Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

On Christmas Day, we have a photo and a holiday note from Helene’s son Private Harry Lowell from 1943 and 1944, and a photo of her nephew, 24-year old Robert Zerzawy, taken on Christmas in 1923. As we’ve seen throughout December, Helene and her family treasured being together, particularly for holidays and birthdays – even when two world wars kept them apart, they never stopped thinking about each other. 

Here is Harry during training in southern California in 1943:

Below is a V-mail letter from Private Harry Lowell to Helene’s cousin Bertha and her husband George Schiller in San Francisco. Harry’s note: “I hope you both will enjoy the holidays. I’ll be sitting ‘neath a palm tree thinking of home. Fondly, Harry”

There is no year, but from the context, it was probably sent in 1944 from New Guinea. In the August 7th post, we saw Harry’s “self-portrait” sitting under a palm tree. 

Here is a photo of Helene’s nephew Robert, taken in Hamburg in 1923:

I don’t know how long Robert lived in Hamburg. His brother Paul kept a packet of photos from there– perhaps a gift from Robert at the same time this photo was taken? Or purchased by Paul when he visited his brother for the holidays? Although there is no date on the album, I found a similar album from 1920 for sale online.