April 4, 1918 - April 27, 2012
Grandma's Dash
Part 1
Yeah, the dash - you know, that little line that signifies the life spent between life and death. That little dash that signifies so much. Grandma's dash, though tiny on the tombstone and in the obituary, was anything but little. It was grand, it was adventurous, it was significant.
Grandma was born on the Wilhelmshaven Naval Base in Rustringen, Germany to Albert and Marie Henning. Albert served in the German navy and left Marie with his family on the base during WWI. He learned of my grandma's coming via letters. To be honest he was not expecting to have a child so shortly after marrying Marie. He was still thrilled at the news and in one letter home he asked that they name the baby Edith if born a girl. Albert never got to see his beautiful daughter come into the world. His ship was sunk - in what battle or what part of the ocean I'm still not sure of - and he didn't make it home. To honor Albert's wishes, Marie named the baby girl Edith but had to fight the German authorities in order to do so. Edith was an English name. To appease the authorities Marie added Margarete to the name and until they came to the states Grandma went by Margarete.
The first five years of Grandma's life were spent in the chaos of the fallen Germany. She told stories about those early days and of what she remembered. Her mother had family in the country so when they visited Grandma and her mother wore heavy coats with secret pockets. Inside those secret pockets they hid the food their country relatives gave them. If caught with this hidden treasure they could have been in a lot of trouble. During this same time Antone (her soon to be father) and his brother made a living killing, skinning, and selling rabbits. When there were no longer rabbits they killed and skinned cats for the meat. Grandma also talked about other times when walking in the streets it was no big deal to hear gunfire and duck down into the alleys to take cover only to return to the walking when the gunfire subsided as though nothing at all had gone down. She said at the time she thought everyone lived like that.
As things in the country worsened letters came to Marie from family in the United States. One letter told of the farms needing help in Iowa. Marie and Antone had started seeing each other but not long enough to have considered marriage. However, with the worsening times they felt they needed to leave Germany and do so soon. They married and soon after they boarded the SS Canopic for the United States. Grandma was 5 and thrilled to have a dad. She was not as happy to have to leave her grandfather who'd taken care of her and her mother. It was even more difficult to learn of his death when his home was blown up in the chaos of a people searching for leadership.
Marriage to a member of the German navy had not much influence on Marie where the sea was concerned. She spent the entire trip across the ocean below deck suffering from motion sickness. With Marie being sick the entire trip and Antone being new to fatherhood it wasn't too difficult for the curious Edith to escape and explore. One such exploration found her above deck pushing buttons and turning knobs. One of the knobs she turned opened the pipes and water spewed recklessly across the deck. Like any child in such circumstances she did what she could to stop the water but her efforts only made the matter worse. She remembered being caught by a grown up and pulled away from the knobs and buttons. When the rushing water was stopped she looked up into the eyes of ... yeah, the Captain of the ship and he wasn't happy. He took her with him to his quarters where Edith claims she knew she'd get punished. She expected a spanking or worse. However, what she got instead was an orange - her first ever - and lessons in how to peel and eat it. The Captain was Norwegian and Edith only spoke German so neither could communicate with one another beyond the lessons of the shared fruit. The Captain returned her safely to her parents and adventures aboard the SS Canopic were more cautiously approached after that incident. It would seem that even the tenacious Edith didn't want to push her luck too far.
On December 22, 1923 they arrived at Ellis Island - the gateway to the home of the free and the land of the brave. Grandma talks about how large it was, how vast, and how exciting everything felt. They weren't American citizens yet but they were closer and already they could feel the release from the pressures of post war Germany.
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