I WAS  BORN LITERALLY ON A FARM IN LONGWOOD TOWNSHIP OF CLARK COUNTY IN 1937.  MY MOTHER, VIOLET, WHO PASSED AWAY JUST A FEW YEARS AGO MAINTAINED A METICULOUS FILE OF PHOTOS AND CERTIFICATES (E.G., BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS, HS GRADUATION PROGRAMS, ETC.) FOR BOTH THE BEHRENS (PATERNAL) AND MALEN (MATERNAL)  SIDES OF OUR FAMILY -- SOME GOING BACK MANY GENERATIONS -- SOME PHOTOS OF THE BEHRENS (GERMAN) LINE GO BACK TO THE EARLY 1850s IN GERMANY.

UPON MY RETIREMENT IN 1999, I SCANNED IN VIRTUALLY HER ENTIRE FILE OF MATERIALS -- HUNDREDS OF IMAGES -- GENERALLY ALL WELL TAGGED WITH NAME AND EVEN DATE OF RECORD.  THESE ARE ORGANIZED ON MY COMPUTER.

PERSONALLY, I RECEIVED A 35 MM CAMERA FOR GRADUATION FROM GREENWOOD HS IN 1955 -- AN HAVE SINCE ACCUMULATED A LIFETIME OF SLIDE IMAGES, ALL SELECTED, ORGANIZED AND STORED IN CARROUSELS.  ALSO ON RETIREMENT IN 1999, I ACQUIRED A NIKON PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL SLIDE SCANNER AND AUTOMATICALLY RECORDED THE CONTENTS OF ABOUT 100 CARROUSELS (ABOUT 100 SLIDES PER CAROUSEL), OR ABOUT 100X100=10,000 SLIDES REFLECTING PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS OF NOTE IN MY LIFE -- MANY ROOTED IN CLARK COUNTY. 

AS PART OF THE IMMIGRANT SAGA -- MY GRANDMOTHER AGNES HAGLUND BEHRENS (SWEDISH) AND ALEX BEHRENS (OF GERMAN IMMIGRANT EXTRACTION) LIVED IN THIS FARM HOUSE IN WARNER TOWNSHIP.  FROM IT, THEY RAISED 12 SURVIVING CHILDREN (WITH ONE, LITTLE "LEE," PASSING IN INFANCY IN THE 1920s).   IT IS NOT IN COINCIDENTAL THAT MY MIDDLE NAME IS "LEE."   VIRTUALLY EVERYONE WENT TO COLLEGE, IMPORTANTLY WITH THE HELP OF THE TWO OLDEST BROTHERS, MY DAD AND LOUIS.  MY GRANDMOTHER WAS VERY PROUD OF THE FACT THAT TWO OF HER DAUGHTERS (IRMA AND MILDRED) MARRIED MEN WHO WERE EVENTUALLY RECOGNIZED BY "WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA" -- IN MEDICINE AND MATHEMATICS, RESPECTIVELY.  SHE KEPT A VOLUME OF THE BOOK ON A SMALL TABLE IN HER LIVING ROOM THAT INCLUDED THEIR NAMES.  

THE TWO YOUNGEST SONS DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES IN WORLD WAR II -- NEIL, AN AIR FORCE PILOT SHOT DOWN OVER GERMANY -- THE ONLY SURVIVOR OF HIS CREW -- WHO SPENT A YEAR AS A GERMAN POW.  HE WAS BURIED IN ARLINGTON CEMETERY TWO YEARS AGO WITH FULL MILITARY HONORS.  BILL, THE YOUNGEST BROTHER, WAS A MARINE WHO FOUGHT WITH THE 4TH DIVISION IN SOME OF THE MOST HORRIFIC BATTLES OF THE PACIFIC -- IWO JIMA, IN PARTICULAR.

 

MY FINNISH GRANDFATHER, AXEL, AND GRANDMOTHER, AMANDA MALEN. BORN IN FINLAND, THEY IMMIGRATED, MET AND WERE MARRIED IN ISHPEMING, MI. AT THE TURN OF THE LAST CENTURY. IN THE 1920s, THEY MOVED TO CLARK COUNTY (AND TO THE FARM ON WHICH I WAS EVENTUALLY BORN), HOMES STEADING THEY CUT TREES EACH YEAR TO CLEAR THE LAND FOR FARMING AND FOR LUMBER TO BUILD THE BUILDINGS THAT STILL STAND ON THE FARM JUST SOUTH OF LONGWOOD ON FINN ROAD. THEIR FIRST BUILDING COMPLETED WAS A FINNISH SAUNA!

MY GRANDFATHER RETURNED TO FINLAND IN THE EARLY 1930s, AND IT IS A DIFFICULT STORY TO TELL. HE WAS LOST DURING THE RUSSIAN-FINNISH WAR OF 1939, SO MY MOTHER NEVER KNEW WHAT HAPPENED TO HER FATHER. AFTER THE FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION, THE RUSSIANS OPENED THEIR FILES -- AND WE LEARNED THAT HE HAD BEEN ARRESTED BY THE COMMUNISTS, CONVICTED AND SHOT AS A "SECURITY RISK" -- PRESUMABLY BECAUSE HE HAD LIVED IN AMERICA. AS A SIMPLE TEAMSTER AND LUMBERJACK, HE PROBABLY LIES IN AN UNMARKED GRAVE SOMEWHERE ON THE RUSSIAN/FINNISH BORDER. MY SISTER ACQUAINTED MY MOTHER OF THE REPORT SOMETIME BEFORE SHE PASSED AWAY.  Edwin Behrens

 

(click on the photos to enlarge them)