Lentz-Stenquist Family and Halcyon Friends: 2011

Welcome

Patty, Susie and Dick invite our cousins, family and Halcyon friends to our FAMILY and HALCYON MEMORIES blog. I thought it may be fun for us to share our most favorite, precious memories of our life and times growing up in Halcyon - and remembering - and honoring - the many people that helped us along the way. Do you remember the spontaneous gathering when Uncle Bob Lentz "found" Bernard? Many of us came together in Halcyon to hear and tell stories (and enjoy Peppermint Schnapps). Remember Dr. Gerber being the most perfect emcee while I was recording the conversation using a little tape recorder? I still have the cassette tape from that evening. How many more stories are there to be told, that we can pass along to our children - and their children? I am hoping this blog gives us that opportunity. Two ways to join in the fun! First, please COMMENT on any post with your own memories, reflections. Second, BECOME A POST AUTHOR (contact me to set up permissions) and post your own memories or treasured photos.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Halcyon Visit February 2011

Okay, Susie - thank you for correcting my memory of when Nanny came to Halcyon - It was before the kids and she sent for them later.
Dear family: this has been a marvelous time to reconnect with my "sis" and talk about our growing up years in Halcyon and who did what and why. More to come ....
Please contribute your memories.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Why Halcyon?

Why were we raised in Halcyon? Do you remember why or when our parents came to Halcyon to begin with? For example, here's one story about our grandmother, Ebba Whitney (Nanny). Nanny was married to an executive of a steel mill (or something related to that industry) in Worcester, MA in the early 1920s. She caught him cheating on her with another woman - not physically present, but she deduced from many telltale signs and his story fabrications of whereabouts that this was the case. Mom always thought it was her father's secretary. This explains why, whenever I would obtain a new job, or hire a new secretary for my office, she would ask me whether or not she was pretty ... and give a sort of warning scowl. Anyway - Nanny wanted a divorce. In order to spare the children (Bob and Louise, our uncle and mother) from the marital dispute (perhaps this was the reason) she sent them out West to Halcyon. WHY Halcyon? How had she learned about the Temple? What was Nanny reading when in Worcester? One bit of history I recall clearly is from one of Mom's stories: traveling out west when she was only 11 years old (that would be in 1928). She and Bob made the cross-country train trip by themselves. She said she was scared, because she had heard many stories of the wild west. Bob, on the other hand, told me that he had a wonderful feeling of adventure. They came to the Halcyon Sanitarium, where they lived until Nanny could join them, a couple of years later. Oh, what stories there must have been about their growing up in Halcyon - and during the years of the Great Depression. WHAT CAN YOU ADD ABOUT THIS STORY? WHAT DO YOU RECALL ABOUT HOW OR WHY OUR ANCESTORS CAME TO HALCYON?