Hi Dan
Saw your e-mail as I was searching Gabas. Marianne is my cousin though I have not seen her in many years and probably would not remember me even though I am named after her brother Charlie who passed away as a young man of twenty and she is my godmother. And indeed she did date Ricky Nelson and he even came to my Aunt and Uncle's house to meet the folks and we got to go over and meet him too. I grew up in Lyons Ill, a suburb of Chicago with other Gaba cousins, all girls. There were seven kids with four brothers and three sisters, also two older half siblings named Cihak. Only one of the brothers had sons that are still living. One of our cousins did an extensive family tree history and have visited the Czech Republic where our grandparents are from, in Bohemia right on the Austrian border. Can't remember the city though. They came over in about 1907.

I am really trying to find the origins of the name Gaba. I have read there was a group of Celts in Eastern Europe called Gabales who worked in Silver mines in the first century BC. By the way how do you pronouce your name, we say it as Gay-ba but I know some who pronouce it as Gob-ba