My great-great-uncle. He was the youngest of Alice Neiman Wellek and Hugo Wellek's six children. His five older siblings were Alice (my great-grandmother), Hugh, Joe, Annie, and Frank. His father died in a terrible accident when he was just a baby, only four months old. When he was about four years old, Annie, the younger of his two older sisters, died at the age of only ten. Eventually his mother remarried, to a man named Adolph Herman, though he and his five siblings kept their father's name, and during her marriage to him, his mother's name became Wellek-Herman.
Great-Great-Uncle George never married and lived his entire life in Latrobe, PA. Since he was the baby of his family (there were fourteen years between him and the oldest of the six Wellek siblings, Joe), he was a rather young uncle to the first of his nieces and nephews. To the ones who weren't quite so close in age to him, such as my grandmother, he was a caring attentive uncle. When his nieces and nephews had their own children, he was also a generous caring great-uncle, the type of hip bachelor uncle everyone wishes they had. One of the presents he gave to my father was a beautiful large miniature train and village to go around the Christmas tree, complete with smoke pills to put in the steam funnel in the lead car. The train set has lasted for decades. He enjoyed collecting things, among them TV Guides and coins. Most of the coins he collected were wheat stalk and Indian head pennies. I believe he was my paternal grandmother's favorite uncle, and she was understandably very upset when he passed away. Not only had they always been close, but it was rather unusual for a woman of her age to still have had an uncle living. I have a vague memory of having met him at least once when I was a little girl, and I seem to remember that he took a liking to me. From what I've heard about him from my grandmother, he was a very interesting person, with a number of unique idiosyncracies (such as how he would turn all of the eggs in a carton at the store to make sure he wasn't buying any broken eggs, and how he had a rather distinctive gait), a good kind of eccentric, who marched to the beat of his own drummer, someone I probably would have had a lot in common with and a lot to talk about with had I known him better and had he not died when I was only nine and a half.
Great-Great-Uncle George never married and lived his entire life in Latrobe, PA. Since he was the baby of his family (there were fourteen years between him and the oldest of the six Wellek siblings, Joe), he was a rather young uncle to the first of his nieces and nephews. To the ones who weren't quite so close in age to him, such as my grandmother, he was a caring attentive uncle. When his nieces and nephews had their own children, he was also a generous caring great-uncle, the type of hip bachelor uncle everyone wishes they had. One of the presents he gave to my father was a beautiful large miniature train and village to go around the Christmas tree, complete with smoke pills to put in the steam funnel in the lead car. The train set has lasted for decades. He enjoyed collecting things, among them TV Guides and coins. Most of the coins he collected were wheat stalk and Indian head pennies. I believe he was my paternal grandmother's favorite uncle, and she was understandably very upset when he passed away. Not only had they always been close, but it was rather unusual for a woman of her age to still have had an uncle living. I have a vague memory of having met him at least once when I was a little girl, and I seem to remember that he took a liking to me. From what I've heard about him from my grandmother, he was a very interesting person, with a number of unique idiosyncracies (such as how he would turn all of the eggs in a carton at the store to make sure he wasn't buying any broken eggs, and how he had a rather distinctive gait), a good kind of eccentric, who marched to the beat of his own drummer, someone I probably would have had a lot in common with and a lot to talk about with had I known him better and had he not died when I was only nine and a half.
My great-great-uncle. He was the youngest of Alice Neiman Wellek and Hugo Wellek's six children. His five older siblings were Alice (my great-grandmother), Hugh, Joe, Annie, and Frank. His father died in a terrible accident when he was just a baby, only four months old. When he was about four years old, Annie, the younger of his two older sisters, died at the age of only ten. Eventually his mother remarried, to a man named Adolph Herman, though he and his five siblings kept their father's name, and during her marriage to him, his mother's name became Wellek-Herman.
Great-Great-Uncle George never married and lived his entire life in Latrobe, PA. Since he was the baby of his family (there were fourteen years between him and the oldest of the six Wellek siblings, Joe), he was a rather young uncle to the first of his nieces and nephews. To the ones who weren't quite so close in age to him, such as my grandmother, he was a caring attentive uncle. When his nieces and nephews had their own children, he was also a generous caring great-uncle, the type of hip bachelor uncle everyone wishes they had. One of the presents he gave to my father was a beautiful large miniature train and village to go around the Christmas tree, complete with smoke pills to put in the steam funnel in the lead car. The train set has lasted for decades. He enjoyed collecting things, among them TV Guides and coins. Most of the coins he collected were wheat stalk and Indian head pennies. I believe he was my paternal grandmother's favorite uncle, and she was understandably very upset when he passed away. Not only had they always been close, but it was rather unusual for a woman of her age to still have had an uncle living. I have a vague memory of having met him at least once when I was a little girl, and I seem to remember that he took a liking to me. From what I've heard about him from my grandmother, he was a very interesting person, with a number of unique idiosyncracies (such as how he would turn all of the eggs in a carton at the store to make sure he wasn't buying any broken eggs, and how he had a rather distinctive gait), a good kind of eccentric, who marched to the beat of his own drummer, someone I probably would have had a lot in common with and a lot to talk about with had I known him better and had he not died when I was only nine and a half.
Great-Great-Uncle George never married and lived his entire life in Latrobe, PA. Since he was the baby of his family (there were fourteen years between him and the oldest of the six Wellek siblings, Joe), he was a rather young uncle to the first of his nieces and nephews. To the ones who weren't quite so close in age to him, such as my grandmother, he was a caring attentive uncle. When his nieces and nephews had their own children, he was also a generous caring great-uncle, the type of hip bachelor uncle everyone wishes they had. One of the presents he gave to my father was a beautiful large miniature train and village to go around the Christmas tree, complete with smoke pills to put in the steam funnel in the lead car. The train set has lasted for decades. He enjoyed collecting things, among them TV Guides and coins. Most of the coins he collected were wheat stalk and Indian head pennies. I believe he was my paternal grandmother's favorite uncle, and she was understandably very upset when he passed away. Not only had they always been close, but it was rather unusual for a woman of her age to still have had an uncle living. I have a vague memory of having met him at least once when I was a little girl, and I seem to remember that he took a liking to me. From what I've heard about him from my grandmother, he was a very interesting person, with a number of unique idiosyncracies (such as how he would turn all of the eggs in a carton at the store to make sure he wasn't buying any broken eggs, and how he had a rather distinctive gait), a good kind of eccentric, who marched to the beat of his own drummer, someone I probably would have had a lot in common with and a lot to talk about with had I known him better and had he not died when I was only nine and a half.
