Rhea LaFavor Burns

On July 9, 2009, Lois and I visited cousin Rhea LaFavor Burns at her beautiful place in the Oakdale section of St. Paul. Together we figured out the last time we saw each other was in March of 1987 -- 22 years ago -- on the occasion of my mother’s funeral. That’s Rhea, sitting on the couch next to Lois. On the right is her husband of over 50 years -- Jack Burns, who, we are told, suffers from aphasia [a language disorder located in the brain] and he needs to use a walker. Both Rhea and Jack are 82 years of age. My sister Margaret and her husband Jerry used to celebrate birthdays together with Rhea and Jack for many years.

Standing behind the couch on both sides of me are two distant cousins whom I met for the first time today. To my right in the black blouse is Gerry Blair, a descendant of Jakob Fischer who lives in St. Paul. Gerry has been corresponding with me for over a year to add some 60 names to the family tree from the children of Jakob Fischer who came to America. These names will be added to the next edition of the Fischer Family Tree. Gerry works for UPS and is in her late 60’s.

To my left with the blonde hair is Elfriede Benson (geb. Schmidt) who is retired from Northwest Airlines. She lives in Bloomington MN, but was born in 1940 at Bruck, near Halbturn, Austria. She has offered to give us even more names to add to the family tree. She came to St. Paul in 1958, but has revisited Burgenland many times. At the end of the visit, Elfriede favored us all by singing “Beautiful Burgenland” -- the provincial song.

While we were there, Rhea and Jack’s oldest daughter, Paula, 55, showed up from Salt Lake UT and joined the group. She was here on vacation. She took the photo above. Paula was another first-time meeting and we found her to be very delightful and fun to talk to.