Facebook national memory master3/9/2023 ![]() The mean kids called sweet little Georg derogatory names like "kraut." It touched my heart to hear these recollections for the first time. With no other German families around, the Baumanns were like aliens. But Georg also shared with me the story of bullies calling him names on the playground. I love the comforting sweetness of that image. He remembers that for the first few months of first grade, his mom, Elsbeth sat right next to him to translate the lessons. Georg and his sister Kathrin arrived in Kent speaking no English. Thinking that the US was a peaceful and stable place, the Baumann's showed up right in the middle of the turmoil of 1970. Baumann and their two children, strangers in a strange land, greeted with lockdowns, riots, shootings and the National Guard. On our recent phone call, Georg recalled the profound impact that the May 4th shooting had on him and his young family. They moved from Dortmund to Kent, Ohio in April of 1970, just two weeks before four students were killed by the National Guard at Kent State. ![]() The Baumanns were first generation immigrants from West Germany. Looking back, as a duo, Georg and I were unstoppable. In late elementary school, we became the very best of friends. Georg was a couple years older than me, but we had similar temperaments and we were just about the same size. It wasn't just any boy though, it was Georg Baumann - one of the great young inventors of the 20th century. It took me a couple years, but eventually, I realized the joy of having a boy about my age living in the house right next door. But for 50 years now, I've had the privilege of calling that ranch on Beech Drive "home." These days, due to my illness, I don’t get to visit my mom's house all that often. I could roll out of bed, run across the Akron Right-of-Way and skip down the hill right into my second grade classroom. ![]() We were just a stone's throw up the hill from Longcoy Elementary School. It was a 1950's ranch with majestic trees for climbing and lots of open space for exploring. With a little help from my grandparents, mom and dad were able to afford their dream house on the Beech Drive/Norwood Street circle. In 1972, my parents packed me and my three sisters into our Volvo station wagon and moved us from the south side of Chicago to the west side of Kent.
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