Affiliation

[Neto]

There was a discussion here some time ago where I was told that "Russian Mennonites" are more "hung up" on embarrassment due to hearing of a person with Mennonite heritage who is a criminal, an atheist, or a politician. I'm working on getting over it. (And I do have one famous relative who was a musician known to be an immoral drug user. But at least he changed his name.)

Are...are...you going to make us guess? Is it Jimi Hendrix?

His real name was Henry John Deutschendorf. Known professionally as John Denver. He was my half 3rd cousin. (No, I never met him, but my mom took care of him sometimes when he was a young boy.)

[Szdfan]

There was a discussion here some time ago where I was told that "Russian Mennonites" are more "hung up" on embarrassment due to hearing of a person with Mennonite heritage who is a criminal, an atheist, or a politician. I'm working on getting over it. (And I do have one famous relative who was a musician known to be an immoral drug user. But at least he changed his name.)

Are...are...you going to make us guess? Is it Jimi Hendrix?

His real name was Henry John Deutschendorf. Known professionally as John Denver. He was my half 3rd cousin. (No, I never met him, but my mom took care of him sometimes when he was a young boy.)

I was going to guess Prince next

I can tell you're not particularly proud of him, but that's a pretty awesome connection. I enjoy his music.

According to Wikipedia, he was born in Roswell, NM to a military family. I'm guessing the Mennonite connection wasn't very strong by that point?

[silentreader]

Are...are...you going to make us guess? Is it Jimi Hendrix?

His real name was Henry John Deutschendorf. Known professionally as John Denver. He was my half 3rd cousin. (No, I never met him, but my mom took care of him sometimes when he was a young boy.)

I was going to guess Prince next

I can tell you're not particularly proud of him, but that's a pretty awesome connection. I enjoy his music.

According to Wikipedia, he was born in Roswell, NM to a military family. I'm guessing the Mennonite connection wasn't very strong by that point?

An alien?

[silentreader]

Are...are...you going to make us guess? Is it Jimi Hendrix?

His real name was Henry John Deutschendorf. Known professionally as John Denver. He was my half 3rd cousin. (No, I never met him, but my mom took care of him sometimes when he was a young boy.)

I was going to guess Prince next

I can tell you're not particularly proud of him, but that's a pretty awesome connection. I enjoy his music.

According to Wikipedia, he was born in Roswell, NM to a military family. I'm guessing the Mennonite connection wasn't very strong by that point?

Ah yes, "Take Me Home..."

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=jo ... &FORM=VIRE

[Neto]

His real name was Henry John Deutschendorf. Known professionally as John Denver. He was my half 3rd cousin. (No, I never met him, but my mom took care of him sometimes when he was a young boy.)

I was going to guess Prince next

I can tell you're not particularly proud of him, but that's a pretty awesome connection. I enjoy his music.

According to Wikipedia, he was born in Roswell, NM to a military family. I'm guessing the Mennonite connection wasn't very strong by that point?

An alien?

My understanding is that his Dad was a pilot in the air force. I don't know if his dad was away in service during that time, but at least his mom and the children liven in the Corn, Oklahoma area near the grandparents (his grandma was my grandpa's cousin) during the time my folks were at Corn Bible Academy, the MB HS there. (Our common ancestor was Maria Boese, daughter of Gottleib Boese, I through her first marriage, and Johnny through her second. Her first husband was my maternal grandpa's mother's father.)

My mom did what ever work she could get to pay for room & board with the farm family were she lived, including picking cotton. She had been taken out of school at the age of 12, when my grandma was bad sick, missed three years of school before she went out to CBI to finish HS. My Dad had met her at a MB youth gathering, so after he finished public HS, he went the CBI and took Bible classes. They married soon after graduation - they were both 20 at that time. Moved to South Texas, and Dad studied at Rio Grande Bible Institute, then to Pacific Bible Institute (also an MB school) in Fresno, CA, where both my 2nd older brother & I were born.

It's not that I'm "not proud" of having his as a relative, just that he really messed up his life, and his grandma, at least, was a good Christian (Mennonite) woman. (His mother was not from Mennonite heritage at all. Not that she wasn't a good woman - I just don't know one way or the other. But the they also moved around a lot, and I think those years in Oklahoma might have been the longest settled spell in his early life.)