7 AUGUST 1948 MARRIAGE to Robert John Kieber
Robert and Priscilla married at St. Mary’s Chapel in Ann Arbor where Bob had been active in the Newman Center and Hank Klauke (soon to be Uncle Hank when he married Gladys) was President.
The happy couple embarked upon a honeymoon in the Adirondack Mountains, including Blue Mountain Lake..
After Mom and Dad got married, and while they were still in Michigan, Mom modeled for the JC Penny catalog. At 5′ 9 ” tall with long slim legs, and gorgeous proportions, Mom was a gorgeous model. This is where dad took all those black and white photos of mom where she looks like a model. In later years, she told us that she stopped modeling because they wanted her to model underwear and Pris was very modest and felt that was inappropriate. So she quit that career.
In 1949 Mom was a nurse at University Hospital, which, nearly twenty something years later, her daughter, Marie, would also work. Pris roomed with her husband, a research assistant, at 331 Packard, Ann Arbor.
Bob finished his Ph.D at the U. of Tennessee in Knoxville. The couple’s first child, Gregory was born while they still lived the grad. Student life at Braddock Heights apartments in 1950.
The family spent a couple of years in Maryland, where Bob worked in Biological warfare at Camp Detrick. Daughter Marie was born in 1952.
Bob wanted to live closer to family, who was all centered still in Buffalo NY. After he was able to procure a position at UB, in his old lab, they moved yet again.
1954:The family spent one year in Buffalo NY where daughter Carolyn was born in December. Bob returned to his roots and his family ties that were still strong in the Buffalo area. The family resided near the University of Buffalo, where Bob worked as a professor and research scientist. Eventually though, Bob decided that it would be very tough to raise a large family on his academic salary, so the family moved to the Jersey shore.
1955: Life in New Jersey: The growing family moved into a cedar shake bungalow house at 22 Washington Avenue, Rumson. The area frequently flooded due to the Shrewsbury River two blocks to the east, and Polly’s Pond, two blocks to the west.
Pris as a model for JC Pennys.
Because the area was so low and damp a couple of blocks between Polly’s Pond and the Shrewsbury River, mosquitoes were a nuisance. Summer evenings, large trucks patrolled the streets, spraying clouds of DDT in their wake. The Kieber kids, like other neighborhood young ‘uns, loved to run after the truck and play in the cloud.
Bob indulged his love of the sea and of fishing in New Jersey. He built a 42 foot wooden cabin cruiser that was stored during winter on a platform he built in the backyard. The family enjoyed outings in the local rivers, bays and of course the ocean. Family friend, Steve Cook frequently accompanied them on Fourth of July or fishing expeditions. The boat was aptly named, “The Priscilla.”
1961 Rumson three generations!
Rumson ~ Pris was busy, in and out of the hospital as she had several babies: Barbara, David, Susan, Robert jr. and Joseph. Husband Robert held the fort down while Pris was indisposed at the hospital. The kids remember his famous tuna fish a la casa, which he dubbed as a culinary delight for dinner, but which the kids thought utterly disgusting and were thrilled when Mom returned! Since she was often pregnant and needing sleep, Marie and Carolyn (and Greg?) took turns staying in the downstairs den with the baby at night. Carolyn remembers not only her fear of the boogie man alone in that room, but also waking in the wee hours and warming formula in the kitchen in a huge canning pot. One year Bob brought home a Venus Fly Trap that was placed on the windowsill in the de den. The kids had fun feeding bits of hamburger and other assorted delicacies to that carnivore.
Her dad, Walter died in 10 May 1960. Pris was 38. Grandma Lasecki (Helen) lived at this time with Walter’s sister, Aunt Rose and after Aunt Rose got married she lived alone.
The Kieber family was growing and Bob had a good job as a research scientist at a chemical company in Keyport NJ, so the family moved to larger quarters overlooking the Navesink River, an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. “Homeport” as Pris dubbed the new digs was a sprawling 16 room summer house built in the nineteenth century.
1965: Locust ~
Shortly after moving, Bob was laid off from his job at Stepan Chemical. The large family tried to hold tight while Bob looked, unsuccessfully for another job. The final and ninth child, son Thomas Vincent was born in April 1965.
At 44 years old, Pris returned to nursing to help support the family. As an operating Room Nurse at Riverview Hospital in Red Bank, NJ for thirteen years, she was known for her upbeat personality, her kindness, her patience, and her ready smile. There was a great nursing shortage at the time (not so dissimilar to 2022 and the covid years, eh!) and incentives were available to help women who had been trained, return to the workforce.
Priscilla’s mother, Helen moved from Michigan soon thereafter to help out. She was 69 years old. She lived in the Kiebers’ carriage house apartment. Carolyn (11 years old) remembers her first painting job: Gramma’s living room and how her Dad taught her how to paint. During the day, when Pris was working, Helen watched Tommy and prepared dinner. She always watched
Dad said the family was “the poorest of the poor” during these days. But somehow, they made due. All clothing came from Saint Agnes’ Thrift Store, except for the few pieces that were given as a Christmas or birthday gift. Or the pieces the girls sewed for themselves. Back then cloth and patterns were cheap and clothing could be made very inexpensively. Meals were simple, nutritious, and filling. Sometimes dinner was simply pancakes. But there was always dinner on the table for the ravenous children and teenagers. And someone always brought a plate up to Gramma’s apt. for her dinner.
greg did cub scouts…mom was involved…
easter….stations of the cross…when greg was altar boy he had to serv….mom hid the baskets…christmas time hiding the anise cookie dough,,,kids would try to find it and snitch some…..speckled pot
Keansburg nj amusement park…
Victory park plaster things, lanyard, dodgeball, kickball, swimming lessons,
The Oceanic Free Library
Walking across the Rumson – Sea Bright Bridge or the Shrewsbury River Bridge “The Bridge” Sea Bright is a Barrier Peninsula It’s a Bascule Bridge, which means, it’s a drawbridge. The Central part of the bridge can be raised up, creating an opening for tall ships to pass through. Several of the children have nightmares about getting stuck on the top of that bridge. Going to the beach everyday.
The land the house was situated on, formed a small peninsula between the two bodies of water. There was a pond on “the Point” that was shallow and the children ice skated in winter. Carolyn particularly enjoyed skating and did so until her ankles ached!
Priscilla used to set up for cub scouts there or teaching the girls to sew. They made clothes for their Barbie dolls, too. Everyone got involved one year in making tissue paper wreaths for Christmas with Pris showing them how to cut pieces and then twist each one around a circular coat hangar. The upstairs bathroom…and bedrooms. hiding beneath the bed at naptime. kicking the upper bunk…nightmares of the world ending…
The Kiebers met an old friend from nursing school in Ann Arbor. Who would become their lifetime friends, Mary and Doug Vanderbilt at Holy Cross. Pris was pregnant with Rabi at the time and Mary was carrying Kippie. Both had recently moved into the area and both women had known each other in nursing school. Both shared their Catholic faith and would go on to have many children, who became cousins of the heart with one another.
Leading off of the master bedroom, Priscilla used the sunroom for her sewing; her Singer was kept there.
Priscilla was an active mom! Not only were the children enrolled in extra-curricular activities, she took them on outings to places such as the Keansburg NJ Amusement Park, which is still going strong!
She signed the children up for summertime activities at Victory Park. plaster things, lanyard, dodgeball, kickball, swimming lessons,
Walking across the Rumson – Sea Bright Bridge or the Shrewsbury River Bridge “The Bridge” Sea Bright is a Barrier Peninsula It’s a Bascule Bridge, which means, it’s a drawbridge. The Central part of the bridge can be raised up, creating an opening for tall ships to pass through. Several of the children have nightmares about getting stuck on the top of that bridge. In 2021 work is scheduled to begin on a replacement bridge.
Going to the beach everyday.
off the bridge at the bottom of the was a light….field across the street used play ball…hoffmans corner of ward ave and rumson rd at bottom of bridge…go karts along theat rd
greg did cub scouts…mom was involved…The Oceanic Free Library
place they met was on monmouth street diner Red bank
red bank rec bowling alley
greg played basketball in an old wooden building and he got a huge splinter…under his nail …took him to the doc and the first beyond the cuticle…when school was closed, we used to hang out and ride bikes, monkey bars,,,etc.playground..basketball
The Kiebers met an old friend from nursing school in Ann Arbor. Who would become their lifetime friends, Mary and Doug Vanderbilt at Holy Cross. Pris was pregnant with Rabi at the time and Mary was carrying Kippie. Both had recently moved into the area and both women had known each other in nursing school. Both shared their Catholic faith and would go on to have many children, who became cousins of the heart to one another.
Dave drank kerosene
easter….stations of the cross…when greg was altar boy he had to serv….mom hid the baskets…christmas time hiding the anise cookie dough,,,kids would try to find it and snitch some…..speckled pot
West Park Huddys Leap sledding down the hill go carts…greg remembered driving go karts it was dangerous as heck…
Because of their proximity to the beaches along the Jersey shore, and because the house , beach, and yard in Jersey were already like a resort, Pris’ dear sis, Gladys Klauke packed up her husband Hank, and seven children and drove all the way from their suburban Chicago home in Glenview, and drove 830 miles to spend some time together. The cousins got along famously and thoroughly enjoyed these summer interludes, which would form a basis for friendships well into their adult years.
During the summer of 1973, Pris and Bob celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary by embarking upon a tour of Europe, given to them by their children.
Eldest daughter, Marie, married Thomas Emmons, in 1974., the first of her kids to wed. Pris’ first grandbaby, Christine Marie Kieber-Emmons, was born four years later in 1978. Mom became Gramma J though she let it be known to all of her growing-up brood that she was not going to become a babysitter, and this she never did.
Her mother, Helen died 6 December 1976. Pris was 54 years old.
1977, Daughter Carolyn married her beau from Ann Arbor, Michael Grady. The reception was held in the beautiful backyard. The entire family helped cook kielbasa, Dave’s amazing fruit salad, and prepare the house. Zinnias were picked from the backyard garden and carefully slipped in streams of crepe paper wrapped around the table umbrella posts.
Bob had always been close to his brother, the priest, Father Lavern Kieber. Rev. Kieber visited the NJ Kiebers every summer. He’d say Mass on the back porch or in the Cold Room, with Bob acting as server.
Lavern or Uncle Lert as he was known by the family, bought a condo in Naples Florida with Bob and Pris. The three began spending time every
winter in the Naples retirement community.
Pris’s memory grew worse and she found her position as an OR nurse difficult, so Bob and she decided to retire and move closer to his family. Though still 4 hours away from Buffalo.
1980: Retirement in Trumansburg NY: Tommy began high school and son, Joe continued at Cornell, about ten miles away. It was while in T-burg that Pris and Bob met Doc Low and his wife. Pris said that she’d never had a friend like Mrs. Low. The two couples had an awful lot of fun together, both in the later years meeting up in Naples, Florida as well as in T-burg.
The Trumansburg property had a lot of pear trees and Pris perfected canning spiced pickled pears at this time. She also made blackberry and BlackCap jam from the wild berries that the grandchildren would pick for her.
Eventually, in 1995, they wanted to escape the hard work of keeping up the large property and the taxes in NY state, so they bought a place in Cape Carteret NC, across the bridge form Emerald Isle, a popular beach resort town. The local parish once again became the center of not only their spiritual lives, but also of their social life. They quickly became prominent members of St Mildred’s in Swansboro, where they belonged for 15 years, until Bob’s death in 2009.
Living her faith in action, Pris was a long-standing volunteer at the Hem of His Garment resale shop. Whenever the family visited, a visit there was on the docket.
Pris also loved walks in nature. While living in T-burg, she had learned the many names of wildflowers (from Mrs. Low possibly) and whenever one of her girls would visit, we’d walk at Croatan National Forest, only a couple of blocks away.
She continued her delight in a good game of cards as she played Bridge with a couple of different groups of women while living in NC.
She liked nothing better than basking on the beach and was a bona fide sun worshipper from the get go, whether in on the Jersey shore, beside her Florida pool, or Cape Henlopen NC or on Emerald Island, conveniently located one block from the Dairy Queen.
Not usually one to assume leadership positions, Pris was more of a behind the scenes tireless worker, a welcome member of any team. A highlight of the North Carolina years was Pris’ tenure as president of the Ladies Guild at St. Mildred’s parish.
Life became more difficult for the, at this point, elderly couple after the turn of the century. Husband Bob, needed several surgeries due to four primary cancers as well as continued disability due to COPD and arterial sclerosis. And Pris, who also developed congestive heart condition and worsening dementia, struggled to care for Bob.
Unfortunately, Priscilla suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and she needed assisted living after Bob’s devastating death in September 2009.
Pris and sis Gladys visiting after Bob’s death in 2009.
Son Robert and his wife, Cecilia, arranged for Pris to move into the Kemptons. A lovely community in Wilmington NC, the town where Bob and Cece lived. Carolyn remembers Pris relating how she loved sitting outside in the backyard of the Kemptons. It was so peaceful and quiet. She also, typically, helped other residents get around and arranged a Mass group to meet weekly in the chapel.
At 87 years old, Priscilla died 12 Feb 2010 after living in The Kemptons NC for two months. A funeral Mass was offered Monday February 15 at 10:00 AM in St. Marks’s Catholic Church in Wilmington. A public viewing will held before the service at 9 AM. Pris was quietly buried, as she had lived, Tuesday February 16 at North Carolina State Veterans Cemetery in Jacksonville.
From her obituary:
She enjoyed golfing, gardening, knitting, cooking, painting, and bridge.
Predeceased by her beloved husband of 61 years, Robert, she is survived by her sister Gladys (Hank) Klauke. Also surviving are nine children, Gregory of Stamford, Conn., Marie Kieber-Emmons of Little Rock, Ark., Carolyn Grady of Fredonia, N.Y., Rabi of Riverdale, N.Y., David of Manlius, N.Y., Susan Prusinski of Warsaw, Poland, Robert Jr. of Wilmington, Joseph of Chapel Hill and Thomas of Brooklyn N.Y. She is also survived by 15 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
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Note: I do not seem to have baptismal or death certs. For Mom. If you have them, would you scan them in on high res. And send them? Thanks.