William (Wilhelm) Maximilian George Giese

1896 - 1970  (74 years)

• Name	William (Wilhelm) Maximilian George Giese  [1]
  Birth	2 Jan 1896	West Bay City, MI, USA   [1, 2]
  Baptism	2 Feb 1896  [3]
  	Sunday morning Septuagesimae in the church after the close of the sermon
  Gender	Male
  Death	May 1970	Bay City, Bay, MI, USA   [1, 2]
  Person ID	I74110	First tree
  Last Modified	17 Nov 2020

  
  

  Family	Olive Retherford,   b. 21 Mar 1899, Chariton, Lucas, IA, USA d. Apr 1994, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA (Age 95 years)
  Marriage	6 Jun 1921	St. John's Luth Church, West Bay City, Michigan, USA   [3]
  Children	1. Nancy Joan Giese
  Family ID	F26972	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2013

  
  

• Notes

  Dear Karla: Writing about my dad will be very short, because he didn't say much abo ut his life. You probably know more than I do. He was born on Jan. 2nd. I think the year was 1895. He went to school thro ugh the 10th grade and then went to work, but I don't know where. When we got into the 1st World War he enlisted in the Marines and went f or training at Quantico, VA. Then to France and the fighting there. After getting out of the Marines he went to work at Oppenheims and travel ed between their Bay City store and their Jackson store as a window trimme r. In 1921 he married Grama and in the latter 20s they started their own c lothing store on the west side of Bay City. In 1928 they went bankrupt a nd closed the store and he went back to Oppenheims to work. When we lived out on Midland Rd. He raised chickens, so we always had some thing to eat during the depression and even when they bought the hou se on Alp St. in 1935 I was never aware of the hard times most of the coun try was going through. We ate a lot of sardines and salt pork, but I thoug ht everybody did. We were poor, but didn't know it. Grampa kept worki ng so he was never out of a job. Then Grama joined him at Oppenheims and t hey both worked there until retirement. He loved to work in the yard and d id so until he had a stoke and couldn't do it anymore. Written by his daughter, Nancy Joan Giese Koeplin Received on 18 September 2007 Comment of his granddaughter: The year of his birth was 1896 according to census records. Otherwise the re are at least a couple of things in this brief record more than I cou ld know. My mother was very right about my grandfather's not talking abo ut himself or his life very much. Was that of his own free will, or w as it because nobody would have listened? Actually, nobody had to liste n, as he and his wife Olive Retherford lived in his neighbourhood among h is family. His mother lived in their household until her death. His step-s ister's family was the nearest relative relationship of this very small nu clear family. Everybody knew his story - or at least they thought they di d. Seen that way, there was not much reason to tell a personal story - exc ept that his version would certainly have been unique.

  
  

• Sources

  [S2148] OneWorldTreeSM. [S2050] Ancestry.com, Social Security Death Index, (Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006 Social Security Administration, Social Security Death Index, Master File, : Social Security Administration). [S2107] Church register of St. John's Lutheran Church, Bay City, Michigan, USA.