Maria Both

My grandmother was born in Musci, Hungary, I like to call her Omi, which is German for grand-ma. Omi was trilingual speaking Hungarian, German, and English. Omi came to this country in 1955 at the young age of 26. Unlike common belief my grandmother did not come over by a boat, instead she came by a bumpy plan ride to New York and then by train to Milwaukee. Im-migrating with her were her husband Anton, my Aunt Gisela and my mother Maria. Life was very difficult for this young couple with two children. They did not know English and were quite poor when they arrived in the United States. With their “German” determination they saved their money and became home owners and owned and operated a bakery within a few years of immigrating. Omi felt best when she could be active. She enjoyed baking, cooking and was an avid gardner. Omi was a very warm and hospitable individual, she would help out however she could. If you ever met my grandmother she would always have several bakery items to greet you. At her house she had a garden at least three times larger than what she needed just so she could pro-vide vegetables to the neighbors, friends and family. She formed strong relationships with peo-ple and enjoyed speaking about how life use to be, often her sentences would start with, “back in the old country” . Omi was like a mother to me. She taught me about how to cook, bake and so many other things that have helped to shape who I am today. I will miss my grandma’s stories, going to the Amish grocery store and most importantly our special visits on the weekends where we would bake, cook, and treat ourselves to some ice cream. Omi will be deeply missed but never forgotten. With Love and happy memories, her Granddaughter, Toni Neitzel

From her nephew in Oklahoma: To everyone assembled here, first I want to express my condolences to Tante Maria's two children. My heartfelt condolences for their loss, then to the grandchildren, on losing their grandmother. Then obviously to the extended family. The family that I grew up and into, was a close knit family all the while that our grandfather was alive, I remember all of the family gatherings, us children running around acting crazy, and the adults telling all of us to behave. My, how times have changed, now we are the adults/grandparents telling our children and grandkids to behave. Life does go full circle. Tante Maria always sticks out in my mind, because my mom and her used to socialize together. I remember going to their house, and they coming to ours. I even remember going to their bakery and always being welcomed. I huge hug I would always get of course with flour all over her from working with her husband. The kindness that was always in her eyes when she saw me, the sweet tone of her words, never sharp or nasty. I can remember quite a few times she would come into the room where I was rough housing with her two daughters and she would say, Klause please keep it down. Never yelling always that soft tone, and always gentle in her reproach. I remember when she and my mom would get together and just chat and chat, I was jealous because she was taking my mother away from me, but she always found time to say (in German) kom here my yunge mensch. Then she would give me this huge hug and ask me to go play so the adults could chat. She said it in such a way that I knew she understood what I was jealous of. After I went into the service and made it my career, traveled all over, tried to keep in touch with some of the family, mostly unsuccessfully. All my fault btw. Started to settle down after retirement, out of the blue I get a envelope from Beaver Dam, Wi. I’m thinking when did my parents move there???? Open it up and it was the nicest card from Tante, just saying hello, wishing me well, and that she loved me. Just blew me away, took me the longest time to figure out how she got my address. Because even Gis didn’t know my address at the time. Well, my Mom let it slip years later that Tante asked for it, and she gave it to her. So every once in a while from that moment on I would get cards from her, on my birthday, Christmas, and the such. Then when my mother passed away, I got a card and a gift of some money to help me with the expenses from her. Bottom line, she was a very sweet, gentle soul, who I will always think of fondly and with deep affection. Sadly this letter will never do her justice. With all of my love to the family Stephen Klaus Both

It's hard to hear about the death of my beloved "Tante". For me she is more than the "Tante" from America, she was like a second mother. I remember when we got the first audiotape and we sat around the tape recorder and hearing her voice telling about the life in America. I will miss now the telephone calls we had. I lost a piece of my past life and of my own. We pray for you, me and my family will always have you in our hearts and minds. Your loving nephew, Jupp from Germany

Please accept our deepest condolences for your family's loss.