Family Photos Part 6: Bill and Martha

Bill and Martha Goertzen were my maternal grandparents. Two years ago--shortly after we moved to Las Vegas and as they were moving into a retirement home--I received the blessing of spending time with them during their last year. My grandma passed away in December of 2009, and my grandpa followed in July of 2010. I was honored to receive boxes of their photographs and slides, most of which I had never seen before. This post contains a few of my favorites. To my dear cousins (and aunt and uncles): I hope you enjoy these as much as I have; please comment if you can add any information about these pictures (and email me if you'd like a high-resolution copy).

I'm pretty sure this picture was taken on one of their many trips to Alaska, where my uncle and cousin live. They look relaxed and happy. Who took this picture and in what year?

Bill as a young man (sorry, I didn't get to restoring this one yet).

Martha as a little girl. I would not have recognized her in this picture, but in the summer of 2009 we sat on her couch and she described this picture to me. I'll remember that time as my last visit with my grandma.

Martha as a young lady (high school graduation, I think?).

Martha's portrait. So beautiful!

Bill at the San Francisco World's Fair in 1939. He was driving truck at the time and managed to get north to see the exhibition.

Ok, this picture of Bill, a sixteen-year-old cowboy, is famous in our family. It's even on the cover of the book my dad wrote about my Grandpa Bill.

The date handwritten at the bottom of this photo says 1936. My Grandpa would have been twenty years old, far from home working his way through the Great Depression.

Bill (age 25) and Martha (age 18!) on their wedding day in 1941. Growing up, I heard lots of stories about that brand-new Studebaker.

My grandma's explanation (just before she died) of this one was hazy, but I think it was taken just after their wedding when they were at the coast. A gentleman handed her a fishing line to try fishing through the crack in the pier.

Bill's parents, Jacob Goertzen (who immigrated to the United States from Russia as a boy) and Anna Schierling Goertzen. Grandpa said he greatly admired his father's faith, though Jacob was a very quiet man.