VISITING
AUTHOR-ARTICLE
JULY
2010
Heimatmuseum: 20 Year Anniversary
By
Elisabeth Gebavi
Forwarded by
American Aid Society, Chicago
We have come a long way. In the late 1980's
the decision was made by our Vorstand and members to turn the
"Old People's Home" into a museum, since we could not get the proper help to take care of our old people, also the
numbers went down. After 2-3 years of preparation, soliciting
our members at our meetings for
articles they brought from their
homeland, publishing requests in the Eintracht, in our
Newsletter, on the radio, at our functions, we had accumulated
enough "stuff to put into our freshly
painted and decorated rooms. The Lake
Villa workers had transformed the old
home into what you see today, and 3
women worked tirelessly on ladders to put
up the stencils below very high ceilings in several rooms: Rosi
Stein, Leni Ippach and I. It was a
lot of moaning and groaning until that was done.
We
had created a plan for the 8 rooms
plus a welcoming entrance: a library,
Weinstube, Landesverband-zimmer
downstairs, and 2 bedrooms, kitchen,
chapel and showroom upstairs. Naturally,
in the beginning the contents were
rather sparse than they are today, 20
years later. I want to emphasize here that I received most of the
donations at the start from these 3 ladies: Mrs. Rasilier,
Mrs. Varga and Mrs. Blum. Without their
plentiful embroideries, clothes, "Bettwasche",
etc. our rooms would have been rather bare. Gott lasse sie
ruhen in Frieden.
|
|
Stenciling
(before) - Joe Stein painting, Elisabeth Gebavi trying out
pre-cut stencils, Angela Stumpfoll cleaning windows. |
Nick Ippach and his paint brush
|
|
|
Rosi Stein stenciling while on the ladder, and
after stenciling.
Leni
Ippach was our
photographer. |
Mr. & Mrs Kleiner always ready
to help
|
|
Erika Reichert busy wiping dirt off the windows
|
Throughout the years I have tried to put a little extra space with a
different focus into the museum, therefore we converted the upstairs bathroom into our K1NDERECKE, for which I collected "Fetzapuppe" (rag dolls), children's books, toys, clothes, etc., and we opened this room in 2003.
Throughout the
years I have tried to put a little extra space with a different focus
into the museum, therefore we converted the upstairs bathroom into our K1NDERECKE, for which I collected "Fetzapuppe" (rag dolls), children's books, toys, clothes, etc., and we opened this
room in 2003.
Hilde
Neumayer and I look forward to your visits and enjoy talking about the
treasures in our beloved Heimatmuseum.
|
|
|
Kapelle (Chapel) |
Inside 1st Bedroom |
Inside 2nd Bedroom |
|
|
|
Weinstube |
Kitchen |
|
|
|
Showroom |
Musikkammer |
|
|
|
Library |
Kinderecke |
|
|