A long time ago, my Uncle Emil got a computer. He had some skills, and some software, and proceeded to put together a short newsletter highlighting some family news. The Condrau News was born that day.
Editor’s note: I have loads of family on my mother’s side, mostly in and around Vancouver BC with some in California and some in the greater NY area and me in Orlando and, later, Texas. There must be at least a hundred of us.
Every once in a while (Uncle Emil wasn’t going to bow to the pressures of regular publishing schedules!) he and Aunt Audrey would collect stories from various people and start their rewrites and such, and finally knock out another edition. They had some regular contributors – my brother Joe would send a “what’s up in NY” segment, and Uncle Ed in California had his own including the latest in his never-ending quest for the most discounted purchase ever. That, and a liberal sprinkling of clip art (I did say this was a long time ago) was what made the Condrau News special.
Emil had a special place in my heart. When I was 10 years old or so, he sent me for Christmas a boxed set of the first three Dune novels. I have a vague recollection of never really having read much fiction before that (not counting Dr Seuss and such) and Dune was hard for a ten year old to get into. Indeed, it took me three separate attempts to get past the first 30 pages. But once I did, the idea of science fiction captured my imagination and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Editor’s note: I think at some point someone mistyped Email for Emil and the nickname stuck.
When Uncle Emil passed away in 2007, it left a hole in our hearts as well as signalling the end of the Condrau News. So, after a short while I started a Facebook page to replace the newsletter, so we could directly post the latest news ourselves. We’re better informed than ever now, thanks to it and the Condrau Calendar. (Yes, we have a family calendar thanks to Joe with pictures and birth dates and anniversaries and stuff.)