Antoinette and Charlie's Wedding

Chris' Birth Announcement

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Chris, Anne, Michael Stephen, Mom (Antoinette), Dad (Charles), Lisa
1997

Steven 19__?

Antoinette and Rose
Grandma's House
Grandpa Gannam's "bear" trees
in the background

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1945-1946
School Year


Grandma's Back Yard
Hopkins Street

John Frederick Kastensmidt
(grandfather of Charles Kastensmidt, Jr.)
born 5 Nov. 1860 - died 9 Dec.1929
Photo circa 1890


Leona Zehnder Kastensmidt
(Mother of Charles Kastensmidt, Jr.)
Photo circa 1917.

 In the Fall of 1962, Grandma Beecher, Grandpa Harold, Iris and I traveled by car to Houston to visit Aunt Antoinette and Uncle Charlie. It was a long trip a long time ago, but the memories are still vivid in my mind. Aunt Antoinette showed us photos of the house after a hurricane; we practiced Civil Defense Drills, and went Trick or Treating in the biggest subdivision I had ever seen. We also got to go to a Halloween celebration at a school and attended Mass in a school cafeteria. We visited the San Jacinto Monument and toured the Battleship Texas. I got a giant pencil and a beeny - why I got a beeny I'll never know and the pencil was so big (about 3/4 inch diameter) that it could not be sharpened!.

Uncle Charlie and Aunt Antoinette took us to NASA and drove us down the street where the astronauts lived and took us to a restuarant where they served STEAK with eggs for breakfast! We saw the biggest shopping mall I'd ever seen and Harold got lost for a while on the cloverleaf on the expressway.

It was very special to go to Houston, because we did not see Aunt Antoinette and our cousins since we lived in Savannah. It was especially important to me to meet Anne - the baby we prayed for every night!