HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a great group of six



Ed/Dad------04/07
Nancy/Mom--04/14




Terri 04/05
Joe 04/30

Edward 03/30
Karen 04/04




March and April birthdays are popular in our family. Ed started it all a long time ago at the old St.Anthonys hospital in St Louis. Nancy was next and was born at home in Kaiser Ar.
Our daughter Terri was born at Lutheran hospital in St Louis. Our son Edward calls Independence MO. His home town.
This time of the year has always been a fun time of the year for the Tritschler family. Then along came spouses and their birthdays simply added to the fun. We have one big family party usually a barbecue to celebrate all of our birthdays
Happy birthday and I hope we all enjoy our special day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! BROTHER

{picture taken at Harry Carey restaurant in Chicago IL,}

On the left is my brother Neil Anderson. We actually have different parents and are only children. We consider ourselves being closer than most brothers. For plus twenty five years we have lived three hundred miles apart yet we touch base at least once per week. Some weeks it is three or more times. Thank goodness for eight hundred numbers and cell phones. Even though we have different parents and childhoods it is scary how many similarities we have.
*** Both of us were born at St Anthonys hospital in St Louis
*** We eat only Saltine crackers,Hydrox cookies,and Brooks catsup
*** Though we did not know each other we both married in 1959.
*** We both graduated from high school in 1956
There are many stories I could share about our special friendship but three seem biblical to me.
The first happened in the early seventies right here in St Louis when neither of us had any real financial resources. Our wives [both wonderful women] wanted to hear John Davidson perform at a hotel in Fenton. In addition to a service charge we both paid $25.00 for four cokes as they had a two drink minimum. In 2006 $25.00 does not sound like much but in 1970 $25.00 would probably be close to $100.00 today. We still talk about that night and a couple of years ago Nancy and I met John Davidson on a cruise.
The second was a family trip we took around 1976. Neil rented a Winnebago from his uncle and took his family of four and my family of five on a wild trip to Kentucky and back. In a three night trip we saw Churchill Downs,Steven Foster's home, Mammoth Cave, the Shaker settlement in Pleasant Hill Ky. Abe Lincoln's boyhood home and on our last day we swam in Kentucky Lake. We covered over eight hundred miles from Thurs. about 7:00 PM till Sunday about 8:00 PM.Our family still talks about that weekend.
Last but not least in our mature years we usually meet somewhere nice for a great weekend. In 1997 we met in New York city and did many things. My personal goal was to see a game in Yankee stadium, a Broadway show, go to the top of the Empire State building and see the Statute of Liberty. We accomplished my goals. In addition we had a great meal at Tavern on the Green at 6:00 PM. on a Saturday without reservations and dressed very casual. How Neil obtained a table for four is still a puzzle as he has not shared how he accomplished this.
I could go on and on because all of our times together have been memorable.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEIL
YOUR BROTHER
ED

WHY We LIVE in ST Louis AREA!!

[left to right, Kelsey,Nancy, Ed, Todd bottom row is Kayleigh, Paul,Donovan,and in the front is James].
If you received an 05 Christmas card this is the one you should have received. Everyone decided a big no to the photo card because James was too tired. However this photo is a picture of why we live in St Louis and not in a warmer climate.
In about 1985 Nancy and I began to think and plan about how we wanted to spend our retirement years. When retirement happened our plan was to leave around Jan. 1 for a warmer climate and return about April 1 and around June 15th we would reverse our life style and spend three months in the north and cooler climate
On Nov. 14th, 1988 our plans were changed as we expierenced for the first time the joys of being grandparents. Todd Taylor came into our life and we decided we could handle the St Louis weather as we did not care to be gone for that long. We can still travel but we return home in two or three weeks in order to stay involved in our family and their lives.
From the picture you can tell we now have six reasons for not leaving the area. The picture may not have made the Christmas card cut but each grandchild brings great joy to our lives. We know in this era we are so fortunate that our six grandchildren live about twenty minutes from our house.
This last week is typical of how we spend our time. We started on Thursday by spending the day with Donovan and Kayleigh. We went to the park I played catch with Donovan. Grandma and Kayleigh did the swings and all the other park toys. On Saturday Paul and James came over for four hours of fun and games. The two boys especially like the hill in our back yard and have invented a game of the two of them riding on a tricycle down the hill. On Sunday we attended church with the Taylor family. We heard Joe deliver a great bible lesson then we all went out for a pizza lunch at Fortels. Part of the afternoon was spent with the three men watching March madness and the woman visiting the Pottery Barn.
Simply there is no other place for Nancy and I to live but right here in St.Louis.

Cousins Who Became Friends

{Left to right} Ed,Carol,Louise,Louis

It all began with a simple phone message left on my recorder in the winter of 1997. Hi,my name is Melba and I am your cousin. I kept her name and number with every intention of quickly returning her call. Very soon a week went by,then a month, and before I knew it a year had gone by and embarrassingly I finally returned her call in the fall of 1998.
After several visits with Melba I discovered some other cousins who were into our family genealogy. After some correspondence back and forth I finally spoke to Carol and we decided to meet over dinner in Westport. Melba,unfortunately could not join us as her health kept her home bound but I did keep up my visits until her death. I have no idea what took so long but we finally met on September 21, of 2000 at Marcianos with our spouses Jim and Nancy. I feel a little remorse for Jim and Nancy as it was hard for them to get any input into the constant conversation about our family and its past.
Carol then suggested we meet her brother Louis and his wife Billie now things began to move at a faster pace and this meeting took place at the Bevo Mill on November 10th 2000. Nancy and I arrived first and when Louis appeared there was no doubt the two of us were related in fact my granddaughter looks at pictures of Louis and says grandpa.
Our pace continued to speed up and in the spring of 2001 we met at Louis and Billies home and I met another cousin Louise and her husband Dave. Since the meeting of the four couples we have been getting together a minium of four times per year and participating in other major family events.The four families hosted our first family reunion and we had a large group of extended family at Creve Couer park on June 1.2001.
The four of us are related on the grandparents line as they were all brothers. I have a vivid memory of Louis and Carols grandpa as he had a disintive truck that drove around South City in the 1940;s and he coached a school soft ball team that I played on. I remember the names of Louise and Melba's grandparents and to my knowledge the four cousins proably never met as kids. It is amazing how much the four of us are alike even though we had no contact the first sixty years of our lives.
You may think we are related but to me I describe us as friends.