Tuesday, October 12, 2010

The Nichols-Kulick Family (Pt 8) - Martha, Helen & Walter

                                                              
Mother Caroline, Mamie? (back); Martha (center), Walter & Helen (front) -early 1910s-




Since I will celebrate Grandmother's life in more detail this November, this section concerning her will be short. I am happy to share this confirmation photo of her not shown previously.

Grandmother Martha Adeline Kulick (ca. 1914)


Cousin Donald Ash concludes our story:

Martha A. Kulick was born on November 8, 1899 in Detroit, MI. What kind of work Aunt Martha did when she was a young girl I don't know. (John Stoskopf: Mother Marjorie seems to recall her working at a paint company. I know the story goes she was called home from work the day her mother Caroline passed away September 25, 1922.)

Martha Kulick Findahl (early 1920s)


Martha & Gordon Findahl (1920s)

She married Gordon Findahl who was born on Nobember 1, 1896 in Galesburg, IL. When he came to Detroit he worked as a foreman for Ford Motor Company at the Rouge Plant.

Aunt Martha and Uncle Gordon raised two daughters, Betty and Marjorie. Growing up in Detroit, they would visit their grandparents and cousins in Galesburg and Betty eventually met and married a young man from Galesburg by the name of Paul Johnson. There they raised a family of four children. Paul worked for the Burlington Railroad until he retired.

Marjorie is the same age as my wife Bernice and they went to school together. She married Robert C. Stoscup who was born on March 24, 1927. Bob worked for the Detroit Edison Company and together they raised three children.

Uncle Gordon Findahl passed away on May 31, 1958 and Aunt Martha passed away on March 8, 1980. Both are buried in Acacia Park Cemetery in Beverly Hills, MI.

                                                                                                 * * *

Helen C. Kulick (early 1910s)

Helen C. Kulick was born on January 16, 1902 in Detroit, MI. We always called her Aunt Lannie. I can't tell you about her early life. (John Stoskopf: Mom remembers her as a quiet and gentle person.)


Helen Kulick Pahs sits with husband August Pahs. Behind are Amanda Schmanske & unidentified man.


Helen married August Pahs who was born on November 22, 1899 and passed away on July 8, 1963. Uncle Auggie worked for C.F. Smiths, a large grocery chain, as a store manager and later as a representative for them. They had two daughters Shirley and Joyce.

(John Stoskopf: The only photographs we have of Shirley and Joyce are from one of the 'sister's club' collection which I'll post in the concluding chapter.)

Shirley married Tom LaGrasso, who with his sons and brothers operate the LaGrasso Produce Company in Detroit. They had six children. Joyce married a man named Mr. Montfort and they raised a family.

(John Stoskopf: Shirley was born on February 20, 1925 and passed away August 28, 1998. We lost touch with what happened to Joyce.)

Helen passed away on August 16, 1971.

                                                                                                * * *


Walter H. Kulick, the youngest of the 14 Nichols-Kulick children, was born on December 18, 1905 in Detroit, MI.

Walter H. Kulick (early 1910s)

Aunt Agnes, his wife, gave me these dates and a little information of the family. It seems Uncle Walter had to tell a little fib about his age to get a job working for the railroad. It was the Michigan Central Railroad which was affiliated with the New York Central Railroad and he was with them until he retired.

He met Agnes Krisan when she was working as a waitress and kept asking her to marry him until she finally said yes and they were married December 2, 1933. Agnes was born on December 13, 1913 in East Chicago, Indiana. Her parents were from Austria and spoke Hungarian as the second language in their home.

Martha with her brother Walter Kulick (1920s)

John Stoskopf: We knew Uncle Walter and Aunt Agnes well and am sorry to say (at the time of this original posting) we don't seem to have more photographs of Walter as an adult or of Aunt Agnes.


Updated February 8, 2015:  Photo finally located (courtesy the Johnson Family)
Martha with her brother Walter Kulick (1970s)


Grandmother Martha was close to her younger brother Walter. With their mother dying when Walter was still a teenager, Martha watched over him. Mom knows Walter stayed with Martha for a while and it must have been soon after Martha married Gordon because all of these events took place in 1922.


Updated February 8, 2015:  Photo courtesy the Johnson Family.
Back:  Cousin Bill Johnson & Walter Kulick (1970s)
Front:  Aunt Betty Johnson, Martha Kulick Findahl & Agnes Kulick (1970s)


A story Martha told my mother was a memory of a very young Walter coming home and being sad because he'd met a girl he liked but he knew she didn't feel the same in return. The two of them would share their emotions together, Grandma consoling her little brother telling him one day he would meet the right one. Of course he eventually did with Aunt Agnes.



Aunt Agnes Krisan Kulick represented her family when Grandma Martha passed away in 1980. Her signature on the flowers she sent us is shown here.


Uncle Walter and Aunt Agnes raised two daughters, Carol (born August 30, 1934) and Mary Ann (August 2, 1939). Carol's married name is Berrigan and she has one son. Marry Ann married Tom Purdham and they had a son and a daughter.

Aunt Agnes became a beautician working in a beauty shop eventually owning her own shop; all of this taking place after the girls were grown up.

Her and Uncle Walter lived in Sterling Heights, MI. Walter passed away on March 8, 1978. (John Stoskopf: Agnes passed away April 19, 1998.)


Carol & Mary Ann Kulick (early 1940s)



                    

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