Family Memorial Day - Don Niehaus, My Brother

Don would have been 70 years old this month.  He left us two and a half years ago.   This Family Memorial post celebrates and preserves his life, in some small way.
I'm  going to keep this brief and light-hearted.  That's how he would do it.   

Don was  the eldest of the five children of Frank and Rosemary Niehaus and grew up on the south side of Indianapolis.  He attended St. Roch and Sacred Heart Catholic schools for 12 years.  Then he served in the Army Reserves before the Vietnam War ramped up.  I remember starching and ironing his uniforms for the weekend meetings. 

As our lives went by he wasn't one to visit much but could be counted on for holidays and other occasions, arriving with arms full of food and/or presents.   As a young person I remember him building and flying model airplanes and racing go karts.  He had an easygoing spirit, but could be irritated, especially by a younger sister. And he never lost that demeanor of a man of few words.  Although you could get him started telling stories sometimes.  

Don kept his life uncluttered but found ways to relax and enjoy after giving  his all in his job.  He worked for Hix Wrecker Service for over 30 years, with a short time at another wrecker service.  As a young person he had his Kroger job and a stint as a tool and dye maker for a few years. He grew to love fishing and kept his boat ready at all times in his "shop."  The shop is where he loved to collect, share, build and tinker with a wide variety of mechanical equipment that is beyond my description.  Fishing and hanging out at the shop seemed to make him happy. 

Friends talked about his loyalty and his nieces and nephews remembered him as a nice uncle. They think of him with a smile as they remember him taking a nap not long after our meal, in the midst of the clanking of dishes, card games, kids playing and cheering for the ball game. He could also play a mean game of Euchre or Poker if you just asked. We were all glad to see him whenever we did have get-togethers. 


It's not something you get used to...your brother absent from your life altogether. But I can say for sure, he's fondly remembered.

A memorial I wrote for Don in Feb 2010 and a short family history  are posted on our Family Stories page.  Click HERE if you would like to read them. There's more that could be said, but then this post wouldn't be as I promised.  Do you have a Don story or just a thought?  Feel free to leave your comment below.  R.I.P.

Copyright 2012 Nancy Hurley

Churches In Our Family History: Sacred Heart

For many of us, our church involvement influenced our upbringing and helped shape who we are today.  There’s no denying that these are among the experiences that impress our lives and play a part in constructing our family history. The families on Indiana Ties have many of those connections that I could write about here, from Germany to New York/Maryland/Ohio and into Indiana.  We have a predominance of Catholics, but there are Lutherans and other denominations participating also. These stories might lead on some interesting paths. We’ll see.

But, for now, I can’t think of a more appropriate place to start than Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Indianapolis, the place that melds ancestors from both the Niehaus and Weber family lines.   

Sacred Heart Catholic Church was established in 1875 to offer a home for the German families growing leaps and bounds in the south side area of Indianapolis, south of McCarty Street.  The parish was characterized by German language and customs.  Among the charter members in the parish were Carl Kuhn and Wilhelmina Scherrer, Tillie Kuhn Weber’s father and his sister. As the south side population grew the church membership swelled, including the Niehaus family that arrived in the late 1880s and made their home on South West St, within a few miles of the church. Our family members have continued to practice the Catholic faith in this parish to this day, some with membership, others visiting this ornate and impressive sanctuary on occasion; some requesting their funeral mass from the church.  My mother, Rosemary Weber, and her brothers and sisters attended mass and were educated in the parish schools. The 1926 third grade class is pictured above. Rose is the fifth girl from the left in the front row.

The story of our family lives involved in this church would be lengthy.  I won’t try to name those who were baptized, educated, married and buried.  I’ll tell one story that illustrates my point. My cousin, Marilyn Niehaus Schuster, sent me a message, along with photos, saying that we should include Sacred Heart in this website.  I wholeheartedly agree and am so happy to have her input.  And I believe that Marilyn is a perfect example of Sacred Heart’s influence.  Marilyn’s parents, Gin Weber and Ed Niehaus, were married in this church, after Gin had attended elementary and high school at the parish schools. Gin and Ed raised Marilyn and her two brothers, Bill and Denny, in the parish.  Their home was within walking distance of their schools. My sister, Martha, used to sometimes walk home with Marilyn after high school. Two years after graduating from Sacred Heart High School, Marilyn Niehaus married Jerry Schuster, a young man from the neighborhood, in this same church.  Although she lives outside of the parish now, I find that Marilyn’s name is on the list of contributors for the  “Splendor of the South Side” history that serves as a reference for parts of this article.  Thanks, Marilyn.

The legacy of Sacred Heart Catholic Church is embedded in our family history. Some of the surname connections with this church, beyond those mentioned above, are Donahue, Hinz, Holzer, Kirn, Lark, Risch, Sauer, Sapp, Schmalz and Stahl.   The schools are no longer operating, but the parish is still strong.  This beautiful church continues serving Catholic families of south side Indianapolis at 1530 Union Street, making more lasting memories.

Do you have your own thoughts about Sacred Heart?  I would enjoy very much including your memories in this chapter of our family history.  (Please comment below).

More photos: I am linking an album below that connects our family history further with Sacred Heart Church. Click anywhere in the graphic below to see them all. 

Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Indpls VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Here are two places to go if you would like to read more: Sacred Heart Indy website and the Conrad Schmitt 2001 Fire Restoration.

As always, there are more photos, stories and genealogical reports on our Genealogy page at Indianaties.net

My History Reference: James J. Divita Professor of History, Marian College, Indianapolis, Splendor of the South Side: A History of Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Parish in Indianapolis 1875-2000, (Indianapolis, Indiana: Sacred Heart Pastoral Council, 2000).

Copyright 2012 Nancy Hurley

The Picture Tells The Story - Weber Children 1931

 

“The Picture Tells The Story” is my personal challenge to keep a post under 100 words and let the photo and readers tell the story. Thanks to my cousin, Anne, daughter of Harry Weber on the right above, for sending me this super photo to add to this collection. (Start counting.) 

Pictured here, on the steps of their Singleton Street home in Indianapolis, are Dolores “Dolly,” Margaret “Peg” and Harry Weber, children of Harry and Tillie (Kuhn) Weber.  Estimating this to be 1931, the children are five, seven and four years old.  Are they dressed up to go to mass at Sacred Heart on a sunny summer day?   Whatever the occasion, Dolly and Harry seem happy; but why is Peg hiding? Didn’t like the idea of sitting still for the photo? She’s been a person on the go all her life. 

What story do you think this photo tells? Comments are welcome below.

Want to learn more about the Webers: Click here for the Weber Family Lines