European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 18, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday december 18, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 9 . Officer piecing together family Puzzle i if b Kon Jensen stuff writer Heidelberg. West Germany about 13 or 14 years ago maj Dob frylinger s wife asked him a general question about his Grandfather. Fri linear recalls his answer "1 Don know there is Louic now thai for Clinger does t know about his ancestry As his at Cpl to answer his wife s query has blossomed into a near obsession wit genealogy i cat drink and sleep says inc a Puly Secretary of the Genera Slaff Al inc Central army group in Hei Delberg. In his search for roots he has written scores of letters and sorted through countless records. He has visited Small French town that May have been his ancestors Home and has read of the 1877 murder of an ancestor in it Small Iowa Lown. And he also has Learned that his Grandfather was a Navy Man who trav eld the world and died in 946. More important for others who share frylinger s Joy of exploring family history he has created the genealogical association of English speaking researchers in Europe. The group has been holding monthly meetings since july and the interest has surpassed frylinger s expectations with membership from across Europe no near i do and growing i m getting about three letters a Day says Frelinger the group s Percsi Dent Ana news Cut r editor. The association which has a $5 an Nual membership fee is designed to help others Trace their ancestry. Guest speakers offer tips on where to find re cords and what to look for. Members share lessons from their own trials and tribulations of digging up family roots. Meetings Are held at various locations. The next gathering is scheduled for 7 . Jan. 12 Al the Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day saints at Schroder Strassl 94 in Heidelberg. Frelinger created the association after attending a genealogy class through the Community education program. I thought. There s no reason to Stop Here " he says which might Bethe slogan for genealogists. It becomes addictive. I kind of liken it to writing your own detective novel Only you re dealing with later he adds it s the intellectual Chal Lenge of putting a Puzzle together. And it snot just any Puzzle it s your climbing about in the family Itce can be As frustrating As it is rewarding Many of the branches arc dead ends or filled with Forks As Dianne Polaski found in her search for her great Grandfather. My Grandfather said that his father came Over from Hamburg that relived in Hamburg and that Liis father was a judge in Hamburg says Polaski a computer Programmer with the department of the army in Heidelberg. Out if you Laik to my great aunt you get a totally different Story the fledgling association is an attempt to help limit the frustrations. Members Liaise Polaski learn where to turn to find the paper birth marriage and death certificates immigration documents and the like that utters the Trail from the past to the present. Lou Novacheck is in search of the same thing. I am really ignorant about my Heri Tage and that s Why i joined this Asso says Novacheck whose wife i employed by the department of the army in search for his czechoslovakian roots has been slow he says As he wait for answers to mailed inquiries la s head bashing. 1 hate to wait. And the mail Over Here is so Damn slow Novacheck should heed for Clinger swords it takes patience and persistence he says. If there were two words i d use to characterize genealogy those patience has paid off for Gail red Mart of . Her 10 years of research have taken her to ground inhales thai belonged to an ancestor 200 years ago. It sounds eerie and strange but there was a feeling there like i had some connect Ion she says. She also discovered the records of a direct ancestor an uneducated Carpenter who became a Bible scholar and built Achurch for his Welsh Community. The re cords included the glowing words spoke by friends at his funeral in 1862. Talk about Shivers she , Hedmann s research uncovered a distinctive claim she and the late actor Richard Burton were second cousins. "1 love it she says of genealogy think it s something that s uniquely american in that we pc Al come from someplace Frelinger jokes that his wife now re Grets her innocent question but he has shaken some interesting stories from Sis do a Cmya also reported that children evacuated to rest Homes in other republics would soon begin school. Lessons with armenian teachers. V. The first such temporary schools with armenian As the language of instruction Are to open saturday a some of he health resorts in soviet Georgia thai have been converted into refugee armenians in the stricken area and in Moscow had been fearful that children orphaned by the. Quake would be placed for adoption with non armenian fam Ilies and that those in temporary shelters would be disconnected from their language and traditions
