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.

Oma's 74th birthday, June 1962. Barbara Galetzka, Oma, Susan, Pat (Bruce) Schleicher - and, as always, wonderful cakes.

Gundel (dark hair) with brothers and sisters, probably about 1930.

Else and Anni, with Else's husband and others, including their cousin Paula.
Fortunately Gundel added the names on the back.

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.

Anni and her husband, Kristl (Christian) Bauer, late 30s. Anni spent a year and a half in jail for handing out anti-Hitler leaflets, and Kristl spent six years in jail for "communist activity"; on release he was drafted in an army regiment, 999, made up of dissidents and decadents; we are uncertain what happened before he was killed in Yugoslavia.

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.

Else and Paul about 1938, in the little garden across the road from Oma's home and grocery shop.

Paul, about to depart for Canada in 1951, with his mother and niece Margaret.

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

Family gathering, 7 October 2010

Assembled in Pitt Meadows - the guys (from left): Craig Wright, Alec Wright, Martin Schleicher, Geoffrey Wright, Steve Schleicher, Matthew de Villiers (at top), Andrew de Villiers, Paul Schleicher, Charlie Johnston, John Schleicher, Thomas Cooter, Bob Thoreson, Scott Thoreson, Drew Thoreson

and the gals: Sue Thoreson, Nettie de Villiers, Jan Bain, Norah Wright, Margaret Cooter, Sue Hughes

Oma (on the right) and her sisters Emma (left) and Dora.

Emma Niebling had six children - Mariechen, Ernst, Friedl, Gretchen, Ewald, Paula.

Dora married Karl Braubach and moved to Hannover. Her son Hans Otto moved back to Gersfeld.

Another sister, Anna Mueller, also lived in Hannover and had a son named Werner.

The youngest sister, Leni, married Ewald Korte in 1936 and lived in Gersfeld.

"Als ich bei die Nonnen war" - Gundel, aged about 14, is on the far right. She tells of wanting to do sewing-related work, but her father decided she should learn typing instead.