Person:Katharine Kuhfuss (2)

Katharine was born in Surcin and destined for an arranged marriage. Until Adam Binder moved to town. They fell in love and, in spite of the tradition of arranged marriages, she and Adam were able to convince their parents to let them marry.

Katharine ran her household very well. She gave birth to seven children. Five of them lived to adulthood.

She was a good partner to her husband who ran a mill with his brother in Surcin. Then, in 1937, they decided they would like to run a mill on their own and purchased one in Dobanovci, six kilometres down the road.

In Dobanovci, the family continued to prosper. Katharine and her husband planned to build a new home and in 1944, she ordered a new ceramic bathtub which was to be installed in the new home.

Alas, it was not to be. In October 1944, she and all the ethnic Germans living in Dobanovci were advised to leave as the Russians were approaching.

She and her family loaded horse-drawn wagons with their goods - with every hope and intention that they would return - and left Dobanovci. It would be thirty years before they returned.

They met with many challenges as refugees before finally settling in a small town where the children could go to school and her husband and son could find work in a bakery.

Two years later they left for Canada by ship and settled in Essex County.

She continued to run her household and work on farms until her retirement in Kingsville. She enjoyed watching soap operas and tending to her small garden.

Her five children married and she had 15 grandchildren. By the time of her passing in 1990, she was a great-grandmother many times over.