	THE BORSINGER CHRONIK

JOSEPH ALOIS LEO born Oct.30,1884 and died May 7, 1931, son of Carl and Josephine,born Hanauer Primary school in Emmetten. His mother wanted him to become a priest, sent him to the Stella Matutina, Jesuit school in Feldkirch,Austria where he stayed from 1894-97 and from there to the Collegium in Schwyz, not wanting to become a priest and not liking Latin nor Greek he did not do well scholastically and did not finish. On the advise of his uncle, William Hanauer he was to be prepared to take over the maintenance at the Schoeneck and was sent to the Kunstgewerbeschule (art trade school) in Lucerne.He liked it and we kept some beautiful crafted roath iron candleholders and lamps. Finishing this school he went to a business-school in Neuchatel,also for the French language and for the English to a privat family in England. Then he worked at a Hotel in Scheveningen,on Holland’s seashore (which Jo and I visited during our Holland tour in1987). and for one season he was in Florence (Italien language). In 1909 he worket at the Hotel Titlis in Engelberg and later on in Hotels in Vulpera, Tarasp, Hotel Waldhaus, also in Rome, Paris, Annecy,Villars sur Olon in positions up to Concierge and then up at the Schoeneck. Oct.14,1912 marriage to Maria Agnes Hedwig Flueler fom the Stanserhof in Stans where he frequently had stopped in on his horseback ridings.It was a big wedding with 80 people,my grandfather took the wedding picture I found the negative and used it to copy many of the faces on it which I enlarged , otherwise we never would have had them for the Chronic. My parents stayed up at the Schoeneck for 4 years but during off saison my father went to work in other hotels as mentioned . During W.W.I 1914-18 he served together with his brother in the Cavalry, Carl moved up to lieutenant and Papa took his place as Fourier, (quatremaster.) When the first child, Elsa was born he sneeked away from his troups in Sargans and had on his return pay with confinement, During the war Maxli and I were born, we lived in the farmhouse upstairs in the shade of pinetrees and overlooking the pond., which was the reservoir for the power station. At the Schoeneck my father was working in the office, my mother In the laundry or supervising the chambermaids, while Karl was the Director and Olga Mrs.Director living lavishly at the doctorshouse,and things did not go smooth, the War had brought a steep decline in business, and with 5 000 Fr. from his mother, my father left and rented the Hotel Kastanienbaum near Lucerne which at that time was a small Hotel, only about 50 rooms, with a large gardenrestaurant for weekend visitors from Lucerne, comming by boat, our porter had to mann the boatlanding. The war went on and then the depression did not help and my dad lost 4 000Fr. The death of my brother Maxli affected my mother, she wanted to move away from the water and my father had it with “Saison-Hotels” and wanted a year around place. They found the Hotel Krone in Lenzburg, which had been neglected and the HERO “Conserve factory”neede a good place for its clients.The place was rented for one year and then bought for 130 000 Fr. and HERO gave a 11 000 Fr. second morgage which helped my father update and enlarge the place. And business was good. Dad could enjoye his hoby and went hunting in the fall. I remember well when ones a year he had to get into his uniform (from W.W.I), clean his gun and go for inspection. Politically he was independent, turning down the invitation of several parties to bring him to the polingboot in Horw, he went by himself on his bicycle. We kids spent hours with him in the cellar, which he managed by himself, cleaning,filling, corking and labeling bottles, at times going inside 300 liter barrels to scrub them from the inside by candlelight, while Dad was watching outside carefully. My father ones took me in his office after he heared that I expressed my wish to become a Doctor. He explained that he does not have the money for it and that he wanted me to become a Hotelier like all the Borsingers before me, to get the proper education from the cellar up to concierge and office and to become a Director of a Hotel,not to land up like him as an “Inkeeper”! More and more he must have become disappointed in life and he became an alcoholic. My mother expressed how many times he tried to stay away from and finally-after a severe fall down the cellar stairs, he consented to a one year treatment at Dr. Krayenbuehls Clinic in Ziehschlacht-near Bischofszell. which he completed. Returning home things went swell for a while, but not for long. He also was a 2 pack cigarette (Parisienne) smoker, and in 1930 noticed a had lump on his neck. Dr .Leimgruber referred him to a surgeon who advised immediate surgery.Having made plans for a long overdue vacation, the surgery was delayed and my parents enjoyed a good vacation in the Tessin. All but one vacation my father took with only my mother, but the one with the entire family became especially memorable. From Sachseln through the Melchtal we hiket up to the Frutt,where we stayed over night and dipped shortly into the icy-cold lake.Next day we went over the Jochpass, and comming down could slide on our behind on snow. In Engelberg we stayed over night in the Hotel Titlis. Well,my father entered the Hospital in Aarau after his vacation and was operated by Dr. Eugen Bircher, and a malignancy of the thyroid was found, could not be removed compleately, and the cauthery was used where suitable. It happened that in about 1943 I assisted Dr. Bircher while he did a meniscectomy on one of his very privat patient at the Hospital in Solothurn, when he asked me: Do you know what your father had? I said Ca of the thyroid. No,he said he had a sarcoma of the thyroid, Diagnosis: Pleomorphic Giant Cell Sarcoma of the thyroid. Only 10% one year survival.(Today treated with Adriomycin.) My father came back from the hospital but never left our privat quatre, the wound drained and the tumor grew to almost babyhead size on his neck and finally practically suffocated him. I fixed a room in black and he was layed out in flowers. Never have I seen a bigger funeral in Lenzburg and the cadetts I commandet carried the wreights to his grave. MARIA AGNES HEDWIG born Flueler Nov.1,1890 and died Jan.7,1991,wife of Joseph Alois Leo. The Fluelers originate from Stansstad.Her grandfather Alois was married to a Langenstein, he became policedirector of the canton Unterwalden and moved to Stans, and they had 3 sons 1) Friedrich started his own Bank,then moved to Schwyz and was the founder and lifelong director of the Kantonalbank. had 14 children from 2 wifes. The oldest was Pater Bernhard OSB my art and music teacher in Einsiedeln Then Max, made his thesis in Berlin where he married a “Berlinerin”,three of his 5 children were Doctors, Dr.phil,Dr.iur,and Dr.med,Max who went to Medical school with me, in the military to the officers and captain-school and we worked together in Solothurn. Then Hermann who became Director of Agfa in Milan, Norbert,Hedwig Elsa and Maria,who’stepson is Dr.Gustav Durrer, Dentist at Rockefeller Center NYC maried to the daughter of Ammann,the bridgebuilder, and is Lawrence’s godfather, and 7 more children from the second wife, we had close contact with all of them, and ones with Max and the wife of one of the Fluelers I climbed the Northwall of the Mythen . The second son of Alois was Edward who became Pater Norbert OSB in Einsiedeln, was a missionary and exellent preacher,became Archivar of the Swiss National Archives in Schwyz and later on of the Archives at the monastery,where he showed me the portrait of P.Phillip Borsinger. We have (Dr.Carl Flueler in Stans) a family tree back to Saint Niklaus von der Flue (brother Claus,who lived in the 14 th century)in 15 Generations, and now also a tree on the Hess’es side (my mothers mother) of 13 generations going back to brother Claus.(in my possession) And now to the Hess side. My mothers grandfather was a M.D in Kerns,who died relatively young of Appendicitis-prior to the time when they started to operate. His widow had 5 children to bring up and ran the Hotel Sonne in Kerns. The first were twins,one of them died, the other married a Kathriner.in Sarnen. Paul was a dentist and was my first dentist in Stans across from the Stanserhof, the drill still driven by footpedal! His wife was a Deschwanden, sister to the 2 famous churchpainters. We have one small scetch ”Mother with child on a churchpew” given to Jo by Grete Hess,who did the childrens hour on Radio. Paul’s son became also a dentist and was my dentist whom I visited in Rapperswil when I studied in Einsiedeln, he was a good musician as well. Hedwig was single. Franz build two Hotels the Burgflue-which he sold and the Hotel Nuenalphorn above Sachseln,near the hermitage of brother Claus. He and his wife,born Michel had 4 sons who all died of leucemia in infancy and 4 girls who survived, one was Miggi,who came to the USA married a Kohler, residet in Bergenfield N.J. was at our wedding and shortly after died of a Glioblastoma of the brain. and the last child was Marie, my grandmother,who became Joseph Flueler’s second wife after his first one died of TB in the first year of their marriage. When the railroad from Stansstad to Engelberg was built, Joseph became relieve stationmaster, but then he and his wife built the Hotel Stanserhof and raised 5 children. Edward died 21 years old returning from England wit TB, my mother Maria, Joseph who became an M.D.,practiced in Montana and died young of perforated ulcer leaving his wife with 4 ,one unborn, children. Pierre became a Jesuit, 2 girls are married and the youngest Jacque was born after his fathers death,became my godchild as his father (we called him uncle Peppi) was my godfather Jacque tragically died young, aftereffects of a severe accident. No 4, Alfred, married Agnes Walker and moved to Lima ,Peru, came back,worked for BBC (Brown Bovery) in Baden who sent him to Camden N.J. where Helen,was born,therefore is U.S citizen. From here was called back to Peru,then moved to Santiago,Chile,lost his wife and after W.W.2 returned for a visit to Switzerland found my sister Elsa,whom he married and had two children with her. They retired in Switzerland and my mother moved in with them. No 5 Friedrich (Fritz) came to New York City,went to Chicago from where Alfred let him come to Peru and returned in 1924 to Switzerland, where he worked for HERO,met Hermine Michel, Olga’s cousin at the Schoeneck and married her, they had one son Hansjoerg while still in Lenzburg. He then was made director of the HERO conserve factory in Saxon,Valais, which position he held until he had to retire because of his severe Rheumatoid arthritis. They moved in with my mother at the Schlossgasse in Lenzburg until they found an apartment in Rueschlikon near Zuerich, where we visited them in 1958, he died of a perforated ulcer. Maria,Agnes Flueler ment through primary school with the Nuns in Stans.1905-06at an Institut in Bulle,where she id well and wanter to complete her bachaloreat in commerce, but the financial conditions did not allow it.1908-to Jan.4,1910 in England whereshe worked for a Swiss Bank.1911 - 2/2/1912 in Turin and Genua with a family,taking care of their chilldren. She was sent ther in order to forget the man who came to visit her on horseback frequently,Joseph Borsinger. The family thought he would never become serious with her, was from a wealthy family and would never marry her. Howeved,letters went back and fourth and finally Mary wrote to him,that they should brake up. The letter crossed with his,telling her that he is on the way to pick her up, because in Genua a pleage broke out. They met in Milan and on Febr.14,1912 te engagement was celebrated at the Schoeneck. The wedding on Oct.14 became a big event,Pater Norbert was the celebrant at the St. Ann’s chapel,80 guests were present, my grandfather took the weddingpicture.(I later found the negative from which I was able to copy and enlarge many of the Borsingers, who’spicture I kept for the Chronik). The honeymoon was to Milan,Rome where they stayed with relatives ,had a privat audience with Pope Pius X, and I have to mention it, in 1965 when I took my mother with us on our vacation, she was kneeling at the altar of the now Saint Pius X and visited his tomb.They continued there honeymoon by boat to Marseille and back to Switzerland and moved into the apartment on top of the farmhouse, where Elsa,Maxli and I were born. Papa worked in the office, Mama in the laundry or supervising the chambermaids. The athmosphere was not congenial and in 1916 they moved to Kastanienbaum, where she lost Maxli by drowning in the lake while visiting with a neighbors friend, and where Hedy and Fredy were born. In 1922 we all moved to Lenzburg, uncle Karl brought us there with his “Zettel” automobile, how well do I remember those rides! After my fathers death in 1931 she ran the Hotel, her parents retired and moved into an apartment,visiting us daily, and when grandfather died in 1931,grandma moved in with us in room No 14 at the Krone,mending our stockings and helping with the laundry and taking care of the flowers. When my mother sold the Hotel,”Grossmutterli” moved in with her at the “Schlossgasse” she later fell, broke her hip, was operated in Aarau, I gave her the local anesthesia and assisted, she recuperated, but was never the same again. She always said: I want to live until you,Guido, get married. Our day of marriage was Nov.19, the same as hers. We sent a cable to them after our marriage and she died the same day, Nov.19,1950!! After her death and Elsa moved to Chile, Mama moved to the Buergenstock and enjoyed to work at the reception for several years, but tragically on March 6,1958 the hotel burned down killing Hedy and her two boys, mama stepping out on the balcony with Hedy’s girl and being saved. She then moved in with my brother Fredy in Gockhausen and after Elsa and Alfred came back from Chile she moved in with them. She started to travel at the age of 62 and went three times to Chile, on the way home visited Marianne Baumgartned-Flueler, her niece in Caraccas,Venezuela, then us in Farmingdale,Stonypoint and Upper Nyack and ones Mario in London. After the death of Alfred, she moved with Elsa to Niederhasli, the last 3 years spent at a nursinghome, where she celebrated her 100 st birthday and we visited her for the last time, and wher she died and was burried in Niederhasli, next to Alfred and Elsa.