As the oldest living member of the Joseph B. Ostien family, I will try to put some of our history down on paper. Our story took a different turn from some of the rest of the family because we were the only part of the family to move from the Turtle Creek area and settle in the Philadelphia area.

I do not remember any of the adjustments that had to be made with such a move because I was only two years old when Joe and Minna made the move. I often think of the feelings of Mother and Dad as they left the rest of the family and moved so far away. It must have been a big change for them. No more Aunt Maggie to call on when a child was ill. No more family to visit on the way home from church, and the kids could not run outside and play with their cousins that lived all around them. I can only imagine how lonely it must have been until they finally settled in and made new friends. I remember Mother telling us about the Wards that lived next door to us. Then, some time later, Uncle Bill and Aunt Ida Ostien moved into a house on the same street. Uncle Bill Ostien was from the "Other Ostien" family, and Aunt Ida was Mother’s sister. This sort of mixed up the Ostiens a little! That was the side of the family that finally was able to call "Tiny Tim" an in-law!!!

After only a couple of years living in Essington, the Westinghouse village, we made a move to Norwood that was about five miles away. There we lived in a "twin house" as they were called then. It had three bedrooms and one bath and housed 6 kids and 2 parents. I cannot remember ever thinking that we did not have enough room. In fact, I can remember as a child, that we always seemed to have one or two cousins who were sent to Philadelphia on a job at Westinghouse and of course they always stayed with Aunt Minnie and Uncle Joe. The table always seemed to be able to stretch for one or two more. The most vivid memory is one of our backyard on Monday (that was always washday) when Mother always could find a way to string the clothesline so that a little more wash could be hung out to dry. In that day all the men wore white shirts that had to be starched and then ironed. I can remember Mother saying that some weeks she had 26 shirts to iron! I do not remember ever hearing her gripe or complain, but I am sure that she must have. I know that I would have, and everyone always says that I take after my Mother.

Sometime around 1925, Mother and Dad sent some money to relatives in Germany and Erich and Kurt joined us in Norwood. After a short time Kurt moved to Essington to live with Aunt Ida and Uncle Bill, but Erich became another brother for all of us. We have many memories of trying to teach Erich to speak English. It was fun to hear him try out all of the new vocabulary. Of course, we had some fun (at his expense) with his use of some words. He got back at us when he would get us to try Limburger cheese. Ask Homer about that!!! That was a terrible experience. Erich enjoyed the cheese so we thought that it must be good. Erich stayed with us until he married in 1932. Our house started to seem a little larger.

Now, as to our own family. Arvilla was the oldest. She was the second mother of the family. When Mother was not around, she was always there to tell us what to do. I can remember thinking that if Arvilla said it could be done, it could. Then came Bruce. He was the peace-maker. He was my hero. He always told me I was his birthday present when he was seven. His birthday was December 7^th, and I was born on December 5^th. I felt that no one had a big brother like me. Next came Paul. He was the "imp" of the family. We all enjoyed him. He could think of more things to do and they were always fun. At least we kids thought so. I’m sure Mother did not always agree. When Paul got into trouble with some of his mischief. She would send Bruce after him to get him out of trouble. Next in line was me. Arvilla was 9 at the time I was born so we were never close as kids. It wasn’t until after she got married and I was a teenager that we became close. Two years after me Homer arrived. He was (and still is) the tease. He was quiet and did all his teasing so that Mother and Dad couldn’t hear him. I seemed to be blamed for the trouble he got us into because I couldn’t keep quiet like him. Then he would just grin at me and let me take the blame!! When I had boyfriends he was always pestering me. Oh my, I sometimes wished he would just disappear!! He was the star athlete of the family and made quite a name for himself on the basketball court. I can remember going to all the high school games and cheering for my brother. Then I was proud of him. Last, but not least, came Loretta. At the time she was born I was 8 years old, so once again, a sister was so much younger that we were never really close as kids at home. I can remember when I was dating Bob that she would always appear in the living room and just stand or sit there and watch whatever we were doing. As you can imagine, that didn’t go over too well with me.

So, now all the children have arrived, and the older ones were getting married or starting careers. Arvilla married Harry Bangs, a State Policeman, in 1927 and moved away from home. The house was getting larger. I then had to share my bedroom with a two-year old, quite a difference. Bruce started working and I thought that was wonderful. He had some money. When I wanted a class ring in high school, he was the one who bought it for me. What a thrill for me to have a big brother that could buy me things! Then he became a missionary to Africa and again I can remember how excited I was. We all missed him when he sailed away. While he was there he married Jean Trout, who was also a missionary. The house got bigger still. There were only two boys in the big front bedroom and I think that at this time Mother and Dad moved from the smaller middle room to the "master bedroom" at last. Then it was my turn to leave the nest. In 1938 I married Bob Stanley and moved away from home. At the same time, Paul married Dot Sisson and he moved away and you can imagine how big the house was then. In fact, it was around that time that Mother and Dad moved to a small town called Aldan.

In all our years growing up, I can remember that we always went to Sunday School and church, first in Norwood and then in Darby. After Aldan Union Church started t support Bruce on the mission field, those of us who were still at home began to go there. This move was meant to be, because that is where I met Bob and Homer met Betty Jane Wilkinson, who later became his wife.

Suddenly, that home that was so full was almost empty. Just Loretta was left. I must say that after I started my own home and family, I don’t remember all the times and details of Loretta’s teen years. She became a missionary in Kentucky for a few years and then came back home until the time that she moved to California where she met her husband, Bill Pesnell.

By this time I had already had a baby, Janet. Of course, she was the best baby there ever was!! during this period Bob worked for Westinghouse, where else? He didn’t enjoy that and after the war was over he went into the insurance business. He was on the road all the time in this work and he loved that. Then came David, four years after Janet. We decided that was too long a time between kids and we wanted to have four, so we tried to have another child. But it took a long time. When David was 7 ½ Linda finally arrived. We enjoyed having a baby around again. She was a little "Miss Independent." But then tragedy hit us. David was hit by a truck and died on the operating table. We thought we would never get through that time, but we did. One year later we had Rob. He was the most delightful child you can ever imagine. He was good, he was cute and everyone loved him! (He still is, and everyone still does love him. Ask cousins Keith, Ginger, and Beverly. Everybody loves Robbie!!) By this time we lived in Kennett Square where we stayed until Bob died in 1982. Then I moved to West Grove to an apartment attached to Janet and Dick’s house.

After I moved to West Grove, an old friend, Ray Ortendahl, called me on the phone. He had lost his wife and he asked me to go to dinner with him. Of course, I accepted. Four months later we were married. At our age, you don’t waste any time. Ray has one daughter and two granddaughters. All our kids knew each other before we were married and so we are one big happy family. Then tragedy struck again. Janet was stricken with cancer and within three months she was gone. Those of you who have gone through this know how devastating this can be. I was so thankful for Ray. He was the one who got me through this awful time.

There are many times in our lives that I have skipped. Such as the years that Bruce and Jean spent in Africa. That is a whole book in itself. I can remember looking forward to their years of furlough. They sometimes stayed with us, if our home was big enough because by this time they had a big family. Each time they came home it seemed to increase! We loved them one and all. Bruce was still my hero, and Jean was right up there with him as far as I was concerned. We became fast friends, and still are. When they retired form the mission field and moved to Michigan, our next vacation was out in Michigan. We had helped them when some of their children had to stay in the U.S. while they went back to Africa, so Bob and I sort of took them under our wings. This was a great time for my kids as well as for Doug and Betsy. Vacations at Uncle Bruce and Aunt Jean’s were always taken with great anticipation. We followed them wherever they went. When they retired to Florida, we went there. They were wonderful years. In spite of the hard times we had many good times.

I have skipped many important happenings. When Bob and I moved to Kennett Square my Dad asked us if we would add a second floor to the home we were building. It was just after we moved into that house that Dad died of a stroke. We were thankful that it happened after they had moved in, so that Mother was with the family instead of by herself. She lived with us for 16 years until one summer she made a trip to Turtle Creek to visit family and when she came home she asked Bob for permission to get married again! She had met her "old" (in more ways than one) boyfriend, Morgan Davies, and he wanted her to marry him. I understand that they had been engaged before she met my father. So at the age of 78 she married again. They moved into their own apartment. Morgan lived for five years after that before he passed away. She stayed there until it was impossible to care for her, and she went to a nursing home where she lived until her death in 1978.

In August of 1982 Arvilla passed away and then in November Bob died. After that we lost Bruce, Paul, Betty, and Harry. That large family was slowly shrinking. When you put it all on paper like this it seems that something sad was always happening. I remember thinking many times how lucky we all were to have our parents and our families so long. You have to remember that since the first sentence I wrote, 78 years have passed! It is hard to believe that so much time has gone by. If you had ever told me that someday I would be one of the oldest in the Turtle Creek Ostien family I would not have believed you. I am still that young girl that loved to make the trips to T. C. and visit all our aunts, uncles, and cousins. It is true what they say, when you look into the mirror you do not see the old person, you remember that young person.

We have had wonderful years, in spite of all the sorrows and hard times. We have so many great memories. We are thankful that many years ago our Grandfather and Grandmother saw fit to venture out to a new world and you see the results today. I often wonder what our lives (the Joseph Ostien family) would have been like had Dad not decided to move to Philadelphia.