Our Kurtz Heritage - Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements:

In 2002 my mother’s cousin, Garnet Thompson Naslund, self-published a book about the Kurtz family titled “Twentieth Century Pioneers” which captured many of the stories of Gertrude and Emery Kurtz’s  early years – telling how they came to Arizona and relating some of the trials and triumphs they had while raising their family.  Garnet gave me permission to reproduce that volume on my family blog where I have archived various stories, photos and data about my mother’s people. 

(It can be found at http://krebs-kurtz.blogspot.com/ See side bar for links to the book). 

I am deeply indebted to Garnet for the careful research she did in producing that book and so generously sharing her information.  I doubt I would have had the courage to even attempt this work had I not had that volume to get me started.

I also owe a special debt of gratitude to my mother, Nancy Krebs Pendley, and her mother, Florence Kurtz Krebs, for their dedicated efforts over the years to document as much as they could about the history of our family.  It was largely through their influence that I learned my own love of genealogy research.

Having Garnet’s book and the information I gleaned from my mother and grandmother’s research was helpful, but not nearly enough to take on a project with the scope of this book.  The key breakthrough that made this current work possible occurred on November 4, 2011.  That day a UPS truck pulled up to my home in Boise, Idaho.  The driver got out and brought me a box from my uncle, David Krebs, and his wife Sandi. They had contacted me earlier to say they would be sending me some papers, but I didn’t have any idea how much they were sending. After that first box, the UPS man went back to his truck for another.  Then there was another.  He just kept coming, carrying more boxes from his truck to my house.  All together I received eight large boxes, crammed full with hundreds of photographs, letters, newspaper clippings, and other family papers. 

David had been the executor of my grandmother Florence Krebs’s estate.  After her death in 1988, David had gathered up all the personal papers both she and her mother, Gertrude Kurtz, had collected over the years.  David and Sandi had done their best to put the material into some kind of order.  However, it was an overwhelming task, to say the least.  Family responsibilities and busy professional lives kept them from dedicating full time effort to the project.  So, for many years, the papers sat unattended, tucked away in a closet.  I’m not sure what prompted them to haul it all out when they did, twenty three years after having received it, or why they decided to send that treasure trove of family legacy to me.  But they did.  For that, I will forever be grateful.

I opened up each of those boxes and began the long process of sorting it all into piles, separating things out according to the various family groups.  I painstakingly spent the next two months scanning and labeling as many of the photographs as I could identify.  I then contacted my mother’s cousins who lived in Arizona to propose a meeting.  I planned to give each one of them the original photographs of their family group (since I did not have room for all those boxes in my own closets and I didn’t want the material to stay hidden for another twenty three years!) 

And thus, without knowing we were doing it at the time, we started what would become an annual tradition of cousin get-togethers.  We met at Gloria James’s home in Phoenix for a pot luck luncheon.  After the meal and some visiting, I showed everybody the pictures I had scanned by connecting my computer to Gloria’s TV.  Stories started flowing as the images of various family events spilled across the screen.  Afterward, I passed out fat envelopes of the original photos.  There was much laughter and a few tears.  It was a very magical day.  Every year since then, we have continued to gather.  Relationships have been strengthened.  New friendships have been forged.  My life has been richly blessed by these dear cousins.  

Much of what appears in this book comes from papers found in those boxes I received back in 2011.  In addition, I have found information on various online genealogy websites such as Ancestry.com and FamilySearch, and through interviews with various family members.  I captured some of the images from social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, or other online sources.  I have made every attempt to show the things I selected to the persons represented (or their close family members) to ask for their approval.  For any I may have missed, it is my hope that I will have your blessings.  In the absence of that, I ask for your forgiveness.  I really did mean well. 

This book has been a collaborative effort.  Much of what is included in these pages is only here because the people involved so generously shared their stories and photographs from their private collections.  My challenge (and my blessing) has been not so much to write this book, but rather to weave it together from all these different sources.

Where ever possible, I used the exact words that my relatives sent to me in emails or letters, or what they said in interviews.  In some cases, I edited for length or clarity, but always tried to retain the voice and intention of the person who gave me the story.  I have done the very best I could to keep the information as accurate as documents and memory would allow.  

I give my heartfelt thanks to my siblings, cousins and friends who took the time to share information or to proofread the various drafts that were required to put this book together.  I’m grateful to all who helped catch my typos and the times I just plain got the stories wrong.  For any mistakes that remain, I apologize and take full responsibility.

Above all, I am grateful to my cousins and other relatives who have opened their homes and their hearts to me over the course of writing this book.  I realize at times I was a bit of a pest, badgering you all for dates or photos or stories.  You were so patient and kind.  You fed me, you encouraged me, and you loved me.  Who could ask for more?