THE HILLMANNS OF BROOKLYN
CHAPTER 61
1942-1965
CONCLUSION
1942 Herman with his grandson, John. I have no photos of Rose with John.
John was taken home from the hospital by his father's mother, Martha, who was thrilled to have him. Martha had raised two sons. Will and John moved back into his parents large, rent-controlled Manhattan apartment at 51st and First, the same apartment he had moved out of only about a year before, when he married Marian.
Will's mother, Martha, took Marian's passing in stride. Martha's mother, Charlotte, pictured with her father, had died as a result of the birth of her tenth child. Biggest difference between Charlotte and Marian, Charlotte knew she was dying. She said good-bye to her daughter, Martha. Marian's death was sudden and caused by exceptional medical stupidity.
In Martha's world, growing up with out a parent was not exceptional. Martha's mother, Charlotte's, father, Janne, died while Charlotte's mother, Anna, was pregnant with Charlotte.
After her husband's death Anna moved in with her parents to raise Charlotte. Anna never remarried. I think one of the reasons Anna never remarried was because she wanted to be alive to raise Charlotte, particularly since Janne died.
Following the death her daughter, Charlotte, Anna moved in with Martha's family to help raise the children. Martha was repeating a pattern we know occurred in the prior two generations of her family.
Martha was over joyed to have a new little boy to raise.
Grandma Rose, on the other hand, according to her grandson John, never got over the blow of losing her beloved daughter. She insisted they sell the Port Washington house because she couldn't stand living in the same house with her daughter's room. She withdrew from friends and family.
Herman and Rose did not want to go back to Brooklyn. They didn't want to live in the Bronx because that was where Will and Marian lived. They went to Flushing, which was as far as you could get from Manhattan and still catch a train into the City because Herman still worked. It was the first time they ever lived in an apartment, as opposed to a house.
The fiercely independent Vikings who raised John sent him to first grade at age 4. At that same time, he began regularly visiting his Hillmann grandparents, first every other Saturday, then every 3rd Saturday. John traveled on two trains, by himself, to visit his grandparents.
John didn't like the weekend obligation because he said Rose was mean, now he thinks its because every time she looked at him, she saw her daughter's death. He said once she told him that he had to be nice to her, because she lost a lot for him.
Herman's daughter died, but his mother, Emma, was still living. Sometime in the 1940s she moved to Vermont to live with the granddaughters she raised (Herman's sister's children). Emma died in 1952. John never met her. He never knew she was alive during his lifetime.
In case you missed Hillmanns#1 I wanted to remind of what Emma looked like as a young woman in the 1880s.
In 1952, when the great-grandmother he never knew died, John, age 10, had his first job. He delivered cooked chicken. He lived in an enormous rent-controlled apartment in a great location, he delivered chickens to Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
Herman tried to make Rose happy by taking her on trips, as they had always done.
It looks like they went to San Francisco. Maybe it's because Marian had told them how much she had liked it there when she went in 1937 (Hillmanns #54). Rose died in 1954.
I want to remind you of what Herman and Rose looked like the first time we saw them together, in about 1907.
John said he met Siegele relatives at Rose's funeral. This was the only time he ever met Siegeles. John believes Rose and Herman effectively alienated Hillmanns and Siegeles from their lives after Marian's death because relatives reminded them of their loss.
In 1956 John's father, Will, Marian's husband, died.
After Will's death, Herman decided he had to step it up a notch, so the Summer of 1956 he took John on vacation to Bermuda, to exactly the same place he took Marian and Rose. In 1957 Herman took John on a trip all over the western United States.
In 1958 Herman wanted to take John to Europe, to retrace Herman's own 1900 Grand Tour, but John didn't want to go. He wanted to go camping with his friend, Ralphie, instead. John calls this one of the poor decisions he made in his life. John did not grow up in the land of We-all-love-each-other-Oh-
John moved to South Florida following in the path of his friend, Ralphie, and Ralphie's family.
In 1959, within months of John's going to Florida, Martha, Will's mother, the grandmother who raised John, died. John told her he would be home for Christmas. John had no idea Martha was sick, but Martha's friend told John that Martha had been sick for a long time and was holding on for him. When John was born he had four grandparents and every one of the was 60 or older.
John met a beautiful girl, named Pam. Pam and John wanted to get married. Herman was opposed to the marriage, because he thought John was too young. At that time the legal age to get married without consent was 21.
John's guardian was his Uncle, Will's brother, because when Will died the three remaining grandparents decided the Uncle should be his guardian because it was more likely that one of the grandparents would die. (They were correct. The two Lindquist grandparents died beffore John was 21.) John's Uncle gave consent for the marriage.
In 1962 John and Pam married. Pam's parents didn't like it either. Pam was surprised Herman wasn't pleased with the marriage, like Marian Hillmann, Pam was a beloved only child and was not used to not being liked. John took Pam to New York after they married to meet his family.
Herman came to Florida to visit John. He told John that some of Rose's people (a brother and sister) lived in Delray, just up the road from Ft Lauderdale. John told Herman he didn't know those people, but if Herman wanted to see them, they could go. Herman declined.
Sometime in the early 1960s Herman celebrated 60 years with his employer, the H.B. Smith Co. I can only imagine this company, along with his co-workers, were the community that filled Herman's life after losing his daughter and wife.
In January of 1964 Pam and John had a baby. Pam wanted to name the baby, Marian, to please Herman. John consented. This is Herman in the Summer of 1964 on the day of Marian's baptism in Belleville, Ontario, near the 1,000 Islands, which is where Pam's mother was born.
Herman died in April 1965. An autopsy was performed and the doctor reported Herman had so much wrong with him, any number of things could have killed him. John used the money he inherited to buy a house for his growing family. He also inherited a bunch of pictures, which he kept, and gave to me Memorial Day Weekend 2011. I am thankful to have spent so much time learning about the grandmother I never knew, and sharing it with you.
