April, 1945 St. Luke's Monthly Newsletter - Baseball Update

The original post discussing the Easter edition of the Parish Youth Council newsletter concluded with a mention of a secondhand report of an explanation of baseball by a Chinese friend of an American serviceman stationed overseas in 1945.

Since it was hard to read, an enlargement of the relevant paragraphs is here offered.  Remember, "hat" is a typo; "bat" makes sense.

So when the Americans hollered "Batter Out!!" it sounded to the Chinese like crummy pronunciation of whatever Chinese holler when they wish to praise a performer and which is transliterated here as "Ding How!"  Follow that?

Julie

April, 1945 St. Luke's Monthly Newsletter

The Parish Youth Club at St. Luke's in Buffalo published a newsletter called PYC Monthly.  Volume 3, No.3 of the six-page, 12" by 9" publication, professionally printed on inexpensive wartime stock, was the "Easter Servicemen's Issue."

Father Fimowicz wrote the Pastor's Message on the first page.  According to Eugene, Fr. Fimowicz used to take off his shoes and socks, hold up the skirts of his cassock, and run barefoot through the snow around the neighborhood of St. Luke's Rectory.  He would laugh and say that it was refreshing and good for his health.

Who wants to translate the Pastor's Message for us?  It looks like an entertaining job.

Click to enlarge.

"Over There" is the report of news - social newsy bits - from parishioners serving overseas. Gene Norman, who eventually became Dr. Norman and the baby doc for Marty and me, told the correspondent that he was "fascinated at the bird paradise in the Phillipines.  He's seen some pretty bluejays and other feathered friends. Seems to prefer the Phillipines to New Guinea."  Morale-maintaining social newsy bits are the order of the day. 

There's Eugene Norman, top left.  I had no more idea that he was a violinist than that he served in the Navy in the Pacific Theater.

"Baseball Transmitted" starts off with "You wave your bat fiercely."  It gets better and better.  When you got up this morning, did you think you were going to read a 1945 Chinese take on American baseball?  Great stuff here at Gene and Clara's.

(I'm sure that the choice of the word "slant" was intentional, and intended as a pun.  Usage that we now recognize as cruelty and bad taste was then considered acceptable in a nonchalant way.  It was thoughtlessness, mostly, I think.)

(But then, it did go both ways.  The Chinese call the European types "ghosts," because they are so pale that they look like walking dead.)

It's arresting to read a description like this.  We think, "Sports and athletics are universal in their appeal." Sure, but then we might conclude, from that, that something as out in the open as baseball would be obvious in its meaning to anyone who looked.  Not so!  A spectator with a different cultural perspective can understand each little part very differently.

The Sodality (from the Latin, sodalis, companion) was the ladies' club of the Parish.  Note the goad, last paragraph, from the man who wrote the piece: "We wish them luck in their impossible attempt to become baseball players."  Tiresome!  I hope the ladies achieved proper retaliation.

Julie

Grammar School Graduation

We last saw CAMZ at grammar school in a one-room schoolhouse in South Wales, Erie County, New York.  She finished at a grammar school in the Buffalo school system: Lincoln School, Number 44, "P.S. 44,"  founded in 1889.  It is still there, on Broadway, and is called "Lincoln Academy, P.S. 44."

Clara was 14 years old in 1943. 

Of course the program opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem.  I confess to shock and surprise the first time I went to a modern-day graduation and those two never happened, and there was no US flag in sight. Since then, the shock and surprise have dissipated to a deep, slow burn.

Check out the "Class of 1943 Dedication" on this page:

Click to enlarge.  Yes, you can see it was a Polish neighborhood.  But they did not study the Polish language in the public school.  Her parents were also firm and specific:  Polish at home, English at school.  And study.  Learn two languages and learn them well.

Our favorite Lincoln student received the Eighth Grade Honorable mention for the Jesse Ketchum award for scholarship, attendance, and deportment.

I like the variety in these "Achievements."  I note also the separate awards for boys and girls in the Fifth and Sixth Grade Speaking Contest.  That sure looks quaint now;  what would be the point of that, anyway?  I suppose it was based on an assumption that boys and girls would never address similar subjects, and so there would be but poor basis for comparison and assessment.  Some things have improved.

When I read the lyric to "Land of Mine," a melody starts up in my head.  What is it?  Wait for it . . . Yes!  "Yellow Rose of Texas."  No telling what it actually was.

Wonderful first verse, reminiscent of the sentiment in "God Bless America," the first verse of which goes "God Bless America, land of my birth,"  and the second verse of which starts off "God Bless America, land of my choice."  I've always loved that explicit recognition of old-timers and new immigrants as equal citizens expressing equal patriotism.  Here the lyricist Wilbur D. Nesbit caught it all in the first stanza.

3595 is a medal number;  44 is the school.  What's in the box?

"The Public Schools of Buffalo, N.Y."

"Jesse Ketchum 1782-1867."  Ketchum was a successful Canadian tanner who immigrated to the USA and moved his tannery from Ontario to Buffalo in 1845.  He donated much of his wealth to Buffalo schools, and sponsored these medals, which have been awarded since 1873.

"DEDIT DEUS DISCIPLINAM" literally means "God gave instruction," but the actual sentiment we would express as "Learning is a gift from God," or "Education is a blessing."

Who is the figure? Buffalo is the "Queen City;" is she the figure of the City of Buffalo? What is the crowned blob on her shield? Wheat?  That would suit the Queen City very well, as the grain trade was the original basis of its wealth.  The laurel leaf is bestowed on the head of the victorious graduate.

"W&C Barber" refer to William and Charles Barber, who were the U.S. Mint engravers who did the engraving for these medals.

The descendants of Jesse Ketchum founded Ketchum Manufacturing.  Cattle all over the US have metal eartags made by Ketchum.  I've been putting them in cows' ears for over thirty years without realizing the connection.

My Mom never came on a farm call with me.  But I feel more connected to Mom, now that I know that I have given out hundreds?  thousands? of Jesse Ketchum cow medals, of a sort, myself. 

Z

Tom, the Lad - and Ray and Mary Lipinski

Poker game is going in Buffalo, 1949 or thereabouts:  Tom as a lad, CHM, Uncle Ray Lipinski, mystery little girl, Auntie Mary Lipinski, Gertrude Matynka.

[  EDIT: Mystery little girl must be Joanne Lipinski, daughter of Ray and Mary.  ]

This is my identification of Uncle Ray and Auntie Mary.  My memory of him is of a big and jolly giant who often had a cigar.  He was an electrician and handyman: he showed up one day in Marilla with a heavy piece of plate glass that fit my desk perfectly.  He did the wiring in the kitchen and in the bathroom where my Dad always shaved in the mornings.  Auntie Mary was petite, voluble, and cheerful.

Christmas!  CAMZ, Gertrude, Mary Lipinski, mystery little girl, CHM, Eugene Zdrojewski, Ray Lipinski.  Foreground: Adam, Tom, toy auto repair shop.

Elvis??!!    No, it is his contemporary, Tom.  A much nicer guy.

Tom and CHM admiring yet another mystery baby.

Two Claras and a mystery baby.

I love this school photo!  What a great kid!  And I love that rootin'-tootin' bowlegged cowboy on his shirt!

The early 1950s.  Check out the Stop-sign bolo tie.  It's wonderful.

Hard to believe, isn't it, that this darling, angelic lad would soon be showing his little nephew Martin Zdrojewski how to shoot arrows over the Marilla house?

Tom Kontak

Adam and Clara Matynka were overjoyed to have Tom.  They brought him home to his two older sisters; a dozen years later they were both still chortling to me about how delighted they were to do so.

Here are CHM and Tom.  What's the year?  1948?  1949?

Adam, Clara CHM, mystery guy,seated, and holding mystery object, Tom the Center of Attention, mystery lady;  mystery little girl and Clara CAM(Z).

Mystery girl and Tom.  Cute or what?

What's he on about?  Late nap? No bells on his shoes? The Coke and Ritz crackers are all right, but the food hygienist in me is getting upset about the milk in the clear glass bottle sitting in the sun.

Check out that train set around the tree!  And the toy auto repair shop!  And the toy phone!  Not to mention the tatting of the sofa doilies.  And this super generous terrific Dad has a mustache just like Clark Gable's.

Christmas is sure a lot of work for parents.  So is Christmas cheer.

Adam partied with the best of them, but was never loud.  I never heard him raise his voice.  He was always chuckling and talking, or smoking his cigar and thinking.

Jan Karski

Jan Karski (1914-2000), lawyer and diplomat, hero of the Polish underground in the Second World War, is being memorialized recently.

Commentator Deroy Murdock was a history student of Karski's at Georgetown, and was eventually able to hear some of the story from the man himself. Murdock's essay is a good introduction to the subject.

Karski's book, Story of a Secret State, is widely available, for example at  ABE Books.          

Give a single click on the image, and you can read the text just fine.

The memoir concludes with an account of his visit to Washington, D.C. and meeting with FDR and his advisors to inform them of the nature, scope, and immediacy of the "Final Solution."  Since he could see that they, too, thought he was exaggerating, he wrote and published his memoir immediately.