Mombo’s Blog

Today this is the feast of the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. I was watching Mass on EWTN, and that got me thinking about my own baptism. I was born in St. Henry, at home, in the house on Main Street. I’m not sure when I was baptized, but I do know that Mom often said that Rita Bruns, who lived also in St. Henry, was born on the day after me. We both had home births by the same doctor, Dr. Otis. Mom would say he recorded births whenever he got to Celina courthouse, and that he messed up on the dates. Regina, Rita’s mother, agreed with her. I believe Rita was born on Columbus Street where we moved to when Mom and Pop moved back to St. Henry before the Depression that Pop foresaw coming. I was a little tot, I think about four years old.

I do know that my godparents were Aunt Stella Steinbrunner and Uncle Herman Lefeld. Stella was the wife of Mom’s brother John, and Herman was the husband of Pop’s sister, Anna Seitz. The house where I was born still stands in St. Henry and is still a very nice home. My sister-in-law Ruth Bernard (Buff), brother Bob’s wife, lived in that same house when we lived on the corner of Columbus Street and Sycamore Street. Our house is still there, too. I do have a picture of our house as I remembered it as a child. My brother, Uncle Jack, gave me copy of this old photo. Certainly a special day in my beginning when I was baptized in 1925 in St. Henry Church. Thank you, Lord, for the blessing. Father Pavone, who had the Mass today, said, “You have three days to celebrate–your birthdate, your date of baptism, and your conception day, when your life began. Also know that you are nine months older than you thought.” Ha! Ha!

Today’s the day to start. Joan is forcing me. John and Brendan have been anxious for me to get this started and put down some memories that I have. So here we go.

Joan was reading her WRITERS’ ALMANAC and was into some Charles Schulz material. I told her about a big poster of Snoopy done by Charles Schulz when he was at a newspaper convention with Esther and Boozy years ago. Charles Schulz had sketched this big poster and as part of the program they decided to give away the poster as a door prize. Esther won it. Of course, she was real hesitant to go up in front of the crowd to get it, but Boozy got her to go. Then she and Boozy got to know Charles Schulz pretty well. I remember seeing that big poster in Boozy’s office many a time when I went out there, and I’m sure that Jerry, their son, prizes that poster today. I can’t give you a date, but I know it happened back in the ’40’s or ’50’s.

This made me think of Milton Caniff who Boozy and Derby both knew when he went to Stivers High School in Dayton, Ohio, where they went. If I remember it right, they both thought he was quite a character. He was the creator of the comic strip TERRY AND THE PIRATES which we read every day when we received the DAYTON JOURNAL up in St. Henry as kids. Later on he created the STEVE CANYON strip.
I wonder if I ever told John and Brendan this.