In our second series, we’ll be going in a different stylistic direction, because I never got around to interviewing the subject in the same comprehensive manner that I did the subject of our first series, Gertrud Braun. A lot of that is down to the fact that some people always seem like they are invincible and that no matter what trials they might face, there will always be more time to sit down and have that interview.

The subject of our second series, my father Patrick Lamb, was one of those people. As you’ll hear in the next few episodes, he had cheated death so many times that when he finally succumbed to complications from a heart attack on June 10, 2023, at the age of 72, it was shocking to any number of friends and acquaintances.

Since we never did get to have that formal interview, I have had to settle for the second best option, which is to share the four speeches from his funeral with all of you. While the audio on these recordings might be a little unpolished, as it was pulled from a video shot by my mom’s best friend who was sitting in the audience, I hope you will still listen and enjoy just some of the stories about the almost invincible man that was my father, Patrick Lamb.

We start the series with two remembrances offered by my sister Rachel Lamb and my wife Jennifer Lamb.

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Up to this point in the series, I’ve tried to let Gertrud tell her story in her voice and only include my voice where it was needed to help frame the story. In this last episode, you’ll be hearing my voice a lot more, as there was no practical way to remove it while keeping the story intact. So here is my conversation with Gertrud Braun about becoming a US citizen and why she waited so long to do so.

In this episode, Gertrud tells us about meeting her husband Otto Braun, his family background, and how they eventually came to own their farm.

At the end of our previous episode, Gertrud had just arrived from Germany to her uncle’s farm in Cazenovia, NY. There would be little time to rest, however, as she would soon join the American working world.

During our previous episode, Gertrud recalled the ending of WWII and her family’s flight from Suhl, in the Soviet occupation zone, to her parents’ hometown of Flensburg, located in the extreme north of Germany on the Baltic Sea. While Gertrud and her family had returned to familiar ground, her long-term future didn't lie in Flensburg.

During our previous episode, Gertrud discussed all the moves she had made throughout her childhood, both with her family and as part of the Kinderlandverschickung child relocation scheme. At the end of the episode, Gertrud and her family had reunited and were living on a farm owned by her maternal grandfather’s family. However, the war was not yet over, and neither was their family’s journey.

At the conclusion of the previous episode, Gertrud and her family had just moved from an estate in the countryside where her father was running a camp for children to Rudow in suburban Berlin, where he was placed in a new assignment as a vocational instructor. In this episode, Gertrud talks about the unexpected turns her life took with the outbreak of World War II.

In this first real episode of the Family Bites Podcast, we begin hearing the story of my cousin Gertrud Braun (nee Bader). Gertrud lived a fascinating life, spanning over 90 years, two continents, and a world war. This is the start of her story.

A brief introduction to the Family Bites Podcast by host Gideon Lamb.