Grandpa's Bridge

When Dad was growing up in Sheboygan, Grandpa TerMaat supported the family driving delivery trucks, but later in life he was the bridge tender for the 8th Street drawbridge and this is how his grandkids remember him. The picture above of Grandpa enjoying the view from the bridge with grandson Chris dates from around 1957. 

These two pictures show Chris and I visiting Grandpa at his workplace in 1963. I remember being a little jealous of Chris because he got to help make the bridge go up and down for a boat to pass through. I thought it was an awesome job, sort of like having a superpower.  I get a special thrill anytime I encounter a draw or lift bridge and think of my grandfather. 

The brick building visible in the background of the photo above is the C. Reiss Coal Company building. You can learn more about that company and see some other historical, views of the Sheboygan river and harbor at this page. The bridge is visible in the lower left corner of this aerial shot which looks like it dates from Grandpa's era. 

I don't recall ever hearing stories about mishaps or other incidents at the bridge, though there is one famous drawbridge accident from 1911 that pops up on the Sheboygan history sites, in which a trolley car slid off the open bridge drowning three.  Surely that story would have been passed down from one bridge tender to the next.

Here you can have a look around the modernized bridge as it looks today via Google Street View.

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Gone Fishing

For Father's Day, how about a tribute to TerMaat men fishing? First, above we have a photo of Grandpa TerMaat in Eggebeen's backyard in 1955 with a big catch. You can make up your own fish story to go with this picture as there are no other details available, other than one presumes Aunt Margaret prepared a tasty meal from this!

Next we have some pictures from 1962 where Grandpa takes Richard and Chris fishing. I'm pretty sure Dad was the cameraman, so this was a multi-generational expedition. I wonder if this is where he learned to fish when he was young. 

Eventually Chris will move on to bigger fish, but you can tell he's pretty proud of this little guy here (despite the camera error) and as you can see below, Richard and Chris did pretty well, in a quantity vs. quality kind of way.

These next are from 1963. I assume these are fishing trip preliminaries with Chris and Vernon (or in the second picture Vern and Jim?) collecting grasshoppers and earthworms for bait in Aunt Hattie's yard. Followed by Richard and Chris at a different bridge than above. 

Finally, here are a few pictures of a 1964 trip again with Grandpa TerMaat, Chris, Vern (and cameraman Dad).

For all the Dads, thanks for keeping the dream of landing the whale going!

Little Hattie's Best Dress

Aunt Hattie loved to dress her nieces and nephews up in sailor suits. Here I am with cousin Ann Eggebeen in matching sailor dresses in 1963. (And what a lush backdrop Uncle Joe's glads and dahlias make!).

Here's Pete in 1968, with Grandma TerMaat in Hattie's kitchen, ready to set sail.


I think I've discovered why Hattie favored these Victorian outfits. In the formal portrait below are sisters Hattie and Margaret TerMaat about 1920, Hattie outfitted in a sailor dress. Hattie's about the same age here as the girls in my pre-school Sunday School class who love their ribbons, sequins and tulle. Current fashions favor pink and sparkle and it's hard to imagine little girls today being attracted to a serious color like navy blue, but I'm going to guess that Hattie's ribbons were red. I bet she loved that dress with the giant, shiny bow.

Family Portrait with a Reg'lar Feller

This is the only formal portrait that I know of picturing all the TerMaat siblings together. Some effort went into it as you can see that Margaret, Marion and Hattie are wearing matching dresses. And Little Connie has picked out his best tie. If you look very closely, you can see that the photographer added a little blush to the cheeks.

The tie says "Reg'lar Fellers" and depicts one of the characters from a comic strip by that name. The series, created by Gene Byrnes ran from 1917-1949 and had many spin-offs including books, radio, animated and feature film versions, assorted merchandising such as dolls, pencil boxes (just search ebay) and apparently children's clothing.  This photo must have been taken in the mid 1930s. 1936, when Dad was seven and the animated short below was released would not be a bad guess. 



I like the little Reg'lar Feller jingle that introduces the film. Having just survived a visit from Connie's grandson Max (who really resembles his grandpa!), in which he dug a hole, built a catapult, investigated a pumpkin-tossing trebuchet and devoured Diary of a Wimpy Kid, it's especially fun to see the comic kids digging a hole, messing with an old jalopy, making it fly and in the feature film, building an amphibious vehicle. Some things about seven-year-old boys and their comic alter-egos never change.

Happy Thanksgiving, Sheboygan 1966

Thanksgiving at Aunt Margaret's in Sheboygan, 1966

Kid's Table! Pete was less than a year old, so he must have been hanging with the adults. Note that Grandma TerMaat is lurking in the background.

Here Pete joins us to add a little emotional interest to the ritual group photo. 

Ann get's caught in a sneeze?

Pete gets acquainted with Aunt Marion. 

Eggebeen's had the best games!

Cousin Pile!

The Graduate

I've got graduation fever. Fresh off my celebration of Stevens diplomas, here's a TerMaat story. Even though Dad went on to earn a stack of diplomas after moving on from Sheboygan Christian School, his eighth grade graduation produced the most impressive document, one of those 17x22 wall-covering behemoths.



The ceremony took place on June 4, 1943 and we have the program so we know young Connie gave a speech:



Here's what the school looked like:



The handsome graduate:



The class had a reunion (I'm guessing in 1993) and this is what they looked like 50 years later. Connie is in the back row, second from the right:



Remember, if you are reading this on the blog, you can click on the photos to enlarge.

DeGeus Family Photo Album

Here's my little contribution to remembering Uncle Con-- a little DeGeus family photo album spanning brat fries and Thanksgiving in Sheboygan to fishing at Deer Lake. The quality of some of the photos is not terrific but the memories are!

If you are viewing this post on Facebook you will need to click here or here for the full show. You can also browse the pictures on Flickr here.

The Man Who Came to Dinner

We recently discovered that Jason was appearing in a production of The Man Who Came to Dinner, the same play Dad had a role in as a high school senior in 1947. Above and below are the yearbook pages for the production (click to enlarge). His role was small--the boyfriend of the daughter, smaller than Jason's, who I understand played the father. I'm just a little disappointed Dad didn't have a role that required him to wear one of those Groucho Marx mustaches.

Apparently Dad also appeared in the chorus of the Mikado and presumably is in this picture, though its impossible to pick him up. What I wouldn't give for a close up of him in costume!

Mrs. Chris TerMaat

This picture of Nancy with Great Aunt Sara TerMaat (the two Mrs. Chris TerMaats)
was taken shortly after Chris and Nancy were married. Aunt Sara was born in 1885 so
she was approaching 100 at the time.

Here is a wedding or engagement photo for Aunt Sara and Uncle Chris.
They were married on Valentine's Day in 1912.

Pete TerMaat: Hambone

Max did a little dance for us last time he visited which reminded me of this picture of his Daddy being a goofball. These photos were taken in Hattie's backyard in Sheboygan-- apparently they had a bit of a flood that year. (And no it's not your eyes. It was a crappy camera with a shaky operator.)

Brat Fry

This is a little collection of portraits from a brat fry (though no brats are actually featured-- but really, what else would we have been eating?) in Sheboygan summer of 1979. Jim and Jayne appear to be newly engaged? married? Everyone is looking quite jolly.



You can click on the symbol with four arrows to make the slideshow fill the screen or you can browse the set by clicking here or view the slideshow on flickr here

Hunting Season

I showed this picture of Grandpa TerMaat to Dad and he was quite surprised. "Never shot a gun in his life!" We speculate, given his formal looking attire that he is posing in front of someone else's prize, possibly his employer's.

Debate!

With debates in the news, I thought I would share these pictures of Connie TerMaat, high school debater.


From the Sheboygan North 1947 yearbook page above, we learn that his senior year he debated for the affirmative- Resolved: That the federal government should provide a system of medical care available to all citizens at public expense. They tied for third place at the Wisconsin Forensic League District Tournament and for fifth place at the National Forensic District Conference.

Below we see Connie TerMaat, debate coach in 1953 at Grand Rapids Christian High.


His debaters are listed as D. Monsma, A. Bos, L. Plantinga and B. Jeltema with S. Monsma and R. Baker in the back. They debated - Resolved: that the Atlantic Pact Nations Should Form a Federal Union. They had a 10-18 record but the yearbook explains that they debated against more experienced teams in state competition.

Here's a picture from the Grand Rapids Christian High 1953 yearbook of Dad as high school teacher. Or some bad imposter as it looks nothing like him. I'm sure the "Use your hands" quote is a reference to debating.

Sheboygan 1950s

Here is a collection of snapshots taken in Sheboygan (and one or two in Grand Rapids or Ohio) in the 1950s or early '60s. For obvious reasons, Chris and Richard are the stars of this show, but the fun part is probably seeing pictures of our parents when they were young and skinny. In addition to those shown here be sure to browse the whole set here or click here to view as a slideshow.

Grandma holds baby Christopher while Grandpa holds baby Richard.

Proud parents Connie and Margaret hold Chris and Richard.

Grandpa and Uncle Con help Richard with a toy train.
From another picture in this collection, I'm guessing this was a fifth birthday present.

Little Christopher and Grandpa at the bridge.

Uncle Larry with Beth.