Mom Remembers Dec. 7, 1941

Pearl Harbor

      Sunday, December 7, 1941, began as a typical Sunday morning - a crisp and sunny December day. After we arrived home from church,
 Buffy (12 years old) and I (11 years old) decided to walk up to John's Drug Store (in Beechview) about a mile away to buy

Buffy and Abbie, 1930s

licorice lollipops, a special treat that we occasionally enjoyed. Licorice lollipops cost a nickel while other lollipops were a penny.  We bought our lollipops, then started home. Just outside the drug store a young  newspaper boy was shouting,

"Extra, extra, read all about it! 

Pearl Harbor attacked by Japan!" 

We weren't sure of the implications, but we knew
it was very serious.

We didn't know that it meant the beginning of a terrible war that would
cost the lives of millions of people all around the world
over the next 4 years. We just wanted to hurry home to the safety of our family. So we ran the whole way home, where our parents were

A radio of their time might have looked like this.

listening to the news on the radio.

And we listened too. We knew that Daddy had spent 4 or 5 months in Hawaii
installing batteries in those ships at Pearl Harbor;
he had gone there in March with a new job with the
Department of Navy
and with the understanding that
we would move there.
He stayed until July, when he realized that this might have been a bigger move than he was willing to make. So he left the job and returned home in the middle of July and
accepted a different job closer to home.
Buffy always said this was one time where his temper paid off. He got mad and left that job and it may have saved their lives.

There Goes Another Huddle House

Huddle Houses

By Amy Louise Geertz Kriss

Both Shamus and Liam have been entertaining Mudie descendants for years.

When Jan lived in Florida (around 1998 ??), many drives were taken between Pittsburgh and Dunedin. Sometimes Buffy was involved and sometimes Abbie was involved. When Shamus and Liam were older teens, opinions about traveling just CLASHED. Mom liked to travel slowly and take lots of leisurely bathroom and meal breaks and she could easily turn it into a 2 or 3 day drive adding motels and everything. Shamus and Liam preferred to set speed records with a one-minute pee stop every few hours. Funny stories happened just because of the 

differences of opinions. 

Kirsten and Shamus today.

Abbie used to despise McDonald's

Huddle House

McDonald's

Nobody wanted Abbie to drive. EXCEPT that SHE was the one who OWNED the van! That's pretty much the only reason she was invited!!! Shamus and Liam were stuck with her and they would "dump her in the back seat" and rudely take over ALL the driving. One famous time, I was driving. I usually catered to ALL of MOM's wishes. I usually took my time, stopped at places where she could enjoy a relaxing meal. But THREE of us wanted a quick stop and she was outnumbered.  I stopped at an exit that had two choices ---- McDonald's and a waffle place, Huddle House. I knew Mom preferred drinking coffee from a cup and saucer instead of the dreaded styrofoam cup. But I drove right up to McDonald's. She used to HATE McDonald's and she actually said,

"SHIT!"

Tension happened, but we got through it and drove on.

But good old Shamus always knows JUST WHAT NOT TO SAY. For the rest of the trip, every time we passed the restaurant, he would say, "There goes another Huddle House!" 

Mom has been a good sport about this and it has become a family joke. She doesn't 

even HATE McDonald's anymore and we still laugh. There goes another Huddle House.

A "Relaxing" Vacation

     

Mommy and Daddy drove to Ocean City, MD for a relaxing, long-awaited vacation. We had rented a little cottage for the week. Bobby and I were  3 and 5 years old and we had a GREAT IDEA.  


Since Mommy and Daddy were still 
asleep, we decided to dig through our suitcases, find our bathing suits. and head toward the beach at 5:30 a.m. 

This was in the 60s. The entire beach was deserted except for a couple of very small children. We were happily playing in the water by ourselves when we ran into a tiny problem. Bobby's little feet started sinking into the sand and he got stuck. Don't worry Bobby, I'll get some help! So I ran back to the cottage shouting, "Daddy, Daddy, Bobby's in the ocean and he can't get out!"

Needless to say Mom and Dad flew to the beach. They found Bobby still upright somehow managing to walk out of the ocean.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Buddy System is Best

Please teach your children to awaken Mommy and Daddy 

before swimming in the ocean. I may even recommend 
adult supervision. 

Amy Louise Geertz Kriss

Julia's Math Homework at the Little Red Schoolhouse

The Little Red Schoolhouse

JULIA EMILY KRISS, 4 years old

Little Red Riding Hood

When Julia was three years old, Mom and I took her to Storybook Forest at Idlewild Park. We strolled down the path, squeezed through Alice’s keyhole, munched on a cookie from Little Red Riding Hood, passed bowls of porridge and Humpty Dumpty on a wall.  We walked through a crooked house and passed a bad wolf and a large shoe dwelling. But we spent the majority of the day in this Little Red Schoolhouse. The picture, however, is misleading.

The Little Red Schoolhouse, Storybook Forest

This picture shows the tiny school on a beautiful, summer day. On our day, the sun was hiding and we were drenched. Mom strode around the park under a yellow and blue umbrella. It rained all day long right up to the drive home when we didn’t need windshield wipers.

The school had small, old-fashioned wooden children’s desks and a bigger desk for the teacher. Catchy music blared through some speakers making sure we knew the alphabet and how to count to 20. In the corner stood a statue of a naughty dunce.

An entire year later we returned to the park. I stuffed some swimsuits and towels into a backpack. Then Julia added her own essentials. She crammed some papers in our luggage. When we got to the schoolhouse, she took out her work (I had been home schooling her) and she completed several math pages. 

I’ve always cherished her enthusiasm! 

She had assigned herself homework at age three and carried it out a year later! She was enthusiastic, and confident, and oh-so organized. Currently, she is an honor student taking 11^th grade Calculus and a member of the National Honor Society. Yep. I predicted this while she was doing her “math homework” in the little schoolhouse at Idlewild Park.

Julia getting accepted into the
National Honor Society, 2017

 Amy Louise Geertz Kriss

Mom in the rain at Idlewood Park, 2003

My Cousin, Mark --- The Post-Gazette (2011)

I grew up in Pittsburgh. My parents talked about my cousins who lived in New York, but I didn’t know them well.  As a child, I saw them only a few times.  I was told the oldest, Mark, who was 10 years older than me, “had something wrong with him,” but I didn’t understand much more than that. He had been institutionalized in his teen years and continuing throughout most of his adult life.

Once when I was around 16 years old, Mark escaped from a state hospital and took a bus to Pittsburgh. We got a phone call saying he was on his way, and my father was asked to meet him and drive him back to New York. My dad was afraid to meet him alone in the middle of the night, so he dragged my brother along with him.

When Mark got off the bus, my dad and brother were greeted, not by a monster they expected, but by a friendly young man with a huge smile. On the drive back, Mark told the corniest of jokes and the three of them laughed the entire trip.

I was afraid of Mark because I was told he had something called schizophrenia, whatever that was. But each time I saw him, he greeted me with that same glowing smile, along with all the corny jokes. Mark loved to see our family and he always smiled. But his smile showed his rotted teeth. He walked with a limp and his hands shook. I was told all of those were side effects of his medications.

Eventually Mark moved to California with his father, but he couldn’t live independently. He ended up in some type of group home and his father visited him often.

Years went by and eventually Mark’s father died. Then Mark was truly alone. I had the opportunity to visit a few times, but mostly I, along with the rest of his extended family, ignored him. Then one day I received a letter telling me Mark had died a few weeks earlier. I called Aunt Bobbi to ask what happened. It turned out he was simply eating a peanut butter sandwich with the other residents. Suddenly he stood up and then collapsed to the floor. He had choked to death. The coroner explained his strong medications caused his reflexes to slow and he couldn’t get that peanut butter out of his throat. He had just turned 51.

Only a few people showed up at Mark’s funeral. His sister spoke some kind words and then invited others to do the same, but no one else volunteered to speak. Aunt Bobbi, Mark’s aunt as well as mine, finally stood up to break the awkward silence. She was saddened by all of it. I was sad, too.

And so I began to think about his life. Mostly I wondered how it could have been better. So many of us were afraid, but what if we would have supported him, spent more time with him, took him places? I don’t think we could have helped him live independently, but we could have been kinder and more empathetic. We could have read more about schizophrenia. Was anyone making sure he was being treated right at all those hospitals, institutions and group homes? What medications was he on and was he being overmedicated? It seems his death was preventable.

Mark had occasionally become delusional and violent, but I was never told why. What were the circumstances surrounding his violent episodes?

Sadly, Mark is gone now and there are many things I will never know about his life. But I became curious about schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Who were these people so many people feared? Maybe there were many people with mental illness. Maybe I could learn from them. Maybe I could make a small difference by being kind to them, by treating them like they are people instead of monsters, by helping them achieve as much independence as possible.

That’s why I found Mercy Behavioral Health. That’s why I am here. Not just to have a job. To me it’s personal, in memory of my cousin, Mark Julius Geertz.                                                                                                                       

Amy Geertz Kriss, Casual Pool                                                                                       22amylouise@gmail.com   (412-721-1078)

Pictures from years ago

Deby, Jan and Baby Kaitlin

Amy Geertz

Sue Kutcher, Bruce Bachman and Amy Geertz, 1980

Happy Birthday Sue, Bruce and Amy, 1980

Julia Kriss, 4 years old

David, Jan and Bruce Bachman, 1966

Devin, Dana, Lindsay, John, Kaitlin, Shamus, Erin, Megan and Liam (Paddy) around 1986 or 87

Aunt Lou and Amy, maybe late 70s

Abbie, Jan and I don't know the baby (Liam???)

Aunt Elma and Aunt Lou at Sylvan Canoe Club

Add caption

Bobby Geertz

David

Jan

David

Bruce

Bruce, David and Jan, around 1960

Jan

David

Jan age 6

Jan

David (Kin), Jan and Bruce

Bob, Abbie, Liam and David

Nikki and Erin

David, Kevin, Joel, Lloyd and Abbie, Elsie Lou, Bruce, Leonard, Moshe, Bobbby, Mark, Amy, Jan, Shamus and Paddy (Liam), maybe 1979 or 80

Abbie, Sadie (MUM) and Buffy

The 3 Mudie sisters  -- Buffy, Abbie and Elsie

Abbie, Elsie and Buffy Mudie

Buffy with one of her many art pieces