Carl Nilsson was born on January 24, 1937 in Chicago to Nils Nilsson and Brita Lindgren. Not much is known about Carl’s early life or his parents, except for a few facts, namely that they were immigrants from Sweden and that Nils worked as a tool and die maker once he got to Chicago. Carl […]
Theresa Svoboda was born on March 23, 1911 in Chicago to Frank and Simona Svoboda, both of whom were immigrants from Czechoslovakia. According to Theresa, her father came alone to the United States looking for work and found a job right away, which he considered lucky, as jobs were scarce. He began working as a […]
Loretta Coleman was born on April 22, 1936 in Louisiana to Frank Harris and Ruth Roberts. Not much is known about Loretta’s parents, but she says that she and her three siblings had a good childhood and that they were raised in a very strict Baptist household. Loretta graduated from high school and was then […]
Jan Beranek was born on December 21, 1909 in Slovakia to Kornel Beranek and Hedvika Klimy. Jan’s father, Kornel, worked as a very successful tailor. He had large accounts and employed six to eight men at any given time. When the WWI broke out, however, Kornel was forced to dissolve his tailor shop to become […]
Vera Kadlec was born on August 10, 1909 in the village of Orlov, which is situated between Pilsen and Prague in the now Czech Republic. Vera’s father, Andel Blaha, was the mayor of Orlov, and her mother, Vlasta Doubek, cared for their six children, of whom Vera was the oldest. Vera attended grammar school and […]
Joseph Wagner was born on July 6, 1912 in Lake Zurich, Illinois to Eckhart Wagner and Klara Schwartz, both of whom were born in Germany. As a teenager, Eckhart came over with his father, Otto, and they bought a dairy farm together near Lake Zurich. They sold milk and eggs in town, and at the […]
Emilia Mundt was born on October 26, 1913 in Chicago to Jan Jelen and Zofia Nedved, both of whom were immigrants from Slovakia. Jan came to America with a relative when he was nineteen, and Zofia came with her father when she was fifteen. Somehow Jan and Zofia met and married when Zofia was just […]
Anton Lungu was born near Brasov, Romania on July 22, 1936 to Ciprian and Ileana Lungu. Ciprian was a soldier, and Ileana cared for their four children. Anton only went to the equivalent of seventh grade before he quit to work at a construction job. He stayed in construction his whole life, except for the […]
Wilma McDonald was born on April 10, 1910 in Chicago to Lech Kaszubski and Berta Kaluza. Not much is known about the origins of Lech and Berta. It is believed that they were both born in Chicago, though there parents had been born in Poland. They did not call themselves Poles, however, but Kashubs, which […]
Edith Wojewodika was born on February 7, 1915 in Chicago. Her parents were Eluf Akselsem and Britta Dam, both immigrants from Denmark who met in New York shortly after arriving in America. They married three weeks later, much to the surprise of those who knew them. Everyone said they were crazy and that it wouldn’t […]
