Joan, That is a sad story. I guess when my Mom reminisced about her beet topping days she was looking at the bright side of adversity. When she was young she developed polio in both legs, but that did not stop her from going out and doing her share. Don't think my Grandfather would want her to do otherwise as everyone pitched in on the farm duties. Funny you mention it, my Grandmother on the Sewald side also came down with dementia and also complained feverishly about how hard the work was as well. She was not from the village of Seewald. On my Mother's, side Pfeif and Hartung, were from the village of Frank and lived to have not symptoms of dementia. Dennis -----Original Message----- From: ger-volga-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:ger-volga-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of J Welch Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 2:42 PM To: GER-VOLGA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [GV] Beet topping season Dennis, My story is probably a sad one about sugar beets. I was born in Platteville, Colorado and grew up in that sugar beet country because my dad was a farmer. My mother along with her 9 brothers and sisters all had to work the "beet fields" from Nebraska to Sugar City to the Greeley area during their growing up years. Those were not pleasant memories for her. As she aged and dementia began to set in I watched her regress back into childhood and beyond. One of the saddest parts of it was hearing her over and over reliving those hot, miserable days in the "beet fields" and how hard the work was. She would tell anyone that crossed her path about the hard work. It was almost a blessing when she finally regressed beyond the beet fields". My dad's sister did about the same thing. This brings me to a question for the list. Years ago I seem to recall hearing that a study had been done about Alzheimer's (dementia) with the Germans from Russia. The villages of Walter and Frank had an unusually high ratio of it as I recall. Any one have any more information about this? Joan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis L. Sewald" <dennis@sewald.name> To: <ger-volga@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 11:56 AM Subject: [GV] Beet topping season > Hello all; > > Just came back from a trip to Greeley, Colorado to pick-up some our great > farm grown Colorado produce with my Mom. Being raised in Brighton, > Colorado > on a farm they raised sugar beets. During the drive Mom reminisced about > her adventures working in the fields topping beets with her brothers and > sisters. Guess it was pretty hard work all hand labour working in the hot > sun. Anyone out there have some good ol' sugar beet topping stories? > > > > Dennis Sewald > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GER-VOLGA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.11/944 - Release Date: 8/9/2007 > 2:44 PM > > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GER-VOLGA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message