I found this lovely tidbit in the Van Nuys News archives. It was printed in the September 5, 1949 edition of the newspaper. Clara Stachowiak Christy was one of my maternal great aunts. Clara married Ivan Wohlk Christy (Christiansen) in 1934. Ivan was born in Frederikshavn, Nordjylland, Denmark. Ivan died in May of 1949 in Burbank.
A month after his death, Clara went to visit her husband's relative. It doesn't say in this story whether or not she stayed the entire time in Denmark. It does say that she did stay with her brother-in-law in Denmark. The part of this story that I love (besides having a 3 month trip to Europe) is that her brother-in-law owns an oleomargarine factory. Do they even make oleomargarine anymore? I am thinking this must have been some sort of status symbol. I am guessing with all those Danish pastries, one should also have some "margarine".
It was very nice of her brother-in-law to host Clara during her grief after her husband's death. I wonder if this was Clara's first trip to her husband's homeland. The more information I find, the more questions I have ...
I remember Aunt Clara talking about the Denmark trip. She was both amused and flattered because when her ship arrived, the reception she got from the family members struck her as being of the sort royalty would receive.
ReplyDeleteI have some questions regarding Clara. If anyone has any information about her and would like to discuss, please e-mail me at judyferkey@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
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