More Rudy

Last week, I recounted the tragic story of Rudy along with some pictures. Here are some additional photos of Rudy during his school years. The first photo shows him in the graduating class of Jarvis Street School, which must have been an elementary/middle school. An earlier post showed a circus parade by students at the school. Rudy may be in that picture too, but I couldn't tell you for sure.

Rudy is in the front row, wearing the JS jersey. He doesn't look nearly as tough as the fellow in the second row wearing the same jersey. Some of the boys look very refined with their neckties, but a few look a little rough around the edges.

Here's another picture of Rudy, this time at Binghamton High School with his wrestling (?) team. He's number 7.

Be sure to check out Sepia Saturday for lots of classroom photos and other treasures. If you want to know more about Rudy, check out the previous post with baby pictures, letter etc.

Rudy

Last week I opened my big mouth and said I would have something to post for Sepia Saturday this week, especially if the theme was World War II, cooking, kidneys or strange outfits. Well, guess what? It seems I got my wish. So, here's the story of Rudy, the uncle-in-law I never met. I'm not sure if you can accurately call a person an uncle-in-law, but it seems less cumbersome than 'the brother of my father-in-law.'

Rudy was born in Binghamton, New York in about 1920. Here he is as a toddler.

 Here's another picture of him (on the left) with my father-in-law, John.

Rudy was in the army during World War II, stationed in England.  Here's a letter he wrote home in 1944.

Rudy worked as a cook in the army.

Does this picture say something about his cooking?

Later, Rudy ended up at the 127th Station Hospital. In the letter below, it sounds as if he is working at the hospital, but this is about the time he became sick and had to be hospitalized. For a long time, they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Finally, they discovered he was suffering from kidney failure. The story I have heard is that they went to remove one kidney, but found that he only had one. I don't know if that detail is right, but I do know that it's true that he only had one kidney. There were no kidney transplants at the time and dialysis was in the early development stages. Poor Rudy died at the age of 27.

Here's a letter Rudy sent to his brother John, who was also in the army. I'd love to know what the censors blocked out here.

Be sure to stop by Sepia Saturday for great stories and photos, which may or may not have anything to do with cooks, kidneys, or World War II.

John Is Thrilled

Here he is - excited about riding the pony.

Here is John again - excited about relaxing in the sun.

And here he is, excited about riding his tricycle.

The truth is that John really was very enthusiastic about many things. It just doesn't show in these pictures. I think it's fair to say that he probably didn't like to pose for pictures. John Korinek, born in 1926, was my father-in-law.  Here's a picture of him getting excited about a new pair of glasses he got in 2003.

And since Tracy asked, I have added this wedding photo too. There's definitely a smile this time.

If it's unbridled enthusiasm you're after, head on over to Sepia Saturday.

Kamehameha Day - Honolulu, Hawaii

Today is Kamehameha Day, a public holiday in the State of Hawaii (or Hawai'i.) It honors King Kamehameha, who first established the Kingdom of Hawaii, uniting the eight islands.  One of the most important traditions of the holiday is the draping of the statue of King Kamehameha with lots of 25-foot long floral tributes, which are created on site by volunteers throughout the day.  There are also parades, hula competitions and other events.

This photo and the next one were brought back from Hawaii by our favorite mailman, John Korinek, when he was stationed at Fort DeRussy in Honolulu after WWII. (Click here to see the previous post on John the Mailman.) So, this photo would probably from 1946 or 1947. The angle is a little strange, especially as King K. looks as if he has an extra head dress made from a palm tree.

The second photo is of Waikiki Beach, very crowded but missing the big hotels that are there now.  I can only imagine that the beach crowd is related to the military presence.

A Tribute to Our Favorite Mailman

I have never mentioned why I host this postcard blog. I love postcards and I've been collecting them for a long time, but this blog also helps to preserve and honor the memory of John Korinek, a man who delivered mail, collected all things beautiful, and was well loved by friends and family. He died on this day last year, and he is greatly missed. Many of the postcards I post were once his. He would be pleased to know that people are looking at them and enjoying them. I made the postcard below...just one, and sent it off to Kerry, the Postmaster in Cornelius, Oregon, who is doing a special Art of the Postcard exhibition at the Cornelius post office. John would have liked that a lot (except for having his picture on  a card!)

Whenever John called our house, he would always say, "This is John, the mailman." Sometimes we would remind him that he had retired several decades ago, but it didn't matter. Mailman had become part of his identity, for better or worse.

John had a studied appreciation for craftsmanship, beauty, and history. In the 1960s, when old buildings, including churches, were being demolished as part of urban renewal, John would do whatever he could to salvage the precious works of devoted craftsmen. When he asked the crew what they planned to do with the stained glass windows, more often than not the answer was, "If you can get them out before we start demolition in the morning, they're yours." Sometimes he would work through the night to salvage windows, as he did at the First Baptist Church of Binghamton (shown below) when it was demolished (postcard image courtesy of www.CardCow.com)

John also believed that any job, no matter how small, deserved to be done well. We miss his warm heart, and we will forever appreciate his strong principles and sense of honor.