My German Roots Journey

Let me introduce myself. My name is Marianne Shue, but please call me Ann and Whimsically Knotted is my small creative business.

Growing up in a tiny rural town of 220 people and no stop light in the northern part of Germany about 55 minutes from Hanover, lead me to appreciate country living. City living is not for me.

Now let me share a little bit about my family, I am the baby and only girl with two older brothers and when I say older brothers I mean older. Ha, Ha! My brothers were 17 and 14 years older than me. Talk about starting over with a new baby. My Mom was 39 when I came along and of course I was Daddy’s (Papa in German) little girl.

When I was 10 years old, I lost my Papa to a heart attack and my brothers stepped up to help raise me and give me guidance. My Mom lived a long life and passed away at the wonderful age of 96, three days before her 97th birthday. All the different events in my life shaped who I am today. I finished school and graduated at age 16. After school I started a vocational job at a clothing store, going to school several days a week and working the other days, graduating in 1982.

Then I fell in love with an Army soldier, we were married in Germany and our little baby girl was born near my hometown. When she was 8-month-old we moved for the first time to the US, our duty station was in Missouri. In 1985 we moved back to Germany near Butzbach and stayed there for about 3 years. Our little boy was born in Germany as well in 1988 and in July of that year I followed my husband and daughter to our next duty station near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. We stayed in Pennsylvania for 3 years and then we moved again back to Germany. This time we were stationed in the southern part of Germany. We didn’t stay there long and moved for the last time back to the States to Concord North Carolina at the end of 1992 and we have been here ever since.

Now you know a little bit about me, more to come soon.