Note: To read earlier chapters click on the desired title in the "Chapters" listed in the sidebar on the right or at the bottom of the page. “Our father, Jacob C. Willems, went to be with the Lord on Sunday, November 8, 1964, in the Dinuba Convalescent Home, at 1:35 p.m. He was the son … Continue reading Chapter 6: Mountain Lake, Minnesota 1875-1900
Author: lorettawillems
Chapter 5: How We Got to Russia
Note: To read earlier chapters click on the desired title in the "Chapters" listed in the sidebar on the right or at the bottom of the page. “Mrs. Lena Zimmerman Willems was born in South Russia in the Firstenland in Syejowka on February 6, 1893, to Rev. and Mrs. H. H. Zimmerman, and departed this … Continue reading Chapter 5: How We Got to Russia
Chapter Four: Grandma & Grandpa Willems
Note: To read earlier chapters click on the desired title in the "Chapters" listed in the sidebar on the right or at the bottom of the page. There is a photograph of Grandma and Grandpa Willems in a small album of family photos that I put together back when I was in my early twenties. … Continue reading Chapter Four: Grandma & Grandpa Willems
Chapter Three: Going to Dinuba
Note: to read earlier chapters of this book, click on the chapter titles in the "Memoir Chapters" section of the sidebar on the right or at the bottom of this page. The Family 1947 Every couple of months during the years my family lived in Stockton, Dad would decide it was time to go to … Continue reading Chapter Three: Going to Dinuba
Chapter Two: WWII
When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, my family was living in a small house at 21 West Third Street in the city of Stockton, which is about 80 miles due east of San Francisco Bay. Stockton Field, where Dad and my Uncle Ed, who lived with us, had jobs driving dump trucks, … Continue reading Chapter Two: WWII
Ch. 1. California Mennonite
I was not a Mennonite when I was a child. My parents left the church early in their marriage, and I grew up as just another little California girl, playing outside almost all year, watching the adults around me, caught up like them in the drama of wartime California—dashing young men in uniforms, pretty girls … Continue reading Ch. 1. California Mennonite
Heritage 