6017 Ruswil - April/May 1980 No. 6
Dear relatives and cousins
Dear members and friends of our family association
It will be ten years since the Stirnimanns from near and far met for their first meeting on September 8, 1970 in Rüediswil. Even this first meeting was a great success. The stately hall could not hold all the participants, so that some had to seek refuge on the adjoining terrace. Faces familiar and familiar today were seen for the first time or not at all. The highlight was certainly the lecture by Prof. Dr. Joseph Stirnimann on the Stirnimann families from Ruswil. This actually aroused curiosity about the history of the Stirnimann families. Satisfied with the successful conference, they went home, perhaps a bit skeptical about the deeds that would follow. But the initiators (identical to the later board of directors) were inspired by this first success and went undeterred to further work. 1972 was published by Prof. Dr. Joseph Stirnimann wrote the family chronicle: The Stirnimann families in the cantons of Lucerne and Aargau.
In 1974, the big step was taken to found our family association. A courageous decision that was symbolically anchored with the planting of a linden tree in Etzenerlen. Another family reunion followed in 1977, which everyone who attended will surely be fondly remembered. Based on this brief outline of the recent history of the development of our association, you can see that an eventful decade lies behind us. Ten years full of idealism and spontaneity, without which such a work would not have been created nor could it exist. So we have every reason to be proud of our past and look forward to our 10th anniversary.
That was the reason for the board to hold another conference this year. We set it to be Sunday, June 22nd, 1980. This date gives us the opportunity to combine the conference with the exhibition mentioned above, the pictures of which will remain in the gallery until this date thanks to the kind courtesy of the gallery owner, Mr Tony Studhalter. We are convinced that the connection with the exhibition and the opportunity offered to our members to visit it represent a welcome cultural enrichment of our daily program that we did not want to miss.
So that you can set up yourself now, we give you a brief outline of how the day will be organized:
10.30 a.m. aperitif in the Chrämerhus Gallery
11.45 a.m. Lunch at Landgasthof Eintracht Rüediswil
13.45 p.m. Assembly
Then another opportunity to visit the Chrämerhus Gallery. Those who cannot get free for an aperitif or lunch are of course still warmly welcome to the meeting at 1.45 p.m. in Rüediswil.
We owe the fact that our association has taken shape and strengthened, of course, primarily to the annual newsletter. The punctual payment of membership fees confirms that it is respected and valued, along with some express recognition. Last year too, numerous members increased their contribution by half, some paid CHF 20 and more. Thank you very much again this time.
Since the last newsletter we have lost four members to death, we remember them in the mortuary tablet. A member has resigned. As new members - they should be mentioned here in the future, we welcome:
Josef Stirnimann-Schönenberger, Bahnhofstrasse, 6403 Küssnacht a.R.
Willi Stirnimann, Bahnhofstrasse 32 A, 7310 Bad Ragaz
Alois Stirnimann-Rileit, Rosenstrasse 14, 4410 Liestal
Mrs. David De Vido, 5235 Caversham, Huston, Texas 77096
Sr. M. Gertrud Stirnimann, Kantonsspital 13, 6004 Lucerne
Roland Stirnimann, Reichenbachstrasse 122, 3004 Bern
Siblings Louise, Alois + Josef Stirnimann, Rosswöschstr. 7, 6017 Ruswil
This circular describes a branch of the Ruswil and Neuenkirch family, whose descendants worked as innkeepers and fishermen in Lucerne. Our valued actuary Miss Heidi Stirnimann comes from this family.
The painter Maria Stirnimann, Lucerne, a loyal member of our association, presents another contribution. From May 3 to 18, 1980, she organized the first major exhibition of her pictures in the Chrämerhus gallery in the village of Ruswil, which connoisseurs give high recognition. In the exhibition were among other things splendid representations of the old parent houses of the Ruswil family.
Enclosed with this circular is an invitation to the family conference, and so the board wishes you a happy reunion on June 22, 1980 in Ruswil.
With kind regards
The President:
Josef Stirnimann
Innkeepers to "Three Swiss" in Lucerne and professional fishermen
A branch of the Stirnimann from Ruswil-Neuenkirch
The following symbols and abbreviations are used: * means before 1834: baptized, after 1834: born m. = married to, + = died Gl = guilder if there are several first names, the first name is underlined The sons of large farming families have always been forced to look for other professions and occupations. For centuries, countless young Swiss, who were unable to live off the barren soil of their homeland, were mercenaries in the service of almost all European rulers. The 19th century with its profound changes, the emergence of industry, advances in technology, trade, economy and tourism opened up new possibilities and tasks. Matthias Stirnimann, the founder of our Lucerne line, was one of those numerous farmer sons who, whether of their own choice or forced by circumstances, left their father's hold, moved to the city, learned a trade here and after years more determined and often more reluctant Build his own existence at work. Matthias Stirnimann's home was Neuenkirch, where he was born on February 5, 1803 on the Sitenmoos farm a good kilometer south of the village, the son of the farmer Joseph Alois Stirnimann and Barbara Wollenmann. At baptism he was given the names Matthias and Johann. Matthias was named after his godfather Matthias Wolfisberg, the farmer in neighboring Lohn, who moved from Kleindietwil in Freiamt to Neuenkirch in 1800 and became the progenitor of Wolfisberg of Neuenkirch. Alois Stirnimann had only been in Neuenkirch since 1775. In that year his father Augustin Stirnimann (1731-1805) acquired the Sitenmoos farm, which owned 35 Jucharten, after he had been tenant of the castle property in Buttisholz, presumably seven years. Augustin's cradle was in the Unter Roth in Ruswil, in the ancient double house now inhabited by the Muff family. This oldest preserved house of our family, in which our ancestor Peter Stirnimann-Bircher took up residence around 1610, is the parent house, to a certain extent the cradle of our entire Ruswil and Neuenkircher family. Augustin Stirnimann had ten children from his wife Anna Maria Meyer of Willisau, five of them were born and baptized in Buttisholz, five in Neuenkirch. According to the Neuenkirch parish book of the dead, Augustin died in Sitenmoos on February 1, 1805, at 11 a.m., at the age of 74. The book of the dead also records the names of his parents: Peter Stirnimann and Maria Anna Schwegler (note family table IV in the script: The Stirnimann family in the cantons of Lucerne and Aargau). Matthias' youth was overshadowed by the untimely death of his mother, who died on April 2, 1804 at the age of only thirty as a result of the birth of their first and only child. On May 30, 1808, the young widower led Maria Barbara Zurkirchen von Malters to the altar of Malters in the St. Jost pilgrimage chapel in Blatten. This marriage resulted in three sons and three daughters (the youngest of the three sons, Fridolin (m. Elisabeth Honauer), the only one who got married, sold Sitenmoos to a Johann Studer in 1898). As his descendants know to this day, Matthias Stirnimann was trained as a cook at a young age in Lucerne in the Franciscan monastery, commonly known by the people as the Barfüsser, and remained, supposedly until the abolition of the monastery in 1838, as a cook in it Service. The monastery had a well-attended public economy since 1799. Did Matthias leave his father's house because he was the stepson of six half-siblings? We do not know it. On the other hand, we have a presumed explanation as to why he or his father decided to do an apprenticeship and job in the Franciscan monastery in Lucerne; An uncle of the farmer in Sitenmoos, P. Fortunat (+1808), was a monk of the Franciscan monastery in Werthenstein, which, together with its mother monastery in Lucerne, had for decades had to defend itself against all conceivable harassment from the state (especially the ban on accepting novices). It is therefore possible that the family in Sitenmoos was no stranger to the monastery in Lucerne either. The Lucerne monastery was largely responsible for its abolition in 1838. The main cause of its disintegration was the public restaurant that had been set up in the convent building since 1799. As one tells in the family to this day, the monastery compensated Matthias Stirnimann for lack of liquid money with a valuable violin and an important picture allegedly painted by Hans Holbein the Younger; the same represents the Mother of God with the baby Jesus and was bequeathed to a monastery by a great-granddaughter of Matthias. After the Franciscan monastery was abolished, Matthias worked - again according to family tradition - in the restaurant "Zum Bad". This was at the point where the Kesselturm car park (Burgerstrasse 20) has been rising for several years. Unfortunately, it is not possible to check whether and for how long Matthias was employed there, because the city's quarter or house controls from 1837-46 are missing. He was definitely not the owner of the restaurant "Zum Bad”. In 1846 Matthias Stirnimann started his own business. He acquired in Lucerne on Münzgasse, then called Münzgässlein, for a purchase price of 9'550 Gl or Fr. 12'733.33 the wine tavern "To three Swiss", with benefits and damage beginning on August 15, 1846. This is today's res‑ taurant "Walliser Kanne", Münzgasse. The front to Münzgasse has retained its original, neat appearance to this day. The house, which was called "Zur Taube" before 1833, has numerous memories of historical events and personalities dating back to the 14th century. For the first time the house "To three Swiss" made a name for itself about the borders of Lucerne and even Switzerland in connection with the notorious cellar or crook trial of 1825/26. The Lucerne mayor Franz Xaver Keller had mysteriously drowned in the Reuss in 1816. Years later, the rumor was spread that a gang of crooks hired by Keller's political opponents had been in the wine tavern "To three Swiss" met secretly and there decided to plunge the Schultheissen into the Reuss. The landlord was able to prove that the people suspected of the murder were never his guests. The business right "To three Swiss" was not a so-called real right adhering to the house, but only a personal right, which means that the owner had to exercise the wine bar himself and was not allowed to lend it or let someone else exercise it in whole or in part; the respective owner of the house had to apply to the government for the right and renew it every four years; he paid an annual fee for it, due on January 1st, called canon to the government council. Matthias Stirnimann granted this "Personal Weinschenkrecht" on May 29, 1846. He paid CHF 60 for it in the first year. In 1872 the fee was already CHF 200. According to the "Wirtspolizeiordnung" applicable at the time, the innkeeper "To three Swiss" was not allowed to accommodate anybody overnight, not to give meals and, apart from cold, uncooked dishes, to serve his guests only a soup and a warm dish. In the same year that he started his own business, Matthias Stirnimann started a family. He got married on August 17, 1846 in the Franciscan Church with Maria Anna Hägi, a farmer's daughter from Hitzkirch. The groom was 43 and the bride 35. In the 25 years of their happy life together, the two achieved a modest level of prosperity. Their marriage resulted in the only son Johann Baptist Peter Paul Matthias (born June 29, 1849). Johann - his nickname was given after his godfather Johann Hägi, canon and chamberlain of the St. Michael in Beromünster, former pastor in Weggis, an uncle of his mother; he received the names Peter and Paul because he was baptized on June 29th, the feast of the princes of the apostles. According to the photos we have received from the family, Matthias Stirnimann was a tall, handsome man with broad shoulders. The head with its distinctive facial features would have been the model for a sculptor. His equally stately wife, who can easily be imagined as the center of an inn caring for everyone, shows herself in urban costume. Matthias Stirnimann died in his house on November 22, 1871 at the then old age of 68. After his death, the widow, who outlived her husband by 17 years, and the son Johann run the business. In 1874 Johann married the daughter Anna of his professional colleague Melchior Stalder, host of the "Weiten Keller" under the Egg. The Stalder, originally based in Meggen, were a council family naturalized in the city since 1551, from which numerous important personalities of political and cultural life emerged, such as the concertmaster and composer Joseph Dominik Xaver Stalder (1752-1833), who worked in London, Paris and Lucerne and the Escholzmatter pastor Franz Joseph Stalder (1757-1833), one of the founders of Swiss dialect research and folklore. Anna Stalder gave her husband two sons: Johann Melchior Matthias, * 9.4.1875, 117.12.1886 (with scrofula) Ludwig Adolf, * 7.4.1879. Johann Stirnimann-Stalder was the guild master of the Society for Safran or Fritschivater in 1882. So he must have been a very wealthy man known and respected in public. His great concern was a lung disease, against which the medical arts of the time were almost powerless. Johann Stirnimann died after seeking a cure in Schwarzenberg in vain, on September 22, 1886, only 37 years old, of pneumonia. His mother survived him by a year. She died on July 15, 1888, at the age of 77. The widow headed the business for eleven years. Her son Adolf had other plans, he became a businessman. So the mother and son of the latter and his guardian Philipp Hurter decided to sell the business "To three Swiss" on April 29, 1897 in public auction. This was opened with an offer of CHF 68,000. With the highest offer of CHF 74,300, the property was sold to Captain Kaspar Jurt-Wicki von Rickenbach. Adolf Stirnimann married Maria Amalie Hurter on September 22, 1900. She was born on August 27, 1880 in Ebikon as the daughter of Julius Hurter and Katharina Scherer was born. Her father was the owner of the Rotsee - today the most beautiful and most famous rowing pool in the world - and the associated fisherman's house, whose brother Philipp owned the Hünenberg castle. The pollution of the Rotsee by municipal sewage led to lengthy lawsuits between its owner Julius Hurter and the city of Lucerne. On February 25, 1920, the city council submitted a request for expropriation to the government council, which was approved on January 8, 1921. Through her grandmother Katharina Hurter née Göldlin von Tiefenau (1814-1868), Amalie Hurter descended from the patriciate of Lucerne. The graphic collection of the Central Library of Lucerne contains the masterful portrait of Katharina Göldlin of Tiefenau née Corragioni d'Orelli (1785-1866), the mother of the aforementioned Katharina Hurter née Göldlin, painted by the painter Franz Joseph Menteler (1777-1833) from Tiefenau. The portrait comes from the estate of a great-granddaughter of Matthias Stirnimann. Adolf Stirnimann-Hurter became a businessman and hotelier and lived in America for a long time. He ended his life on January 4, 1948 at the age of 69 in the Steinhof in Lucerne. Amalie Stirnimann-Hurter died on August 29, 1966 at the age of 86, also in Lucerne. The couple Adolf and Maria Amalie Stirnimann-Hurter had the following children: Adolf Julius, * March 11th, 1901, +Luzern (Cantonal Hospital), February 28th, 1962, Professional fisherman, m. 1923 M. Stübi Katharina Amalie, * June 11th, 1902, +Luzern, May 1st, 1978, bank clerk Philipp Walther, * March 8th, 1905, m. 1929 E. Scotson, manufacturer in Penticton, Canada Frieda Josephine, * August 19, 1906, m. Josef Boner Julia Klara, * August 12th, 1908, m. 1938 Q.L. Meier Of the two sons of the married couple Adolf Stirnimann-Hurter, Adolf Julius attended school in his native Lucerne up to the canton school. But his decision was made to learn the trade of a fisherman after this training. He did his apprenticeship as a professional fisherman and the master craftsman's examination at Lake Starnberg in Upper Bavaria. When he returned home, he made an alliance with Maria Josephine Stübi von Rothenburg in 1923. In the same year he leased the Rotsee and the Reuss from the city of Lucerne, which had recently been expropriated from his father-in-law. This lease lasted five years. In 1928 Julius Stirnimann acquired Lake Baldegger from the Läubli brothers in Ermatingen for CHF 75,000. Unfortunately, his expectations of being able to devote himself to his profession here were not fulfilled. The increasingly ruthless pollution of Lake Baldegger caused a constant decline in fish stocks, which made his work more and more difficult and endangered his professional existence. Julius Stirnimann could have financially redeveloped himself by selling ideally located building sites on the shores of the lake. He decided not to do so because the preservation of this unique seascape was a matter close to his heart. This was also the reason why he did not sell the lake and its shores to private buyers, but rather, with significant financial loss, in 1941 to the Swiss Nature Conservation Union, which assured that it had the necessary means and possibilities to deal with the heavily polluted area to clean the lake by building sewage treatment plants and to protect the banks from overbuilding. The move from Gelfingen was difficult for Julius Stirnimann and his family. He enjoyed great public trust and respect, for many years he was a justice of the peace and as a well known skilled hunter in his area in the Seetal. He moved to Stansstad, where he bought the Seehus in the Acheregg and obtained the fishing license from the canton of Nidwalden. The couple Julius and Maria Josephine Stirnimann-Stilbi had three children in Gelfingen: Adelheid Maria Josephine, * May 22, 1828, civil servant in the cantonal administration of the canton of Nidwalden in Stans, actuary in our family association. Hildegard Katharina, born August 17, 1930, post office clerk in Zurich. She was a nurse for about 12 years, trained as an X-ray nurse and was assistant to the well-known brain surgeon Prof. Dr. Kreienbühl. She later returned to her previous job at the post office. Julius Joseph Anton (Jules), * January 23, 1936. 1961-64 studied at the Central Switzerland Technical Center in Lucerne, graduating as Civil engineer HTL, 1964/76 chief site manager at Schubiger AG, civil engineers, Zurich and Lucerne, since 1977 managing director and partner in the same company in Hergiswil, since 1972 member of the Hergiswil NW municipal council; Civil engineering department. In the military he holds the rank of captain and intelligence officer of Ter Kr 91. Jules Stirnimann has been married to Gabriela Weisser since 1966. Their children: Annegret, * June 12, 1967 Maja, * April 22nd, 1968 Iris, * April 22nd, 1968 to April 26th, 19681 (twins) Tobias, * 9.6.1970 _____________________ In addition to the relevant parish registers and civil status registers, the present presentation is mainly based on the council minutes of the Lucerne State Archives and the purchase protocols and cadastral files of the Lucerne City Archives. Many thanks to Mr. Franz Borer, State Archives, as well as Mr. Edgar Rüesch, the city archivist and his assistant Mr. Josef Wili for the courteous provision of the files and valuable information. ***************** The physical and moral strength of our ancestors lay in the spirit that animated them, in the frugality of their lives, in the strict moral standards, in perseverance in the difficult struggle for existence, in the solidarity of the family and in their lively faith in God. Paul Tournier (Protestant doctor and writer) in his book: "Illness and Life Problems” ******************* The exhibition by Maria Stirnimann in Ruswil Anyone who witnessed our first family conference on September 8, 1970 in Ruswil / Rüediswil will certainly remember the colorful pictures that Maria Stirnimann, Lucerne, exhibited with those by three other painters in the room of the Eintracht inn. After ten years of tireless work, the painter held her first independent exhibition of 86 pictures from May 3 to 18, 1980 in the well-known Chrämerhus gallery in Ruswil. These show landscapes of the cantons of Lucerne and Ticino and the oldest ancestral homes of our Ruswil family, delightful pictures of flowers and animals. On May 3rd, the opening took place in the presence of nearly two hundred people, among them many members of our association. Mayor Adolf Bühler and Mayor Niklaus Heini honored the occasion with their presence. Prof. Josef Stirnimann, the painter's brother, gave a greeting to those present. The professional musician Lucien Sauner (flute) and Messrs. Horat (flute) and Truniger (cello) embellished the celebration with their musical performances. Editor Anton Müller, Lucerne, had attentive listeners, who introduced the painter's person and work in his introductory words and praised them with rare empathy and poetic language. With his permission, for which we sincerely thank him, we have the privilege of reprinting his masterful laudation in this newsletter. Thanks to the friendly courtesy of the gallery owner, Mr. Toni Studhalter, the pictures will stay in until our family conference on June 22nd of the gallery and can therefore also be viewed on this occasion by those members who have not previously had the opportunity. Address by editor Anton Müller at the opening of the exhibition by Maria Stirnimann Isn't it so and associations, memories from what has been read and experienced do not come into the soul when one descends through the dark gate to this exhibition and then suddenly stands in the illuminated vaults in front of the splendor and diversity of these images. Caves that, according to a secret magic word, open up in a thousand and one nights and lead into the radiant world of treasures. Children of fortune who find happiness and glittering gems in legends and legends on holy nights, led by wise women, in lighted halls. Such a feeling of astonishment and joy made me happy when I entered this cellar, from the walls of which, between old tanned stately farmhouses, festive bouquets of flowers are lined up in never-tired variations and in a superior luminosity. Here and there a nocturnal eagle owl with shining eyes looks out from the depths. Francis of Assisi preaches to the birds that live safe in this world. Brother Klaus lifts this colorful cosmos out of the hermitage in Ranft into elevated domestic and spiritual significance; all in all: commitment to the intimate rural and rural landscape of the Lucerne region. In addition, there are many house and village vedutas, brought home from trips and hikes, noted down with brush and paint and processed in Lucerne and Ticino, whose organically structured settlements, which are organized in cubic form, were particularly explored. All in all a very specific one world conquered in various techniques, translated into a work of art with subtlety, tender but alert listening, with joy and enthusiasm for colors and shapes, for craftsmanship and ultimately for painting itself. In everything, it is a cohesive attitude, which is essentially borne by a peasant tradition and besides the seen with the gift of composition and Drawing talent and knowledge of the color effects in the picture are able to create effective independence and a work of art. It is now high time to name the personality who presented us with this exhibition this evening: It is Maria Stirnimann from Lucerne and if we want to get to know her in the following, then we essentially have the key and the access to what is gathered here around us. The Stirnimann are one of the solid farming clans in the Lucerne hinterland, whose hereditary farms are still managed by families on the heights above Ruswil as they have been for centuries. The cohesion of the various representatives of the name, branched out here and there, is remarkable; they come together every now and then for joint meetings and maintain their own family newspaper. In the central library I found scientific treatises on the family of the Stirnimann. Artistic heritage pervaded the rural blood again and again in a mysterious underflow. For example, Friedrich Stirnimann, who was born in Ettiswil in 1841 and died in Lucerne at the age of 60, who was one of the most important Lucerne realists of the 19th century, has not been forgotten. He enjoyed a very good education with Deschwanden in Stans, then in Karlsruhe and Munich and with Julian in Paris. He lived in difficult external circumstances and mostly painted pictures from the world of rural poverty, like sick people, the bread of the poor. Everyone probably knows the large-scale painting "Palm Sunday", which the person who died too early could no longer complete himself. On the occasion of the family conference of the Stirnimann in Ruswil in the autumn of 1970, no fewer than four artists of the family organized an exhibition of their pictures together and our Maria was among them. At that time, the best-known and most prominent of them was not there, Franz Stirnimann, Olten / Basel, who went public with his work late, but then became a real international discovery as an iron sculptor and surrealist painter. It is said that Maria had no idea of the abilities dormant in her until she was grown. Inherited from her mother, she had always been a gifted creator of fine handicrafts. She grows an abundance of colorful flowers in the garden, she sings in the Lucerne Abbey Choir, and since 1947 she has been taking care of the household of her spiritual brother Prof. Josef Stirnimann. She came to actual painting - as is often the case - by pure chance: An advertisement offered an evening drawing course with the Nidwalden graphic artist Tony Businger, who knew how to awaken her talent and joy in drawing and painting. The breakthrough came and since then she has been using every free hour for something new, initially as a hobby that later expanded into artistic work. This rise to the higher level of quality was given to her in Vienna by Prof. Walter Heller, a student of Johannes Itten, one of the founders of the famous Bauhaus movement. Lighter, with an unusual charisma, made Maria Stirnimann acquainted with the laws of artistic means of representation and sharpened her eye for coloring and composition, and had her copy old masters in the Kunsthistorisches Museum to use their techniques to fathom, especially the oil tempera and pure egg painting, techniques that a number of flower pictures in this exhibition testify with their unheard-of luminosity and depth of color. She later made watercolor, gouache, chalk, pastel and charcoal her own. And something that testifies to the strong handicraft side (this probably shows a bit of the rural, practical tradition), apart from the watercolor material she does not buy any finished colors, such as tubes for oil painting. She prepares the colors for all the techniques she practices herself. She mixes the different colored powders with the mediums of gel, tempera and egg. She also cuts and covers the canvas herself on the frame and all painting surfaces are primed herself. This gives the pictures a happy unity of intellectual ability, technical knowledge and color uniqueness. This kind of total work of art is perhaps not least one of the only tangible secrets that this exhibition breathes. The decisive and lasting benefit of her stays in Vienna was undoubtedly the discovery and consolidation of her personal character. But there is something more valuable as a very own achievement: the ability to avoid all academicism and all historicisms and urban fashion trends and to develop and maintain a personal style despite all the training and copying among the old. That means restriction in the subject from the memory of the rurality of youth and the loving persistence of these early and deeply experienced phenomena: farmhouse, farm garden, flowers, animals, landscape, spring, colorfulness, color and the feeling of deep, quiet and happy security in it. When looking at the works, one finds it appealing to feel that fine interplay of valid image control and a gentle pull into the naive, that Merging of childlike warmth, direct experience and energetic enthusiasm. To experience this fills us all with the feeling of a special kind of gift-giving. Because it is a reflection of what a sensitive and gifted person of the best Lucerne character can give. We would like to thank Maria Stirnimann above all for this. And because poets are often able to make the same transparent thing through the medium of their work of art as painters are able to do with their means, I would like to close with two or three poems by the Lucerne local poet Fridolin Hofer, who with Maria Stirnimann had the same rural world around him and from it was there that he found his artistic language of images and ideas. In many pictures - perhaps no longer so comprehensible today - it has remained surprisingly modern in some formulations and in any case, wrongly, almost forgotten. Ruswil, Chrämerhus May 3, 1980 / am-e High summer Red roses that, pious as legends, Over the little wall as if blinded never suspecting how beautiful they are, one is already full of summer. and in the sun, shimmering in the glowing wind, a deep purple leaf comes off blissfully wasting the abundance of colors, and we say very softly: Perfect! A country girl From a chatty source flowing in silver in the sunshine, moonlight you seem to have sprung from the field. From scented Summers and springtime you wear essences of flowers and blossoms in your long hair. Field earth, forest earth sticks to your soles. You frolic with the prancing foal and lead the horses on the halter. Behind flowering hedges: Where am I? Look look! you play hide and seek in the leaves and tease the calling cuckoo. What flickers and smells the threshold wherever you go in and out. Sun, field, forest and spring stream into your house. *** The farmhouse A hundred years and over I look into the country, a hundred years and over I withstood the storms. Brown from the scorching sun I protect against dripping wet, I protect the room from the angry clinking of locks. I saw children bloom, they grew up, old people were carried away into the lap of the earth. And like the light golden scent of the ripening seed, the male deed was united in female custom. Days rose and sank blood-red for the war had harvest with its sister, the trouble. Plagues flourished and took cattle and horses, and worry crouched in silence by the extinguished hearth. But the peace came that overcame the war Joy and sadness have long gone hand in hand again, joy and sadness, until the fire consumes me, and, a torch of the bride of the wind, I set fire to land at night. We congratulate Ms. Maria Stirnimann-Stübi, who lives in the Fischerhus Acheregg in Stansstad, celebrated her 75th birthday in good health on September 12, 1979, looked after by her daughters Heidi (our actuary) and Hildegard. Hans Stirnimann-Brun, long-time farmer in the hall in Ruswil (where the family has settled since 1700), kind and wise boss and the center of his large family, known by the population as the hall father, was allowed to turn 80 on February 17, 1980 if he was in good health . To celebrate birthday. Ms. Elisabeth Stirnimann-Seiler, Horw, the wife of our member Franz Xaver Stirnimann, who was well-deserved in founding our association, a former bank clerk and editor, celebrated her 80th birthday on February 23, 1980 with her five children and their families. Adelheid Stirnimann, daughter of Thomas and Maria Stirnimann-Meyerhans (Ohmstal branch), Walchwil, successfully passed the Matura (type B) at the Theresianum in Ingenbohl and has been studying at the University of Freiburg since autumn. Edith Stirnimann, daughter of the Franz Stirnimann-Müller family, school house, Etzenerlen, Ruswil, graduated as a farmer at the cantonal farmer's college in Sursee (grade 5.1). Andreas Stirnimann, son of the Josef Stirnimann-Schwegler family, Nella, Ruswil, passed the final apprenticeship examination as a building fitter with an excellent mark of 5.4. His teacher: Josef Müller, locksmith, Ruswil. Hans Stirnimann-Wyss, Triengen, who delighted us at our meetings with his songs, was awarded the highest mark - class 1 - as an individual yodeler at the yodelling festival in Willisau (July 1st, 1979). ***************** We give our condolences Four members have been divorced from this life since the last newsletter. We extend our condolences to their families. Alois Stirnimann-Gräni, Weststrasse 47, 8400 Winterthur, t21. May 1979, the first child of the couple Alois Stirnimann-Tanner was born on December 11th, 1907 in Grosswangen. After completing the schools in Wolhusen, he did an apprenticeship as a mechanic in Willisau and then expanded his professional knowledge in the Winterthur locomotive factory. He later moved to the Sulzer Brothers company in Winterthur. Already ill health, he took over the position of caretaker and works mechanic in the Konkordia printing works, Winterthur, which he held until his retirement. After a long suffering, the Angel of Death appeared to him in the morning of May 21, 1979. Ms. Marie Stirnimann-Grüter, Windbühl, Ruswil, died on July 19, 1979 short, serious illness in the Wolhusen district hospital. She came from the Goldschrüti farm, where she was born on August 15, 1914 as the daughter of Johann Grüter and Marie Grüter (vom Unter-Dändli). The eternal woman was a woman of rare gifts of spirit and heart, the equal partner of the managing director and mayor Hans Stirnimann (1968), mother of a son and three daughters. Eduard Stirnimann-Aegerter, Lindauring 13, Rothenburg, t6. May 1979, saw the light of day on June 26, 1897 in Rüdelmatt in Ruswil as the son of Eduard Stirnimann and Maria Anna Faden. His grandfather Josef Leonz was born in Vorder-Etzenerlen. Eduard Stirnimann worked as a truck driver from the end of the twenties until the first years of the war. He later switched to large construction sites as a machinist and was involved in the construction of the Kloten airfield, among other things. Since the end of the 1940s he had been working as an excavator operator at Portland-Zement-Werke Hunziker AG, Olten. Olten and the surrounding area became his second home. Only in the last years of his life did he return to the Lucerne area and lived in Rothenburg near the family of his son Joseph Stirnimann-Greber, who is the town clerk there. The other son, Eduard Stirnimann-Leuthold, runs the Hotel Beau-Site in Adelboden. The daughter of the immortalized, Mrs. Marie Zehnder-Stirnimann, retired with her husband after handing over their Gasthaus Bellevue in Thun. Eduard Stirnimann was a person with a pronounced sense of duty who was fully committed to his family and his respective tasks. Kaspar Lang-Stirnimann, Winkelstrasse 8, Ruswil, t20. April 1980, was a farmer and trader. He died at the age of 56 after a life of love and devotion to his family and mission, purified from long and grievous suffering. **************** Our family chronicle "The Stirnimann family in the cantons of Lucerne and Aargau" (Beromünster 1973) can be obtained from Josef Stirnimann-Wälchli, Wirt zur Eintracht, Rüediswil, 6017 Ruswil, for CHF 15. It contains the family tables of the Ruswil family. ****************** Our board: President: Josef Stirnimann-Haas, teacher, Unter-Sonnenbergli, 6017 Ruswil Vice-President: Prof. Dr. Josef Stirnimann, Dreilindenstr, 26, 6006 Luzern Actuary: Fräulein Heidi Stirnimann, operator and clerk, Acheregg, 6362 Stansstad Treasurer: Anton Stirnimann-Schöb, civil servant, Wesemlinstr. 20, 6006 Luzern Material manager: Josef Stirnimann-Wälchli, landlord of Landgasthof Eintracht Rüediswil, 6017 Ruswil Member: Ms. Maria Stirnimann-Schenkermayr, Murgasse 1, 6017 Ruswil Extended Board: Roland Stirnemann-Bächi, forest engineer, 6951 Piandera Ti Hans Stirnimann, machine draftsman, Worblaufenstr. 21, 3048 Worblaufen Willy Stirnimann, teacher, 6170 Schüpfheim Josef Stirnimann-Greber, community clerk, 6023 Rothenburg Josef Stirnimann, electrical specialist, Schrennengasse 16, 8003 Zurich Auditors: Hans Stirnimann-Bucher, Managing Director, Windbühl, 6017 Ruswil Erwin Stirnimann, businessman, Haldenrain 7, 6006 Lucerne The President asked for contributions, communications and suggestions for the newsletter. Enclosed: payment slip (annual membership fee: CHF 10).