My grandmother's history is very interesting. My grandmother and most of my family were born in Germany. I'm a second generation American. My dad immigrated here in his 20s, and my mom's dad immigrated here at 19 by himself to start a new life. My grandmother immigrated here at 11 with her siblings and her parents. So she was the only one that came with family.

 

My grandmother came through Ellis Island in 1924 and wrote a story about it later in life because it was a very difficult experience for her. The year before she came, her parents came over with her aunt and uncle, because they had enough money for the three of them to come. They got jobs and saved up enough money to send for the rest of the family immigrate here. So at 10 years old, her parents moved to another country and she stayed living with her aunt and cousins waiting for her turn. 

 

In this article that she wrote, she talks about her experience emigrating through Ellis Island. She talks about how she had had some vision problem - she had limited vision in one eye and so they didn't let her come into the country without being checked out by a doctor. 

 

My grandmother couldn't speak the language and didn’t understand what was going on. She talks about how they stripped her down to just a gown and how that upset her. She did met another young girl, who was bedridden, but spoke German, and so she at least had one person she could talk to who could tell her what was going on. When they finally cleared her, my grandmother’s only dress had been destroyed by dust and from being stored under her bed while she was held there. The dress was her first communion dress and so she couldn't wear her favorite dress anymore. This was her first welcoming experience and she says she hated America.

 

In this article, she also talks about her mother who had come the year before with her husband. Her mother was the decision maker and she bought furniture right away. She got the household set up when they came to the United States and was referred to by my grandmother as the "decision maker". That's the role my grandmother played and that's the role I play in the family. I can see myself in them in that way in, you know, which is really cool. 

 

My grandmother did a lot of things in her life. Most notably, she was appointed by Ronald Reagan to serve on the 300 years of Germans and America committee. When I was 13, she brought me to Washington, D.C., and I helped swear her into this committee meeting. I held this Bible that George Washington held and I got to participate in this monumental moment.

 

She was also the first female president of the German American Cultural Club, which is now the Carpathia in Utica. They have a picture of her hanging in the wall as the first female president. My grandfather had a tool and die business and my grandmother helped him run the business but she also got involved with a lot of grassroots organizations. She was involved with the Pilot International Club, it's a service club of executive business and professional women and had an international membership of 25,000 at that time. She held executive positions, including President, Chairman, and Member at Large in Detroit branch of the club and elected to the international Board. And in the 60s, I believe, she served as executive secretary for two years. 

 

The last thing I want to mention is this story my grandmother wrote about today's woman. This story, which is so fascinating to me, she talks the plight women in the 1960s, and how your husband has the majority of the assets, and the importance of what women are doing to change and progress beyond that. I think the reality is, if she had been born in a later time, very easily, she would have been a doctor or she a CEO, in a time when it was more acceptable.