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As you can see, Verena Castle was a beautiful woman.
This is a brief summary of Verena's life. Please click on
the links for details.
Early Life
Vreni Fankhauser grew up during the Depression, and she was
a teenager and young adult during World War 2.
Like many of her generation, she knew the value of a dime,
and collected them.
Vreni was an artist, she learned to paint china at the
Limoges factory.
Shortly after she came to the United States she won an art
scholarship to the university in Mexico City in 1956, and
chose to get married instead.
Her marriage resulted in a son, then her husband abandoned
her and she ended up raising the child herself.
She gave the child, a boy, a good life, and sacrificed
greatly on his behalf.
Meanwhile she found ways to express her creativity, for
herself and her son. Here is an example, she drew this with
chalk when her son joined the Woodcraft Rangers:
Emigration
When Vreni Fankhauser came to the United States in 1954, she
spoke seven languages fluently, and couldn't
get a job. (Because English wasn't one of them). She looked
everywhere she thought they might need translation
services - consulates, airline counters, lawyers... In
today's world she would have had a job in 24 hours,
back then it was different.
So she applied her creative talents in a different
direction. First she became a fashion designer for the
Hollywood
crowd in the early 60's, working for names like Michael
Novarese, and catering to the red carpet crowd.
All this while she was raising her child, and when the boy
was 5 years old, took him to Switzerland, to live there for
a year. The boy met his relatives and became aware that he
was part of a large family.
Upon return the child entered elementary school, and was
advanced a year relative to the other children. Verena
emphasized his education, in school as well as in
extracurricular interests and hobbies, and she stayed
involved. Some of her artistic creations are now on display
at her son's various schools.
In the 70's when her son entered high school and elegance
started going out of fashion, Verena switched to real
estate. She became a licensed
real estate broker and started her own business called
Castle Realty, which survived for 35 years. The
"Verena's Castle" logo on the home page was her design, for
her business.
Later Life
Verena Castle was a private person.
She didn't reveal her feelings, and she didn't
tell anyone much of anything - even her own family.
At age 92 she revealed to her son for the first time,
that she had suffered a traumatic anoxia at age 5, which
required her family to take her to the research hospital in
Bern, where the doctors could not revive her for several
days. Apparently she was locked into a small chest while
playing, and by the time they found her it was hours later.
Verena aged gracefully, even though she became
increasingly impatient with the world, as many
older people do. She suffered three strokes in a row,
the third one was serious and rather than remain in a
nursing home she chose to live her last days in hospice
care at home. Her son took care of her during her last days,
and she was comfortable till the very end.
(this site is still under development)
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