Nicole,
Hi...I'm your cousin, Diane (Varady-Topal)
Thompson. My Mother is Rose Varady...a sister to your Grandpa George..I called him
Uncle Chuck. I have very fond memories of your Mother...my Aunt Dorothy...she was such a sweet woman. I played many of hours at their house on Collinsville
Ave. in
Madison,
Illinois. I was chatting on the phone with my Mother when I came across your posting. My Mother Rose is almost 91 yrs. old, still doing well. Are you Vickie's daughter? Like I said...us kids grew up with your Aunts &
Uncles. Sonny, Theresa, Jeanne, Michael (died young in the
Army), Mary Beth, Joey, Kathie & Vickie. We had some wonderful times till your grandparents divorced...so sad. You're so right,
Melba is not
Uncle Chuck's daughter. I'm sure you know the whole story, so I won't go into it. Your Great Grandparents were George & Theresa
Topal. Grandpa
Topal died in Sept. 1956...age 76. Grandma Threresa Topa died in 1964 at the age of 79. I'm doing some family research to pass onto my future family generations....as is our cousin, Sharon (
Clark)
Fedora. She's Aunt Katie &
Uncle Sammy's daughter. If you're interested in some of this info...please contact me. My email address is:
DianeThompson797@hotmail.com Hope you can get this address. I live in Louisiana...we're retired Army....our last duty station being Ft. Polk,
La. we just decided to settle here & visit Granite City/Madison...when we could. The last person I saw of Aunt Dorothy &
Uncle Chuck's children were Theresa...that was in 2002 at my sister, Michelle's funeral. It was wonderful to see her. I remember Vickie...she was such a cutie... when I married my husband,
Luke & went off with the
Army I lost touch with a lot of the cousins. Most don't like to write, ha!. But, I do have fond memories of them all.. Like I said...my Mother's name is Rose, Dad's Joe...and my siblings are Tommy, Timmy, Bobby, Jolene & David. Most still live in Illinois...around Granite City, etc., except for Tommy (
Texas) & me in
Louisiana. Do you live there (
Illinois)? Mom said she knows you....but, I've been gone for 32 yrs. from the area....so, it's hard to touch base with all of the family. Well....if you do receive my reply posting...please contact me...I would love to touch base with you. Good luck on your family research....our grandparents are Serbian & Croatian....check the
Ellis Island web site...you will find their names on the passenger's list for the ship...Oceania..they came to the United States on January 20, 1910. Hope this helps you with your research.
Your cousin,
Diane (
Varady)
ThompsonPS. Please say hello to your family for me.