These are my relatives in Grossgartach, Germany:  Martin Lämmlen, his father, Helmut Lämmlen, and Rudolf Lämmlen.  Helmut and Rudolf are my father’s first cousins.  I received word today that Rudolf departed this life yesterday at age 87.  He was a gentle and kind man.  When he was born, the doctor thought he was stillborn and used forceps to deliver him.  Rudolf lived, but tragically, suffered brain damage and was handicapped the rest of his long life.

Rudolf’s only sibling, a brother named Kurt, died in 1972 when he was injured when the tongue of a hay wagon hit him in a farm accident and ruptured his intestine.  Gangrene set in before the doctors could save him. He was only 48 years old.   Kurt’s wife, Hilde looked after Rudolf until she was placed in a care center a few years ago.  Rudolf and Hilde lived in the old farm home where my grandfather, also named Rudolf, was raised.  We visited there in 2009 when these photos were taken.

Rudolf was a happy fellow, who kept things neat and tidy.  He loved to cut wood and stack it in picture perfect piles, organized by size.  The old farm house faced the main street and the farm animals lived in the barn yard just behind the home.  Here are some photos I took of this ancestral home in 2009:   

These next photos are inside Grandpa’s home:

Here I am visiting my Tante Hilde after she moved to the care center.

And here is Kurt and Hilde’s oldest son, Bernd with his wife, Petra and their son, Sascha.

I love my German family and miss them.  Today I mourn Rudolf’s departure with them.

Here is a photo of this ancestral home taken in 1913 when Grandpa was 14 years old.  he is peering out the front window: