Married George Karl Ernst THEIN 04 Feb 1933 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
When we were little kids we found out that if you hold a magnifying glass a certain way to the sun you can start a fire. How many times we started fires and none of us ever got burned!
We would get a cake carton and go into Ma's garden. Vi and I would spend the whole day gathering caterpillars. Then, we would open it up and light them on fire and watch them wiggle. We had no idea what we were doing to those poor little animals. We shutter to this day to think what we did. We can't kill a bug to this day for any reason.
I remember when we went to the park to take our family picture. On Sundays there were roving photographers. I wanted to go with my father to find a photographer but he wouldn't let me. You can see on my puss that I was angry that day. He just never wanted any part of me for some reason. His favorites were Anna, Dodie, and Violet, and Tommy. He always shooed me away.
His brother was so ashamed of my father, treating my mother the way he
did. Even being from the old country, knowing the customs there, he couldn't
believe the way she was treated. She had five kids already and she kept them
all so good. And she cleaned, washed and ironed, cooked. He would be out
bumming, gambling, drinking, and everything so my father's brother would get
on him about it. They became such enemies that my mother begged him to
please go back to Greece before one of them killed the other one. Because
his brother defended her, my father figured she was having an affair with
him. That's were the rumor started that Uncle Tom was really my father.
I
graduated high school in 1927.
We moved from Broadway when I was 15 years old because the Old Man felt I disgraced the family.
I ran away from home in 1928, when I was sixteen years old. That was Anna's fault. Anna came out to LaGrange. She was married but still the General. She kept telling me do this, do that, ... I'm working and she is just standing there giving orders. Finally, I think I told her to mind her own business. Well, that was verboten. I had started working at 7:00 in the morning. After lunch rush I was supposed to go home a block away and change my uniform because by that time it was dirty. Then I was suppose to return to work. Tom was suppose to relieve me at 7:00, 8:00, or 9:00. But he wouldn't show up until maybe 12:00 or 1:00 in the morning. The old man would never say 'naughty, naughty' to Tom. That was my tough luck. The old man would leave right after the dinner rush hour. So, I went home to change and the door was locked, which was never heard of in those days. I knocked on it and pounded until finally little Helen opened up. She was only a couple of years old. The old man, Ma, and Anna were there. They said to little Helen, 'Who is there?' She says, 'Auntie Helen.' 'Don't let that whore in.' I turned around and went back to the restaurant. I told Fani that I was leaving, she had to take over when I was gone. She said wait and turned around and stole three dollars from the cash register and gave it to me. I took an old pair of working shoes and got on the street car for Chicago. I never planned ahead so I didn't know what I was going to do. I remember three boys, Dick and two others, who were working in LaGrange during the summer as tree surgeons and they went to college at Champagne in the fall and the winter. And they used to see how the Old Man treated me. They said to me, 'If he ever gets too smart, you come to us.' And, they must have been in the back of my mind. I didn't plan it. I thought, well, I can't go to Anna Parsygnat. She was the only person I knew. We didn't have any friends because we were always working. I couldn't go to her because that's where they would look. So, I took the Street car downtown as far as it would go. It was already getting dark. I found his phone number and I called him. Lucky for me, it was during his Christmas vacation and he was home, south of Champaign. I told him I was ran away from home and don't know where to go. He said, 'Oh, wonderful. Go to Union Station and get a train fare to my place. It's $2.40, Do you have enough money?' And, I had just enough money for the phone call and the train fare. I didn't know he was home sick with strep throat. His mother was furious because he got out of bed at 1:00 in the morning to meet me at the train station. His mother was very nice to me. She gave me one of the daughters' rooms. He had a brother working in New York for one of the railroads. His sister was married so there were extra bedrooms. She was real good to me but thought enough is enough. She didn't want a permanent guest. When people would come to visit them during the holidays, I would have to run downstairs to hide. I stayed until after Christmas. They gave me enough money to get back to Chicago and told me to get a room at the YWCA. When I went to the YWCA there was another girl, Jewish, waiting to get interviewed for a room. I gave reference, I was Dick's parent's niece. So, they accepted me. While waiting the Jewish girl and I became friends and decided we could get a room together. Well, where they sent us was on 18th and Michigan, a big Capone region at that time. We were just there two or three days. I got a job downtown right away on Michigan Avenue at Jacobsen's. I came home late that evening from work and there was a light on in our room and all kinds of people were in there talking. It was her parents and they came to take her home. was so upset and lonesome. So, I went back to the Y and they sent me to a place on Orchard Street. A little lady put a curtain between her living room and dining room and I stayed there. Then around about March, I called Anna to ask her to tell Ma I was alright, a place to stay, and a good job. Along about May I got a case of homesickness and went to visit Ma while the Old Man was working. Ma was in bed because she wasn't feeling good. She begged me to go see the Old Man because he felt so bad. Just go say hello. So, we were just across the street from the restaurant so I went over. When I walked in he looked over and yelled, 'Where have you been?!' I thought he was going to kill me. 'Are you coming back?' I said, 'No, I just wanted you to know I am going fine.' He said, 'Come in here', and he took me into a little place under the steps and closed the door. He said, 'You're coming back.' I said, 'No, I have a good job and I'm contented where I am, and we can't get along.' 'Naw,' he says, 'Things will be fine.' I said, 'Alright, I'll come back on one condition. I can go out when I want and I can come in when I want.' He thought if you went out you wanted to get married, he didn't understand dating. So he said, 'If you want a husband, I can get you a husband.' I said, 'Okay, I'll come back.' But this time I wasn't such a big dummy. I got myself a savings account and started saving some money.
When I was away from home I went out with the Jewish girlfriend to a
place on Wabash and Second Avenue. We saw a sign on a second floor that said
'Learn to Dance'. We thought, well, we would learn how to dance. When we
came in they asked if we worked there. We said, 'No.' So they showed us the
check room where we could check our coats. The check lady asked, 'Do you
work here?' We said, 'No.' We wondered why they kept wanting to know if we
worked there or not. So, we went and sat down on the bench and started
watching others dancing. Well, we didn't know we were at a taxi dance. Ten
cents a dance. The music would play for one minute. If the guy wanted
another minute he would give her another ten cent ticket. Some guy came and
asked me to dance and I said, 'No'. He looked at me confused. He asked my
friend if she wanted to dance and she said, 'Sure.' Then, she came back and
said, 'Let's get out of here!'
I remember one time I was working at the
restaurant. Some guy came in making a play for me. He asked, 'Why are you
working in a place like this? I can get you a good job with furs and
diamonds and things. Come to my barber shop and we can talk it over. I
didn't like him so I would never go. But, a while after I read in the
newspaper how they raided the barber shop where they were getting white
slaves. How close I came!
I had saved fourteen bucks in the bank. That was a lot of money in those days.
We were not allowed out. We were not allowed to have any boyfriends or anything. But Fani and I made dates with two nice college boys who worked as tree surgeons in the summer. They asked us one time if we would go to the show with them, of course, we were delighted. When we came out of the show, we walked toward the restaurant. The Old Man always left right after the dinner hour and never came home until about 2:00 in the morning. We never expected our father to be home at 11:00 or midnight. This night, after we came out of the movie we went back to the restaurant for a cup of coffee, and who should pop in? He saw us. All he had to do was look at us and we were shivering in our boots. We knew what was coming and said goodbye to the boys. We waited until he went home. We lived in a second story flat above the store across the street from the restaurant. We tiptoed up the steps and tried to sneak in but the door was locked. There was no such thing as locked doors in those days. Poor Fani was shaking she was so scared. So of course that was after I had run away from home and come back again so I was more bold. I started pounding on the door. I could hear, 'Please, Pete, Please.' Ma was crying. Finally, he came to the door and yelled, 'Who the hell is there?' I was a smart ass and yelled back, 'Who the hell do you think is there?' He yelled, 'I don't want no whores in my house.' I said, 'I don't want to stay in your house. All I want is to get the clothes I worked and paid for and get the hell out of here.' He opened the door, and took a look at me. Then, instead of getting at me who was sassing him with my big mouth, he grabbed poor Fani and threw her down the steps. It is a wonder she didn't get killed. She fell down the whole flight of steps. She said to me, 'Where are we going to go?' I said, 'I don't know but we are not going to stay here. Don' t worry about it. I have $14 saved up. We'll go to the bank in the morning, get my money. I know a place downtown where we can get a job. We can go to the YWCA and rent a room.' Well, Fani knew a nice lady customer who saw how we were treated and once said if he was ever fresh with us, we should go to her. I didn't have my clothes or money but by that time I didn't give a damn. So, we went to this lady's house at 1:00 in the morning and she put us up for the night. The next morning I went to the bank to take my money out. Then I went home to get my clothes. When I went to the restaurant to get my working shoes, there he was. He was afraid he was going to lose two free helpers. He was dripping milk and honey. Oh, you couldn't believe how sweet he was.
He called me his little poolikeybow, which means little bird in Greek. 'Please, you know I was drunk. I didn't know what I was doing.' He sweet talked us into staying. I told him if I stay I am going to do what I want when I want. He never said anything to me afterwards, whether I went out or not. And, he knew I was sneaking out. Things were pretty peaceful for a while.
Right after that he moved back to Chicago and his slaves (that's what we were) were placed with George Harris. And, George Harris would make his report all the time.
My mother wouldn't sleep at night until I came home, she was always worried. When I finally told her that I was going to get married, it was as though God had answered all her prayers for her. Well, George wanted to ask my father. I told him I didn't care about my father. I was old enough (19) to know if I wanted to get married. So, Grannie prepared him. I didn't know it at the time but he was delighted because what man would marry anyone who was chasing around like I was. So, George comes to the house and first thing he says is 'Hi Dad!' I thought I was going to die. Apparently, that pleased the Old Man. George Harris was his son-in-law for seven years and never called him Dad once. And, here comes this greenhorn from Germany. 'I want to marry your daughter.' 'How much money have you got?' George says, 'That's none of your business. She will be my wife, I will support her and if I can't I'll send her to work.' 'What about the religion? Are you going to be Lutheran like him?' I said, 'You married a Catholic and you are Orthodox.' He said, 'Yeah, and I was sorry the rest of my life for that.' He didn't care how he hurt Ma. 'Can you play cards?' George says, 'Sure!' They sat down and he dealt him the cards. George let him win and he was in forever.
When Dodo was born, Jimmy and I went to up a muddy alley, climbed up a shed onto the roof of a second story building where we found an old umbrella. We had seen a movie where they jumped with the umbrella. Well, we had the time of our lives! We would take that old umbrella and jump from the roof of that second floor. We were never hurt. Talk about guardian angels!
Jimmy and I used to go to Diversey Beach before it was filled in. There were big, slimy boulders where the surf would crash in. We used to go fishing there. I tried to catch his dumb fish while it flipped around in those rocks. He never forgave me for not catching it. He still talks about it. We did so many dangerous things like that. How amazing we never got killed when we were young. Ma never knew all the risks we took.
[*Helen Prevenas Thein]
Many of the pictures displayed are small versions. Simply click on the image to see a bigger image.
Our thanks to Marsha Bryant for graciously hosting this LANGNER Family History website on her server.