I had written Chapter 10 of the Bruno Vassel II biography a year ago. This chapter covers the years Bruno and Mary Elmer Vassel lived in Toledo, Ohio. As I tried to work on Chapter 11 - the years lived in Deerfield, Illinois, nothing felt right. I was very puzzled as to why this chapter was being so hard to pull together. The Vassel family only lived in Deerfield from 1951 to the fall of 1955. Why was it being so hard to write about those years? They were happy years, good years, and years in which the family did a lot of camping trips in Florida, Wisconsin and two trips to the western states. What was holding me back?
Going through the papers and writings of Mary Elmer Vassel, I came across a Timeline written by Mary Elmer Vassel covering the years of her life from September 1939 when her husband Bruno Vassel II graduated with his PhD from the University of Michigan through November 1955 when the family moved from the United States to Brazil. The Timeline also included many notations Mary made concerning the events that transpired over those years. As I read through her Timeline I realized that in spite of the best efforts of my brother Bruno III, my sister Elisabeth "Bethy" and myself to recall dates and events, we had gotten some important details wrong. Therefore, using Mary Elmer Vassel's Timeline as a guide, I completely revised Chapter 10 and it finally felt right! Bruno III and Bethy both helped by editing the new Chapter 10, and I then posted it into Memories under Bruno Vassel II on FamilySearch.org at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/L85T-GWV. This has been a very good learning experience. Family history is not very good when it is not based on accurate information! I am now ready to move on to Chapter 11 with the good feeling that the Timeline of Mary Elmer Vassel will keep me writing true information about the Vassel family in the Deerfield, Illinois years.
