Couple More Christmas Photos

Above: Eddie Kleppel, with Colin on his shoulders, and Julia Coughlin Kleppel.

That's not really Colin's beer! Emily in background.

Froehliche Weihnachten von der Coughlin-Kleppel-Homan Familie!

Bob's Christmas presents, a hiking stick and a new jacket.

Euclid as a Summer Lake Resort

In today's Plain Dealer there was a story about Euclid in the late 1890s as a kind of summer getaway resort for Clevelanders [also on cleveland.com at this address: http://www.cleveland.com/remembers/index.ssf/2011/12/caddying_at_westwood_and_vacat.html]. When the Shore inter-urban train came to Euclid around 1898, so did the summer tourists. Initially they would rent tent platforms in the Moss Point area of Euclid (that's near where E. 222 meets the Lake--the site of a sewage plant now as well as Euclid Park). A few years later people began to build summer cottages--many of which are still visible in Euclid. [more coming]

The Opposite of a Christmas Story in Mentor

A homeless man has been jailed by the city of Mentor over Christmas. His suitcase was found Saturday morning in front of the Barnes and Noble store. Authorities were afraid it was a bomb and it was removed by the Lake County Bomb Unit, who fired two shots into it. They blasted dirty underwear and clothing.

Kevin Striley, age 43 from Mason, Ohio, is in jail because the homeless man could not post a $102,000 cash bond--as set by Judge John Trebets. I couldn't meet a bond like that!

Two thousand years ago a young couple traveled from the region of Galilee to a village just south of Jerusalem--called Bethlehem. There was no room at the inn for them, even though the young woman was nine months pregnant. Her baby was born in a stable, a manger, a place where animals ate and took shelter. This baby, whom we Christians celebrate as the Savior of the World, knew homelessness from his first moment.

I don't know exactly what the Mentor authorities should have done. Maybe they put Kevin Striley in jail to give him a warm place to stay over Christmas and some regular meals. Maybe Mr. Striley needs psychiatric evaluation. I hope that Mentor officials didn't violate their Christian and human duty and heritage.

A Few Christmas Photos

Top: Kevin Coughlin. Middle: Jim and Dillon Coughlin. Bottom: Darby, Jodi, and Quinn Coughlin.

More Family Photos: the Bowers/Bauer side

My Grandma, Cora Bowers, on her First Communion Day--probably in 1897. She's on the left in the photo above. This was professionally taken in Youngstown, Ohio. Her father. Frank Bowers, was born Frank Bauer in Pittsburgh. Most of his family stayed in Pittsburgh and retained the German spelling of their last name (many Bauer relatives still live there). At some point, Frank moved to Youngstown and changed the spelling of his last name--why I never heard. Frank married Mary Voelker and moved to Cleveland, where he worked as a bridge engineer (he was an important engineer on the Detroit-Superior bridge crossing the Cuyahoga River valley in Cleveland. The bridge has linked the east and west sides of Cleveland for about a 100 years now. My Grandma, whom I loved very much, lived from 1889 to 1980, and is buried in All Souls Cemetery in Chardon, Ohio.

The two Bowers sisters, Cora Bowers Coughlin and Edna Bowers Rosenfelder, at Maryknoll near Ossining, New York, where their brother, Larry Bowers, was a Maryknoll missioner. Brother Larry served earlier in his career in China.

Cora Bowers Coughlin, Brother Larry Bowers MM, and Edna Bowers Rosenfelder. This photo was taken at Uncle Bill and Aunt Kay's house in Willowick, Ohio. Uncle Larry came home every August--when the wild cherries ripened on the trees (that's the association I made as a young kid). I think this photo might have been from the early to mid 1960's.

Some Older Family Photos

Top photo: Grampa Connie Coughlin (born 1891), Uncle Bill Coughlin (born 1923), with Jeannie and Jackie Coughlin. 1953, Willoughby, Ohio.

Middle photo: Al Fitzpatrick, Margaret Ann Coughlin Bernice Potter, Bob Coughlin, Nelson Potter, Linda Coughlin, Mrs. McHugh, Catherine Fitzpatrick. Circa 1980.

Bottom photo: Mary Finnegan Fitzpatrick, Mrs. McHugh, Bob Coughlin, Mary Zylowski. Circa 1980.

Winter Solstice Poem

Winter Solstice

The chill creeps into the bones:
December 21 and sun gone long before 5 o’clock;
Huge gray clouds roll in off Lake Erie
Riding the Witch’s gale, spitting sleet and

Fears as real and as organized as the swirl
Of pin oak leaves down Lakeshore Boulevard.
This day, shaken by nameless fears,
Seems to last forever:

I wonder how I will get through the next minute,
And the minute after that,
And the minute after that,

Wonder if I can make it
Until hope returns

Until peace-which-surpasses-understanding,
As mysterious as winter solstice’s fear--
My heart standing still, turning cold,
My spirit abandoned--

Until peace returns like grace like unexpected

Gift.

                        Robert M. Coughlin