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Courtesy photoHilga Trow stands outside one of the buildings at Ellis Island.Trow / Visit stirs emotionsFROM PAGE 1“He knew we were in Kansas, but he didn't know where. Trow said.But even having their exact address would have done him little good.“They wouldn’t let him contact anybody.” Trow said.After the war. Emil and his family emigrated from their war-torn homeland. They were sponsored by the Illinois farmer. A few years later, Trow’s parents moved to Illinois to work for the man and be reunited with his sibling. By then, Trow was married and stayed in Bennington, where she taught school for more than40 years.The better life the Ras-tetters sought in America came with a price. Trowsaid.“Dad never saw his parents again.” she said.Her mother’s mom died when she was young, but her dad was still alive when they left, but that was the last they saw of him. also.Her dad’s mother wept when they left because she suspected this was the last they’d see of each other.“She had a little grandson, 15 months old, she was going to have another (grand) baby. She said it was worse than dying.All that parting anguish and the hell of her parents’arrival flooded Trow’s emotions when she strolled the Ellis Island buildings.“As I looked around. I got goosebumps,’’ Trow said. “Here was my mother with a baby, and my dad with my little brother. How could they have felt? They must have felt so lost. That’s what came to me. I felt just awestruck about what an experience it was for a young couple like that, a tiny kid, one on the way, to leave home, leave their fam ily, go to a new land. It was an awesome experience.”■ Gordon D. Fiedler Jr. can be reached at 8221407 or by e-mail at nfiedler(asalma com
Newspaper Details
Salina Journal
Salina, Kansas, US
Mon, Oct 04, 2010
Page 24
Full Page
Clipped by
Salina P.
KS, USA 22 Jun 2023
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