Saturday, August 25, 2007

My great grandfather was a faux painter!!

My grandma is 93 years old and living with my mom in central New Jersey. She is my last living grandparent. She is such a special lady, she is still sharp and has all of her memory. Sometimes my mom and I sit with her and ask her questions about her childhood and about old times. It is so interesting to hear how her parents came into America from Czechoslovakia on a ship into Ellis Island. Her parents met in New York city and were married in 1910. They lived on E. 66th St. in Manhattan until they moved to Keasby, NJ and then ended up in Perth Amboy, NJ where my great grandmother (Verona Matey Bohach) passed away in 1929. She died from Hotchkins Lymphoma at the age of 39. My great grandfather, Andrew John Bohach, was left to care for 4 children. He worked for the Lehigh Valley railroad marking railroad cars. The cool part, is that I just found out that he had a second job working as an interior home painter. My grandma told us that he did not only do straight painting, but he also worked with sponges, rags, and even used combs to do specialty finishes. My grandma was 23 when my great grandpa died of a burst apendix (peratinitus). He was only 51 years old. My grandma said that I inherited my talent from my him, and I feel so honored about that. I knew that we had artists on my dad's side of the family, but now I know that I have it on my mom's side too. I encourage everyone to learn about their family history when you have the chance, from your older relatives, before it is too late.

1 comment:

Ellen Leigh said...

Too cool! My mom's half brother was an artist, but as far as I know he's the only one in the family- Dad's side were all farmers in this country, serfs that worked on a castle in Germany befoore they came here- LOL! Hope you get lots of traffic to your blog, hon!