Jerrems Family Newsletter
Dear Donald,
Does anyone have an authentic Jerrems family Coat of Arms? If so, please scan it and send it.
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Most Famous Jerrems Series: Carol Jerrems |
By Lance Jerrems Followup
Except from “Girl in a Mirrior”, a documentary: “Carol Jerrems is an almost mythic figure in Australian photography – her brief working life resulted in a few hundred photographs, a wonderful book on Australian women, and 1 completed film. The archive of her work resides at the national gallery in Canberra. I am pleased to say they are planning a major show of her work for 2007/08.” Curator of Photography. Editor note: More on the film after it is released.
Above is an image of Carol furnished by Lance, her brother. Lance also furnished the comments and several other images that we placed on our website at PeacefulStreet.com. 1) “Vale Street” – one of Carol’s most iconic images. (website)
2) “Mozart St Gang” – a group of Carol’s co-boarders when she was living at Mozart Street, St Kilda (an older suburb of Melbourne, Australia) – I believe supplied by Stephen McNeilly, a friend of Carol’s.(website)
3) “Close-up photo of the Lady with curly hair” – yes, that’s Carol.
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Baghdad Bike |
By Charles W. “Chick” Keller University of Kansas, Master of Engineering Management Program
As some people know I was in Iraq from May, 2004 through the end of Dec 2004 as Director of Program Management for the reconstruction effort. The US government had appropriated $18B dollars for a program to rebuild Iraq. The program consisted of about 2500 projects of various types: electrical, water and sewerage, schools, court houses, police stations, other government buildings, carriage ways, border forts, repair of the oil infrastructure, etc.
While in Iraq I spent most of my time working and living in the Green Zone, an approximate 20 square mile area in Baghdad with Saddam’s Palace located in approximately the center of the Green Zone.
Working in the Green Zone was actually quite tolerable. I lived in a small trailer adjacent to Palace. My half of the trailer was about 10 feet by 10 feet and contained a twin sized bed, a metal closet, a small refrigerator (used only to store beer and bottled water), and a TV with cable access. In the main ballroom of the palace, 3 large scale buffets were served daily and the food was plentiful and decent. In fact if you ate all 3 meals, you would gain weight.
We worked 7 days a week, 12 hours per day. But since there was not anything else to do this actually was not a problem. On average about 3 mortar rounds per day would land in the green zone. But the entire time I was there, I never knew of anyone being killed by an incoming mortar. The insurgents did know where we were located and they certainly knew where the palace was, but they simply could not shoot the mortars with any accuracy. It was like young children shooting bottle rockets, not having a clue where they may go.
While safety was an issue, it was not the biggest concern. My far the biggest issue was to make progress on the reconstruction projects, that is, to get projects started, so as to demonstrate to the Iraqi people that we really cared. Our only time to release energy was Thursday nights. In Muslim countries, Friday is the day of worship. So following this custom, we took Friday mornings off and had large scale parties and the Palace pool.
In July, 2004 we moved the offices for the reconstruction effort from the palace to an office building about a mile from the palace. Every day I rode my bike back and forth from the Palace, about a one mile trip, and I usually made it 3 or 4 times per day. In the front of our building was a Barber shop, run by squatters I believe, but we liked them and they were helpful so we let them stay.
The barber had a nice young boy who came to work with him sometimes in the summer. I am sure the poor kid was bored to death sitting around this office building with no kids to play with. Anyway one day he came up to me and asked how much does a bike cost? He had a longing look on his face that read “I wish I had a bike”. So I told him that when I left Iraq I would give him my bike. On December 28 when I left Iraq I gave him the bike. A picture of the two of us with the bike is attached.
Ray’s Note: Chick Keller is a descendant of the Jerrems family. Watch for reference to Chick in a future story about his grandfather William George Jerrems II, The Great Collector
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Double Trouble |
by Doug Jerrems All in the Family
Ray’s Note: Readers of the Jerrems Journal have probably heard of 2 sisters in one family marrying 2 brothers in another family, or similar, but Doug Jerrems from the South Coast of New South Wales thinks he can go one better! Here is what he says:
“As a child I lived in Gundagai (a very small country town in Australia). My father was Ernest Alfred Jerrems (as was his father). My mother was Brenda Haidee Smith. We owned the local Chemist Shop (Jerrems Pharmacy). In summer we took our holidays in Sydney. We often visited our relatives who lived in Sydney. I remember we would visit Ray’s family. His dad, George Jerrems was my Dad’s brother and Ray’s mum, Olga was my mother’s sister. Ray and I were “double” cousins. We would then head to North Sydney where we would visit my father’s two sisters, Vi and Essie. They, in turn, were married to two brothers, Roy and Will Bennett.
“So, the 2 Jerrems boys married 2 sisters and the 2 Jerrems girls married 2 brothers. Although this may not be up to the standard required by the Guinness Book of Records, it still sounds very unusual. Doug has issued the challenge “Can any readers top this?” (Doug pictured above.) =================================
Jerrems Trivia Quiz Did you know that there is part of a mountain range in New South Wales named after a member of the Jerrems family?
The mountain range is west of Nowra, which is on the coast about 100 miles south of Sydney. The part of the mountain range was officially named (by the NSW Geographical Names Board) “Jerrems Spur”, a side ridge which runs from the range down to Bunbundah Creek. Which member of the Jerrems family?
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Letters to the Editor |
by William George Jerrems ll, From Heaven
Hi Descendants. Congratulations on the Jerrems Journal. The editions you have emailed me bring back many memories.
Loved the item about Genevieve speeding through Glencoe in my new car. It was one of the best cars in Chicago and illustrated the high profile of our “Jerrems Tailors” stores. I distinctly remember warning her to be wary of speed traps, but she would not listen. The newspaper article said she paid the fine. Nonsense, I had to pay the fine.
Talk about St Peter being a tyrant! When I first came to the Pearly Gates I had some of my coin collection with me. You know, the one that was supposed to be the best in the US. He would not have a bar of it. Made me put it in the Poor Box. What in heaven would the poor do with Ancient Roman coins, I ask you? I have been forced to collect bottle tops instead.
Donald the Second is President of an Athletics Club in a village which is about an hour’s run away. He jogs over occasionally. St Peter won’t allow any means of private transport, and you have to book the public chariots weeks ahead, so a lot of people walk or jog to visit friends. Good thing there are no beer bars up here for Donald’s sake.
Amazing to see from your Journal how many other Jerrems people there are, particularly in Australia. I should have realised, of course. After all I was born in Australia…and I was prolific.
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Administrivia |
by Editor
… I (Donald the Third) am a Certified Internet Webmaster. PeacefulStreet.com is my domain for designing and developing websites for customers. I keep my web portfolio there as well as some personal stuff. When you receive images in Jerrems Journals, they are not “attachments”, but rather HTML links to the images that reside on PeacefulStreet or from elsewhere.
… Please plan for the Holiday Greetings Issue (create your own and submit it with pics). This one will be an all-in-one Jerrems Greetings card. Those who wish to participate will submit their greeting and pic to me then we include their message in the December JJ.
… Watch for a future tribute to the late Liam from his brother Jesse.