Longtime Salem members Myra Thalheim, Ruth Ziifle, and Hilda Jung were written about were written about in an article in the September 23, 2010 Times Picayune about their brother Robert Ziifle's 98th birthday. Robert is a great friend of, and frequent visitor to, Salem, being a member of our sister parish Trinity Lutheran in Algiers:
Few of us were born in Gretna before it became a city in 1913. Robert Ziifle, one of those few, celebrated his 98th birthday at a family reunion.
Born in 1912 in the house adjacent to St. Joseph's Church, which was also his family's grocery store, he remembers crossing the ferry in a horse-drawn wagon, to buy produce at the French Market.
His sister, Myra Thalheim said, "He was a child in his father's arms when the Storm of 1915 knocked down the steeple of St. Joseph's."
Ziifle was in the last class to graduate from McDonogh-Jefferson High School. His class was the first to use the new stage in Gretna High School's auditorium. GHS opened the next fall.
After graduating as an engineer from Tulane University in 1933, Ziifle spent his career at New Orleans Public Service Inc. as head of the transportation department. He received a World War II deferment when NOPSI officials considered him too important to leave his position, Thalheim said.
He is an active member of Gretna Historical Society, German Heritage Cultural and Genealogical Society, and Friends of the German American Cultural Center.
Happy Birthday, Robert!
0 comments:
Post a Comment