this work will render to the success of the country in the war, I am relying on your whole-hearted co-operation in its performance.
Respectfully,
T.W.GREGORY,
Attorney General

The Waumandee Connection

A quick review:

Three brothers came to America--Paul, Mathias and Anton Hesch, with their parents Johann and Maria.

Paul settled in Buckman, Minnesota around 1875, and the others settled in Waumandee, Buffalo county, Wisconsin. In about 1885, John, Mary and son Anton moved to Pierz (the census that year called rural Pierz 'Little Falls', but they lived just west of Pierz in Agram township).

Mathias and his wife Agnes had 10 kids, two or more of whom stayed in Waumandee when Math and Aggie moved to Pierz in 1911, after Anton died.

THIS photo is from HISTORIC MAP WORKS , a site that publishes and sells copies of old rural directories, among other things. Larry found it in the 1966 Buffalo County, Wisconsin, directory there. Rudy was the son of Valentine, Mathias' oldest.

According to the 'Waumandee News' in Winona's papers of the time, Val made many trips to Pierz before he died in June of 1946. Val's sister Elizabeth married Valentine Sendelbach there, and stayed in Waumandee, too. Their descendants still live in and around Buffalo County. I'd really LOVE to meet them and all Mathias' descendants. The reunion in August is intended to gather descendant of Paul and Mathias. (Anton was a lifelong bachelor).

Okay?

Theresa Hesch (Sr. Laura OSB) 1882-1972

Here's an image we all know well--The Little Flower Mission Church north of Onamia, Minnesota. The one 'famous' person in the family was Sr. Laura, grandpa Anton's sister Theresa. The church was her own design: one side made of brick (the white American influence) and the other side of wood in the form of a teepee (the Ojibwa /Anishinabe influence). She hoped for assimilation between the two cultures, starting with her missionary work.
Here's a quote from MINNESOTA REFLECTIONS about Sr Laura:
"In 1930 Bishop Peter Bartholme of the Diocese of St. Cloud asked Sister Laura Hesch, OSB, to set up a mission to serve the Ojibwe on the Mille Lacs Reservation". In 1930, she was already 48 years old, and by the time construction on the church began, she was 67.
Click "Minnesota Reflections"...you'll find pictures of her and the mission.

Sr. Laura pushed vocations among us girls EVERY time we saw her, remember? The implication was that, in lieu of joining the convent, at least we could send nickels and dimes! (Not the first time guilt was used on us...lol).

These photos are closer-ups from some of those pics, except for the last one--that's her grave in the graveyard behind the mission. These days, the Mille Lacs Casino is where the Community Center was, just north of the church. The Church and Inn are abandoned, but (thank you, Anon)  The cemetery seems to be kept up. You just have to know where it is.
The church is in use, and is well kept.  The other buildings we knew when we were kids are gone.







(Clickable)






Evidently, the Anishinabe wanted her to be buried at the mission, so by special dispensation, she is. But there's still a grave in St Joseph, at St Benedicts, marked with her name.

Mathias E Hesch 1890-1979

This cheery looking man is Grandpa Antons' brother Math, posing with his wife Mary and their seven daughters (a source of much teasing when my own dad kept having daughters, until Allans' birth stopped it).



In 1914, Math and his brother Ted went to Europe for 10 weeks. They went partly to see their moms' old home place in Goszczowice, (Guschwitz) Poland, and to do the Grand Tour, I suppose.

He was dads' favorite uncle, and our favorite great-uncle because he was funny, and he always carried Juicy Fruit gum. We didn't realize that giving us gum got us talking.

Math Hesch was known in Buckman as the 'local news' reporter for the Pierz Journal and the Little Falls Transcript. He had a sense of humor that wasn't always appreciated by local folks, i.e., if he heard an Ole and Lena joke, he might print it with Roman and Emily as the main characters, or Ray and Florentine....ha-ha, till you think about it.

Another thing I noticed in some "Buckman News" articles I've seen was that he played with the fact that there were THREE Math Heschs, two of whom were Math E, so he could report on his own visiting as tho it was someone else. He WAS paid by the inch.
(Math's Uncle Math moved to Pierz in 1911, and eventually, his nephew Matt joined the group. That made 3. You had to be there to know who he meant!)

In 1973, someone realized he'd been the "Buckman correspondent" for 68 years, and did a nice article in the paper.

In 1970, Math and Mary celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

All seven lovely daughters, in 1989: Adeline, Helen, Irene, Louise, Mary, Laura and Dolores.

When Math died six years later, his funeral was huge.

At the back of the church was a basket of gum, and we all took a piece.
Once again....it worked.

☺

This is how it goes...

So, last night, Larry and I were looking at this picture online. I was telling him who, when, where etc, and about the "garage" in the background. I said I remembered dad calling the car they're standing in front of a DeSoto. However, I was more interested in the car grandpa kept in that garage--remember it? A dusty looking black car, with that snub back-end and SPAGHETTI MONSTER head lights. What make was it, what year?

We both started googling, and he came up with an answer before I did, like usual!

I think the DeSoto was one of THESE , a 1953. Was it a sort of tomato red/orange? Did it belong to Uncle Matt?

As for the car in the garage, Uncle Eddie thought it was a Plymouth, and the closest thing I can find to my memory of it is a 1936 2 door coop. Sorta like these.

Uncle Eddie remembered that grandpa could stand milk cans in the trunk of the car...lol

(Cousin Gary Sufka just emailed: "Marlys, that old black car that Grandpa and I could put two milk cans in was a 1939 Chrysler. I think that in all the times that I rode with him in it we never made it over 35 mph".

LOL...thanks Gary!)

Tutorial

In case you've tried the CESKEARCHIVY site, and were confused about how it works, here's a quick tutorial.

That link'll get you to this page. For more difficulty, click the "Deutsch" or "Cesky" flags, but for English, leave it as it is, and click the "Littera scripta manet" button.




The next page looks like this:

Menu on the left, you want "Parish registers", ok? Click that...

..and then,

"Roman Catholic Church"

From this point, you can click any of the letters. They

stand for parishes in Bohemia, but of course they're not all relevant to the search for HESCHs.

(Somewhere in here, you'll need to install ZOOMIFY on your computer to access the books. DO IT!)

We show up mostly in Cimer and Horni Pena, in the district of Jindřichův Hradec, but we haven't scoured ALL the books there, so have at it!

Here, I've selected the H's, for Horni Pena--just LOOK at all the parishes to choose from!


When you click the words HORNI PENA,

you'll get a list of all the years and books they've

digitized from that parish.

Book 8, image 164 will show you a familiar family name. Page around--its really FUN!

You're welcome!

More pictures from Judy

Click to enlarge

THIS is how I remember the kitchen at Grandmas' house, except for dad sitting OUT of a game? Seems like that never happened!

(Jerry emailed to say they might have been playing 31, where "Out" is part of the game, so you got to watch others play while they teased you about going out...lol)

The kid dashing off the right front corner--was it Joyce?

Can you name all the adults there? There's only one I don't recognize--the guy to Grandpas' left. (Jerry said he's Herman Barton, somebody who helped out at Uncle Leo's place and often came with them to Grandmas house. According to Herman's WWI draft registration, he was born 15 May 1886. He would have been the man that we were warned not to disturb when we were at Karashs. We were told he was mean to kids, but years later, Aunt Fronie told me that he was hard of hearing, and they just didn't want us to bother him. It worked...lol Thanks, Jerry!)

Favorite Uncles:
It's fun to see a picture of Uncle Leo, huh?
One of the few times he wasn't wearing a hat outside,
and you can see he's about to laugh, or tease
somebody.
We all pretty much adored Uncle Leo,
and Uncle Tader wasn't bad either!

Remember the Polish word Uncle Leo usta call
Aunt Fronie? Mah-RUN-sec...lol

Back to Bohemia, ok?

(Copied and pasted from my other blog...lol)

Remember how, when we were kids, a "funny" mans' name was "Ignatz"? Like when dad was teasing a kid, or we were naming a puppy--"What do YOU think we should call him, daddy?"--the answer was usually "Ignatz"...and we'd all groan...lol

Imagine my surprise, then to find not one, but TWO Ignaz Heschs in Southern Bohemia in the 1800s. Larry found them in a village south of Oberschlagles and Schamers--Zinolten. The birth was recorded this way:

12 December 1854

Zinolten #4
IGNAZ HESCH

Catholic, Male, Legitimate

Father:

Ignaz Hesch, citizen, son of Franz Hesch, citizen, in Oberschlagles #11, and Agnes born Blaschko of Schamers #26

Mother:

Franziska daughter of --- Ambrosch, (frn..?) in Zinolten #4 and Anna born Stiedl in Zinolten # 27

Sponsors:Albert Maihr (?) in Zinolten #28 and Franziska Schinka of Zinolten #1
Midwife Franziska Neubauer

Beautiful Faces

At the Golden Wedding...

(Click the pictures to enlarge 'em)...

In July, 1960 (the last time we gathered at the PowWow Grounds in Royalton), we celebrated the 50th wedding anniversary of Anton and Elizabeth Hesch, ever after referred to as "the Golden Wedding", like, "I remember what you wore to the Golden Wedding!" or, "They came from MONTANA for the Golden Wedding".

Their living sibs were there, of course--here are Grandpas: Matt, Rose, Sr. Laura (Theresa) and Ted. I think the woman on the right was one of Ted's daughters.

Remember the picture from their wedding with their witnesses?

(Scroll way down, it's on an earlier post).

Here's a picture of the four of them, fifty years later:

Theodore, Anton, Elizabeth and Magdalena.

.

Somebody organized a family picture that day:

Rosie, Henry, Matt, Katie,Ted, Fronie, Mike and Tony behind Grandpa and Grandma.

Sweet, even if it's way overexposed.

It only took about a minute for Uncle Tader

to push their heads together and crack everybody up!

Researching Heschs

Grandpa Anton was one of 11 children born to Paul and Mary (Otremba) Hesch. They were Rose, John, Frank, Theresa, Anton, Joseph, Paul, Theodore, Mathias, Stephen and Mary. (Paul and Mary adopted two kids from the orphan trains, too--a daughter named Lucy and a son named Paul Vincent Doyle).

*Rose married Louis Gottwalt and moved to Rice, Mn.

*Theresa became Sr. Laura, OSB.

*Theodore married Rosalia Dehler and moved to Minneapolis.

*Mathias married Mary Tetiva and lived on the home place, a mile west of Buckman, Mn.

*Mary married Joe Peterson, and moved to Bruno, Mn.

*Anton married Elizabeth Sand so they could be our grandparents...lol

These six are the 'greats' we grew up with, mostly un-aware of the others, right?

So, what happened to John, Frank, Joe, Paul and Stephen, and the adopted kids?

Well, Stephen died as an infant, and

Paul Jr died "out west" at 20 years old.

.........................

Frank went to work on the railroad and

died in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1922.

.......................

John evidently had a form of rheumatism and moved around the county looking for relief, but didn't find it. He married Katie Mueller. They had five children who survived his death in January of 1926, in Buckman.

..........................

Grandpas' brother Joseph died when his shotgun accidently went off when he was returning from one of his fields. That was in October of 1926, 9 months after John died. What a sad year for that family!

Joe was married to Anna Heurung, and they had seven kids.

And, here's another Otremba connection: Anna subsequently married John B. Otremba who was 16 years older than she was. This is the family Paul (Bunyan) Hesch came from, up in Brainerd (scroll down, his story is here already...lol)

Some of those obits mention a "Mrs Max Klein" as a sister of the deceased, so I assume that was Lucy, and Paul Doyle moved to Minneapolis but stayed close to brother Math's family all his life.

Anton's Children

You really HAVE TO enlarge these pictures. That's Mike in the middle at about 12, with twins Matt and Ted (maybe 10 years old) on the left and right. If those ages are accurate, then the little boy in the middle is Henry at about 3. (It would have been 1925 because of the pic below marked 1925 ☺). I really love the dirty bare feet...lol




Here's Fronie, Rosie and Katie, sitting on a blanket. If Aunt Fronie was born in 1919, Aunt Katie in 1921 and Aunt Rosie in 1925, then this could have been taken on the same day as the boys, above.
Check that dimple in Aunt Fronies' chin!





Now, this picture is a mystery to me:



Aunt Rosie wrote "Mike" on the bottom, so I tend to believe her,
but the kid looks much too sweet to actually BE dad...lol

What do you think?



This, tho, IS dad on his first communion, when he was 12 (the custom then).


Funny to see him wearing knickers, huh?



We're only missing Tony, now, but there were no little Tony pics in the batch from Judy. (Ahh, he wasn't born yet).

The newest OLD pics

This morning, I received SIX pages of family photos from Judy, many of 'em totally new to me. I gotta say, I'm eternally grateful to Aunt Rosie for writing names and dates on many of them, and to Judy for bothering, not to mention Judy's friend Terry for scanning and e-mailing them!

YAY!!!
I almost don't know where to start...

but in the meantime, heres a 360 PANORAMA of the mill in the village we think they came from, Dolni Z'dar or Niedermuhl. (Once it loads, use your mouse to pan left or right, up or down...it's pretty COOL!)

Grandma Hesch, Gest. 14 November 1972

click to enlarge



I really like this picture, taken at Josh's first birthday party, when we lived in the "Dropps house" west of Buckman. Dad has a genuine smile (not mugging for the camera...lol), I'm so young, Josh was becoming such a sweet, bright little personality, and grandma Hesch was enjoying herself. Mom, Aunt Fronie and Uncle Leo were there, too, that Sunday night--two days before Josh's actual birthday. Typical one-year-old, he had no idea what he was supposed to do with that cake, or why there was a candle on it.

This is most likely the last picture taken of Grandma Hesch. She died two days later at home in Royalton. In less than a month, she would have been 85. I still regret not getting to know her better.

My most abiding memory of her was on the day of Grandpas' funeral, in 1964. I was 14.
We went to the farm first, before going up to the church that morning. The kitchen on the farm always seemed like a grey cave to me--a large room with not much furniture and colorless walls. Grandma was sitting in her rocker, in her Sunday clothes. Someone said she should fix her hair, it was almost time.

She was so sad. I'd never seen her put her hair up, but then, I'd never seen her cry before that day, either. She sighed, and went to the mirror over the dry sink there in the kitchen, opened the cupboard next to it, took out a comb and began. I stood at the corner of the cupboard, just inside the back door, remember?

She took a few hairpins out of her hair, and then, an odd circle of string. It was bits and pieces of stuff with lots of knots...a shoe lace, and a piece of light-switch string, some twine, something that used to be red. It was about as big around as your two hands make with index fingers and thumbs.

I'd never seen her hair down before. She sorta rubbed it out of the shape it'd been in, and then it was hanging down, all different lengths, fairly thin, not fresh-washed, the longest parts hanging almost to her shoulders. Tears on her face.
She combed it down then, without fuss, and parted it in the middle from the crown right through the widows-peak on her forehead. A few strokes of the comb to the left, then the right, one or two in back, and the string circle was replaced on top. (I remember this in slow-motion, but she was well-practiced and fluid).

Black comb in her right hand, she started on the left side of her head. From underneath, she combed it up and tucked each section over and then under the circle. With a few strokes of the comb around her head, lifting and tucking, and a few hairpins, she transformed herself back into Grandma. She put the comb back in the cupboard, and did a little tug on either side of the part, in front, to fluff it a bit. I remember realizing how beautiful she was, and how perfect that arrangement was for her--it framed her face just right, and made her look old fashioned and....elegant, a word she wouldn't have used.