Trish started me thinking about the different generations of our family and how the world changed for each one. It reminded me of 1976 when I was finishing my BS at Cal Poly Pomona (after a 10 year hiatus, which is another story) and was assigned to write a family history for my American Civilization class. After a search through my files I unearthed the report and will copy it here in several installations (with side comments) complete with an interview with our father, Roy Kackley, who died in 1984 and is still dearly missed.
"In writing this family history, one social force seemed to have more influence -- mobility. My paternal great-grandparents, the Kackleys, each moved with their parents to Missouri to find a better way of life. My grandparents, Roy and Susan Kackley, moved to St. Joseph, Missouri in search of work and a home. My maternal grandfather, George Chouckas, immigrated to the United States from Tripolis, Greece and settled in St. Joseph. My maternal grandmother, Anna Bockelman, was the youngest child of German immigrants who came to St. Joseph and again, the reason was the search for a better way of life. However, both sets of grandparents remained in St. Joseph because economic conditions during the Depression influenced them to remain in one place.
"My parents, Roy and Adeline Kackley, were part of the boom after World War II and joined the military because it offered a chance to make a good living. These were the years of the military build-up, NATO, "containment" of communisim, and the military offered good opportunities to a young man.
"Because of the mobility of my childhood, I have learned two languages [spanish and farsi, fluently], seen a great deal of the world and have a different view of American life than my parents."
In the coming posts, I will continue with my grandparents', parents' and my own stories from this 30-year-old report. Maybe Trish and Kon will add their own experiences and comments as I go along.
No comments:
Post a Comment