Schilling Cousins

8:57:00 AM judyo53 0 Comments

Dale and Brian Schilling were my second cousins. Their father was my Mom's cousin, Norman. His wife was Margie. Norman was the son of Grandma Ganzer's youngest sister Freida, who lived to be 105. That's me and cousin Dale as little ones.

They grew up in the Homewood-Flossmoor area. They had side-by-side farms. Uncle George and Aunt Frieda had cows and chickens and maybe some fields. One time when we went there for dinner Uncle John touched the electric fence and got fried. It was the second time he did it. Another time was at another Great-aunt and uncle's farm.

My cousin Dale Schilling was the same age as me and Brian was younger. I really loved both of them and we would visit a lot. When I was about 10 I would stay with them for a week at a time in the summer. They planted hay and I even went along on a tractor ride to watch them pick up and bale the hay.


We'd also play croquet on their large expanse of front yard. But my favorite thing was playing hide and seek in their basement. They also had some fun games and toys, like Mr. Machine.

Once in a while, we'd go to the other Schilling cousin's home. That was Robert (Mom's cousin, brother of Norman) and Whippie, his wife. I think they had 5 or 6 kids and I can't even remember them all. Elsie was the oldest and she was always kind of bossy and I never felt that comfortable around her. When she wasn't around I was "best friends" with Dale and Brian. But when she was in the picture I was always made to feel like the outsider. The sister closest to my age (maybe a year or two younger) was Cindy, but she always seemed much younger and a little goofy and I never bonded with her.

Both Norman and Robert were brought up speaking both German and English. There was a bit of intrigue when Robert's wife Whippie ran away with another man at one point. She was a wild child and a strange woman. She came back to Robert pregnant and he took her back!

We really didn't keep in touch once my Mom and Dad moved to Arizona, although I did accompany Mom to visits to Aunt Frieda and would see Aunt Margie once a year for a while. She was a tall, very friendly woman and still sends me e-mails. She and her husband Norman sold the farm and made a lot of money. They ended up opening a trucking business after their last name. They are both still alive as of this writing.

The last time I saw the rest of the Schilling clan was at Aunt Frieda's funeral. Dale is some kind of minister and owns an exercise place. I believe he and his wife had a bunch of kids but their only son died young in a car accident. He is kind of short, slim and bald.

Cousin Brian is tall and handsome and had two daughters. He was divorced last I heard. Elsie became an attorney and she was very nice upon meeting me after all these years. Aunt Whippie was still alive at that time and she couldn't believe I was there.