Mom's Archive

My Father

Erwin Carl Rohde

It as taken me awhile to sort through all my memories of my Dad. There were family photo albums, old slides, newspaper clippings, and other memorabilia. There was also Mom’s genealogy research on Dad’s family and photos from a trip they made to a Michigan family reunion. Ancestry found some interesting clues, as well as enabling me to fill in some missing links. I followed up with more writing about some of these people and where they came from. I think that looking at family history has helped me to put Dad’s life in context.

He was a man of his times, growing up in the Great Depression, going to the University of Michigan, and then having a long career with General Electric during the Cold War years. But, of course, we knew him as our Dad. Besides all of the memorabilia I found in the albums and bankers boxes, I started to recall family memories from growing up: summer trips to Michigan, sailing in the Duchess in Marblehead, slide shows from Dad’s travels, sitting at the kitchen table and talking about computers, the visits I enjoyed later with my family, all the lovely trees and flowers at 25 Flint St. and so on. I didn’t always appreciate my parents while I was growing up, but I do now.

So here is an attempt to recall his life for anyone who would like to remember him and, for those who have come along after he was gone, to learn about his interesting life.

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