Birthday Arnold

Arnold Etter -- father to Rene and Marcel, and our paternal grandfather -- was born on 7 May 1896. That's 116 years ago today!

Here is a selection of the photos that I now have. Rene and Yvette have shared what they remember about them. We think the photo on the left was taken around 1915. Thanks to the photographer's branding, we know it was taken in Weinfelden, a town north-east of Zurich. Weinfelden in the Appenzell, as is Herisau, where he was born. The photo on the right is a later one. Our guess is that it's around 1920. Look at that wonderful moustache!

This photo was taken around 1940, at The Hill, where the Etter family lived a few years after they arrived in South Africa. That's Dad on the left and Rene on the right of their father. According to Rene, he built this German baby glider plane out of balsa wood and silk, painted with thinners and cellulose to tighten the silk. They would go out on to the Heidelberg Road to fly this plane.

These photos were taken (by Rene) around 1945, at The Hill. It was at this time when Yvette met Rene and his family. Yvette says she remembers Arnold pruning the fruit trees on the property.

This photo was taken at a dinner party in the later 1950s. Yvette says this is how she remembers Arnold: exhaling his cigarette smoke very slowly, savouring it to the full.

This is the last photo that we seem to have of Grandfather Arnold. It must be around 1960, because Heidi is about two or three in this picture. I love the attitude and the clothes!