Sepia Saturday

Here are my grandparents - Jim & Edith Kalina - outside the hospital in Shiner. How beautiful and handsome are they??

Sepia Saturday

These two people are my great-grandparents, Frank & Mary Kalina. Her parents can be seen here. This picture was taken at Frank & Mary's 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1953.

Sepia Saturday

This is my Grandpa Jim, my dad's dad.

His real name is Vaclav (Vatz-lov), with Jim being the English translation. He was born in September 1918, making him 91 years young. Yes, he's still alive and kicking. Up until October of 2009, he and my grandma were still living on the farm where he grew up. His parents had moved to the farm when he was only a few months old.

He served in the Army during WWII. I don't know much about his time in the service, at least not off the top of my head. The one thing I do know, is that he was shot in the leg, earning him a Purple Heart.

He has the best sense of humor, even now that he is in the nursing home. He's not happy with where he is, but he's making the best of it. For being 91, he still has his wits about him for the most part. I'm hoping we have quite a few more years left to have him around!

Sepia Saturday

This is my great-great grandparents, Jan and Marie Caba. They were both born in Czechoslovakia. Jan in 1850, Marie in 1852. I'm not sure when they came to the US.




This is my grandpa Jim's grandparents on his mother's side. From his stories, Jan was a drifter. He was killed on Highway 290 near Hempstead in 1932. Grandpa also remembers when he was about 4 or 5 years old, Jan coming to the house and sleeping in the yard.

Another story Grandpa told us: The priest in Praha at the time would not let Jan and Marie be buried in the same plot in the cemetary because they did not live together. They were married, but did not live together, so they are buried in separate places.


I love family history and all the stories that you can find out!!

Sepia Saturday

This is my great-grandparents, Frank and Mary Kalina. I believe the children are the oldest 3 of 10 children: Josephine, who as a teenager would become blind; Mattej (Matthew) who married and moved West Texas; and Mary who married and moved to Central Texas.

Sepia Saturday

This is Sr. Rogata. She is my grandpa Jim's sister who was a nun here in San Antonio at Our Lady of the Lake.

The picture last week was taken at OLL at her anniversary.

She wasn't just here in San Antonio. She taught all over the state and Oklahoma and then retired to OLL and was there until she passed in 2005. She was the sweetest, kindest, most caring person you could ever meet.

Sepia Saturday

I saw this on another blog and really liked the idea.

I am huge into family history and I love looking through old photos.

This picture was taken in the late '50s, I think 1959, on the steps at the Cathedral at Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio. This is my dad (the little boy on his dad's left) and his family. They were there to celebrate, I believe, the 25th anniversary of his aunt, Sr. Rogata, becoming a nun.

In 2004, we had a family reunion in Kerrville. Since everyone was in town, we decided to drive into San Antonio and recreate that picture almost exactly. Then for Christmas that year, my grandparents and all the siblings got a frame that included the first picture and this one.

This picture includes my aunt Monica. In 1959, she was just a 'gleam in Grandpa's eye.' She wasn't born until 1961. :)

Then each family that was there, took a similar picture. We just have to remember to go back in 25 years to recreate it!

And then everyone who was there got in it.