Cousin Stories Introduction

Many years ago, Margareta gave me 15 pages of memories.  This is her introduction

 We three families, the Fred Duecks, the Jake Paulses, the Abe Paulses, were fortunate enough to live fairly close together so we could visit back and forth.  This helped immensely in the socialising of the three sets of cousins, all with very strong personality traits - imaginative, bossy, mischievous, serious, shy, outgoing etc - and different interests - academic, domestic, mechanical, agricultural, medical etc.  It also created strong family ties which exist to this day.  We often acted and probably felt more like siblings than just cousins.

I like to think back to those days and remember.  Most of these memories include only Rudolph, Ruby and Laura Dueck, Verna and Laura Pauls, Gerald and me, Margareta.

Hulda, Pauline, Steve & Raymond were born after I was already in High School and ready to leave home and I was NOT into babies.  (The first newborn I ever remember holding was Michael Little who's father plunked him on my lap when Michael was less than a week old and I was in my late 30s or early 40s.)

So, here goes for memories . . .

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