Little Known Facts

 

 

Written by

Conni Berns

March 9, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You might not be aware of this but Anneliese was the fifth child, born to Maria and   Reinhart von Oettingen.  Their first child died about the age of 8, and her favorite doll was the name they then named this their “replacement child” ( I was later told).  At a young age, Anneliese was quite precocious, sitting down at the piano and playing tunes by ear.  She still could come up with several at later times, but never had a lesson.  She loved to dance, and could do the bird’s nest at a young age, and started modern dance around age 11.  She begged to study ballet, but the family could not afford such frivolities. Her father referred to all that as, “Skipping around, meaning nothing”….

Her Mother recalled her own dreams, shattered at a young age.  She had wanted to sing in the opera, run away to be in the circus, become a stenographer- all impossible at her time, because her father insisted she marry and become a “Hausfrau”.  She made a deal with the Balletmistress:  she would become the office manager, and Annelise would help and take class, whatever needed to be done, in order for her to take class.  Three years later, when the Teacher needed to move, she asked Anneliese to take over her role, take the exams to become certified in Germany for all fields of instruction, lead her ballet company, and of course, for her to take over the business with her mother as the office manager.  Without this business Anneliese could not have supported her entire family, found refuge during the war, and saved others.

In America some time later she found an accordian, and started playing by ear.  She could play a bunch a songs, and just knew how to do it as if by magic.  I picked it up often, and never could figure it out, even though I took years of piano lessons, and knew the notes.  She would buy tubes of oil paints and canvas and start paintings, and end up with woods, lakes, boats and landscapes.  She painted and drew by some inner inspiration.  I am sure it was somewhat driven by the out of doors.  She often referred to the woods as a cathedral built more grand than any by human hands.

There were also German games she brought with her we played, and one of them was Handrummy- which had very specific rules to it.  You held 12 cards in your hand, drew a card, discarded, and in order to “lay down” you had to have trios counting up to 52 points- it was a chore to figure this one out as a child, but once you did, we played til late into the night.  Anneliese would always remark to those who did not win, “Oh, the German saying here, unlucky in cards, lucky in Love…”  Tyll always put down a trio with two seven of hearts- “but you CANNOT have two of a kind”, I hear Anneliese say,  and the arguement would start, ending with Tyll taking all his cards back. Then Anneliese would be upset because Tyll would not discard one of the sevens, and they would argue again, “Why don’t you just get rid of it????”   “But I might need it for something else.”   “You will mix it up again!”  “No I won’t!”  “”You do it everytime!”  The second way Tyll would get Mom upset is when he would lay down his cards and he would be short.  He would count wrong, so she always insisted on recounting his points.  She did not recount others often, but HIS? HE often took his cards back and started collecting again.  I think he liked the attention and seeing her upset about this.  Students could try her patience, and she remained super calm.  Tyll could heat her to the boiling point in seconds.

I think I have such wonderful memories of Eagle Bay because my Mother worked so hard.  Every hour in Cincinnati was spent with ballet, music, costumes, other people.  Here in the woods suddenly time was for us, too.  We went to the beach, we spent time playing games, we sat around the campfire.  Life took on a different pace, and it meant something else.  We appreciated each other more, because we understood each other better.