Family photo for Gundel and Alfred's 50th anniversary, 26 July 1997.

Steven at the mink sheds, in his blue anorak.

Dinner at Frauke's

Steve, Paul, Sue, Jan, Rosl, Frauke, Bob, Dieter.
And with Frauke at the camera - Dieter, Bob, Jan, Steve, Sue; Rosl, Sue, Paul.

Oma with all her grandchildren, about 1967.

Steven and Margaret, 1954, Ste Adele.

At 18035 Ford Road, 1956 - Margaret, Gundel, Steven, Oma.

Steven and Susan with their nephew, Sebastian (now known as Thomas), Christmas 1976. Sweater and hat knit by Grandma.

Coffee and cake on a Sunday in 1960 - Oma, Paul with David, Wolf Galetzka, Martin, Margaret,Alfred, Barbara Galetzka, Steven, Ruth Galetzka, Susan, Gundel, Pat.

At 18035 Ford Road - Steven with a couple of the Saunders kids, and Saunders' house in the background. Probably 1957.

Steven and Margaret, Quebec, probably early 1954. The photo on the wall is of Margaret aged 2.

In the late 1950s the sheds at 17515 Ford Road held mink in cages, being raised for their fur; this went on for only about three years, though it was in order to have a mink farm that the family moved to Pitt Meadows from Vancouver. At the first property, 5 acres, the neighbour had a turkey farm and got byelaws changed (to needing 10 acres) to prevent having mink next door - hence the move from 18035 to 17515 Ford Road.
Steven once got a badly bitten thumb, to the extent that the nail fell off. The mink were vicious creatures (undoubtedly made more so by being trapped in a cage; not something we would do now). They needed feeding and watering twice a day. The food was fish waste from canneries, I believe; it must have been delivered fairly frequently, and taken to the sheds in the wheelbarrow.

Steven and Susan on the lawn at 17515 Ford Road, August 1960, with Williams' house (where we went to get milk) in the background.

1987, outside Steve's boat-building shop in Port Coquitlam - Steve, Thomas, Margaret, Scott, Susan.

The "Pitt Meadows Schleichers" - Steve, Jan Bain, Margaret (Cooter), Drew Thoreson, Thomas Cooter, Sue (Thoreson), Bob Thoreson, Scott Thoreson.
The painting in the grey frame is of the Rhon area, and was brought from Germany.
Margaret and Steve grew up at 17515 Ford Road, and moved to England and Maple Ridge respectively; Susan was born there (well actually in Maple Ridge Hospital, shortly after it opened) and returned after sojourns in White Rock and elsewhere in the Lower Mainland.

Alfred's family on the way to Paul's wedding - outside 2635 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, with Alfred's VW in the background.

Alfred and Gundel drove a VW to Vancouver in the summer of 1954, in the days before there was a Trans-Canada Highway, using up their last 25 cents on gas. According to family legend, at the time there were only three VWs in BC. That car was black and had a split rear window. The kids loved to travel in the luggage-well behind the back seat.

Vancouver (West 10th Avenue), 1955 or 1956 - Alfred, Gundel, Steven, Oma, Margaret. In the background is Kitsilano High School.

Baby Steven, spring or summer 1953. Steve was born a couple of months early, in August 1952, in St Adele, Quebec.

Alfred's family in 1997, on the occasion of the 50th wedding anniversary. From top, Alfred; Gundel; children Susan, Margaret, Steve; grandchildren Thomas (b.1976), Scott (b.1986), Drew (b.1991).

Alfred's family in the late 1990s. Margaret, Alfred, Gundel, Susan, Steven.