My Finn Grandmother and her 13 original...kids, that is. Counting Grandma, my mother, Mary, is 4th from right. Cousins ABClipper and ShuggieFinn's mothers are Sylvia and Martha (twins) 3rd and 4th from left.

My grandfather was a stone mason in Finland, so when he arrived here, he went to Vermont first. Finding no work there, and knowing he could also farm, he ice-skated the Great Lakes, and ended up in Conneaut, Ohio, sent for my grandmother and their 1 year old son, and started farming. They then proceeded to have 13 children in all, and soon enough, grandchildren. Grandpa could often be found out by the barn, sitting on a milk stool, muttering "too cot-tam many kits."LOL But guess who dressed as Santa every year? Yep, Grandpa!!

Our humor is mostly laughing at our own problems and foibles. Not for us the pie in the face, nor racist remarks.
I dedicate this page to my father, my Finn mother, and my Finnish grandparents.
Short biography follows...

. My mother was the 3rd born of the 13 children, and the 1st to die. There were no drugs then to help blood poisoning. My brothers were 7 and 10, my sister was 9, and I was 4. It was "The Depression", 1931, and my mother was 31. Jobs were scarce and Daddy could find no work, so we were sent to live with various Finn Relatives in Ohio.
We visited Grandma and Grandpa often and soon learned the Finn words for bread, butter, milk, sugar, etc..I suppose we thought if we couldn't say it, we wouldn't get anything to eat.

After three years, Daddy got us into an orphanage and all together near him in Erie, PA. (I'll write about the greatest Orphanage on another page)...we were there from 1933 to 1936. Daddy got married, found a good job,and an apartment. By 1936 we had a home of our own again.
Daddy instilled in us a feeling of self-worth. His words to us were, "You can be or do anything because you're a Hewitt." I must have been 30 before I realized that being a Hewitt didn't mean a darn thing. But we THOUGHT we could!!! *G*

"A Few Examples of Finn Humor"

When the last 5 Aunts were living, they held their own private reunions. These were elaborate affairs and whoever's turn it was to host their party set the theme; Hawaii, bums, schooldays, and rich Southern Belles, for instance. I still have a ring of my Aunt Marty's which has a one inch "stone" . Of course it's only glass, but it shows the lengths they went to, to have fun.
Aunt Marty and her twin, Aunt Syl loved to go out dancing. Aunt Leona complained once that she felt like Cinderella, as she never got to go anywhere. Of course the mischievious twins couldn't let that pass. That was the year they made clear plastic high heels, and they bought a pair for her. No they didn't just give them to her. They had a man friend dress up like a prince who carried a pillow on which sat ONE "glass" slipper. Then they waited down the street in their car and laughed hilariously as the "prince" walked up to the door to present it to her. They gave her the matching "slipper" the next day.

Besides my Mother, Grandma and Grandpa are gone now, as well as my 10 Aunts and 2 Uncles. We cousins still have reunions each August in Ohio and there is lots of hugging and laughter, and Finn food.

And just to prove our Finn humor is still alive and well, below is a picture of the Finnish garden at the garden show in Cleveland...Of course it was Autumn at the time...And yes, most of us are blonds!

Everyone knows the Finns LOVE their sauna...( pronounced sow'na...NOT saw'na.)After the nice hot steam, the Finns go outside and jump into cold water. Could this be the beginning of the phrase..."Go jump in the lake?" LOL!