Sunday, January 4, 2009

Blogging


"A blog...bobs on the surface of the ocean but has its anchorage in waters deeper than those print media is technologically able to exploit. " - Andrew Sullivan

Life in the Big City - Denver, Colorado










"We are, by many measures, one of the more diverse cities in the country, growing more diverse all the time, and one of the more harmonious in terms of how we live together."
~ Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper
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How the city hurts your brain . . .

"...And yet, city life isn't easy. The same London cafes that stimulated Ben Franklin also helped spread cholera; Picasso eventually bought an estate in quiet Provence. While the modern city might be a haven for playwrights, poets, and physicists, it's also a deeply unnatural and overwhelming place."

Remembering Maxine




Maxine Halm Baenziger, born here as Annie Maxine Bergfeld, was celebrated in a memorial service at the Goetz Funeral Home chapel Saturday afternoon.

Descended from the William G. and Euphemia King family, Baenziger was named for her uncle, longtime city marshal Max Bergfeld, and her aunt, Annie King Colville. Her career began in her family’s Bergfeld drug store on East Court Street, and she married her first husband, Virgil Halm, in 1940. She stayed with him until his death in 1994, embarking on a short second career as a tour guide that took her around the country and to other parts of the world, and married Harold Baenziger in 1995. The Baenzigers were known for their contributions to the community as were the Halms.

...(Mayor Betty Ann) Matthies mentioned Baenziger’s family background — a significant one here in Seguin.“She and her sister, Virginia (Woods) have a rich and important heritage in this community,” Matthies said. “Their family was a pioneer family in Seguin, an important part of Seguin’s history. Maxine and Virginia carried on that tradition, and I’m sorry for her passing.”

copied from The Gazette Enterprise, Sunday, January 5, 2009
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When we came to Seguin December 1997, we stayed in the Holiday Inn for two weeks until the closing, some things were being done in the house (electricity, cleaning, etc.) and our furnishings arrived from Denver. Of course, this meant eating out daily. One day I was getting take-out meals at a little cafe that is now Creekside Grill. A friendly lady came up to me and said: "I'm Maxine Baenziger. I don't believe I know you." After introducing myself, she asked what church I attended. I told her we weren't a member of any church but had been attending the First United Methodist Church. Maxine promptly invited me to visit her Sunday School Class, The Paulists. I told her that we had been visiting the Sharers Class and Maxine replied: "Well, maybe you will graduate to our class."
She was a delight, informing me that she had recently had heart surgery and was married to a good friend whose wife passed away as had Maxine's first husband. That was Maxine. She knew no strangers. She welcomed everyone. After we were 'settled' in Seguin and began volunteering in some organizations and attending social events, we saw Maxine and Harold EVERYWHERE. They were so involved in the community. At Maxine's funeral, Pastor Kathy Edwards called the Baenziger's "Seguin's Power Couple." And indeed they were. We will miss Maxine.
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