Tributes
Leave a tributeI sorry that I haven't kept in tough as promised.
Our prayers are with the whole family.
For many years Bob was treasurer of Mt. Shasta Area Audubon. He made us justify every expenditure Many board meetings in the house, with Ginny always feeding us some sort of goodies..We loved watching the brine shrimp.Of course Ginny's blackberry and apple pies were as good as the juice. Our sons Rune and Bjorn had no grandparents close by, and they sort of adopted Ginny and Bob as their local ones. Rune was house-sitting once when a big fire broke out and approached from the south. He was very afraid that the house would burn on his watch.
And the harmonica music!!!!!
The world is a poorer place without Ginny and Bob. They will be forever missed.
A visit to the Von Hein home meant never leaving without something to take home...in the late summer, it typically meant a trip to the basement to see what Ginny had canned..a veritable "grocery store" ready for winter months to enjoy the "fruits of their labors" all winter/spring long.
One always graciously accepted some of the "bounty" whether it was a jug of apple juice, a jar of jam, a cluster of silver dollar plants or those beautiful orange Japanese Lanterns Ginny had carefully tended throughout the summer...oh yes, and small redwood trees Bob had been growing were always offered....the only thing we ever declined, not having a place to grow them.
In viewing the photo album, my favorites show Ginny making a pie...typically apple pie since their orchard was laden with apple trees. it seemed she was either baking or cooking up some tasty goodie..often times some Italian delicacy I had never heard of.... but naturally something she was familiar with. Among the many fruits/vegetables, she and Bob liked to grow artichokes and one day we visited, she was trimming and cooking up some unique dish with them.
Ginny's heart and soul was in her kitchen...after Bob's passing, she often reminisced about their life and their passion for ALL that was in the world...plants, trees, birds.
Carl and I were privileged to have known her and Bob and to have been included in summertime parties on the deck and at her birthday parties...of course, her 100th was the icing on the cake as people came from near and far to honor her.
Ginny, as I raise my glass in a toast, "Here's looking at you!"
What an amazing woman!
These last two years I was privileged to be Mom’s caregiver, sharing this house that has seen and heard so much. I won’t lie; caring for Mom was sometimes a challenge, as anyone who has experienced this care giving thing will attest. But there were the good times and wonderful memories, too, and I wouldn’t have had it otherwise.
Many know that she kept diaries of every day of every year they were here (the first we found started in 1972) and she would sit and re-read them remembering (and sometimes not) things they did that day. Dad picked apples or berries, pruned trees, planted this or that; she canned eight quarts of applesauce, 12 pints of jam, or froze 20 bags of beans, made pies for dinner, sitting night after night cutting apples to make gallons and gallons of apple juice. Or she would write about who came by for a visit (many, many visitors), or the activities of the kids who were staying with them at the time. Always something. For several years Mom and Dad were one of the host families for the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra’s performers, providing a home for the kids to stay while they were here for the Tribute to the Trees concert in the Dunsmuir Botanical Gardens. Some returned years later—remembering the good food and wonderful apple juice -- to visit and stay with them again
Mom was a special person. Everyone loved her -- a testament to the kind of person she was. I’ve gone through her address books – they had so many friends. And she maintained those friendships through the years. She always remembered everyone’s birthdays and anniversaries with a card or a call. She was a great cook and I know that was something she missed when her arthritis in her hands got so bad. She had a great appetite – she could chow down with the best of them, even up to the end she was a good eater! But she always kept her slim shape – wish I could have inherited those genes! She also had a major sweet tooth – loved See’s candies, chocolate of any kind and would always ask for “just a small cookie” after dinner. Whenever I see a banana I think of her – she always wanted her banana in the morning.
She will long be remembered by so many people. Mom was an unforgettable woman.
I love you Mom and I hope you are with Dad, who you missed terribly, walking through some orchard somewhere.
Blessings to all the von Hein family from the Joneses. My mom and dad, Howard and Ruth, are both gone now but Emmet and I live in Oregon and wish you well. -Vicki Jones Fields
My family and I met them for the first time in Dunsmuir, where we spent most of our growing up years, in the fall of 1962. I was at college and met them when I returned for the Christmas Break. Those couple of weeks are a wonderful memory. It seemed that if the von Hein family wasn't hosting a gathering at their warm and cozy home nestled on the canyon's hill side they were at our home. Those evenings with Dione playing the guitar and singing and all of us playing games are wonderful memories. After moving from the area but the last time my sister and I visited with Bob and Ginny, many years later, those wonderful feelings were rekindled as we sat together and shared the stories of the past and got up to date on our lives. Ginny you were and are an amazing woman. A gift to those of us who were privileged to to be touched by your wonderful spirit. May God be with you always,
I rented the cottage from Bob and Ginny back in the 70's and they make me part of the family! She will be missed. Thanks for the great memories!
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Virginia VonHein
If mom would have told us more about your family, we would have had a change to find out more information.
We hope you didn't eat too much cake.
Cooking for the kids in SF
In 1937 and 1938, Dad was employed as a Playground Director at Commodore Stockton School for the City of San Francisco. There were a lot of kids in the program, and Dad installed a childrens' garden, arranged hikes and had cookouts in Stern Grove. Mom would make gallons of spaghetti for the kids (many of whom had never had Italian pasta before). It was a record attendance year for the program, and mom's cooking definitely had something to do with it!
mom's pet king snake
when Dad was working as a naturalist at Camp Mather in Yosemite during summers in the late 30's, mom would often go and stay for a visit. One summer they came home with several snakes, including a rattlesnake and a king snake that became mom's pet. The snakes were kept in cages on a porch in their apartment in SF, and a visitor had to walk through the porch to access the bathroom. So many unsuspecting visitors literally had the !!!! scared out of them as they passed through the darkened area during the night and suddenly heard the loud rattling. I believe dad let the rattler go somewhere (maybe he took it back to Yosemite), but the king snake stayed with them. Unfortunately the snake somehow escaped and wound up in a neighbor's apartment. Foolish people that they were, these folks were terrorized and killed the snake. Mom was heartbroken that she had lost her dear pet.