Where did the name Karen come from? Kateri Tekawitha

On my refrigerator hangs a small holy picture of Kateri Tekawitha. When my kids were little they had a Saint coloring book and it told the history of  where a name came from. Karen comes from Katherine or Kateri. Kateri's mother was an Algonquin Christian who was captured in a Mohawk raid, her father was a strict  Mohawk. When she was four years old a smallpox epidemic swept through her village of Ossernenon,  Smallpox took the lives of her mother, father and baby brother. It left Kateri with many scars. Kateri's fathers family took her in. This village of Ossernenon is the same place where Sts.Isaac Jogues, Rene Grupil, and Johnde LaLande were martyred.  In 1675 missionaries came to her village where they only made one convert, Kateri.  She was baptized on Easter 1675. Whenever she walked outside other children would tease her, and throw rocks at her because of her scars and her faith.  Her  family used any excuse to beat her. Father Jacques de Lamberville was afraid that real harm would come to her so he suggested she move to the Algonquin Village, across the St. Lawrence River, at the Mission of St. Francis Xavier. She left on her journey alone and on foot on July 4th, 1677 and arrived in October. At the mission Kateri met Anastasia Tegonhatsihonga, an Algonquin Christian woman who had known her mother. Anastasia invited Kateri to live with her where she could practice her faith without fear. She attended masses daily and vespers at the end of the day. Two days before Easter in 1680 she became very sick and died. As she lay dying, those that prayed at her bedside saw changes come over her. All the scars from smallpox disappeared, her face became beautiful and illuminated. On December 19th, 2011 Pope Benedict XVI  granted approval for Blessed Kateri to be canonized. A miracle took place in 2005 that cleared the way for Kateri. Jake Finkbonner was playing basketball when he fell and split his lip. It became infected and that led to a flesh eating disease. Jake's parents were told he was going to die and they arranged for a priest to administer the Last Rites. At the suggestion of friends and family they prayed  to Blessed Kateri for a miracle. Jake is a descendant of the Lummi Tribe of the Pacific Northwest  Jake is now a healthy, happy 11 year old. St. Kateri Tekawitha's feast day will be celebrated on July 14.

Murdered Teens

Between Oct. 1955 and Aug. of 1957, 6 Chicagoland teenagers were brutally murdered. John and Anton Schuessler went to see a movie and bowling with their friend Robert Peterson on October 16, 1955. When the boys did not return home for supper a search was launched and two days later their bodies were found near the Des Plaines River in a ditch in the Robinson Woods Forest Preserve. This case remained unsolved until 1995 when a jury convicted Kenneth Hansen of the boys brutal murders.
Fourteen months later on December 28, 1956 Barbara and Patricia Grimes who lived at 36th and Damen in the McKinley Park neighborhood got on a bus and headed off to the Brighton Theater to see Love Me Tender staring Elvis Presley. They never returned home and their bodies were found on January 22, 1957 on German Church Rd.
Judith Andersen went missing on August 16, 1957 while walking home from a friends house. her body parts were found a week later in the Montrose Harbor  stuffed in two 55 gallon oil drums. The Grimes and Andersen murders still remain unsolved.

Chicago's First Serial Killer

On October 21^st in 1892 the opening ceremonies were held for the World’s Columbian Exposition, but because they were behind in construction the opening didn’t actually take place until May 1,^, 1893. The fair covered over 600 acres. More than 27 million people attended. The fair ended with Chicago in mourning because two days before it closed Mayor Carter Harrison Sr. was assassinated. Sometimes I dream of traveling back in time and if I could go back that’s the first place I would want to go; the Chicago World’s fair. Can’t you just imagine all the white buildings sparkling in the sun or the newly invented electric lights, drinking soda pop with ice cubes in it for the first time, or seeing Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show? The Westinghouse Company won the bid to illuminate the whole fair for $399,000.  The Devil in the White city is a great book to read about H. H. Holmes better known as H. H.  Holmes Herman Webster Mudget.

 and the horrific chamber of horrors that he had built on 63^rd and Wallace, in the Englewood Area where he murdered many young women that came to Chicago to enjoy the fair.

            On the corner of 63^rd and Wallace there was a drugstore owned by the Holton’s. Mr. Holten was very sick and confined to his bed. Mrs. Holton tried as best she could to fill prescriptions. If she had any questions she would run upstairs to ask her husband for help. It was getting to be too much for her to handle.

             One day she saw a handsome young man looking over the store. “I am here concerning the ad you posted in the daily newspaper, my name is Dr. Holmes”. And so she explained her situation and hired the young man on the spot.  Little did she know what she was getting herself into? Never knowing he was not a doctor or that he had poisoned a woman in Philadelphia a few months before.

            He was a ladies man and this kept the young women in the neighborhood coming back. Business was great and this pleased Mrs. Holton. When her husband died, Holmes saw an opportunity to buy the business. When he did not make the payments Mrs. Holton took him to court and she suddenly disappeared.           

             He then put the rest of his plan into action. He built a block long, 3 story building across the street from the pharmacy. This building was later nick named The Castle. He opened it as a respectable hotel and would lure young women visiting the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 to stay there. However once they checked in they were never seen again. The inside was a maze and he often changed builders so that no one would know exactly what he was building.  The rooms were sound proof; there was a gas line every room so he could asphyxiate his victims while they were asleep. Every room had a shoot which led to the basement where the bodies were either cleaned and sold to medical schools or dismembered and disposed of in lime pits or acid baths.  Over a period of 3 years he killed over 200 people, most of them young women. He took insurance policies out on some of his victims and of course he was the beneficiary.

               After the World’s fair he left Chicago and traveled around the country scamming others. He was arrested in 1895 when he was discovered with the body of a former business associate. That same year the Castle burnt down revealing his awful secrets to the firemen and policemen on the scene. He pleaded guilty to murdering 27 people and 6 attempted murders. He was hung in Philadelphia on May 7, 1886. 

The Leopoldville

 On Christmas Eve, 1944 the S.S. Leopoldville, a Belgian troopship, was transporting 2,235 American soldiers from the 262nd and 264th Regiment, 66^th Infantry Division across the English Channel. They were reinforcements to fight the Battle of the Bulge. Most of the soldiers on shore were in church or in bars celebrating the holiday.             Suddenly the Leopoldville was torpedoed by a German submarine the U486 just 5 miles off the coast of France. There seemed to be no explosion. Those that saw it from shore thought it was engine trouble and assumed the escort ships would take care of her but, the convoy that was escorting her left to destroy the German sub.

            Everything that could go wrong did, delayed radio transmissions, heavy seas and freezing temperatures to name a few. The British commander in charge ordered the anchor dropped so the ship would not drift into a minefield outside the harbor. The dropped anchor prevented a tug boat from towing her in. Survivors say the Belgian crew abandoned ship and left the Americans to fend for themselves.

            A U.S. Army officer dispatched a P.T. boat and a Navy Lieutenant in charge saw that the ship was sinking fast, he radioed ashore. The H. M. S. Brilliant began taking on the troops of the 66^th. The men were ordered to the rails dressed in overcoats with their full combat packs which weighed about 60 lbs. They had to leap across from the Leopoldville deck to the Brilliant deck. Many fell into the freezing water and were drowned or were crushed between the hulls of the two ships. When the Brilliant had taken on what they considered a safe number she took off toward the shores of Cherbourgh leaving behind the rest of the confused and injured men. Remember these men were just 5 miles off shore and could see the harbor lights.

              The ship sank in 2½ hours and more than 800 American soldiers lost their lives. They were between the ages of 18 and 21. There were three sets of brothers killed including two sets of twins, 493 bodies have never been recovered.

            Because of wartime censorship and to cover up the mistakes made by government officials this tragedy was never reported to the media. The survivors were told to keep quiet. The victim’s relatives received letters listing these men as Missing in Action even though the U.S. War Department knew they had been killed. Later the men were declared Killed in Action but no details were ever divulged to the families. You have to be killed in action for the family to collect on insurance policies. These men had $10,000 policies. This tragedy was considered an embarrassment to the governments of France, Belgium, England and the U.S. and all records were sealed.  Families searched in vain for information about the deaths of their loved ones.

            On July 1st, 1984 a National Underwater & Marine Agency search team aboard the Research Vessel ARVOR found the final resting place of the S.S. Leopoldville. In 1996 the British finally declassified the documents relating to the sinking of the Leopoldville.  The Leopoldville Trilogy was published in June of 2001 consolidating the stories of the victims told by the survivors of this tragedy. On this Christmas Eve please remember all veterans and  the men of the S.S. Leopoldville. 

Cake Balls Are Taking Over

About a month ago I bought an electric cake ball maker. It makes 7 at a time and each batch takes 7 minutes. I used brownie mix, cake mix, and I even tried cinnamon rolls from a tube; everything turned out great. I took them to a Thanksgiving gathering and they were just the right size for little hands and mouths. The kids loved them.  However I am also the As Seen on TV Queen but have learned some self control, now instead of ordering from TV I wait until it comes to a store. Shipping charges are outrageous and you get screwed when you go for the "we'll send you a second one free just pay additional shipping."  I now am the proud owner of a  Cake Pop Pan, it was given to me as an early Christmas present. As soon as I came home with it I had to use it. It makes 18 at a time and only took about 12 minutes each batch.So far I used a lemon cake mix and then tried a yellow mix adding a pkg. of pistachio pudding.; both came out good but you do get overflow from the hole on the top.  When you use this pan you have to adjust ingredients in mix such as substituting half as much milk instead of  the amount of water and  adding an extra egg. They recommend spraying the pan with a spray that also contains flour, I didn't have any so I sprayed the pan and then sprinkled flour in each cavity' it all worked out. Next I am going to try a cake from scratch. I was thinking on using a pound cake recipe for a denser cake. I didn't get fancy with decorating I just used powdered sugar on one batch and made a glaze of powdered sugar and water for the other and  rolled them in some sprinkles. I had fun making them and my co-workers had fun eating them; so a fun time was had by all. If you don't have a pan or don't want to buy one you can still make cake balls/pops by baking an ordinary cake mix and letting it cool. Crumble the baked cake and slowly add a can of instant frosting until it's the consistency of cookie dough; now start rolling into balls and place them on a pan lined with parchment paper. Next take your sucker stick and make an indentation in each ball, put them in the freezer until they firm up a little. Melt candy melts, remove balls from freezer and put a little icing on the stick before inserting it into ball. Roll the ball on the stick in the melted candy, let excess drip off. Have a piece of styrofoam about an  inch thick with a piece of parchment paper over it so you can place the candy coated pop in the styrofoam unril it dries. Sprinkle colored sugar or any other decorations on the ball before the chocolate dries.  Voilla Cake Balls!
 

December Adventure

Today I went on an adventure with my cousin Tina and her friend Rose. We started our day by attending a taping of Windy City Live which is filmed at the ABC Studio at 190 N. State St. We had a great time at the show, but that wasn't the end of our fun. We took the red line to the North side where we had lunch at the Cozy Noodle, we went to the wholesale stores on Clark St. then more shopping ending up at the Merchandise Mart. Then we went to Christkindlemarket and the after a bootfull of glog we came  back home. a fun time was had by all.

In a pickle

 Gage Park was once the home of the Claussen pickle. In fact the mansion still stands on Western Ave. Mr. Claussen designed most of the buildings himself and built a windmill to generate electricity. His plan was to be self sustaining and it paid off through two World wars. The factory was built at 5145 S. Western Ave. He also built a 3 story, 37 room apartment building at 5133 S. Western to house his whole family. Horses were used to transfer pickles from rail cars to a dozen or more buildings for aging and processing. Horses plowed acres of land on which beets and dill weed were grown. They also had cucumber and cabbage patches. At one time they kept 32 horses in barns on the property. Even as late as the 1950’s horses were still used to pull Claussen Company wooden wagons to make neighborhood deliveries just to keep their identity known. The company has since moved to Woodstock Illinois and is now owned by Kraft Foods. In 1932 Mr. Claussen died at Little Company of Mary Hospital from injuries suffered when he was struck by an automobile at 110th