FORWARD
January 18, 1976
To Our Dear and Wonderful Family:
With much hope but many misgivings, we will endeavor
to record our lives, as we remember them. We realize that
we may overlook many things that are important to each of
you, but maybe, at some future date, we will be able to
supplement the original copy with numerous additions.
Our literary ability is lacking in many ways but every-
thing you will read is fact and truth. We don’t know whether
to label it “Drama” or "Comedy” but there is sadness and
humor as the revelations and memories unfold.
We don’t claim to be perfectionists, we only try to do
our best in the things we undertake.
Love and Prayers,
Dad and Mother

In 1903, in the beautiful month of September, on the 20th day, the eleventh child of Michael and Ida Haag was born in a farm house located on the old homestead about three miles northeast of Olpe, Kansas. He was christened by Fr. Sylvester and given the names Albert Joseph. Fr. Sylvester was later sent to China where he spent many years as a missionary. One year he returned to Olpe wearing a Chinese queue. He was also then Bishop Espelage. Albert's sponsors at baptism were Mr. and Mrs. John Sterbenz, Mrs. Sterbenz (Mary) being his oldest sister.
We don't know many instances that took place in Albert's young life, except losing the index finger of his right hand which happened while Grandpa Haag was sowing wheat. Curiosity, the most common trait of most growing boys overcame the small lad as he watched the golden grain dropping into the ground, so he decided to investigate by placing his finger down into the auger; immediately, it became entangled in the mechanism and was cut badly. Grandpa Haag stopped the team and came to the rescue. With his pocket knife, he cut away the damaged tissue, causing the severed leader to slip far back into the small hand. This necessitated a hurried trip to the doctor by horse and buggy. Albert very nearly lost his hand in the days that followed, but luckily it healed and the hand was saved by an act of God, we know. How else could he provide for that family that was to invade his future life?
The following year, he started to school at District 96, just one- half mile south of his farm home. His first teacher was Marie Duggan, now Mrs. Preston Langley. One day heavy rain filled the ditches, and after school was dismissed, little Albert was carried across the deep water by an older schoolmate, Anna McCullough, who became Mrs. Charles Ellis. (Fat chance of the little mortal carrying him now.) Another day, mischief so often dominates young brothers' lives, Albert and Sylvester tried their luck with smoking, either matches or red coals fell onto the dry hay in the cattle shed and caused quite extensive damage.
When Albert was eight years old, Grandpa and Grandma Haag, with Ida, Margaret, Mike, John, Albert and Sylvester, retiring from farming, moved to Olpe into the house which is now owned by Uncle John and Aunt Erma. They had purchased this home from Wendell Pimple's father.
The boys acquired a B.B. gun and often used it very unwisely. Grandpa Haag had a horse in town and occasionally he would notice it kicking its heels up in the air or running wildly. He made the remark one day about that crazy horse. Later he found out that. Albert and Sylvester were using him as a target; another time Sylvester aimed at Paul Markowitz, as he was walking to work, stinging his leg quite intensively. After Grandpa was informed of this incident, the boys were deprived of their toy for a month.
Albert attended St. Joseph's Catholic School, just across the street from the church. Sister Modesta was the principal at that time. With her and the other sisters lived three of her nieces, Mary, Laura and Bertha Eberle, whose mother had previously passed away.
At about the time your daddy started to school, in fact the spring of 1so9, your mother came into the world, March 22. They tell me that it was a very rainy day. Dr. Patton drove his team of horses from Olpe for the delivery. The baby was christened Helen Rose. Grandma Brown (Barbara) and Grandpa Krebeck (Joseph) were her sponsors. My birthplace was a new
house, which Grandpa Brown had built. It was located about half way between Olpe and Emporia, just east of the present Emporia airport. The house was then referred to as the half-way house since it was half-way between Olpe and Emporia. It has since been remodeled and is owned by Gibson’s. When I was two years old we moved to a small house about three miles west of Olpe where we lived until I was four. Grandpa was in the hardware business with Mr. Sheridan at this time. It was when we were living there that Grandma Brown shot the neighbor's squirrel for dinner, unaware that it was a pet. Also during the time we lived here, Grandpa had a house built in Olpe. It now belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Fred Hohne.
It stands directly east of the Knights of Columbus Hall in Olpe. This is where I lived when I started to school at St. Joseph's in the old St. Joseph's Church. The present structure was dedicated in 1910, when I was one year old. The Knights of Columbus hall was formerly St. Joseph's grade school. It was moved to its present location from the school grounds across the street.
When I was in the second grade, we were taught German, but that was discontinued when our nation became involved in World War I with Germany, so what I knew about the German language I soon forgot.
In 1912, on June 2, your daddy received his First Holy Communion. In 1915, on May 2, your mother received her First Holy Communion and received the Sacrament of Confirmation the afternoon of the same day. Our pastor at that time was Fr. Peter Welling. His housekeeper was the beloved Brother Emil. At this time of our lives Albert and Helen were not aware of each other’s existence.
On August 8, 1913, I was blessed with a sister Veronica. She was a dear little girl with blond hair and blue eyes and quite frail. Three years later the two of us became sick with ptomaine poisoning. Veronica succumbed on August 8, 1916, her third birthday. I had taken sick in church the previous Sunday and after her death I miraculously recovered in the old St. Mary's Hospital, which was located just north of the Sacred Heart Church in Emporia. It was then that they told me about Veronica's funeral, the hearse being pulled by six white horses. The months following were a traumatic time for mama. Mary Catherine was born the following winter, on January 2, 1917.
Roller skating was always a challenge; consequently the town kids would keep the sidewalks busy learning to skate. Piano lessons came next in my life as Grandpa had purchased a new piano. My first teacher was Mrs. Hoover who commuted by train from Emporia. The train arrived at 10:00 a.m. and returned to Emporia about 5:00 p.m. In later years I commuted the same way when I took piano lessons from Mrs. Tilford.
About this time many young Olpe men were serving their country as Army buddies in the trenches of France. Among them were Nick Nuessen, Fred Hohne, Ted Hohne, Leo Miller, Dick Langley, Preston Langley and Alex Brinkman. The great influenza epidemic caused many deaths at Camp Funston. That year, on Thanksgiving Day, Grandma prepared her delicious turkey and dressing dinner and Grandpa delivered it to the local families who were suffering from the epidemic. Aunt Margret Schadegg had been severely stricken with the flu which caused the retarded condition of her baby, born later. About this time Uncle Frank Krebeck died of flu and pneumonia, Uncle Ed had broken his ankle and died of a blood clot, Uncle Joe passed away after surgery - all of this in a period of nine months. Only the oldest brother, Harry Krebeck was left, and mama’s sisters, Anna, Agnes and
Rose. Mary, a nun, had died previously.
World War I terminated November 11, 1918. Quite a group of people organized a caravan and travelled to Emporia and Hartford and back to Olpe. At both stops patriotic songs were sung for the joyous occasion. I remember how thrilled I was. Dad informs me that he was with the group also.
Jacob, Jr. (Bud) came along about this time, October 2, 1918. Grandpa had purchased the 80 acre farm from Mr. and Mrs. Francis Rosaillion. Much of the furnishings were included in this transaction. I was in the seventh or eighth grade when we moved to this new home where I lived through my high school years and until our marriage in 1928. Through the years
following that move, the new babies arrived intermittently until we reached nine in all-four girls and five boys. This is the order of their births: Helen, Veronica, Mary Catherine, Jacob, Jr. (Bud), Virginia, Norbert, Justin, Francis (Fritz) and Harry. Poor Harry, more than once the other bays would carry him to the house after he had been struck with a ball or something else. He always revived and grew up to be the largest and strongest of the clan.
One Christmas, during my high school years, I received a bicycle. I made numerous trips to town on errands, often with a younger brother or sister riding on the handlebars. After Bud fell off and I ran over him, the double riding was eliminated. Grandpa had an interest in several oil leases. Frequently on a summer evening, the family would drive out to the rig anticipating a "gusher" coming in - no such luck.
About the time I was a junior in high school, Albert would just "Happen by” as I was walking home from school and transport me the remainder of the way. One Sunday evening some of the young people organized a skating party. Fred Gerleman called and asked me to go. Somehow I was considered his girl, but this was the first time we had dated. Fred was working at the soda fountain at the drug store and had to lock up before he could leave. So, he sent Johnnie Diebolt, along with some other kids to pick me up. Then we picked up Fred and all drove on to Rossillionls creek. I had let Albert know about the party when we stopped in town, and he joined us, even though he was a little older. It seems he and I spent more time
together than Fred and I did, and in the course of the evening, since he had a Runabout Ford, and Fred didn’t have transportation, I agreed to let him take me home; but first we took Fred and several of the other kids home. This was my "wildest" night!
After this skating incident, Dad became braver and more frequently he would ask me for a date. Occasionally we would attend a picture show in Emporia. I distinctly remember one night after a heavy rain that day; we travelled to Emporia through the mud to the show. The three-inch wide tires followed the rut and we got there O.K. There was no gravel or surface on the roads at that time.
It was about this time that Olpe was blessed with electricity so we discarded the kerosene and gas lamps and flat iron and got a new electric iron. I still have Grandma's first electric iron, the heavy thing. One winter, in these years, Aunt Mary, Grandma and I carted
wool by hand and later made a wool comforter.
During the summer season, the Olpe baseball team played many Sunday games in Grandpa's pasture, just north of our house. Later, rodeos were also held here. fe always had a pony. Dick was the greatest, Billy the most aggravating. The only time Billy would run
was when we tried to catch him. This is a good time to use Grandma's favorite expression "slow as molasses in January".
Many summer days while I was hitching the pony to the spring wagon, Grandma would pack a picnic lunch, and after loading the children, Mary Catherine, Buddy, Virginia and Norbert, we were off fo the creek for the day. This was my method of babysitting. One particular day, I especially remember, we were approaching the incline to a bridge. Billy
resented the extra pull and so "balked"; in reverse we were headed for the ditch. I immediately jumped from the wagon, tried desperately to hold it as one by one the children unloaded, one grabbing the reins, and Billy, feeling his load lighten, obligingly carried us safely across.
We continued home by way of Perrier's, Bechtel's, Specht's and Traffas'.
Diamond was our good riding horse and many times when Grandpa needed him to drive cattle from farms 10 to 15 miles out in the country, I would mount him at dawn, and precede Grandpa to the country where he came later in the car. Then we traded transportation. With the help of the former cattle owners, mounted on their horses, the drive was on its way to the Olpe stockyards where the cattle were loaded and shipped by rail to markets in Kansas City, St. Joe or Fort Worth. Grandpa often accompanied them by riding in the caboose. Diamond was also a good buggy horse. Johnnie Nuessen, who worked for Grandpa fir several years, bought a new buggy and man y times he would take us riding on Sunday afternoon.
Grandpa also dealt in real estate and frequently made trips to Colorado and Denver. He always brought surprises from the city. One instance, I received an Indian squaw made from a dried apple, another time an Indian dress.
Grandpa had a pasture south of town and during haying season I’d take dinner to the workmen, then finish the day helping them in the field. One afternoon I raked through a nest of bumblebees and was painfully stung on my arms; a lonely scar remains.
These recollections revive the fun times we had with the Old boat down on the pond. If the water wasn't deep enough to row we would mud crawl behind. I don’t know how Grandma ever got our clothes clean.
I do recall one day when Aunt Rosie and Charlie, Rose and Hazel were there, Charlie came up from the pond all wet and Aunt Rosie made him stand, stooped over, on the cellar door 'til the sun dried his clothes. Alice and Charlotte were involved with us some of these times since they visited us frequently from Nebraska. Numerous times we fished for crawdads; we’d catch bucketsful and would then feed them to the chickens. We amusingly watched the crawdads crawl backwards from the chickens as they tried to peck them. Little did we know at that time what delicacies we were missing - baby lobster.
When Dad was old enough to be of good help on the farm, Grandpa Haag sent him out to help his brothers and sisters. I always blamed this for his dislike of babysitting. I think many times he worked too much for a boy his age, but Grandpa knew the antics young boys get into and so kept him out of trouble during the summer months. I don't know about Sylvester, but he sure got into plenty of scrapes; being the baby boy, I guess this was to be expected.
One winter Dad stayed with Uncle Will and Aunt Kate, while he took a business course at District 45. Bess Gorman was the instructor. He helped with the chores before and after school. Their farm was located west of Olpe about a mile. It was here that he trapped for muskrats.
One morning he fell through the ice and by the time he got to the house his clothes were frozen. Later Uncle Milt and Aunt Mary lived at this place, and I would walk down daily for milk. At this time Grandpa owned this farm and had a tile silo erected.
This brings back the memories of the threshing crew. Ed Bolz, driving his big steam engine and pulling the separator would blow the loud whistle as he pulled in for the ensuing two day job. This meant cooking dinner and supper for about 15 men. Grandma always helped Aunt Mary and Mae. One day, after threshing, as we were playing on the new straw stack, Mae disappeared. Uncle Charlie finally found her with the help of his pitch fork. This happened at Aunt Rosie's. Mae was always close to me and I felt more like she was my big sister. We were together often. At her marriage to Leo she chose me as her bridesmaid and her brother Miltie was best man.
Dad tells me that on his errands to town with horse and wagon he became aware of my existence, and that he decided to wait for me to grow up. All the while I was innocent of his designs. When he was 17 Grand-ma Haag died of "Brights Disease", at the age of 58. That was November
22, 1922.
The next year he and a companion named Meyers travelled to Iowa in a Model T Ford to shuck corn for the season. The following year he returned to Iowa to be best man for Uncle John and Aunt Erma at their wedding. Later he and Dukes Boar went to Chicago to seek employment for the winter. They took jobs with the American Car and Foundry Co. The next spring he came back to Olpe, bought a dray truck and hauled supplies for Bender's Grocery Store. About this time, I was first aware of him.
An annual event at St. Joseph's was the day before the Corpus Christi celebration when anyone who was able came to help set up outdoor altars for the procession the next day. Uncle Herman Nuessen always brought green grapes and wheat to use in decorating.         
During my high school years I took piano lessons from Sister Johanina. She had also trained me to play the church organ so I could be of service during her summer absence. For this I was compensated $2.00 per Sunday. At that time the-High Masses were sung in Latin by the all male choir. Some of those members were Carl Horning, a beautiful bass, Fred Voeste, tenor, and the other voices were supplied by Alex Brinkman, Emil Rossillion, Leo Brinkman and Johnnie Nueaaen , Fr. Paulinus was our pastor and later officiated at our marriage. With my earnings from this service, and while we were on our honeymoon, I purchased the occasional table and mirror which is still in our home.
My Grandma Brown made her home with Uncle Nick’s family after Aunt Lizzie died. After I learned to drive the car, I frequently drove out to see her. On very cold days I would sit on my feet to keep them warm as there weren't any heaters then and only Side curtains attached to the sides of the top. A lever on the left side of the floor controlled the forward and reverse action.
One particular spring day, after a rain, I started out to see Grandma. When I got to the railroad track, I noticed a puddle of water just ahead; fearing I might get stuck, I pulled down the gas lever to gun through the water. Was I ever surprised when the slush completely covered the windshield I had to stop and clean it off before I could continue on. Grandma suffered numerous heart failures and died when I was 15.
In 1926 I graduated. My cousin, Mary Brown and I were the only students who completed the four year course. As Sr. Egfrieda explained, since Mary was the eldest she became the valedictorian and I the salutatorian. Sr.Marcellosa had been our art instructor. She later left the Order, returned to France, and we heard she married. I have been an alumnus for 50 years this year.
Dad gave me a beautiful ruby ring for graduation. Since it fit my ring finger, Grandma being suspicious, had it made smaller for my little finger. In spite of that, I became engaged that summer, but I was denied the privilege of wearing my diamond. However, before we
could make the announcement to my parents, our friends Tony Boes and Loretta Perrier spent an evening playing cards with us and had noticed the ring. Surely, in the months to come they wondered what had happened; but by Christmas, when I received two cedar chests, one from Dad, the other from my parents, I bartered with mama to let me wear my ring in return for her keeping one cedar chest. So, on Christmas Day I happily and proudly displayed my beautiful diamond.
I might have been a school teacher after graduation, but state law required age 18 for that profession. A college degree was not required at that time.
            It was at this time that Charles Lindberg flew non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean. Al Smith was defeated for President of the United States. Popular songs included "On the Sidewalks of New York”, "Barney Google", "Collegiate", "Sweet Child", "Yearning", "Loveship", “Yes, We Have No Bananas” and “My Blue Heaven". “My Blue Heaven" turned out to be special to me as it was played repeatedly at my bridal shower, at which the entire community had attended in the Knights of Columbus hall.
            The young people’s societies of St. Joseph's Church were St. Aloysius, of which Dad served as-president, and St. Agnes of which I served as president simultaneously.
The children’s society was the Society of the Guardian Angel. It was at this time that the first
two societies bought the present crucifix for the cemetery.
            The next year we started making plans to be married. Grandma made my ivory satin dress. We purchased silver slippers for the occasion as white was out of season and not available. Our wedding day, Wednesday, January 11, 1928, was 70°. Mary Louise Perrier was my bridesmaid. She was lovely in yellow crepe de chine. Virginia, my little flower girl, had a blue crepe de chine dress with ruffled skirt. Her blue shoes were chalked to match her dress. Sylvester Haag was dads best man. At that time, street length dresses were in vogue.
            Lizzie Redeker was working as a hired girl for mama at this time, so it was she who prepared our wedding dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy and peas. I don’t remember cutting the cake. Only Grandpa Haag and our immediate family shared the dinner
in our home.
            After dinner, we travelled to Emporia for wedding portraits at the Alvord Studio, after which we left by train for our honeymoon. My going away dress was navy blue crepe de chine with a knife pleated front panel. The bodice had a dickey of champagne color with knife pleats and a tiny row of flower shaped glass buttons, 50 of them. Arriving in Kansas City we reserved a room at the Baltimore Hotel. The next morning we took a bus to the Montgomery Ward store where we bought a bedroom set, kitchen cabinet, the aforementioned table and mirror and a wool rug. That evening we dined with Aunt Fannie, Uncle Cel and Eldeen Acheson, and Grandma Herrington (Mae’s family). I remember we had lemon pie for dessert. The next day we travelled to Atchison to visit relatives. It was such a dismal rainy week and I got so homesick. The following week-end we arrived back in Olpe, by train. And what do you know; we were overdrawn at the bank - a fact that recurred frequently in the years to come.
            Now we were at home in our three room house, that Albert had purchased and moved from an oil field to a place two miles north of Olpe, presently known as the Dr. Davis farm, on highway 99. The largest room was 11’ x 11’. We had no closets, no running water-, kerosene lamps for light, wood burning range and a well about a city block away from which we carried water, and a new outdoor toilet. Two years later construction began on this road. All the work was done with teams and wagons. Much later it was oiled. The house has since been remodeled.
            The old bachelors shack that Albert had previously lived in was used to store corn, so eventually the rats found a good hiding place. We had an old wooden washing machine in the old house, hand operated, and a monkey stove on which we heated the wash water. It was in this house that I discovered the old dilapidated “what-not” that still graces the corner in our home. After much cleaning and polishing it has assumed its rightful place as a cherished antique. There was also a wood burning heating stove in the old house in the room that Albert used for a bedroom. The other furniture consisted of an oaken dresser that Cathy now has an iron stone bed and a couple of chairs. A door opened to a stairway or loft where old magazines found their way - a veritable fire hazard. Another door led to two deteriorating rooms, previously used as bedrooms, but later served as corn cribs, provided we raised any corn.
Several new born calves got a second chance by the heating stove in the old house. Many times we dried our wash on the lines we strung below the ceiling there.
            One certain Monday morning we arose in bright moonlight and Albert chopped wood for the stove to heat water for wash day. The clothes were hung to dry and we noticed it getting darker as the moon set. I called Central to verify the time. She said 4:00 a.m. We had mistaken 1:30 for 6:05.
            Periodically, tramps would find our house and ask for a snack. In return they'd split wood. About this time Knute Rockne met his death in a plane crash in Chase County, Kansas. Grandpa went to the site and was able to get a splinter of the plane. Fritz now has it. Babe Ruth played in the World Series in October 1928.
            On December 10, 1928, this happy union was blessed with their first offspring. He was named Howard Jacob. His grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa Brown were his godparents. He suffered many times from colic but otherwise became a healthy little boy. But on January 8, 1930, at the age of 13 months, Howard suffered what might have been a sad ending.
            It was a cloudy cold dismal day on January 8. As I did the evening chores, I carried several buckets of water from the well in preparation for the snow storm that was corning. I had filled both teakettles and placed them on the stove next to a bucket of water. Everything had to be kept out of reach of little hands, since Howard was at the curious age and active too. We kept the fire in the range burning vigorously as it also warmed the house. After supper as I prepared to wash dishes, I poured some of the boiling water into the dishpan on the table opposite the stove. As I put the teakettle back on the stove, I failed to place it away from the edge; it tipped and fell to the floor next to where Howard was sitting. His diaper and clothes quickly soaked up the hot water and as we hurriedly removed his clothes, some of the scalded skin came off with them. I can still see his little arms reaching for me with rolls of white cooked skin hanging down. It was a nightmare. Dr. Bierman was unavailable but the druggist, Max Klein, told us to swab it with alcohol. I shudder when I think of it. It was miraculous that he didn't suffer shock. However, with much love, care and prayers, sleepless nights and ultra violet ray light treatments, his life was spared and his scalded flesh healed almost miraculously. We carried him on a pillow for two weeks.
About this time Thomas Edison passed away.
            1929 was the beginning of the big depression. Rose Marie was born September 29, 1930. Grandpa Haag and Aunt Mary Herrington were her sponsors. Now we had a little girl that I could sew fancy dresses for. Of course Howard was wearing handmade clothes too, but now I could make a variety of boys and girls clothing. The new singer sewing machine, our first major appliance that we had purchased, was to pay for itself over and over again in the years to come. One year I sewed a dress for Mary Catherine. The skirts then were quite long; the next year, however, I couldn't get it short enough to suit her.
            Occasionally Virginia would spend a day with me. She liked to clean my cupboard. In the process she would play "church" and use a sherbet dish for a chalice. It proved to be quite time consuming but it helped me and amused her.   
            Another Monday morning, the traditional wash day, I was doing the weekly laundry over in the old house. Howard was three and Rose Marie about a year and a half. This was shortly after Christmas. I had left them playing in the house while I was busy washing, hoping they'd amuse themselves with the new rocking horse Dad had made for Howard, and Rose
Marie with her reconstructed doll house. But they had other ideas. I saw them standing at the bedroom window holding something up for me to see. I walked over to investigate and they had Christmas tree ornaments in their hands. Needless to say the tree came down that same day. It was an artificial tree, similar to those so popular now.
            The following spring, 1932, a second daughter arrived to start her life with our happy group. After much discussion, we finally chose to name her Dorothy Mae, but later, after Dad and her sponsors, Uncle Milt and Aunt Rosie had arrived at the church, Dad called home and asked if I would prefer to change it to Shirley Ann. All this time I was hoping he would do just that. So, Shirley Ann she became. She was a sweet baby and as she grew she became a very determined little girl. Uncle Milt called her his little "pepper box", She made up in temper what she lacked in size. One Christmas she received three dolls and deliberately tore them to pieces. At about the age of two she acquired the terrible habit of pinching other children who were much older and larger than she was. She was boss. However, she grew into a dear young lady with a happy and sweet disposition. I'll never forget the day she received her engagement ring. It was graduation night at Reading. I think Thouret Lea or Ida Jo was graduating. Shirley was working for the priests at Sacred Heart at the time, and had gone with Al to the school activities. When we arrived Shirley met us at the entrance of the high school, and in the presence of many of our friends she held up her left hand and said “look"!, and on her finger was a diamond ring. What an announcement! Was I ever shocked at the suddenness of such
personal news.
            From the time that Howard was a year old the country was experiencing the great depression. Banks were closing all over the land. We were renting our farm on a cash basis, $400 yearly. Corn at that time sold for 18¢ per bushel, hog prices fell to 2¢ per pound and cattle little more. To make matters worse the weather was in a dry cycle.
            Year after year, as spring arrived, farmers planted the seed hopefully expecting if not a bountiful harvest, at least a living and ability to pay their bills; but, year after year after the beautiful fields of corn had reached a promising growth, dry weather with hot winds caused
another crop failure. Sometimes the wheat fared quite well, if wind, rain or hail didn't ruin it before harvest.
            At this time the only fertilizer at hand was manure, so people kept their barns and sheds cleaned of animal wastes and spread it on their soil. Some farmers had manure spreaders. There were very few tractors at this time. One dry year, early in September, Dad was cutting corn with a binder. He reached back to release a part that had stuck, and as he leaned down, the hammer hit him in the eye. This was on Labor Day. I drove him to Emporia to the doctor. We finally got in touch with Dr. Eckdall. Being a holiday, we were lucky to find anyone to treat him. However, after he was treated and we were on our way back home, some irresponsible kid who was driving a car turned a corner too short and ran directly into us. This put our car out of commission. There we were without transportation. It being Labor Day, many people travelled to Olpe for the annual Knights of Columbus picnic supper. By getting in touch with Mae and Leo we found a ride home when they went to the supper.
            Preparing for a day in the field was quite an ordeal. Early in the morning, before breakfast, Albert proceeded to milk the cow, feed the horses in their stalls and then come back to the house to have breakfast with the family. After breakfast he would harness the teams and water
them at the tank which he filled by a hand pump. He would then proceed to the field to cultivate or whatever phase the crop required. It was after breakfast that I would dutifully feed and water the chickens and, weather permitting, turn them outside for the day. Early one morning when Albert had gone to the barn for the usual chores before breakfast, he saw a skunk in the driveway of the barn. He came back to the house or his shotgun and consequently and successfully shot and killed the skunk. And oh, the odor! Later when he was harnessing the horses to go to the field, they wouldn’t respond to "giddap" and "whoa" - the blast of the gun had deafened their ears. This lasted about half a day.
            Another time we had a nice rain shower and water was running off the barn roof making a trough-like place on the ground below. Rats hiding in the barn took advantage of the good drink and were lined up lapping the water. Again he got the gun and blasted along the foundation
killing a large number of them. One evening I accompanied him to the barn while he milked the cow. We heard something that sounded like kittens crying, so he began digging up the manure with a pitch fork, and in so doing turned up a nest of small skunks. They were so cute. Many
things happened in our first little home that I haven’t yet recalled.
            One morning, a very cold one, the thermometer read -11* in the bedroom. Besides the cooking range we had a kerosene heater that we used in very cold weather. The fumes were rather repulsive. During the summer months we used a three burner kerosene stove for cooking. We also had a two burner oven that rested on the top of the burners. Occasionally the gallon jug would burn dry and then we had a job of wick cleaning. It was a daily chore to fill the coal oil lamps and wash and shine the glass chimneys, and in the winter a supply of wood had to be carried in to start the morning fire. Frequently we soaked corn cobs in coal oil for a quicker start. Many times during a rainy season we would fill the oven with wood to dry it out so that we could get the fire hot enough to cook our dinner or bake our bread. Frequently we'd pick up and store dry cobs for starting the fire during the wet winter months.
            Talk about baking bread - we had some of the hardest hard tack you have ever heard of. Dad said at one time it would kill a bull. This was during the first year of our marriage. I was so mortified. Only people who had refrigerators or iceboxes could keep compressed yeast for baking. I rarely used it but relied on yeast foam which didn't improve with age, but did lose its potency. In later years I used yeast starter and we had very good bread.
            One day when we were getting ready to go to Emporia, I had dressed Howard and set him on the cedar chest with my jewelry box to entertain him while I got ready. Rose Marie was dressed and sitting in her bed. Howard soon tired of looking at my beads and found a scissors. Since we had no closet, our clothes: hung behind the bedroom door directly beside the cedar chest, so he decided to try his luck with the scissors and he cut a slice about 12 inches long up the back of' my good dress.
            Social life was almost nil in our early married life. Several couples our age would gather several times yearly for a covered dish meal and then the afternoon was spent visiting, settling children's squabbles, etc., but the men always managed to spend some time playing
"penny ante” Invariably, one or two of the children would over balance and fall in the ever present "slop bucket"; then, some borrowed clothes were pressed into service. At these times, Shirley got around performing her pet trick of pinching.
            About this time Dad began selling Stark Bros. nursery stock for a little much needed cash.
            In 1933 we made our first move. We had the opportunity to rent a larger farm with a much roomier house and on a share crop basis. This was the Remme farm located about five miles northeast of Olpe. After Rose Hellen and I had spent several days cleaning, we moved February 21 with hayracks and horses. It was a warm windy day about 75* and there was no more frost that spring. We had very little rain that year, so crops and gardens were sparse but there was a cherry tree and two apple trees which provided some delicious fruit.
            Some time previous to this, if my memory serves me correctly, Will Rogers and Wiley Post lost their lives in a flying accident; also, Amelia Earhart disappeared on her flight over the Pacific.
            I remember seeing the first "Powder Puff Derby" fly over our first little home. It was quite exciting as we seldom saw one plane and then to witness several in a short time was very rare.
            We had six rooms at this place, a nice yard and a cistern for our water supply. One room upstairs we reserved for our May altar and really it was sort of a little chapel. We used my little wooden altar that Mr. Crockenberger had made for me on order from mama and papa when we still lived in town. After supper we would retire here for our evening prayers, with lighted candles and bouquets of flowers on the altar.
            At this time I acquired my table and four chairs that Grandma and Grandpa had given me for my birthday many years earlier. They appear in the picture of Veronica and me. We still have the table. The kitchen floor at this place was very rough and Shirley, in the process of' crawling, acquired many splinters in her little knees. Our water supply was kept in the proverbial water bucket, with a dipper to drink from, which accommodated the whole household. Of course after the water was pumped and carried to the house it didn’t stay cool for any length of' time during the summer. One day Howard said "get some cold water, this is fresh”. He made his point, but the fact that milk is warm when it is was fresh confused him into assuming that water is fresh when it gets warm. Another time when he was about two years old he asked me "Why do cows carry milk in their satchels"?
            It was here that we acquired our first piano. Grandpa had evidently traded something for it and so gave it to us. I tried instructing Howard how to play but soon lost my patience trying to keep track of Rose Marie and Shirley at the same time, but really Rose Marie didn't get into too much - she was usually sucking her thumb. When we lived here, Al Waschter stayed with us for a while. One day he and I papered the bedroom. Howard and Rose Marie were messing around and proceeded to swing back and forth on the chifforobe doors. Their combined weight proved too much and the chifforobe fell forward. Luckily the doll buggy broke the fall sparing injury to them.
            At this time my old washing machine had given out and I was using a suction cup type washer with a wooden handle to do the laundry. Dad had begun working at the filling station located south of Soden's Bridge and just north of Morgan's, now Fanestil's packing house, so we felt the added income warranted the purchase of a power washing machine. We bought our first gas operated May tag machine. Was it ever a labor saver!
            It happened while we were living at this place that Shirley became aware of danger. As was mentioned previously, most kids her age and older respected her and kept their distance. She just wasn't afraid of anything or anybody. One evening as Dad was driving the horses down the lane after finishing a day in the field, Shirley was walking toward him. The horses divided, two one tray and two the other, and passed around her. He wondered what happened, and then, there she stood directly in front of him; that didn't faze her so she followed him to the barn and stood in front of the barn door while he unharnessed the horses, and as he turned them out, the first horse refused to go, so he slapped it on the hip causing the animal to jump clear over Shirley. That is what we called horse sense. However, after this episode she developed fear of so many things.
            Our third sweet little girl, Thouret Lea was born June 1, 1934. She had thick black hair and being about three weeks overdue she had accumulated extra fat. Someone labeled her "fatty  tar bucket" which my brothers continued to call her. That night we learned that Grandpa Brown had had an appendectomy - the reason he hadn't come to see the new baby. Fr. Pius baptized her and her godparents were Mary Catherine and Johnnie Haag.
            That summer was so hot and dry - temperatures were up to 109*, ponds dried up, crops failed to produce, and dust was everywhere. This summer my oldest brother Bud hauled water every day from Eagle Creek for our cattle. Dad had rigged up an old gas truck tank, put it on wheels and it was pulled by a team. There were not many tractors yet. Somehow our credit had warranted a loan that year to buy some cattle, but when the time came to buy cottoncake to finish them out, the Olpe bank decided we were too big a risk, so we were forced to sell at a very slight profit. John Scheve who bought them made $1,000 that very next fall, which would
have been such a boost to us.
            It was this same year that Howard came of school age. The public school was three miles away and since our plans were to quit farming and move to Emporia, and since Dad was working at the filling station, we decided to enroll him in Sacred Heart School, but we didn't move until November. We consulted with the good nuns at Sacred Heart, and they
provided the necessary material for me to start his education at home. Each morning we had an intensive reading session. I'm sure he’ll never forget the word "puppy". The first reader stressed "puppy"; namely, "I have a puppy", "this is my puppy", "see my puppy”. Finally in November we moved into Mrs. Mood's house on South East Street and Howard began to attend school regularly. This is when we became acquainted with the Bizal family.
            The two years following were dry and dusty. One day, due to the dust, the street lights came on in mid afternoon. At this time we had our first electricity, but no refrigerator, just an ice box - no running water, no bathroom.
            We had two apricot trees and a small garden. We also raised a few chickens. Howard’s first year in school subjected him to our first experience with childhood diseases; he soon brought home two kinds of measles and then chickenpox to his three young sisters. They finally
all recovered by June when Howard made his First Holy Communion, which had been postponed due to the epidemic. Father John Vianney was one of Howard's classmates.
            The next year Dad took a job driving Grandpa's livestock truck, so he terminated his work at the filling station and became a truck driver. We moved to the John Waters' house on Logan Avenue - quite a nice house but still no bathroom. Cattle and hog pens were built here and a scale installed to accommodate the livestock Grandpa had bought from neighboring farmers who delivered them here to be weighed and sold. They were then trucked to Topeka, Kansas City, or St. Joe.
            Much of the trucking was done at night due to the extreme heat in the day, since hogs succumbed if they got too hot. After they were loaded they were hosed down with cool water. Dad would get home during the wee hours of the morning and try to get much needed rest before starting on another trip. One morning, in the process of loading, he sprained his ankle. Thinking it wasn't too serious, he left with the load, but after driving about five miles the pain became so intense that he called back for a relief driver. On the hot days when he would be sleeping, I would hang wet sheets over the ends of the bed to cool the room slightly.
            One time on a return trip from Topeka, a pickup truck, without signaling, turned into a farm driveway just as Dad had started to go around him. On a sudden impulse he took to the ditch and made a semicircle around the other truck, and safely headed home. When he arrived home 1 knew by his actions that something frightening had happened.
            When we lived here we had a large black and white shepherd dog which we had brought from the farm. When Thouret was born he would lie on the front porch by the bedroom window, and when we moved he sensed that he needed to protect herj if she happened to be out in the yard and a stranger was approaching, he would stay between her and the stranger. One day she wandered down the road but he stayed close by until we caught up with her and brought her back.
On February 14 of this year, Dad brought me the most beautiful potted pansy for a Valentine.
            That same spring, much to Howard's chagrin, our fourth lovely daughter joined us. She was born April 21, 1936, the grasshopper year. Her sponsors in baptism were Mae and Leo Brinkman and she was christened Ida Josephine. The temperature reached 1100 day after day. We had a shower in April that year and no more until September. Our social life was nil at this time, so One day I accompanied Dad to Topeka with a load of hogs. We returned by way of the Reading State Lake which was nearing completion by WPA men who were still camped there. Of course I took Ida Jo along since she was nursing.
            The two years we lived in Emporia, the children and I occasionally drove down to the swimming pool to relax by the cool water, watch the antics of the swimmers and sometimes eat a picnic supper. Frequently we'd go to the wading pool in Peter Pan Park where they would play for
a while. One evening as we were eating, William Allen White and Mrs. White walked by, stopped and exchanged a few words with us then passed on. Many times we would visit monkey island which always delighted the children.
            Another time the whole family attended the open air theater and witnessed "MacBeth" as we sat On a blanket on the ground. Rarely did we attend a movie. Money was so scarce. Quite often Mae and children accompanied us on outings. 1111 never forget the day they were with us when I went to pay the water bill through a driving rain.
            We had a cow at this place and Howard learned to milk. One evening I heard him crying and went to help him. The cow was tethered with a chain which had slipped between her toes and he was unable to dislodge. He was feeling so sorry for the cow since her toe was bleeding.
            In September of 1936 we were fortunate to again move back to the farm. This time it was the Schultz place three miles south of Olpe. We had a bountiful rain that fall and got some wheat put in. Ida Jo was just about five months' old. The house was in good condition with six large rooms, an open stairway, a large basement and an L-shaped front porch. A large washhouse adjoined the back porch and from a barrel in the washhouse we got our water supply. The water was pumped by windmill from a well near the pond south of the house about two city blocks. The water was convenient, but in cold weather it would freeze and in the summer it was very warm. During the summer months when we craved a cold drink, down to the windmill we’d trek to satisfy our thirst.
            Rosella, Lorene and Margy Nuessen occasionally walked over to spend an afternoon, and our girls returned the visit.
            This was the year that Rose Marie started to school. She and Howard would ride with Dad as he was working at Bolz's garage for $10 a week. Later they rode with Aunt Emma or Uncle Matt when they took their children in. The next year Dad got a job with the county, grading roads for $40 a month, and in the winter after a big snow he and Al Ratke worked around the clock to clear roads. There were no heaters in equipment during those years. One cold winter night as they were working near an isolated oil rig to clear the road, the tractor died, and noticing a light in a house some distance away, they walked to it for help. The caretaker, having just arrived home from
his work, invited them in to warm up and heated a can of soup which they gratefully ate.
            Shirley started to school this next year. She became an apt speller and entered the county spelling contest later.
            When Ida Jo was born she had what Dr. Davis called a "club foot” The deformity was in the ankle causing the foot to lay up against her leg. Doctor instructed me to adjust it to its natural position and hold it thus several times daily while I nursed her. After two weeks of this treatment, when I took her to his office, he was unable to detect which foot it was. However, after we moved to Olpe and when she began to walk, she frequently fell due to weakness in this ankle. Dr. Davis advised us to contact the Crippled Children1s Bureau for aid in trying to get this fault corrected. So, in November 1937, when she was 19 months I old, and after the arrangements had been made, we took her to St. Francis I Hospital in Topeka where Dr. Pusitz met with us and explained to us what would be the best treatment. He advised us that breaking the bones in both legs and putting casts on them would be the best and quickest way of repairing her infirmity. This was the first serious decision we had ever been required to make. After some thought and consideration Dad and I gave our consent. The surgery was performed the very next morning. Dad watched the procedure but I retired to the chapel and spent the time in tearful prayer. When it was over I stayed with her, and after she regained consciousness she sat up in bed, put her hands over her eyes and cried so pitifully. She realized the two stiff casts on her legs would keep her from walking.
            One evening Mary Catherine accompanied Dad to the hospital to see Ida Jo. It had started to snow and before they arrived at the hospital they collided with another car at an intersection, totaling Grandpa Haag's car. Dad was uninjured but Mary Catherine required several stitches on her head. The accident proved to be a blessing in disguise as the entire Haag family had been concerned about Grandpa Haag’s ability to safely drive due to his loss of hearing.
            A week later we returned home and gradually Ida Jo became accustomed to the weights on her legs. One day I placed her on the floor and with the help of her hands she scooted all over the place. When she sat in her bed she called to the other children, “come here". They’d oblige and she would thrust her foot through the spokes, push say "git".
 

            Charlotte arrived the following February 11, 1938. The temperature was in the 70s that day, but by the following weekend we had from four to six feet snow drifts and Dad spent the rest of the week out in the very cold weather bucking snow.
            One day when it was still quite cool, Howard rode a Shetland pony home from school. Grandpa had taken it in on some kind of trade and given it to the children. Lady was a long haired animal and so slow, I guess from age. It took Howard three hours to ride the three miles. Of course, I suppose he was a little apprehensive about making the trip alone. He had ridden horses previously but not on his own. Later we acquired a two wheel cart and they all had lots of fun with the pony.
Frequently she would furnish a ride to bring the cows in for milking. Ida Jo, age 3 would ride to the mail box. One day she cut her leg on a wire.
            Back to our darling baby girl - this was five girls in succession and I guess Howard almost gave up of ever having a brother. We did too. She was baptized by Fr. Pius. Her sponsors were Virginia and Jake Haag. We named her Charlotte Lucille.
            Eight months later, Charlotte, Thouret and I experienced a most frightening incident - a car wreck on our way back from Topeka where we had visited Mary Catherine when she was hospitalized with an appendectomy. It was a beautiful morning, October 6, 1938. As we were preparing to go in to Olpe to meet Grandpa, I picked up my rosary and placed it in my purse with the thought that if anything happened they’d know we were Catholics. Before we got into the car, papa told me to ride in front with the baby. The thought crossed my mind that passengers in the front seat are usually more seriously injured. Later along the highway I saw a sign saying "death rides the highway". On our return trip, about 13 miles east of Emporia, just northwest of Neosho Rapids, on Old Highway 50, and directly in front of Mrs. Cunningham's house, the dreadful thing
happened - a head on collision, caused by an approaching drunken driver. Witnessing the crash were Bern and Helen Gilligan, neither of whom could identify us in our disheveled condition.
            Virginia, Charlotte and I were taken to St. Mary's Hospital by two passing motorist who had served as medics in World War I. Someone had moved Aunt Mary and Papa by ambulance to St. Mary's. A Mrs. Staley, south of the highway had heard the crash, but when she got there no one was around except Thouret, who was crawling out the back window. When asked where she was she said "under the back seat". She was taken to Newman's hospital, unhurt except for bruises, but when they got there none of the other victims were there, so Mrs. Staley remarked "I believe Jake Brown is a catholic" and Thouret replied "we’re all Catholics” Thouret was four at that time.
            We made such an influx on St. Mary's Hospital that they called an RN from Topeka to help care for us. With a broken jaw, a broken knee and cuts that needed stitching, it required three hours to reassemble me. Charlotte had a cut and bruise on her head, Thouret had a bruised knee and other soreness and stiffness; in fact she told Grandma as she watched her iron her starched tiebacks for her kitchen curtains, "Grandma, that's how stiff I am."
            Aunt Mary had a shattered upper arm, Virginia a broken ankle and a deep cut on her head. Grandpa was the most seriously injured, with his nose almost severed, knee injuries and a bruised voice box which caused him lifelong hoarseness. These injuries surely shortened his life.
            One by one we were dismissed from the hospital and thankfully were reunited with our families. Genevieve Sterbenz very graciously cared for our family during my misfortune, until we were able to get other help. Some years later she lost her life in a similar accident. Having a broken jaw, I survived on a liquid diet for six weeks. Consequently, I lost a lot of weight. Never before had I looked forward so ardently to Thanksgiving dinner. A few days before the big day, Dr. Fox removed the wires from my teeth that had held my jaws in place. So, on Thanksgiving Day, I was able to enjoy good solid food once again. But to my dismay the following months I gained so much
weight.
            It seemed our wreck had made Fr. Pius feel so "wreck conscious” so much so that he would warn the people that after Mass they should take great care in backing away from the church in their cars. In February of the next year, Fr. Pius experienced a collision with a train, and in the ensuing weeks he passed away from injuries. He was buried on St. Joseph's Day in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Olpe.
            That same year, August 30, 1938, our second son, Arthur Joseph was born. Howard was such a happy boy to at last have a brother. The children had stayed at Grandma's that night and Harry and Howard got up early to go to Mass. When they arrived at the church, and on seeing Doc Miller's car parked there unattended, they decided to take a little spin instead of attending Mass. Howard was 11 and Harry 12, neither of legal driving age. They started the car, drove south down to the highway, turned east and when they tried to wake the turn south of Bernard Markowitz' house, they hit the cement marker on the culvert. I think they broke a wheel or an axle - they could probably tell you in more detail than this. Anyway, when Doc and Mrs. Miller came out of church after Mass, Doc tearfully remarked, "By golly, it aint even safe to go to church any more".
            Aunt Barbara Waschter came to care for the new baby until I could take over. Remember it was still depression and crop-less years. The year previous to this we had ordered a new “Home Comfort” range on the installment plan. Due to many reverses we were unable to meet our obligations, so the stove company chose this day to repossess our stove. After a difficult delivery, another day of extreme heat, a car wreck, and then relinquishing our latest piece of equipment, we might have felt that Providence had forsaken us, but we still kept our faith and trust in God - things could be worse.
            Art’s birth was the big news of the week. Friends and neighbors, and needless to say our own dear family, were so happy for us. A total of 80 people visited us the first Sunday after his arrival. His sponsors at baptism were Aunt Barbara and Uncle Mike.
            At this time news reports kept us informed of Hitler’s progressive invasion of the European countries. Our radio was greatly appreciated as long as the battery lasted. Telephone service was something else.
            When Art was about a year and a half old, he contracted pneumonia and developed a very serious mouth infection. This caused him to refuse food and he became weak and dehydrated, so we took him to the hospital. The sulpha drug that had been prescribed caused the soreness in his mouth, as the doctor had failed to instruct us to administer adequate liquids with the medication. He soon recovered and again we thankfully rejoined the family.
            Dad and Howard had been batching and the girls stayed with their grandparents at this time. I recall one instance when Grandma was caring for Shirley and Thouret. She was rocking both of them and singing to them. Thouret started laughing and Shirley reproved her saying, “Thouret Lea, quit laughing, Grandma can’t help it if she can’t sing nice”. Mama thought this was quite comical so she sent it in to a farm magazine where it was published.
            While we still lived here, the new Civic Auditorium in Emporia in was completed. A big celebration for the opening of the new Center was planned. People from all over the County became involved and so Dad and I, John and Leona Hageman, and several other couples volunteered for the big square dance. We were to wear old fashioned dresses and bonnets. Most of the women made themselves long cotton print dresses with full skirts for the occasion, and although material cost only about 25¢ per yard, I was unable to purchase any. I remembered that Mary Catherine had a blue gauze party dress with hoop skirts that she had worn for a school play, so she obligingly loaned it to me. After we arrived at the Center for the afternoon performance, a woman portraying the "pioneer mother, asked me to remove the hoops from my skirt. Leona told me to leave it alone, it was O. K. I guess I looked a little too glamorous for her. We had such a good time and performed again that night. Our landlord, Mr. Schulze stayed with the younger children. Art wasn’t quite two years old. We had taken Howard, Rose Marie, Shirley Ann and Thouret along in the afternoon.
            Many times Ida Jo would come to the house minus her panties. Time after time Mr. Schulze would bring a pair to the house that he had found in the pig pen. She'd have a mishap and then throw them away.
            One Saturday afternoon I was taking the children into Olpe to Grandma's. Grandpa and Grandma had asked to take them to the circus in Emporia. About two thirds of the way into town the left back wheel carne off the car, bounced through the ditch and over the fence. We walked the remaining distance, about three fourths of a mile.
            Periodically, I would have a sinus infection which would last about a week. Dad too had a bout with infection when we lived here. 'The gland on the right side of his neck increased to the size of a medium sized onion. Dr. Hovorka extracted the puss with a syringe. He soon recovered from this.
            One day Dad and I had to travel to Emporia. Howard and Rose Marie stayed home with the children. Ida Jo was always finding something to get into. This day she decided to investigate how my big doll worked. It was a beautiful doll with a kid body and jointed arms and legs. It had a china head and real doll hair. She, very slyly, took the doll outside, without Rose Marie's knowledge, and proceeded to break the beautiful china head. There was no way to repair it. Luckily, I had previously had Rose Marie's picture taken with the doll when she was about two years old. Rose Marie has this enlarged picture, framed, in her home.
            Fashioning clothes for the ever growing family became considerably more time consuming as time went on. The girls had two or perhaps three school dresses at the most, so any discarded clothes that could be used in recycling into something for anyone was diligently used. At this time Mr. Kile, president of the Kile Commission Co. of Kansas City, and with whom Grandpa transacted business for many years, brought a big box of discarded clothing from people in Kansas City. Much of it was good and usable with alterations, but much more only made, not even good, rags; however, I spent considerable time sewing assorted garments from these. The few new dresses that I made the girls for school were appreciated immensely. One day Thouret was wearing her new dress and Rose Marie remarked "Doesn't she just look delicious?
            We were still farming with horses at this time. Old Ted wasn’t feeling so well one morning, so Dad called the veterinarian. The malady was diagnosed as "sleeping sickness". I was drafted to hold the halter rope while the Doc and Dad administered a shot directly into the juggler vein. Ted recovered, which was a great blessing as he was a workhorse.
            When we lived here we luckily acquired a government loan and we bought t1Jilk cows, five of them. Consequently, we acquired a cream separator. The cream was sold to Uncle Johnny who owned the Produce store in Olpe. Five gallons of sour cream netted us about $2. He also bought eggs from the farmers of the community. They brought the price of 6¢ per dozen. Of course coffee was about .25¢ per pound; steak about the same, bread .l0¢ a loaf and milk 5¢ a quart. The clabbered milk was used for cottage cheese. Any excess was fed to the chickens and hogs.
Previous to our cream separator, we used a water separator. This necessitated adding cold water to the warm milk and then waiting for the cream to rise before we caught it in the cream can.
            Butchering was a big project in the fall when the weather became cold enough so that the meat wouldn't spoil before we could get it cured. It took most of a day for this job. First, we borrowed a big vat to heat water to the boiling stage, then with the help of one or two neighbors, the hog that had been previously killed by shooting, usually, and stabbed to induce bleeding, at which time the blood was caught in a pan and stirred with salt until it cooled; then was hoisted up above the boiling water with the use of a derrick and pulley; then, the men would gradually release the animal down and up until it was well scalded after this, the hog was placed on an improvised table, where it was scraped clean with sharp knives until it was completely bereft of all hair. The carcass was then hung in a shed and slit from throat to rump. The liver and heart were extracted and soaked in cold water. Later we made liver sausage with part of the liver. The intestines were cleaned and soaked in salt water to be used for stuffing sausage. The next day the cutting up job took place, and then the sugar cure, which process took about four weeks. The head was cut up and boiled to be used for tripe, scrapple and liver sausage. The fat from the hog was rendered into lard. Some of the cracklings were used in the tripe, which also consisted of blood, head meat, dry bread, cabbage and onions. This was stuffed into casings with a “press" that we borrowed from Grandma Brown. After this butchering job was completed I had the remaining cracklings to use for lye soap; again we'd borrow an iron kettle, build a fire outside, mix the required ingredients and cook quite a supply of soap for laundering. It worked fine in rain water, but if the water was "hard", we'd "break it first with lye. Many times in dry years we hauled water from the pumping station in cream cans to do our laundry and also for household use. Norbert helped us some after he graduated.
            About this time Grandpa was elected County Commissioner; also the war was progressing in Germany and more and more men were joining to fight. My brothers started joining up to serve their country.
            Rose Marie always seemed to contract some form of allergy, more, than the other children. One fall she had a large scratch on the back of her leg, caused by crawling through a barbed wire fence on her way home from school. The dry pollen on the weeds caused a painful infection to develop, but gradually it healed and was O.K.
            The time of our life that we spent living on the Schulze farm was a time of growing up for Howard and Rose Marie. It was at this time that Dad began working for the county, a necessity to finance our steadily growing family. One day Howard took it upon himself to harness up the team, then proudly drove them across the yard. I don't remember who was there with a camera, but we did get a picture of him and the horses. Rose Marie also was beginning to relieve me of many
chores; one thing that she proved to be capable of was bathing the baby, Charlotte. Thouret and Ida Jo were at the mischievous age at this time. One day they caught a small chick and brought it in the house. They proceeded to stand it on the stove; the fire was almost out but the cast iron was still quite hot, so the defenseless little thing received badly burned feet. Ida Jo got the blame and the spanking but she still declares that Thouret was the culprit.
            When Charlotte was just past a year old, about 14 months, she was a very cross baby this particular Easter Sunday. We had spent the day at Grandpa and Grandma Brown's. Charlotte was so irritable; she'd lie on the floor and cry and was obviously in pain but she was unable to tell me the trouble. The next day her disposition improved. I was feeding dinner to her and noticed her ear was draining. We took her to the doctor that afternoon. He instructed us to use peroxide in it several times daily and all was soon well. No wonder the poor children could hardly bear the pain.
            After Shirley started to school her .foot began to hurt. We tried to recall what might have happened then we remembered about July 1st that previous summer the children were playing out in the yard, when suddenly Shirley screamed as though something had pierced her bare foot,
which swelled immediately; however, we couldn’t detect anything. It was quite sore for about a week but then it quit hurting. Later, when she started to walk home from school it began troubling her so. We took her to Dr. Davis. He lanced it and extracted an inch long piece of wire. We decided it must have been from an old tire that we had previously burned in the yard. The doctor said it was one time in a million that it hadn't caused lockjaw.
            We raised chickens each year for our food and egg supply. Fried chicken was on the menu almost daily after they grew to the required size. There were no lockers or freezers then to preserve them for future use. Each morning we’d catch one or two, whatever it required for the day, then proceeded to chop off their heads, scald and pluck them, and finally cooling in cold water until time to prepare them for dinner. Many times we'd forget to catch them before turning them out for the day, and so weld have to run them down - a real good exercise.
            One day an old hen that had hid her nest and diligently laid an egg in it for 12 to 15 consecutive days, proudly emerged with her flock of beautiful downy chickens. Many times such a good mother would get caught with her brood in a hard shower or hail storm. This, tragically, for the chicks, caused chilling and many would succumb. One day a shower came up, this was at Grandma’s, the half grown chickens rushed to the brooder house; then it started to hail, and since the door was open, they all rushed out to eat the hail which they mistook for grain. Needless to say, many were killed. When the hail hit them on the head it caused their eyes to pop out.
            It was when we lived on the Schulze place that I found a recipe to dry corn. It was very good, very delicately flavored but required soaking and slow cooking. We always made sauerkraut in a large stone jar. It was so good.
            One day a covered wagon carrying gypsies stopped by. They wanted food. I gave them some milk and I don t remember what else, but was I ever relieved when they left.
            It was here that we had a bout with scarlet fever, a very traumatic experience. The doctor's wrong diagnosis could have been very serious but as so many times before we luckily overcame it. Fumigating was such an ordeal. This occurred the September before Ida Jo's surgery.
            When Art was about a year and a half old, with Grandpa Haag’s financial help $2,000, we bought our first home. It was located on Eagle Creek, five miles east of Olpe. We had never lived near a creek before, and Ida Joe age five, was anxiously anticipating our move. She hoped to see
squirrels, watch birds and learn to fish. She was such an active child after her recovery from leg surgery.
            We moved about March 9. The six roomed house was very old and in sore need of papering. There was a well on the back porch and a wash house adjoining the porch on the south. Below the washhouse was a small cellar. The yard was neat and fenced. There were many hollyhocks, Mexican poinsettias and tube roses. The garden lay just south of the yard. There were also a few grape vines. The following year we papered several rooms and painted the woodwork after we had Joe Gerleman to repair the plastered walls.
            We experienced happy times down on the creek. We had a most beautiful and productive garden especially the second year. The tender green leaves came through the rich soil on my birthday, March 22. I was only 32 years old then. It seems so long ago. We'd never raised potatoes like those that year. We stored them in Grandpa's basement at Hartford where they had moved when Cathy was eight months old.
            So many things happened when we lived here. Joe and Laura Wendling were our neighbors to the east. One spring Laura gave Howard two or three newly hatched yellow ducks. He very proudly brought them home. Later in the day Ida Jo decided they should learn to swim so she took the wash basin half full of water, which would have been O.K. except she held their heads under water and they drowned. That ended the duck project.
            The biggest change after our move to the new location was transferring to the public school. Howard finished the grades in the little country school called "Bucher, District 75". This was our first experience in a public school. It was just one mile from home so the children could walk that distance. After Howard graduated, we bought him a bicycle to ride to High School, a considerable distance for an old- fashioned bike; in fact it was quite difficult to pump, and so one day he got the bright idea of tying a rope on the saddle horn of Jean Miller’s horse and then on the handlebars. This soon terminated with Jean trying to catch his horse which took off across Andy Lenniger's field and the bicycle bouncing up and down and sideways behind. I suppose the bike finally fell free. We always refer to this episode as the "Windy Miller and Dizzy Haag" experiment.
            Here again was the outdoor toilet. Frequently whoever had the urge to make a visit here would forget to check on the paper supply, so they’d callout "paper, paper" until another member of the family would bring them the necessary thing. One day, as Laura was outdoors, she heard one of us calling "paper" so she sent Joanne over with a roll of tissue.
            At this time of our lives, the children were becoming interested in singing, having been taught many beautiful hymns at school by the nuns and being in performances at school, the public school community meetings. Usually they appeared on the program. One time I especially remember, they sang "Anchors Aweigh”  This was during World War II after three of my brothers had joined the navy. The girls each wore a middy with a sailor collar that I had made from discarded clothing for the occasion. As Shirley was quite talented musically, we allowed her to
take piano lessons from Mary Burke Norton.
            We also had song fests at home. One summer evening after supper, Mae and Leo Brinkman and children were visiting us, and as we were sitting out on the back porch we started harmonizing. I remember Leo remarked instead of singing so loud, he'd do well to just listen to the harmony. Sometimes we could hear our voices echo from the creek when the atmosphere permitted.
            A very frightening experience occurred one quiet summer day. Ida Jo and Thouret Lea were playing with their dolls. Why they ever climbed the apple tree is beyond me; but it was rather strangely shaped and leaned considerably, so it made a good resting place. Soon blood curdling
screams reached my ears (I was sewing in the kitchen). Dad was cultivating just across the slough from the old woodpile where the apple tree stood. The cause of the screams - a blacksnake had decided to join the girls and there was no other way down but to by-pass the snake. The
excitement was soon terminated after a little parental help.
            The old rope swing which hung from a tree in the back yard served many hours of pleasure; but one day fun came to an abrupt halt. Rose Marie and Shirley were pumping quite vigorously when the rope broke. Shirley slid down and acquired a severe rope burn, but Rose Marie landed flat on her seat end was left breathless.
            On June 17, 1941 we were blest with our third son. He was a cute little guy with dark hair. Joe and Laura Wendling were his sponsors at baptism and he was given the names Roger James. The following year, December 7, when Roger was six months old, we were attending Grandpa Haag's birthday dinner at Uncle John and Aunt Mary Sterbenz' house. They lived one and a half miles northwest of Olpe, just across the railroad tracks. Of course we took the baby along - the other children stayed at Grandma Brown's.
            When we arrived back into town that evening, news of Pearl Harbor being bombed was cooing over the radio. We were in a state of shock, as Norbert was stationed on the USS West Virginia; however, later we were informed that he was at sea and luckily escaped injury, but we had no news from him for two weeks. It was a time of much prayer and worry. This day, "Forty hours of devotion" was being observed in St. Joseph's Church at Olpe.         
            On September 26, 194" we started the female cycle of our family all over again. Cathy arrived at high noon on this day. Four more daughters were to come later. We had a sudden change of weather the previous night, and so, the first thing that morning, we quickly set up the heating stove. The temperature fell to 26* that very night killing all of the late crops. Cathy was baptized by Fr. Felician the next day, a Sunday. Her sponsors were Jake Brown, Jr., by proxy, since he was in the army in Germany, and Aunt Erma. We named her Catherine Letha, the second name after Letha Chiles whom Bud was engaged to but who later broke off' with him. Again our little daughter was so sweet and dear with beautiful blue eyes and at the age of two blond curly hair. I remember taking her picture in front of the varied colored hollyhocks. She was wearing a blue crepe dress. I think Bud has the picture.
            Cathy and Roger were born closer together than any of the previous children; really they were more like twins as Roger was taking the bottle for sometime after Cathy's arrival.
            When Rog was about two and one half years old and Cathy just past a year, we put them in the old wheelbarrow and pushed them down to the creek which had dried up that summer except for one little puddle being full of silt and catfish. We expected to catch the fish manually and
then have a fish fry. Several of us were busily trying to get hold of the slippery things and Roger. and Cathy were getting more interested in watching, so much so, that both of them leaning too heavily to one side, upset the wheel barrow, and consequently joined the fish in the slimy
mess. That ended our project immediately. Back to the house for a clean-up job. Luckily, they didn't inhale much of the mess, they could have suffocated. To top it all off, Dad said the fish weren't fit to eat anyway, but doesn't it make a good story?
            About this time Grandpa and Grandma moved to Hartford. One Saturday, Dad and I went to Emporia for groceries and other things. It was quite a trip, 15 miles. Howard and Rose Marie didn't know what to fix for dinner so, first, they went fishing. I guess they caught something. We weren't completely bereft of food, as there was always potatoes, canned fruit and vegetables and cured pork and lard, butter and milk and bread.
            When Howard was still attending school at "Bucher” he would milk the cow before leaving for school. He had been complaining of a nagging itching in his head. When I examined him low and behold, he had head lice. None of the other children had complained about this so we wondered how he had managed to be a victim. Finally we decided he got them from the cow. As he milked, he leaned his head against the cow’s hip and since he was wearing a knitted stocking cap, the lice proceeded to crawl through and settle in his hair. I gave him the "kerosene" treatment and a good shampoo. That was the end of that.
            Another time, Dad had bought some furniture at a sale. This was our first and last "bout" with bedbugs. What an ordeal!
            One Saturday afternoon Charlotte and Ida Jo were supposed to be taking a nap upstairs. I was in another room across the hall. Charlotte kept talking or laughing - anything but trying to get to sleep, so Ida Jo said, "your Guardian Angel sees you, Charlotte looked to one side, then said "I don't see him!!, Ida Jo "He's on the other side now” Charlotte "I still don't see him “Ida Joe well, it's like the wind It. Quite a good explanation for a second grader.
            Down on the creek we baled hay for the first time with a horse baler. Previous to this any hay that we cured and stored was stacked. This process of baling necessitated the use of baling wire, one person to poke wires, one to tie wires, one to drive the horse round and round, another
to rake and one to run the hay buck.
            Ida Jo started to school sometime around this time. One day she sat on her desk, because her teacher had done this, but she was corrected for it and made to stand in the corner. Another time when she broke her collar bone while playing crack the whip at school, she was dismissed to walk the distance home, Thouret accompanying her. I was quite upset that the teacher didn't take a little more precaution with her.
            I haven't mentioned that, when we bought this small farm, the first home that we owned, I declared that I wasn't going to move again. We dearly loved the little place on the creek, but when the offer to sell at twice the price we had paid for it came, I finally agreed to sign the papers. Dad promised me I could go to the hospital to have the next baby which was due in April. She was born April 28, 1945, three weeks overdue. We had had a flood two weeks previous to her birth so I spent one week in Emporia with Uncle Jake and Aunt Nettie, since the flood waters covered the highway. After the water receded, I returned home about noon Friday April 27 only to return to Emporia about 10 pm that night, but this time to the hospital.
            Virginia Mae's sponsors at baptism were Aunt Kate and Uncle Harry. She was a sweet dark haired, dark eyed beauty. I remember at the age of three months, she was peacefully sleeping in the baby bed and Dad was admiring her and said "this is about the best age". My sister Virginia stayed with the children at this time.
            When Howard reached driving age, we again enrolled the children in St. Joseph's school. He and Rose Marie were in high school. It was at this time that Charlotte started in the first grade. At the beginning of Christmas vacation this year, the older children were required to come
back for confession the following morning, Since Charlotte had not received her First Holy Communion, she remained at home.
            This was a day of mischief. She, or Art, or Rog found a cigarette, so all three took part in a smoking party. They got by O.K. without my knowledge of what had happened, so after dinner (by this time the rest of the family were home), Art and Rog went upstairs supposedly to play with their toy animals. Roger came down with a can to get some water but I wouldn't oblige. Soon Art came for some and said "I think you better come, daddy". Dad and the other kids were just finishing their dinner. I had gone to the cellar to get some fresh lard for pie, since in those days we didn't eat meat on the vigils of Holydays or Fridays, so I usually had a filling dessert for supper. As I came up from the cellar, everyone was scurrying out of the house and Albert behind them yelling. I thought they were berserk. I didn't know what was going on. Then they said there's a fire. Sure enough, smoke was coming out of the upstairs window.
            I told Rose Marie to get in the car with the baby and the other little ones - it was December, you know; the rest of us started pumping buckets of water and carrying it upstairs. With superhuman strength we managed to extinguish the flames. Dad was almost overcome by smoke.
Joe Wendling heard the commotion and came running across the field to assist.
            We threw smoking and burning clothes out of the windows. One navy blue wool sweater fell in a peach tree next to the house draping itself in the dry branches. Back to the cause; since the boys had so much fun with the first cigarette, they decided to try again. The water they came for wasn't for their toy cattle, but to put out the flame.
            The smoking took place in Howard's clothes closet. They dropped live coals in Charlotte's doll buggy that had a cloth basket, and directly above it hung the new cotton flannel shirt of Howard's that I had just finished working buttonholes in; so the fire spread rapidly, consuming the shirt, clothes, etc. For once in his life, Howard had all of his clothes put away. Consequently, he lost everything except his good shoes that were under his bed. Mr. Ellis, a neighbor, loaned him some of Lester's clothes to wear to town while Albert purchased some new ones for him.
            One Christmas Day dad gave me a set of water colors, so I began making cards for all occasions. It was a great luxury and such a surprise.
            One Sunday morning, we got in the old Buick to attend Sunday Mass. We always had a load, so wouldn't miss one or two small passengers. Brother Harry was with us this day. When we got to Grandma's, where the two youngest generally stayed (so we could hear Mass more devoutly), we were missing Ida Jo and Charlotte, so Albert made an about face to return for them. After driving the five miles back home they were gone, but soon came running down the road from the neighbors. When we had left, they were upstairs shaking pennies out of their piggy banks to put in their weekly envelopes. They failed to hear the car start, and by the time they got downstairs it was too late we even locked the house that morning, but they crawled out of the window. Most of our incidents had a happy ending.
            At the time of the before mentioned flood, which immersed our potato patch, Dad and the kids were down by the bridge watching the swiftly moving water. Art wandered off the side of the road, through the ditch and was caught by the current. Quickly Dad snatched him and averted what may have been tragic.
            Due to our small acreage we were unable to acquire ample income for our growing family thus Dad again sought work elsewhere. At this time he was hired as county supervisor for noxious weeds. This involved him in treating bindweed over the county. In the fall of the year, he was hired to measure wheat ground. At this same time, we had raised red rock roosters for eating as they matured fast, but before we could butcher them, rats ate through the coop and killed about 20 of' them.
            It was this same year that I had to have three of my double teeth extracted. It was quite an ordeal as one of them had a dumbbell root , so consequently my jaw was all swollen and black and blue by the time we got home. We had taken Virginia along as she was nursing, but the rest of the children went gooseberry picking.
            When we arrived home, Art's hip was all swollen. Rose Marie had carried him home from the gooseberry patch, nothing to do but take him to the doctor, so Dad and Rose Marie made another trip to Emporia. I was too miserable to go along. He was hospitalized with rheumatic fever. The Sisters allowed Rose Marie to work in the kitchen at the hospital I while he was a patient there, so that one of us could be near him. I stayed a few days too and Sister provided a bassinet from the nursery for Virginia, since I had to keep her with me. Art was hospitalized for some time the rheumatic fever was a result of measles or some other childhood disease that had plagued us the spring of that year.
            One winter when Roger was a baby, we had a round of mumps, flu, and what not. Three of the girls spent a couple of weeks with Aunt Rosie and Uncle Charlie. Howard was sick at this time also, so we had no one to transport the girls to school.
            One evening, probably in February, Dad, Howard, Rose Marie and maybe a couple more of the girls, had gone to church for Lenten devotions. An aero plane flew very low and buzzed the house. It was so startling that I ran out to see it. Fire was shooting out of our chimney. I'm sure the pilot was warning us of possible disaster. I ran upstairs to see if anything was burning. The wall of the chimney was very warm but otherwise there was no cause for alarm. We had had trouble all that day getting a good fire in the heater. During the previous months we had burned portions of old tires to get a good fire. Probably the accumulation in the chimney had closed the flu so that there wasn't enough draft to get a good start, but after the soot burned away, it really got going; another act of Providence that it didn't turn out tragically.
            The girls always had so much fun together. Howard always felt a little left out as his two brothers were so much younger. It was at this time that the older children joined a 4H Club. They began sewing and taking care of the garden. One year we canned 65 quarts of peas. Howard had
blue ribbon potatoes this year.
            Our neighbors to the north about one-fourth mile, were Mr. and Mrs.Oades Cross. Occasionally she'd walk down to visit. One day I was mopping the kitchen floor, and as it usually happened, someone knocked on the door. Thinking it was one of the children trying to fool me again, I said "come in if your nose is clean". There was no response so I decided to investigate. Here was my neighbor, Myrna. We both had a good laugh.
            At this place we had wild blackberries and a large mulberry tree. One time as Rose Marie and Shirley were picking mulberries, the bull frightened them so they climbed the tree and waited for him to leave.
            About this time Howard slipped up behind Ted in order to catch him. Suddenly taken by surprise, the horse kicked him in the head causing him to be unconscious for some time.
            On our back porch we had a barometer. I don’t know where we got it, probably an advertisement from some company. It was always interesting to check it to see if we could determine what the weather would do. Roger must have been about four years old and he’d hear one or the other of us say, as we’d read it, fair or rain, whatever the case might be. One day I sent one of the older children down to the basement to bring up a jar of fruit for dinner. We had a choice of pears or peaches. They asked which I wanted and Roger ran out on the porch, looked at the barometer and said "it says peaches".
            When we lived here, somehow, we acquired a billy goat, the most frustrating animal we ever had. He was constantly getting into mischief or trouble. Occasionally he would get his horns caught in the woven wire fence and had to be rescued; another time. I was airing clothes on the line and he ate off the hem of my only good dress. One day as we were eating dinner, Billy came up to the screen door, put his front feet up on the door and "baahed". It took Dad by surprise, and in disgust, he jumped up, pushed open the screen door and tried to kick the obnoxious thing; but it was a sad incident for Dad, as his knee became dislocated and he fell down. Luckily he wasn’t badly hurt and it turned out to be rather hilarious. One day Howard put a shaft on the wheelbarrow and hitched the goat to it. From that time on, Billy shared some of the work, especially when we needed to replenish our wood supply.
            It was while we lived here that we bought our first Ford tractor. I was amused at Howard, when the following morning, he drove the tractor to get the mail from the box that was located just about 60 feet from the front door. He was proud as punch to be able to drive it.
            When we lived down on Eagle Creek, Mary Catherine and Harry lived in Chicago. At that time any kind of material was very hard to find. Mary Catherine sent me seven yards of lovely red checked gingham. It was enough to make Shirley, Thouret, Ida Jo and Charlotte each a jumper
which they wore for Easter. When material was available at the stores, it was rationed to four yards per family, which didn't go very far with all of our girls. I remember the day I was waiting in line to receive my share of blue and white stripe print. One woman had several other women buying for her so that for her two daughters she received at least twelve yards of the coveted cloth and I, with my seven, was only allowed four yards. Such is life. Also when potatoes were rationed each family
could purchase five pounds. It took that many for one meal for us. Sugar rationing was also observed at this time. I could manage fine on this but would you believe that people offered me clothing, etc., for sugar stamps but I kept my stamp as they could purchase the sweets they needed but I had to make my own.
            As we had sold our farm and found other ground to rent, we again moved, in March of 1945. We rented a house from Mr. and Mrs. William Redeker just three miles northeast of Olpe, but first, the upstairs required completion as there weren’t enough bedrooms for our family; there
were ten children by this time. Virginia was eleven months old when we moved into Mrs. John Redeker’s house where we lived until the other house was ready.
            It was this year in May that Grandpa Haag suffered a stroke and died a few days later at St. Mary's Hospital.
            We had fairly good farm ground at this time, but with such a large family there was always a need for more money, so Dad worked for a time at the Panhandle Booster station helping run and finish cement for the new building that was being constructed northwest of Olpe. He acquired quite a skill at this work.
            Howard, Rose Marie, Shirley and Thouret were in high school and the others in the grades. Howard and Rose Marie graduated from high school when we lived here. Howard was the first graduate of the second generation from St. Joseph's.
            The house was wired for electricity when we lived here, so we bought our first refrigerator, and I got a new electric iron. Previous to this I used flat irons. It was such a struggle to keep a good fire going to heat the irons for what seemed such an endless task especially on hot summer days.
            The children again joined the newly organized 4H club. They chose the name “The Beacons”. At this time Howard bought five or six Angus calves for his project.
One was killed by lightning and he received insurance for it. When he sold the rest he bought his first car.
            One evening, just as we were finishing supper, the dining room window flew open and in came a sack of grapefruit, candy and nuts. St. Nick made his annual visit.
            This is where we lived when I had my first try at canning milk. It was very good for baking, gravies, etc. We also canned quite a number of chickens that year.
            Early one spring I sowed cabbage and tomato seeds in a cold frame. They were almost large enough to set out into the garden. We had bought 200 leghorn chicks this year and they were so restless that Dad decided to turn them out on the green grass, but instead of' eating grass they
devoured my beautiful cabbage plants and trampled my tomatoes - very discouraging.
            One Halloween, Rose Marie and Lorene Nuessen planned a party. It was held in our basement. For refreshments they had a wiener roast. The enjoyment that the young people showed was most gratifying.
            Our old car was getting to the end of its days, so Dad and Howard, working with parts of another old Buick, managed to make one out of two. It transported us for some time.
            One Christmas, when Harry was with the paratroopers in Japan, he sent us $50 to be used for the children's Christmas. That is the Christmas that they got a nice big red wagon and many other treasured gifts.
            One evening before Christmas, the night of the Christmas program, the older children and I left in the old Buick to attend the Christmas program. Shirley was designated to announce the different numbers and had to be present. It was a cold night and the ice and snow quite dangerous. For the occasion, I had remodeled a red taffeta dress for Shirley. There were very few car heaters at this time, and as we didn’t have one, the windows and windshield frosted up quite badly. About a mile down the road Howard stopped to clean off the windshield. When he got out, he saw a car
approaching. He tried to warn them to stop, but due to the poor visibility, they failed to see him and hit us directly, breaking our gas tank. The sudden impact caused a whiplash for me, and Ida Jo landed in the back seat, as she was standing up in the front; but my greatest concern was that
Howard was between the two ears. When I called to him though he was standing safely at the side of the road. Redeker's in the other car took us back home, except Shirley who went on with them. Lucky again.
            One day Roger was swinging on the clothesline with a little extra help from Art. I called to them to quit, but just one more good yank and Roger fell off you guessed it, he broke his arm just about two inches below the shoulder, so another x-ray, another cast.
            Another time, we were going to pull the turnips; so with the tractor and small trailer, I prepared to head for the garden, warning the boys to keep off the trailer. As I started moving forward with the tractor, Art jumped up on the back of' it and slipped off. I stopped the tractor, but
failed to set the brake, and 80 rolled backwards causing the trailer to scrape his shin quite severely. It took a week of intense care to finally get the leg healed and back to normal. This was the week-end that one of' the Gerleman boys was spending with us.

            One year Dad's health was not up to par. He took a series of tests the diagnosis was "Undulant Fever". He was under Dr. Spencer’s care quite some time.

            An incident happened to Charlotte at school one day that I know she vividly remembers. It had snowed that week and, at recess, the children were out playing in the school yard. Charlotte and Nancy Diebolt happened to run behind Judy Reimer's car as she was backing away from the
parking place. They either fell down or were pushed down by the car and consequently the car ran over their legs. Fortunately, their legs were pressed down into the deep snow and no injuries resulted; another instance displaying their guardian angels protective care.
            One day, during harvest time, Roger spent a day with Larry Haag. They were playing in a load of newly combined wheat. As the wheat was being hauled into town they removed their shoes, completely forgetting about them until they unloaded at the elevator: but it was too late then, something clogged the auger at the elevator. This necessitated sifting through the grain and reclaiming the culprits - two pairs of shoes.
            One evening as we were standing around watching Dad and Howard working on the pen down by the barn, Art, as usual, was throwing mud balls. A little mouse ventured out of the barn and was running along the top edge of the cement foundation. Art had a perfect target. He threw a mud ball, and sure enough, he missed the mouse but pinned him to the side of the barn by the tail. This could be one of Ripley's.
            Another time Roger tried to swipe a little pig from its mother. He came to the house almost breathless and said "she just about got me".
            He always took a cup along to the barn while Howard was milking and drank his milk fresh from the cow; but not as fresh as he once did when he said "she about kicked my head off".
            Thouret usually had a trick up her sleeve. She was always instructing Ida Jo to do things. One day she said, "jump off of the chicken house, your guardian angel will catch you". She did but he didn't.
            About 5 p.m. one summer evening threatening clouds gathered to the southwest of the house. Howard was sitting on the fence down by the barn watching them and yelled "look at those crazy clouds". They were churning directly above us and suddenly the barn doors flew open from an explosion. I saw this gray funnel approaching and hurriedly gathered the children together. We ran to the nearby oats field and I instructed them to lie face down on the ground. Luckily the funnel passed over but did come down in the field about a quarter of a mile east of the house. It destroyed
Miller's hog shed and fences. We were spared so many times.
            Mary Helen was born when we lived at Redeker's. Her birthday was April 26, 1946; however, our Dear Lord claimed her immediately. It was heartbreaking to lose her in spite of the fact that we were blessed with all of the rest. Putting the dainty clothes away made for a very sad time but sixteen months later, Connie came to be with us. She was a sweet, blond, blue eyed darling born on September 25, 1947. Her godparents are John Nuessen and Aunt Margaret Haag.
            Rose Marie, Shirley, Thouret and Ida Jo gradually assumed more responsibility as time passed. In the evenings after school two of the girls were assigned to help me with chores and supper while the other two did their homework. After supper the other two girls washed the dishes and tidied up the kitchen while their sisters worked on their assignments. Three days a week I spent sewing or mending, two days of the week I washed; on Saturday we always cleaned and Sunday we rested.
            Frequently Mary Catherine visited us before and after she married. She is responsible for most of the snapshots that I am so grateful for. She remarked one day that “every time I come, they all have clean blouses on"; the reason being that when a car turned in, upstairs they'd run for a change of garb. It is gratifying now to me that there was always a change of clean clothes and something to eat to satisfy the ravenous appetites of growing children.
            Baking was an everyday occurrence in one form or another. We consumed 25 pounds of flour weekly in the nature of bread, cookies, pies, cake or donuts.
            Hot school lunches had been introduced some years earlier; even at the Bucher school where each family served a meal on a designated day. It was after we moved to Reading that I again prepared sack lunches. There being seven in school at the same time was more than we could
finance and Art and Roger always having such ravenous appetites just didn't get enough to appease their hunger.
            About this time of our lives we discontinued the pork curing undertaking since lockers had been installed in Olpe , we did, however, process fresh pork with our pressure cooker. The canned meat was so delicious with the gravy we made from the juices. Rose Marie and Howard will vouch for that.
            On December 10, 1948, we had a birthday party for Howard before moving away from Olpe. We set up and trimmed our Christmas tree and crib and invited the youth of the neighborhood.
            The week following Christmas we moved to the Albert Kiene farm five miles northwest of Reading which was two miles directly east of the State Lake. The Kiene’s had purchased a farm in Arkansas and contacted us about renting and moving to their farm. After discussing the matter at some length we agreed to make the move. This meant removing the children from the catholic school again. The girls had some misgivings about changing schools and leaving their friends, but we told them that they wouldn’t lose their old friends but would make new friends. Then too, we felt that it was necessary to meet new acquaintances since so many of our relatives lived in Olpe, and if marriage was in the offing for our children they needed to meet other young people, not that we didn't approve of religious vocations. Shirley and Thouret stayed with Uncle Bud and Aunt Eileen to finish the first semester and then transferred to Reading. One of the advantages of moving was the bus transportation. Many times after performing a few chores hastily, Shirley would inevitably board the bus still wearing her apron.
            On the morning designated for moving we had a light shower and were a little skeptical about being caught on slick roads, but our minds were soon made up when Norbert and Ray Schmidt arrived with their farm trucks to load up and help move. Charlotte and the children younger than she went to Hartford to stay with Grandpa and Grandma until we could get some semblance of order in our new surroundings.
            I don't remember all who helped us move but I do know that Harry was with us. Earlier that year, the “Kindred” murder case was the predominant news in Emporia. I don’t know that the mystery was ever solved. The reason I mention this, Harry told the girls that he saw a skeleton in the attic when he carried some boxes up there, and he thought it was “Kindred’s”. That night they were afraid to go to bed upstairs. The following days proved that we had made a wise decision to move when we did as it rained most of that week and thereafter until March, much of it in the form of ice and snow.
            We were still using the old kitchen range for cooking and baking and a round oak stove for heating the other rooms. There was a propane tank north of the house, so later on that year we purchased a used gas range and a small gas heater for the living room.
            The house was quite large with a spacious kitchen, a dining room with an open stairway with a beautiful hand carved railing, a nice living room with a south bay window and a roomy bedroom; another small room which has been converted to a bathroom since we left, was also used
for a bedroom. There were four bedrooms upstairs, three clothes closets and a built-in walnut bookcase with glass doors in the upstairs hall. There was a full basement under all except the kitchen. Down there is where we brewed our first home grown grape wine. The barrel we obtained
from the Franciscan Fathers in Emporia, with Fr. Stephen’s gracious help and in return we gave them a gallon of wine for Christmas. Later news was relayed to us that the priests had quite a "celebration”.
            As the grapes "worked” we could hear the gurgling sound in the living room above. This was still a time of "prohibition". We sort of held our breath when we had company.
            Previous to making wine, we enjoyed the ripe juicy grapes and I canned 50 quarts of juice to be made into jelly later. In the process of ripening, the grapes were quite a temptation to the children, as this was the first time that we had such an abundance of fruit, including apples, peaches, pears and currants. Roger just couldn't wait to eat the grapes. One day Dad warned him that they would make him sick sin they weren't quite ripe, but he replied “When I walk past the grapes, I just can’t dismiss them".
            Grandpa made a barrel of wine from our grapes that year also. On April 12, 1949, our tenth baby girl arrived. I had spent the night at Mae's, since we were having a rainy week and we had mud roads to travel over to get to the highway. Luckily, we arrived at the hospital about 20 minutes previous to her birth. This was the Tuesday of Holy Week, so that year I missed all of the Holy Week services and even spent Easter Sunday in the hospital. Mae brought me a beautiful pink hydrangea. I told her that was my "Easter Bonnet” for that year. Alberta was a fair haired, blue eyed beauty, totally unaware of all the trials and pain that were to plague her later. She was baptized Alberta Marian and Uncle Justin and Aunt Marian were her sponsors. This was our first baptism at Reading in the Assumption Church. Fr. Stephen officiated.
            The children were happily involved in school, we had our big garden planted, Howard got employment with the Markowitz Construction Co. building the new gym at Reading, and Rose Marie was working at the telephone office. That summer, the creek provided recreation for fishing, wading, looking for clam shells and otherwise just hiking and exploring. One day, Art decided to use an old lightweight bathtub for a row boat; yes, he soon sank the thing. It was here that Cathy fell out of the swing and broke her arm. She spent a "wild" night in the hospital after the arm was set and a cast put on, but the next day, due to swelling, the cast had to be removed. A week later, after the swelling had receded, a new cast was put on. She spent about 10 days in the hospital.
            Virginia started to school about this time. She was a very apt student and besides the books she was learning from, she acquired a premature cheer leading skill. She almost drove us "batty" with the little apple, big apple, Susie Q” cheer. She also loved to sing and though I was unable to attend her first performance at school, due to sickness at home, the older girls relayed to me that she could be heard above the whole class, this being a little strange as she had always been quite timid.
            Our lighting system at this time was quite "temperamental” as we relied on a windcharger to provide our electricity and water supply. When the wind blew, the batteries would be amply charged but on quiet - days, not enough "juice" was stored to allow use of the lights, so, our
kerosene lamps were kept filled and ready. The water pump in the basement could be hand operated in these slack times. We did have a well with a pump on it where we could get our drinking water. There was also a cistern near the back door. It had a very dangerous cover on
it, and after a near tragedy, we proceeded to nail it securely. I don't remember who stepped on One side of the cover, causing it to tip, but two of the children grabbed an arm apiece and held on until help got there and pulled the victim to safety.
            We increased the attendance at the Assumption Church by twelve. There were a few other children, two DeDonder's and three Fagan's. Since our car didn't accommodate all of our family at one time, Helen and Leo DeDonder offered to transport two or three each Sunday. Occasionally the older girls helped out with the DeDonder family when Helen was hospitalized. Dad and Leo bought a baler in partnership for a while.
            Later, when Fr. Meinrad came to Reading, he asked me to play the organ which I did intermittently. I served as President of the Altar Society for some time and helped prepare the Lions banquet several times. I also joined the "Duck Creek Home Demonstration Unit" and
was elected president one year. During my service I attended a convention at Manhattan, Josie Wamser accompanying me.
            With Howard's and Rose Marie's graduations from high school, procuring new formals for the girls as the opportunities presented themselves, was another added undertaking as we usually made them. Some years we would have two graduates, one from the eighth grade and one from high school. Shirley was the first of our family to finish high school at Reading; thereafter every other year, one of the Haag's senior pictures appeared with the class group that still grace the halls of the Reading gym.
            After we got situated here, we were able to procure financial backing from the Reading State Bank. We handled cattle each year and always made some profit. Truman was president at this time. Cattle prices kept rising and we had bought a number of young steers for $36 cwt but later that year, the "beef roll back” was initiated. This caused us a loss of about $4500. Our plans that year were either to purchase a new car or make a down payment on a farm, but after the
"roll back" we were unable to do either.
            Grandpa and Grandma would visit us about once a week. She would always do some handwork for me like sewing on buttons or mending some of our clothes. There was always a stack of clothes waiting to be repaired. Grandpa always brought a treat of candy or fruit. We enjoyed their short visits so much. Occasionally on Sunday, we would spend the day at Hartford with them.
            Much earlier than this, when we still lived on Eagle Creek, Art, at four years old, acquired an excellent singing voice. He learned to sing "Little Brown Jug”, so one night at the Community meeting, he was on the program and sang this song.
            One day the girls had taken a hike up into the pasture. Thouret Lea came back to the house with a hedge thorn near her ankle. Our efforts to remove it were unsuccessful and so I made a poultice, my old standby. After six weeks, the thorn finally emerged. My poultice: Shave about 1 teaspoon of bath soap, add 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 table spoon of bread crumbs and add enough milk to hold it together. Apply to the infected area and cover with a clean bandage. This formula has worked for us so many times.
            It was when we lived here that Rose Marie and Dave gave us our first TV. It was wonderful as battery operated radios left a lot to be desired.
            Our first year at Reading, Cathy and Irene Fagan received their First Holy Communion. Their dresses and sandals were identical since I made both sets.
            The peach crop the summer of 1950 was very productive. We canned 250 quarts of the luscious fruit. There was also an apple orchard. The last year that we lived here was the most abundant crop of apples that we had ever had. We stored, sold and canned quite a large amount. I was completely out of jars that year. We also had two good Bartlett pear trees that bore the most delicious pears.
            One day, Roger was down at the hog lot watching Howard performing some of the daily chores. he was barefoot, and in the course of the morning he stepped on a nail causing it to pierce his foot quite deeply. Howard carried him to the house, blood running all over, so we cleaned him up and Howard took him to the doctor to get a tetanus shot.
            Wedding bells were soon to ring for the Haag household. David Pfaff had become very fond of Rose Marie before we moved from Olpe and he continued to see her when she moved to Emporia to live with the Bob Burd family. At this time she had employment at Reeblels store. (She had a few other dates, one with Dwight Poyzer to the "Spring Splash" at Emporia State and a few other times with some of the local boys at Reading, but David proved to be her idol. When the wedding was at the "planning stage" Dad gave me $20 to be used for her trousseau. That would barely buy the lingerie now, but at that time I bought the white chiffon material for her dress, her shoes and the few other necessities. Her hat was white satin with a large net bow at the back. Of course the whole outfit was “home fashioned”. She looked very sweet. The wedding was at 7 p.m.
Shirley, Thouret and Ida Jo, her attendants, wore pastel colored dresses of dotted Swiss in blue, yellow and lavender. We had bouquets of dahlias on the altar from Aunt Barbara's garden at Olpe. The girls wore wrist corsages of carnations to match their dresses and carried rosaries of the same color. We had a small reception at home by lamp and candlelight. Bouquets of garden flowers graced the house and a single gladiola gracefully stood by the guest book. Grandma was in Texas at this time helping Mary Catherine. A week later Mary K. passed away. Dad, Shirley and Thouret went to the funeral.
            In the course of their education, as things progressed and the children were involved in school presentations, more hilarious incidents happened. The high school presented a play in which Charlotte took part. The theme was Family Feuding, consisting of two hillbilly families killing off members of their opposites. As the play progressed, most of the members of both families met their doom. The few that were left began dragging off the stage the less fortunate. When they got to Charlotte, she obligingly raised her foot. Needless to say, the audience "roared".
            It seems I lost out on Ida Jo’s involvement in school affairs quite frequently. The night of her senior play, I was all dressed to go when, Virginia developed a serious nose bleed; she looked at me so pathetically, that I decided to stay home with her. I do remember, though, the time Ida Jo sang a solo so beautifully and it took me as a complete surprise as she hadn’t told me about it. The title was "I Believe".
            When Roger was about ten years old he frequently complained of a stomach ache. We had gone to a funeral at Olpe and so we took him along, hoping that later in the day we would be able to see a doctor and find out if he really had an ailment. We stopped at Delbert and Virginia’s and mentioned our plans. Virginia said she had an appointment that afternoon with Dr. Lohmeyer but wouldn't be able to keep it, so instead of her cancelling it we took Roger to him at the specified time. After a little examining and questioning, he proceeded to view his anatomy with a fluoroscope. He started chuckling and told us to look; however not being aware of what to look for, we couldn't discern anything out of the ordinary; then he pointed out to us that Rogers heart was on the right side instead of the left as most humans are. He said “you put him together wrong” Dr. asked our permission to take an x-ray for his files, so we acquiesced and the picture was taken there. Roger asked if it would be in color. Following this discovery, Roger would place his left hand over his right side when they recited the Pledge of Allegiance at school. He was always held over an extra day after he joined the service when the doctors discovered this abnormality, as it is quite rare.
            Charlotte was always the petite little miss. She had the leading part of "Snow White" in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". This necessitated three changes of costumes so I busily made the outfits for the occasion. I made a pair of plastic sandals and gilded them for one of the acts. Two weeks before she graduated, one of her friends obligingly cut her hair into a duck tail. I was so provoked with her. She had such beautiful hair after she finally grew some at about the age of three. She had always had what Dad called a drake’s tail in the back, when she was small. I told her that they would probably mistake her for one of the boys and give her the wrong diploma.
            One summer evening, Dad had agreed to take me to Hartford to the annual church supper which was held sometime around August 15. We were ready to leave when Connie had a mishap and needed her panties changed. I asked Charlotte to take care of her. She didn’t make any kind of
remark but she angrily pushed Connie over in a stooping position causing her to overbalance and break her arm. That cancelled our social evening and so, another trip to the hospital, another cast, another time for healing.
            One day it had rained and was quite muddy. Connie and Alberta were playing on the front porch. Connie was stooping over and looking at a puddle at the side of the porch, Alberta, very impulsively, decided to give her a little push; sure enough, she landed head down in the puddle.
            When Alberta was only about two months old and still sleeping in the reed baby buggy that Mae had given me, she slid out and fell on her stomach. It really frightened me but she was uninjured.
            On December 14, 1951, David John came to be with us for only a short time, two hours. He was baptized by Fr. Honorius, as we knew he was not long for this life. Again, we were sorely disappointed to lose our baby but such is the way of God and we do have a Saint in Heaven, to pray for us in trial and misfortune. He was buried alongside Mary Helen in Grandpa and Grandma Brown's lot at Olpe where Veronica and little David also rest. The little tombstones that new mark these two little graves are handmade. I found directions how to make yard ornaments when I worked at the Hartford Manor many years later, and with Mark’s artistic help, we fashioned the little stones. Mark did the engraving.

            In this time of our lives, the Korean War was gaining momentum. Howard felt obligated to serve his country so volunteered. He took his training at Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas. Occasionally he would get home for a weekend. The first time he came home he informed us that hie leave was only good for 50 miles, so we took him back on Sunday in order that he wouldn't be A.W.O.L. We stayed at a motel that night and travelled home the next day after visiting shortly with the Kiene1s. Later that year, Howard was sent to Korea.
            Shirley and Thouret had graduated previously and Shirley and Al were married during Howard's service in Korea. Shirley lived with us while Al was in Austria.
            In the meantime, due to Dad's health, we were endeavoring to get a dismissal for Howard as we needed help on the farm. The separation didn’t come about until April of the following spring, but finally he arrived in Emporia, spent the night at Rose Marie's and came home the
following day. He worked very ardently in the fields, never desiring to do anything socially until finally he started to go to Allen to dances with Bill Best. Later, he met Marilyn and decided he couldn't get along without her. They were married March 23, 1954. Marilyn had previously been baptized and Dad and I were her sponsors. We love you, Marilyn.
            About this time Ed Gaughan had become attracted to Thouret. Many times he would arrive for her as we were praying the rosary; he would quietly step inside and join in the family devotion. One evening, he was wearing the most horrible rubber mask and just stood on the porch and looked through the glass. We weren't praying this time.
            Dave was recalled to the service and was sent to the Aleutians. This was the year David John was born and the next spring I went through the process of having my teeth extracted. I lost 25 pounds that summer.
            A few years later, Grandpa and Grandma Brown had planned to spend Thanksgiving with Norbert and Jean. Mary Catherine was unaware of their plans and so had asked Grandma to care for J. and Molly while she was in the hospital with David. I wrote to Mary Catherine and offered to
care for the children so that my parents could make this trip. We got along real well. Harry J. did get some frost bit fingers one morning. Another time J. was with us when Art was mowing hay. They told him that the next day, Dad, Art and Roger would put the hay in the barn, so early the next morning, J. found a bucket and preceded to fill it with hay and carry it to the barn. Another time, he got too close as I was cutting a large watermelon. He might have lost the end of a finger. One
time before Christmas Alberta and Molly made some beautiful pastel colored angels that I still use for Christmas decorations.
            After we moved to Reading, I observed my 40th birthday. They say "life begins at forty'. Socially, that proved to be true for us as after we became acquainted with our new friends, the DeDonder's, Fagan's, and Whitaker’s, we occasionally "went out," on a Saturday night. The
Bluestem Hall in Emporia became a favorite place of dancing entertainment. Other times we drove to Osage City or Olpe and once to Allen. I was rather provoked at Dad the night we went to Allen. Between him and Ken Newton, Sr., they vied for spinning the bottle; of course they had partook a little too much of the bottle previously, so I drove home but he wouldn’t ride with me but got in the car with DeDonder ‘s. Most times our evenings were most enjoyable.
            Shirley lived with us when Jimmie was born. He arrived on Cathy's tenth birthday, our first grandchild. As the girls were arriving for the birthday party I had planned, I was preparing to go to the hospital to be with Shirley.
            Thouret was working at the bank at this time. Previous to this, after graduation, each of the girls dutifully helped out at home for a year before seeking other employment, thus gaining knowledge of cooking, homemaking, etc., but there's always an exception and since Thouret was
offered a position at the bank, we allowed her to take it. This was the time that we became owners of our first clothes dryer. Thouret dutifully made the payments on it and so this proved to be a very big help to me. Now I wouldn't have to put up lines all over the house in bad weather. At the end-of the drying cycle the delightful tune "How dry I am" announced the time to remove the clothes and start another load.
            In August 1952, before Jimmie McAnarney was born, Rose Marie and Dave were planning a trip to Colorado. They invited Dad and me to accompany them. I had never missed seeing the children board the bus on the first day of school and we had several other misgivings about
leaving at this time, but we had never, since our marriage, taken a vacation and this was almost 25 years later, so finally we agreed to accompany them. We got to Stockton, Kansas that Saturday night and had some kind of car trouble which necessitated our spending the night. Secretly, Rose Marie and I were very glad for the opportunity to get a nights rest. I was carrying Mark you know. After a restful night, we resumed our trip. Finding a church to attend Sunday Mass was quite
difficult. As we'd arrive at a given church, Mass was either just over or we'd have to wait another hour. We finally participated at Mass at Imperial, Nebraska. We then travelled on to Loveland, Colo. The next few days we went sightseeing, ascended Pikes Peak, visited the Garden of the Gods, Cave of the Winds and an Indian Museum where we viewed an Indian Mummy. It was a most enjoyable vacation. We arrived back home the following Wednesday after four days of enchanting wonder. This took the place of our Silver Anniversary Celebration.
            On January 11, 1953 we observed our 25th wedding anniversary. Rose Marie brought a beautiful white cake and helped cook the dinner. The girls dressed Connie and Alberta up as a bride and groom. The children presented us with a set of silver plate flat ware. That evening the
DeDonder's, Fagan's and Whitaker's surprised us with cake and .ice cream. The following week Mark was born, January 15. Shirley and Jimmie were living with us. As there was some doubt whether or not life would continue for this latest arrival, he was baptized at the hospital by Fr.
Honorius. The baby was kept in an incubator for the first week as he was premature by two weeks. About midnight after his birth it was necessary to start transfusions. By the grace of God our baby was finally out of danger and two weeks later, he was able to join his other brothers and sisters, who were prayerfully waiting for his homecoming. Later, Fr. Meinrad baptized him conditionally. Mr. and Mrs. Harry McAnarney were his sponsors.
            This occasion preceded Thouret’s wedding by five weeks, so the ensuing time was spent preparing for our third wedding. Connie and Alberta were flower girls. I made their dresses, hats and sandals of yellow and orchid taffeta.
            Mark's delicate condition prompted Dr. Traylor to prescribe the S.M.A. formula as his nourishment. He thrived very well on this and at the age of six months he weighed 20 pounds. With the doctor's advice, I put him on skim milk. He gained weight and strength and at the age of eight months he was drinking from a cup, since he had thrown his bottle to the floor and broken it.
            One summer day, Dad was cultivating some late crops. He permitted Connie and Alberta to stand by his side on the tractor. Virginia came to the house and told me that the girls were on the tractor but that Dad was driving. They had all been warned that if I ever caught them on a moving tractor, they would be severely punished. Feeling that they were in good hands, I was not alarmed of any danger, but just minutes later, Dad came to the house with Alberta in his arms. She had fallen in front of the big wheel. By the time he saw her the wheel was passing over her, so as soon as her body was free, he picked her up and as he stretched her out on the ground, seemingly lifeless, she caught her breath. Quickly he took Connie and tried to calm her hysterics. We
immediately took Alberta to the hospital where they found out that one lung was collapsed. Her forehead had a slight fracture causing a flow of blood from her nose, her breathing was labored and we had feared of a lung puncture, but luckily none. The days following were very trying, we alternated nights sitting up with her and waiting for the crisis. Dad suffered much anguish at this time. He had such a feeling of guilt. I too, was very worried and we spent much time in prayer. Finally, Dr. Davis felt it was safe to give her a transfusion and proceeded to do so. In a matter of a few hours she responded with so much energy that we tried unsuccessfully to quiet her. From that time on she continued to make steady improvement and was soon released from the hospital.
            A few months later, on Christmas Day, we were visiting at Olpe. As we were returning home just rounding the curve north of Olpe, Alberta opened the back door of the car to throw out a scrap of paper. She mistook the door handle for the window handle. The doors on this old Overland opened from front to back; the sudden release of the lock caused the door to fly open and pulled Alberta along; she was deposited in the ditch. Cathy, Virginia and Connie started yelling to stop and Dad replied “I am” but then they said “Alberta went out ". By the time we got stopped she was running to catch up, blood streaming down her face from the gravel scratches on her forehead. We rushed to the hospital and found out her injuries were minor. After cleaning her up we continued on our way home. She cried mostly because she was afraid she'd be confined to the hospital. She still bears a scar on the tip of her nose.
            Pain and sickness hadn't run their course yet for our baby girl. After she started to school in the first grade, she had her first double tooth pulled. The doctors declared that this had no bearing on the sickness that followed, but we always felt that it was related. Dr. Patton pulled the infected tooth it bled quite profusely and he gave her some Vitamin K to stop the bleeding. Later that month she complained of her legs hurting. We took her to Dr. Davis for a checkup but he couldn't seem to find any cause for it. Later, one day when she came home from school she said “I could see two teachers in school today”. We again took her to the doctor. He referred her to Dr. Trimble. Nothing seemed to be wrong with her eyes, but as he said, he thought that perhaps she was having muscular spasms causing double vision. This continued first one eye and then the other was affected, causing her eyes to cross quite frequently. We kept checking with the doctor. He ordered an X-ray of her head. He felt that she might have a tumor that may have been caused from her previous head injury; however the X-ray revealed nothing. About the last week in October, she became steadily worse. On Saturday, she swayed from side to side when she walked she became nauseated and overall decidedly worse. She spent a most restless night. Her spine was paining severely and she had a bad headache. The following morning, Dad and I went to church in Emporia. We went to the Red X Pharmacy after mass to purchase some medicine, and there we met Dr. Davis. We told him that we were going to bring Alberta in to the hospital that afternoon. He said "If she was my child, I’d take her to the K. U. Medical Center". He said if we would accompany him to his office, he would call the Center and make an appointment with a brain surgeon down there to examine her. We agreed, and the date was set for November 1, which was the following Tuesday. By that time she was paralyzed from head to foot. She insisted on wearing the blue taffeta jumper that I had recently made for her for her first appearance on the stage at school. We laid her on the back seat of Bud's red car; (he graciously offered it for our use). When the surgeon saw her later that day, he told us that he thought she had "tubercular meningitis". Our hearts sank in fear, but then he said he couldn’t be sure until they tapped her spine. That was done the next morning. They found nothing. In the meantime, since they were so sure that she had tubercular meningitis, they put her in an isolated room with a little colored boy who had recuperated from T.B. After the test proved negative, they hurriedly found her a private room. I spent the nights with Aunt Barbara and Alma and each morning I would walk two blocks to catch the city bus. I was with her all week. Doctor after doctor examined her and at the end of the week, they diagnosed her case as "Gilliam Bere’ Syndrome” (a very rare but seldom fatal disease), however, in some instances, it progressed to the point that it required treatment in an iron lung. Arrangements were made to transfer her to St. Mary's Hospital in Emporia. The same morning that the doctor confirmed the diagnosis, as I was leaving Alma's house for my daily ride to the hospital, the chimes from the nearby church of "Our Lady of Perpetual Help” were playing the beautiful music of "On this Day 0 Beautiful Mother". It was especially significant to me that morning and somehow it lifted my spirits. When I got to the hospital the doctor informed me of Alberta's diagnosed Gilliam Bere' Syndrome and said we could transfer her to St. Mary's Hospital in Emporia. I was truly elated, I later learned that a wedding was in progress at the church, and so the chimes.
            Dave and Dad came for us in Dave’s little grey Ford on the following day and that very evening she was admitted to dear St. Mary's. She required the same treatment as polio patients and oh how she dreaded those hot steaming towels. I was torn between staying with her or being with
the rest of the family, as Mark wasn’t quite two years old. We did spend many days at the hospital and diligently watched her condition. This last Sunday evening before she began to improve, we were just preparing to leave for home when suddenly she developed difficulty breathing and started gasping. A quick call to Dr. Davis and oxygen was ordered. Now grateful we were that being in the iron lung was averted. I stayed with her all night. By morning she was able to dispense with the oxygen and day by day she continued to improve.
            A week later, the day before Thanksgiving, we went to visit her. On a sudden impulse I called Dr. Davis and said "I know you III think I'm crazy, but could Alberta go home for Thanksgiving?” He replied, “No, I don't think you're crazy, in fact I’ll dismiss her, and since
I’ll be hunting tomorrow, I’ll stop by to see he r " and he did. He announced that we could manage her care at home but in a few days he wanted us to see the therapist which we did. We had a most thankful and joyous Thanksgiving. Later the therapist advised us to secure a large tub and instructed me how to exercise her small arms and legs to bring them back to usefulness. This I did, religiously, each day. She kept improving and soon her teacher began coming to the house to instruct her three times weekly. Mrs. Benjamin, her teacher, would relate to me little signs of improvement as the days passed. One day she said "She crossed her legs today". Gradually she was able to stand, then she'd venture a step one at a time, holding onto the furniture as she progressed. By the last of February she was ready to reenter school and resume her daily schedule. She was equal to the rest of her class and the following year her teacher asked her to help some of the other pupils who were a little slower with their lessons.
            Sometime before this, when Carl was a baby, Howard and Marilyn moved to a ranch at Kalvesta, Kansas. The next spring Charlotte went out to help Marilyn after Rodney was born. She got so lonely there. She had been dating Dale occasionally and really liked him. Unknown to us, on her return, she rented an apartment in Emporia, near the tracks, and started working for the Bell Telephone Co. Dad, always wanting the best for his offspring, visited her one day and very emphatically informed her that he didn’t approve of her living at this place, so he patiently helped her find a nice room in a private home in a much better location.
            When she first started dating Dale, one particular evening, she was to feed and water the chickens. I don't know where she put the grain but she was pouring the water on the ground as Dad bewilderingly watched out the window. (Love).
            Art had a bad case of pneumonia one winter when we lived here. Also, Dad spent a week in the hospital with the same infection.
            The girls always enjoyed riding the bicycle; however, they weren't satisfied to ride it singly so one would pump and the other ride the handlebars. This ended in at least a couple of wrecks I remember Cathy coming in the house with her face all scratched and Charlotte limping. Another time, Virginia was riding and a bunch of knats were flying around her head, she let go with one hand to chase the knats away and you know what, she wrecked.
            The flood of 1951 - was very devastating. It completely covered our oats field washing the bales down to the creek. Occasionally we'd take a trek down around the creek and timber to visit the Indian graves. What tales the skeletons might have related had we known them in real life. Cy Heyworth and Daisy Groves, cousins, were our neighbors. They lived about 1/4 mile north of us. Cy was a great neighbor. Daisy was slightly “odd” One day the girls went to visit with her, she was baking cookies and since she burned a pan of them, she let the girls eat them.
            One day I was sewing. Mark and Alberta were playing but Bertie decided to get into something else. I don't remember what she did but I must have scolded her. She walked behind my chair and from the corner of my eye I could see that she stuck her tongue out at me. I said “do
that again”. She did and I pricked it lightly with my needle. I had always told the kids that I needed eyes in the back of my head. She declared from that time on that I really did have.
            Another time we were eating supper. One of the older children was telling about something one of their classmates had received from their parents and expressed the desire that she wished she had one. Dad explained that there were many things that we were obliged to dispense with since we had such a large family to feed and clothe; then he told us that we might have our own farm if there were only two or three children in the family, but as matters stood it took so much just to keep going that we were unable to buy a home. Then I asked him, “if you could choose three or four from the lot who would you want?" Alberta, four years old, piped up "Why me". It was so rewarding to hear this because we knew all of the rest of the children felt the same way.
            After Shirley's wedding, quite a large group drove out to our house to join in the celebration. Fr. Meinrad spent part of the day playing cards with the men and enjoying some of our grape wine. Here and there stood wine glasses with perhaps a few sips left in them. Later, Alberta
became tired and came to sit on my lap. She lifted her foot and said "look how my foot wiggles” then she raised her arm, “see my hand wiggle” I decided that she was also dizzy. She had been draining the remaining wine from the glasses. She soon fell asleep after that.
            One day Delbert came for Ida Jo to help out while Virginia was in the hospital. Sidney came with him. At this time Roger had geese. One of them flew at Sid knocking him down with its outstretched wing. Sid was scared to death.
            One spring, when Mark was just past two years, the teacher asked to have him for the New Years Baby. I took him in to practice one afternoon. We didn't know how we were going to get him on the stage but since he was very fond of gum, we decided to entice him with a stick. We had given the gum to Fr. Time. I instructed Mark to walk out and get the gum which he did. The night of the performance, clad only in a diaper and a white paldric with the red numerals 1955 across the front, he slowly crossed the stage, and as Father Time took his hand, the quiet expectancy of the crowd suddenly burst into admiring applause.
            Later On this year, on July-14, 1955, Papa died in St. Mary's Hospital. The summer was very hot and dry; One Sunday the temperature was 116°. The crops that looked so promising in June finally succumbed to the intense drought.
            Ida Jo and Charlotte both married while we still lived here. Rose Marie had moved to St. Joe. Shirley moved to Emporia, after Al returned from the Army, and then to Osage City. Thouret went to Junction City, as Ed had joined the army and was stationed there. Eve was born there. The
grandchildren kept increasing our number of descendants so that when we observed our thirtieth wedding anniversary, we had acquired thirty descendants. Grandpa Brown died when Mark was 1 1/2 years old.
            After living at this place for about ten years, we had a choice of moving to a good modern house with more land and better conveniences. This was the year that we moved to the Smith place on Badger Creek. Howard then moved to the Kiene farm. The children continued school at Reading. Art was quite apt in pitching baseball and the star player in basketball. One year, when he was on the high school team, Reading went to the State tournament at Great Bend.
            Again, we loved our new location and were very happy here. At this time, the grandchildren began spending some time with us. I remember one week Greg was with us. He sat on a piece of broken glass and cut his hip quite badly so we took him to Osage City to the doctor; however, he came back home with us to finish his vacation. There were two houses on this farm. The rock house was located across the creek to the east. This is where Ida Jo and Dean lived. One day Mark ran his arm through the washing machine wringer. I called Ida Jo and she rushed over to
help me.
            It was here that we purchased more milk cows. One day in the fall, after riding to school on the bus, Roger, Cathy and some of the other kids in town decided to play hooky so they drove down to Strawn for the day. They returned to Reading in time to ride the bus home, but the principal ordered them off the bus. We had heard about their escapade and Dad had driven into Reading to try to find them. He talked to the principal but no one had any information. For punishment, I kept them home the remainder of the week to clean the basement and to do many other jobs that needed to be done since we had just moved a week earlier. They didn't think much of their punishment.
            The girls were always quite popular at school and had been cheerleaders, but this particular year, I told Cathy and Ginny not to try out as it always took extra money for their outfits. They tried out anyway and both were chosen but when they got home and told me I stuck to my first decision. The next year I agreed that they could tryout and they again were elected. The principal called and asked if it was O.K. for them to accept. I gave my permission.
            When Charlotte was working in Emporia she bought and made Cathy, Virginia, Connie and Alberta each a beautiful permanent pleated skirt. They were lovely and lasted a long time. After Roger graduated, he attended school in Kansas City. Dad cared for the hogs Roger had purchased with a loan from the Reading bank to defray his school expenses. He failed to get a diploma but then he joined the Air Force, where he received special training in Communications.
            After Cathy graduated, she worked at Hallmark's for one year. She saved her money and the next year entered St. Mary of the Plains College at Dodge City to begin her nursing education.
            This was the year that Mark started to school; 25 years after Howard had been in the first grade. We made arrangements for Mark, Connie and. Alberta to attend Sacred Heart School in Emporia. They would ride with Cathy in the morning, walk to the city library after school and then ride back with her after work. The next year, when she left for college, I secured work in the school kitchen and transported the children to and from school. Fr. Sergius was our pastor at this time.
            When Roger was attending school in Kansas City, he secured employment with the police force at night. He saved quite a sum of money and spent much of it on the family for Christmas. This particular year, he brought an electric milking machine home for Dad. He had measured the
barn for piping one weekend, and had everything ready to install. That year he gave me a beautiful wrist watch, which I lost last fall. During the summer months when Dad and the boys worked late in the field, the girls and I would occasionally do the milking. One evening, we failed to relieve the cow of the suction cups and kickers. We had quite a circus going, trying to get things back to normal. We didn't tell Dad for quite some time. He always got so upset. When we lived here the coyotes were so brave around the barn and chicken house. They got most of our fryers one year. We discontinued raising chickens after that.
            Art had started to college after he graduated and so moved to Emporia with Jim Geraghty. One weekend, he went to Kansas City to try out for the A's. He may have gone a long way but couldn’t afford to go to Florida for training. During his college days, he acquired several girl friends and finally the one and only appeared. We were very happy to welcome our second daughter-in-law and so happy that she became a Catholic and we were proud to be her sponsors. We love you, Dee.
            At this time, since “our” house and part of' the acreage had been sold, we moved to the rock house across the creek. We may have bought the big house that we moved from, but were unable to secure a government loan for that purpose at this time. Had it been a year later, we could have secured a loan and purchased it. We were obliged to sell all but one of our milk cows, so we also sold the milking machine. The next year we increased our pig crop and did very well. The following year, our landlady sold the rock house and the remainder of the farm ground, so again, we had to make new plans. We took a correspondence course in “Motel Management” but did not pursue employment in that capacity.
            About this time, Grandma had the urge to sell her house in Hartford, and so Justin approached us with the idea to buy it. After this offer, Dad just wouldn’t look for anything else, so we prepared to have a farm sale. We bought Grandma1s property for. $5,000 and she reserved the right to make her home with us. The day that our sale was scheduled proved to be cold with a lot
of snow, so we postponed it to a later date. This happened a second time, but the third designated day was a warm day in February. The warm air had melted the snow and consequently caused mud, but it was a good day for this activity since farmers were unable to do much else. We had moved most of our furniture the previous day and so after the sale, we spent the night in our new home at Hartford. The Altar Society from Assumption Church at Reading served the dinner. I prepared dinner for Dad and the auctioneers. That was the morning my electric oven burned out so I finished the rolls under the broiler. Virginia continued to attend the Reading High School as this was her senior year. She stayed in Emporia with Ida Jo and Dean and each morning she would ride to Reading with one of the teachers. She was the only one of our family that received all 12 years of her education in the Reading public school.
            Connie had graduated from the eighth grade at Sacred Heart the preceding spring and in the fall started to the Reading high school but then transferred to Hartford for the second semester. It was after graduation that Connie had a tonsillectomy. She had invited her classmates to visit her at the hospital but failed to realize how uncomfortable she would be so didn't enjoy their company.
            Alberta was in the seventh grade that year and Mark was in the third grade.
            We allowed Mark to skip school the day of our sale. He proudly mounted “Trixie” our favorite horse when they brought her out in the ring to sell her. Howard helped us that day also.
            I had many misgivings about moving down to Hartford. It was quite difficult for me to relate. Mama lived with us for about 1 year. She then moved into a small house that Fritz had bought. I hope the lord continues to bless us and I'll be allowed to maintain our own home.
The best thing about this move was the daily Mass that was read each morning at 7 a.m. I can recall our first morning, being awakened by the ringing church bell. I hadn’t been able to attend weekday Mass since school days and so for this privilege I was very grateful. Later, when I became employed I was unable to attend daily Mass. We are very grateful for the Masses that Fr. Curt provides in his untiring mission here and at Olpe.
            Our house in Hartford was in much need of repair. The front porch was sagging, the roof leaked, the bathroom floor needed replacing and the kitchen was in need of built ins. The following spring we started remodeling. This consisted of installing a built in oven and electric stove along with kitchen cupboards and lowering the 10 foot ceiling to 8 1/2 feet. We also had a Lennox furnace installed. The next year we remodeled the bathroom, bought a new bathtub, stool and lavatory, laid a new vinyl rug and applied linoleum siding to the walls. Next was the roof. Dad did it all himself and tried desperately to complete it before his 65th birthday. He didn't quite succeed, but a few days later, the job was done. I was so afraid he might fall from the steep gables as I’d breathlessly watch him apply shingle after shingle. Next came the painting. Frequently, we would travel to Wichita and as we drove along, we’d observe the different color combinations that people used on their houses. Charcoal and white struck our fancy and so we decided on that combination. Bob was working at Andrews Paint Store in Wichita at this time and so he was able to acquire sufficient supply of Benjamin Moore paint at a considerable discount.
            I managed to redo much of the interior, namely varnishing woodwork, paper the upstairs bathroom with Connie's help, papering the kitchen and dining room. Bud helped put on the dining room ceiling. The entire house has been repapered except the three front rooms, which paper has been on for 21 years.
            Dad secured work with the John Deere Company here in Hartford but the income was inadequate to provide for three adults and three children so I applied for a job as waitress at Reece's cafe. Virginia had worked here the summer after her first year of college so when she returned to college, I took her place. Previous to this time, Virginia went to New Mexico by bus where she worked during the summer typing for Ed. While she was there we heard that funds for college were available by applying to the Jones Trust Fund. With encouragement from the Gaughan's and us, Virginia applied for financial aid and the request was granted. She was accepted to attend College at Sacred Heart in Wichita from which she graduated four years later.
            At this time, Cathy had finished her first year at St. Mary of the Plains and was now at St. Joseph's Hospital in Wichita to further pursue her education. She tells us of one night some of the student nurses leaving by way of a window and arriving on the cement below with the help of knotted sheets.
            Dad quit Hurtigs and worked for Justin for a time driving the Standard truck and delivering gas to farmers.
            When construction of the new bridge began, Dad applied for a job and was hired. This paid considerably better than his former job. One day he came home with abdominal pains. I knew that he needed professional help but the girls had gone to Emporia and we had no other transportation. As so many times before, it seemed providential that help soon came. Charlotte and Dale arrived from Tulsa. This was the Decoration Day weekend. Dale and I took Dad to the doctor who immediately entered him in the hospital. Dr. Hovorka ordered morphine. This soon relieved him and he was ready to go back home. It took a great deal of stern persuasion to make him decide to submit to surgery which was performed shortly. I called Howard, informed him of the graveness of Dad's condition and he very obligingly came to the hospital to be with me. Drs. Hovorka and Vandervelde performed the surgery. They discovered that sometime in his early life he had suffered peritonitis. This had caused the present blockage. The years previous to this he was being treated for ulcers, but finally the real cause for discomfort was found.
            Roger was in the Air Force taking a course in Communications in Biloxi, Mississippi. After he completed this he chose to go to Germany. While stationed there, Marsha married. Roger became very depressed. Next, he was sent to Pakistan for a year, much to his disgust. It was here, on one of his free weekends, that he damaged his two front teeth.
            After a year there, we were so happy to have him back home. He was discharged from the Air Force. For a time, he worked for Didde's doing drafting but later started with Northwestern Mutual. He dated quite a number of girls but none meant as much to him as Marsha. He was 25 years old that June and so, together with Cathy, who was working at St. Mary's, Connie who had graduated from Hartford High, and Art, who was in Emporia working, decided to celebrate. That was the night Art broke his leg. It was a time for much pain for him and worry and anguish for the rest of the family. Again, our Dear Lord permitted life to continue and we are so grateful.
            The year Cathy started to St. Mary of the Plains, Dad and I loaded up her baggage and took her to Dodge City to begin her nurses training. It was here that she met Phil Brady.
            With the girls in school in Wichita, they made many new acquaintances. Thanksgiving and Easter were times that we became introduced to their new friends, as many times the girls would bring one or two of their classmate’s home for a weekend. LaVerne was in the Air Force and stationed at the base in Wichita at this time. I can't relate where or when he and Virginia met, but it has proved to be a lucky break for all concerned.
            At this time, Shirley lived at Garden Plain, one weekend, after we had had company for two or three days, Shirley, Al and family arrived. After they had been here for some time, Ann Patrice said "Grandma, don't you think it's about time to clean your house"? The next time they came, they arrived before anyone else, so everything was clean and uncluttered; they all remarked how nice everything looked and asked if I had just shampooed my rugs, but I told them it usually looks like this until we have company for a day or two.
            Shortly after we moved to Hartford, Fr. Alfred asked me to play the church organ. I tried a few times but Dad wasn't much in favor of this until one Sunday, of' of the blue, Father announced that Virginia Loveland and Mrs. Albert Haag would alternate playing the organ. We were singing Latin masses at this time but shortly that was changed to English. The old organ had been converted to electricity. It was very difficult to overcome the pressure sound that the pump caused and almost impossible to vary from loud to soft as it was usually loud. In a few years, after a generous donation of $500 from Wm. Blauf'uss, Jr., Fr. Alfred purchased a used electric Conn organ. The faithful members of St. Mary's soon contributed the necessary funds to make the final payment.
            By this time Virginia Loveland had moved away. Fred Gilligan, her young brother began practicing and soon learned to play the new organ also.
            I was totally unfamiliar with this new instrument, but since organ lessons were not available, I studied the instruction book and experimented with the various stoppers and finally when the sound was pleasant to my ears, I adopted it as my own. Father would sit and listen. I'd
ask him for any constructive criticism, but he'd only say "it all sounds good". As time went on, I became more comfortable playing the organ but I always dreaded weddings. Thank heavens we didn't have many. Often I requested the choir members to offer a little prayer so that I wouldn't make any mistakes.
            We practiced long and hard on the new English Mass and the parishioners joined in. Sometime after, Fr. Alfred was transferred. Fr. Ralph became our pastor for a short time. He made several drastic changes very unfavorable to many people. After his departure, Fr. Varin accepted
the duties as parish priest. It was during his service that the parish council decided to move the organ downstairs to the place where it now stands. It is much more convenient here but I’m wondering if I’ll ever overcome feeling so self conscious in view of the whole congregation. People have been very kind to me regarding the service which I have rendered and which I enjoy more than I can say.
            Fred inaugurated guitar masses. Sometimes Debra Bluma assisted him. Later Vivian Schmidt led the singing and accompanied with her guitar. Now Ann and Bonnie are doing the honors. At Easter and Christmas we unite our efforts which are quite rewarding.
            Mark had his first experience serving Mass for Fr. Alfred for Lizzie O'Mara's funeral. He was so self conscious but dutifully carried the holy water for the blessing. After that, he took his
weeks serving regularly.
            During his senior year, Karen joined his class. This culminated in their marriage after graduation.
            That year, Mark caught up with some of the things he had missed, namely chicken pox. He had such a bad case. He was suffering a bad headache the day of the prom. We had gone to Emporia to rent a white coat for the occasion and I also purchased a red carnation for his boutonniere. He attended the banquet and dance without much enjoyment and the following Monday, he broke out with the disease.
            Alberta graduated from the eighth grade On Ascension Thursday. We had five inches of rain by 7 that morning. We had gone to church for the holyday Mass but it was raining so hard that we stayed in the car until the rain subsided. To make matters worse, the nuns who were teaching summer school couldn't unlock the church door, until finally Connie O'Connor transported Fr. Alfred, by car, to the rear door and they finally unlocked the door.
            The excessive rain had flooded the highway north of Hartford thus prohibiting any traffic out of town. Since eighth grade graduation was to be held in Emporia at the Civic Auditorium, the exercises were postponed until later in the day. After graduation, we went to the Hutton Sewing Machine Co. where I bought my zigzag sewing machine. After I purchased my new machine, I did some sewing for people who requested it.
            About this time, construction was beginning on the dyke and John Redmond Dam. Men were in need of bedrooms. Dad and I attended a furniture sale here in Hartford and purchased several beds and some other furniture. We prepared the upstairs for rental and for some time had
the beds all occupied. At this time we had four bedrooms downstairs for our own needs. It was a little crowded but we needed the extra money.
            Mark graduated from the eighth grade at the school in Neosho Rapids. When he entered high school in Hartford, Alberta was a senior and so she enjoyed initiating the freshman class that year.
            About this time, Hartford .Manors was being constructed. Helen Gardner and I were interested in working there, so together we drove to Emporia daily to attend classes in nurse aide instruction. We received our diplomas one month later. It was the year of John Kennedy's
assassination.
            We secured jobs as nurse aides, although we spent the first two weeks preparing the new building for occupancy; this included scrubbing floors, washing windows, polishing chrome, moving mattresses, etc. Our wages were 75¢ per hours. I spent 5 1/2 years here. Later, I worked in
medication and administered insulin and B12 shots.
            Dad was working for the city at this time during the day and at night he served as marshal. Many were the bad times he experienced during this service. Kids were always up to some prank. He was missing his rod and reel one day. He later found it under the fire escape of the bank. Halloween was always a hectic time but each year the adults endured the many tricks that always seemed to happen.
            In the course of time, Connie graduated from high school and then entered Sacred Heart College in Wichita. In her senior year in high school she was elected "Queen of the Gridiron”. I bought her a light blue flannel dress. One evening of the style show at Hartford High, as Connie modeled her new formal, I could hear people remark about her sunburn. Some of the girls had spent the afternoon sunbathing. It was quite a contrast, her sunburned back next to the delicate blue formal. I can see her yet, walking down the aisle of the auditorium, and to make things more embarrassing for her she tripped as she started up the steps to the stage. Poor Connie.
            After Connie started to college she secured part time work at K Mart. This is where she became acquainted with Mel. Here also, she ordered my Mother1s ring, which the family presented to me on Mother’s Day.

            One time Connie drove home from Wichita with a schoolmate in her car. Since the car was strange to Hartford, she decided to have a little fun with Dad as he was patrolling this night. She managed to get him to follow her with the red pickup, but then the next morning, she discovered that the gravel had made a hole in their gas tank causing considerable delay in her return to Wichita.
            Another time she and Alberta drove around the pump house down by the river in Henry Hoelting’s bug.
            Dad finally quit this unappreciated job and after he began drawing social security he took the job of caring for the water supply alternate weekends during the winter. In the summertime he spends considerable time mowing.
            Connie completed her course at Sacred Heart and secured a teaching position in a Catholic school in Wichita. The following winter, she went with Mel to Peoria, Illinois. Erica was born here. Connie taught part time at the Catholic school there. She is a very good teacher with such a wonderful disposition. Later they were transferred to a suburb of Chicago and from there to New Jersey.
            Before Connie moved to Peoria, we travelled with Nick and Evelyn Haag to Rockford to visit Shirley. On Mother1s Day, Al drove us into Chicago to see his uncle. We also rode the subway and did a little sightseeing. Dad had always said he would take me to Chicago sometime,
as he had worked there in his youth. This was it.
            Another time we visited Shirley when we accompanied Roger. While he was attending the insurance convention in Milwaukee, we travelled by bus to Minnesota where we visited Charlotte for two days, then re- turned to Rockford, and Roger met us and the next day we went to Peoria to see Connie and Mel.
            It was on our return trip that the old Chrysler really acted up. First the starter balked, then we lost the muffler, we nearly ran out of gas and about 12 miles from home, a highway patrolman stopped us to say a headlight was out. Rog just about "had it" and so had Dad and me, but we arrived home safely, grateful for little favors. Rog was living in Emporia at this time.
            About this time, the school board was in need of a head cook at school so I applied for the position and acquired it. This work was more to my liking. The nursing work had become very depressing to me and I needed a change. I enjoyed my work at school although it was more strenuous than I had been doing, then too, the kitchen was such a hot place to work. While working here, I developed a few new recipes using government commodities which I submitted to the recipe contest one year. I won cash prizes amounting to $25 and appeared on TV in Wichita
with three other contest winners. I spent three years at school and at the age of 62, I applied for my social security benefits.
            During these years we also had kept roomers.
            Phil had joined the Army Reserves and was sent to Austin, Texas, where Cathy joined him. They were married on July 11. I can still see her loading the little new Simka I had refinished the antique trunk in pink and silver for a wedding gift and in it were other gifts from the family and friends. There wasn't much room for anything else after she finally got the trunk in the back seat.
            The next February, Vern and Ginny were married. It was a beautiful spring like day. The grandchildren had a heyday, this being the first wedding fot many of them. The over-zealous brothers-in-law kidnapped Verne that day and kept him until evening. We all attended a dance at the VFW that night.
            The following June, Bob and Alberta joined the ranks of the married people. This came about on Flag Day, June 14. It was a warm, humid, windy day. Again, the grandkids thoroughly enjoyed the celebration; however, not trusting the brothers-in-law, the bride and groom left on their honeymoon without dinner.
            One summer, Mark was still in the grades, Shirley was living in Ottawa. Mark had gone home with them to spend a few days. The boys had a great time riding the pony. Roger had returned from Germany and was visiting elsewhere. When he returned home he, dad and I travelled to Ottawa to get Mark. During the night Mark acquired a severe stomach ache. The next day we took him to Dr. Vandervelde. He had an acute attack of' appendicitis. Surgery was performed immediately. The next day Roger attended Gary and Sarah’s wedding and served as one of the attendants. Two weeks previous to this I had made the two bridesmaid's dresses. When
Mark was 15 years old, he had a tonsillectomy.
            Phil was finishing his education at Dodge City and after his graduation he was called into active service. He was sent to Vietnam. Cathy and Kevin lived with us at the time. Brian was born the following March. The summer of that same year she fell and broke her wrist.
            The spring after I had started working at school I contacted “shingles”, it's a very disagreeable malady causing a feeling of such uselessness, with no desire to do anything. The itching that accompanied it is very irritating. I was unable to work for a month. Another time,
I suffered an acute sinus infection with a high fever. This time I was hospitalized for several days. When dad and Mark came to see me Mark presented me with a little blond wooden chest he had made in shop. It now holds my playing cards.
After graduation Mark secured employment at. I. B. P. He was a undecided whether to attend college or join the Air Force. Finally he signed up with the Air Force. Before he left for induction, he and Karen were busily making wedding plans. They were married September 28, 1971 and left for Kansas City for his induction that very evening. His superior had very graciously secured a room for newlyweds on a floor of the hotel above the other inductees. Karen traveled back to Emporia the next day while Mark went to Lackland A.F.B., Texas with his group. After his rookie training, he was sent to Wichita Falls, Texas. Michelle was born at the base hospital in Wichita Falls. When Mark was sent to Guam, Karen returned to Emporia.
            When Mark was in Guam, he sent us the beautiful lazy-Susan which we use occasionally.
            In 1972 some of our “camper minded” family members decided to have "family campout". They acquired the necessary information and reserved a site Missouri near Table Rock called "Ant Hill”, some families were unable to attend, but those who did had a very enjoyable week.
            The Sunday we returned home Michelle was baptized at Sacred Heart, Roger and Marsha were her sponsors.
            About six weeks later Grandma died in St. Mary’s Hospital. She had broken her hip the previous year and was just beginning to ambulate with the help of a walker when a malignancy developed. I was so grateful that Cathy and Alberta lived in Hartford at this time. They and their children were a source of joy for Grandma. They were also much appreciated by dad and me as Mark had left and we needed this vacancy to be filled. We were “weaned” gradually.
            Marsha and Jenny had been received into the Catholic Church around this time, then after much diligent work by Fr. Scarlatti, Marsha was finally free to marry. Immediately Roger and Marsha began to plan for the wedding. Our whole family had been praying ever so faithfully and
our petitions were answered. They were married December 25, 1973 at Christ the King church in Wichita. Dad had bought me a beautiful long dress for Christmas, my first formal.
            After Roger's wedding we spent the night with Art and De. On Sunday morning after the wedding, ice and snow had enveloped the state. Dad was sick, Mark and Karen had left for Emporia and we were alone for the return trip home. Harry Brown very obligingly offered to drive us home. We spent three hours of crucial driving before we arrived safely home. Connie and Mel continued on to Illinois.
            Sidney and Sandra had been united in marriage, the August previous to Roger's wedding. Dad and I attended their beautiful ceremony on Strawberry Hill near Steamboat Springs. It was lovely. The following Monday we left on our memorable trip, the really first traveling vacation. At this time we visited Yellowstone Park, came back by way of South Dakota and Nebraska where we stopped to see Ruby and Clarence. The following day we visited my grandparent’s graves, Joseph and Mary Krebeck, in Fairbury, Nebraska. When we got to Marysville, Kansas, we decided to go to St. Joe to Rose Marie's, as we knew that Thouret was spending a few days with Rose Marie before returning to New Mexico. It was at this time that Thouret had agreed to let Mike attend school in Emporia. This didn't work out but we all keep praying that someday soon we will receive good news.
            One summer evening in 1974, Dad was honored with a dinner at the D and R Cafe to commemorate his 50th anniversary as a Knight of Columbus. Several years earlier he had served as Grand Knight of the Hartford Council and together we attended several State Conventions.
            In 1974, our first granddaughter invited us to her wedding. Eve and Jimmie were married September 20, 1974, On Dad's 71st birthday. Connie and children travelled with us to the wedding. We spent one night at Mark’s in Wichita Falls, then a night in a motel in Texas, arriving in Las Cruces about mid afternoon of the next day. The few days previous to the wedding, we tried to be of some help to Thouret but the ever increasing number of guests kept us busy mainly preparing food.
            Lisa and her girl friend arrived previous to our appearance. We washed constantly. It was almost impossible to dry clothes outdoors due to the intermittent showers so we'd take the clothes to the Laundromat for drying.
            On the morning of the big day, I awoke to the sound of unusual activity. Upon arising, as I looked out the window, I discovered the cause of the commotion; Ed and Thouret had left early to get the dressed pork carcass from the locker at the retreat house in preparation for the process of barbecuing. They each grasped one end of a crowbar on which the pig was secured. Barbecuing was an all day job. Vern was there to help spray water on the fire if it burned too vigorously
            Everyone was doing their “thing”. About twenty minutes before the ceremony, Ed came in to clean up. You couldn't possibly imagine that such a transformation could take place in so little time.
            We received news that day that Mike was in Emporia, but later he was back in Nebraska. The garden wedding was most impressive. George, a deacon, officiated at the ceremony this first wedding.
            We left New Mexico the following week and arrived home on Friday. We travelled to Chanute where Connie and children stayed to spend a few days with Cathy and family.
            After spending the night with Cathy, this was her was her birthday, Connie’s was the previous day, Dad and I returned to Hartford. We started making plans to go home with Connie to New Jersey as Mel came for her providing the car would accommodate us.          Cathy and Phil brought Connie and children to Hartford 8 week later. When they arrived, I told Connie that we had bad news for her. She asked what, so I told her our plans. She felt bad that she hadn't thought of it and immediately began making plans for our trip the following week. As she hadn’t visited with Rose Marie for some time, we decided to drive to St. Joe for a couple of days. Dad was working for the city so he didn’t accompany us. After a pleasant two days at Rose Marie's, we arrived home about 12:30 Friday afternoon before our scheduled trip to New Jersey. We ate lunch and I still had green tomatoes to pick, I prepared to do that, but first, with Connie's help, we were going to put the mower in the basement; luckily we didn't get this done, as we probably would have neglected to empty the gas from the tank and a combustion might have occurred so close to the water heater.
            I opened one cellar door and as I reached for the second door, my hand slipped off, causing me to fall and break my wrist. Connie was bringing the mower and when she saw me lying prostrate she became so concerned. I instructed her to find Dad as I knew I needed professional attention. Upon arrival at the hospital and after Dr. Vandervelde examined my wrist, I was admitted to the hospital. Due to the swelling, a cast couldn’t be applied until Saturday morning; that’s the day we were to leave for New Jersey. I guess I just never do anything halfway, so with this too, I really broke it. I was given an anesthetic and the wrist was set, needless to say it was very painful. Cathy and Phil drove up to see me. Everyone was so alarmed.
            Our previous plans were to meet Mel in Omaha, at Alberta1s, but after my accident Connie called to tell Alberta that we wouldn't come until later the next week. In the meantime Mel had called Bertie and was on his way to Omaha. When he arrived there they told him the news, he wouldn't believe them. The next day he drove to Hartford to wait until I could travel. When I left the hospital on Sunday, doctor advised me that he wanted to see me on Wednesday so that delayed our trip by four days. I kept telling Connie that we’d better cancel out but she wouldn't accept that decision, so after I saw the doctor on Wednesday, and with his permission to travel, we were on our way to Omaha. We stopped at Mary Catherine’s about 2 p.m. for lunch, in Topeka.
            We arrived at Alberta’s about supper time. After spending the night, we left for New Jersey. The next night we spent in Peoria with the Fides, friends of Mel and Connie. They have a family of eight sons, wonderful people. Our trip ended about 10 p.m. Saturday night. We experienced the first snow of the winter while driving through Ohio. I wish I could have travelled more comfortably, but it was quite enjoyable to see the beautiful autumn colors that graced the countryside. I know Dad enjoyed it immensely. I did too, except for the discomfort of my cast and the bruised arm, for which I couldn't quite find a good position. The children were good travelers, and we're so grateful to Mel and Connie for this wonderful experience.
            New Jersey is a very beautiful state. Connie drove us to see numerous historical places. We attended Mass daily, just a block beyond their house.
            After about 10 days, we terminated our visit and drove to Newark, N. J. with Mel to board the 747 which took us to Chicago. This was my first flying experience. (Dad had flown with Dave several years previous to this time). From Chicago, we took a bus to Rockford, where we spent two days at Shirley's then back to the big city to catch a plane to Omaha, this time a 727. Bob and Alberta drove us home the following day and spent the weekend, November 5.
            Connie had taken such good care of me while we were there, and after we arrived home, Dad assumed the household duties. He even helped me pin up my hair. I was getting along favorably, we had a blessed Christmas and I was able to furnish organ music for the Christmas Eve
Mass. Then, on Mark’s birthday, as I crossed the street on my return to the house from the mail box, it happened again. I fell and broke my arm just below the elbow. This necessitated surgery, three weeks later. This day was club day and I was hostess, but Ann O'Donnell, warm heartedly, carried on and the party went off O.K. I joined the girls just as they were leaving.
            On July 50, 1975, Roger and Marsha’s baby boy was born. He arrived just prior to our family campout at Elk City Reservoir, in August. As most of you were present, I needn't describe it. I do want you to know how much we enjoyed it and how grateful we are to all of you for all the
planning that made it such a marvelous success.
            Later that month, Brandon was baptized and immediately after, Bob became a member of the Catholic Church, another prayer answered; then to add another gratifying fact, the following November, Vern received the saving waters of baptism, received his First Holy Communion and became confirmed, culminating with Holy Mass in their new home.
            It is just one year since my arm surgery and thank God I can get along with most of my usual activities. I’ve always been so grateful that this misfortune happened to me instead of one of our children, as their families require so much time and care and I had all the time I needed to heal and recuperate.
            In March 1975, my good friend Frances Bauer asked me if I would be able to play for their golden wedding mass. I told her I would, but due to my second break, I was able to play the left hand with only one finger. I kept practicing and using my hand wore and more, and by Holy Week I was able to use all of my fingers again. In May, however, I was required to take therapy treatments for the numbness that had developed in my fingers. This improved my fingers and arm immensely, so that n the pain appears intermittently mainly when the weather changes.
            A few instances that haven’t been included in the previous pages:
            The time Charlotte spilled cream all over the kitchen floor. When Virginia spilled some water, I told her to wipe it up and in the process of bringing in the mop, carrying it like a flag over her shoulder; she managed to knock the coffee pot off the stove and grounds all over the floor.
            When Charlotte poured tallow down the kitchen sink making it necessary to dig up the drain to clean it out.
            Frequently as the girls were washing dishes, Howard would snatch a wet dish towel and snap them with it, but one day the tables turned as Ida Jo grabbed the broom and ran him out of the house. The broom came out loser with a 12 inch handle left.
            The time I was asking Mark if he thought it would be nice to have a young mother like Shirley, Rose Marie or any of his sisters. He looked at me so innocently and said "I like old people".
            When Mark was about 1 1/2 years old, Cathy had set him on the cow and then decided to turn the cow out of the stanchion. Of course, Mark fell off and broke his arm. X-Rays again.
            Then, when Jimmy, Mark and Virginia were planning to ride Trixie and they all fell off with Mark receiving another broken arm.
            The time Cathy and De tried to ride Trixie, she bucked, hitting Cathy's nose with her head, nearly breaking it.
            When Dad had a severe ulcer develop on his lip and Dr. Hovorka removed it surgically. We were so relieved when the report was negative.
            More recently, he had a skin cancer removed from his hand, which has healed beautifully.
            We were so proud of Connie when she received the Betty Crocker Award in her senior year.
            The coyote hunt, when Rose Marie was so rudely pushed into a ditch by a racing horse. I feel that this has caused her so much physical pain through her life.
            The irresponsible hunter that shot behind the line and caused BB's to sting Art's leg when he was about eight years old.
            The instances when Art wouldn't pray before meals and later Cathy pulled the same prank.
            The time Grandma took care of the children when I was hospitalized and Cathy and Ginny damaged many of our photographs.
            When I would find Howard, age two, sitting in the chicken's water trough trying to cool off, and the times he would catch the little chicks, holding them tightly until they quit kicking.
            The Sunday morning when I was preparing dinner, (Dad and the kids had gone to Emporia for mass) and Mark came in the kitchen and sat on the kitchen stool. I asked him what had happened as he had a muddy smudge just below his eye. He told me that he had been digging in the
mud with a stick and it hit him on the face. A little later he said, "I wonder if Ida Jo heard that?" So I questioned him. He finally admitted that he had discharged the gun and it kicked him. I went outdoors to see what damage he may have caused and noticed one of the porch pillars was full of BB’s. Another time he shot a squirrel from a tree and the gun knocked him off the log that he was sitting on.
            One Sunday morning, when we still lived at Olpe, Howard had helped me catch chickens for dinner. One of the roosters appeared to be eating a worm. After we chopped off its head, plucked it and was dressing it, I noticed this worm extended from its neck into the gizzard. It proved to be an old sewing machine belt that the chicken had eaten for a worm. In the process of digestion, the belt was curled round and round completely filling the gizzard. Eventually, he would have starved. The piece of belt measured about 18 inches.
            The Fourth of July when Roger was lighting firecrackers and throwing them on the ground. A young rooster grabbed one and as it exploded, he flew up into the air about eight feet.
            When Mark started to school he told the kids he had been hatched since the kids had told him he came from an incubator.
            The time Connie and Alberta were riding the mattress down the stairs and Alberta broke her arm, just previous to Christmas. I had to split the sleeve of her white dress so she could wear it to carry the Christ Child at church.
            When Connie and Alberta tired of listening to Howard and Alfred Redeker talking, Connie said "come on Alberta, let's show off a while".
            One day Mark and Jimmy had target practice with eggs in the chicken house. We gathered few that evening.
            Connie and Alberta were playing on the tractor and curiosity got the better of them. Connie turned on the ignition and started the motor. The sudden thundering response nearly scared them to death. Luckily, Fordsons were so constructed that they had to be in neutral before the motor would start. Had it been otherwise they'd have been through the barn and heaven knows where they might have stopped.
            Early one morning the boys had the horse out and giving rides. Shirley decided she wanted to ride. In the process the horse began to trot, yes, Shirley fell off and hit her back on a rock. She decided she’d have been better off staying in the house and doing the dishes. Fat chance of her ever having to milk a cow manually, she just didn’t have the right “squeeze”.
            We failed to note that Rose Marie worked at Hallmark’s after graduation.
            Our girls just weren’t made for outdoor work, that is field work, as Rose Marie hurt her leg while plowing one time at Reading, and Virginia came in crying one day, she was afraid of the old. “Minnie”.
            The time Connie went fishing with Dean and when she came to the house I asked her if she caught anything, “Yeah, I caught a little S.O.B.” I gasped and she said, “that’s what Dean called it".
            One summer evening, Art and Rog didn’t come home at chore time so Dad was going to do the milking. I told him not to, that they should do it when they got home; consequently they were milking at 11 p.m. That was the first and last time that they pulled that stunt.
            Another time, Roger supposedly went fishing. He hit the old bridge at Hartford and finally admitted that he had a date with Jo Clausen.
            Mark and Alberta joined 4H at Hartford. Alberta took sewing and knitting as projects and Mark had rabbits.
Our Christmases
            The highlight of our Christmas was always Midnight Mass. When we moved away from Olpe, we adjusted to a change and at Reading, we only had Midnight Mass every other year. After moving to Hartford, again it was Midnight Mass until these past six years when we alternated with
Reading, however, now, we have an early evening Christmas Eve Mass which is always well attended.
            Second in importance, of course, is Santa Claus. His sack was never overflowing for us but the gifts the children received were always greatly treasured. They always had each other to share their joys with. We always managed to have a large tree and from the time Ida Jo was a baby, we’ve had a crib. Through the years, we’ve added shepherds sheep, etc., and later with the lights in the dark blue sky it was always so impressive. Occasionally one of the grandchildren place the
infant in the manger in a little ceremony after we get home from the evening Mass.
            Christmas has been in reverse these last twenty years as our sons and daughters assume the responsibility of fulfilling our Christmases. The old adage that "it is more blessed to give than to receive" seems to be a fulfillment for them as each year they present us with some wonderful present. In return, of course, our love is never ending and the times we spend together are so satisfying.
            Many times, in earlier years, my brothers and sisters provided niceties to our celebrations and they still do. Mae never forgets me and I try to remember her a wee bit. She is so appreciative.
            The pre Christmas incidents made for a lot of excitement, the smoking party and fire, Alberta's broken arm, the car collision and the time the old lady arrived at our house on the creek just minutes before Dad and I were preparing to leave to go to confession. This was about 4 p.m. Christmas Eve. Hearing something coming over the bridge, we looked out to see this surrey pulled by a horse and a donkey. As it turned in our driveway, we were amazed at the conglomeration we were witnessing. The driver, a large woman, with leather like skin and clad in long, dark soiled clothes called out to us and asked for a place to spend the night. Kettles, tools, a lantern and numerous other things hung from the sides of the surrey below the top. Nestled down in some
dirty blankets was a dog and a litter of six or seven puppies. We directed her to a house about two miles south of our place, where we heard later that she had spent about two weeks. She claimed to be an evangelist and said she had driven from the State of Washington. We thought she might be a spy and we didn't put much faith in her assertions. Dad and I were a little skeptical about leaving the family while we went to church but then after she was gone, we felt safe to carry out our plans.
                                                            Our Weddings
            Our weddings were very simple but beautiful. Dad refused to give the brides away as he said the boys didn't ask for them, and "I'm not going to give them away"!.
            After Rose Marie's wedding, he came home and complained about the stiff collar on his new white shirt. It turned out that he failed to remove the cardboard from underneath.
            At Ida Jo's wedding, Dad forgot to change his workday socks.
            Shirley's, Thouret's and Charlotte's receptions were held at The Assumption Church basement. Ida Jo's was at home on the Kiene place.
            We nearly missed Art and De's reception in Wichita as a red light caught us and we didn't have the address where the reception was held. Cathy's reception was at home after she and Phil came back from Texas. Virginia's and Alberta's were here at St. Mary's Hall, and t<lark and Karen's at her home. Roger and Marsha's was held at Fairmount Towers in Wichita.
            The last wedding we attended was our granddaughter Eve's. Every- thing was so lovely and this was our vacation in 1974.
                                                            Our Birthdays
            Like all families, our birthdays too were special in that each member received a gift, though small, and always a birthday cake. Each one, sometime in life had a party. Perhaps one or the other had more than one party, but just being together every day was almost a celebration. Only one time I remember that Alberta may have felt slighted. It was her 16th birthday. She was working at the cafe and never got home before 7:30 or 8 p.m., but this day she came home early. I hadn't planned anything and I still feel guilty about it; of course, she did receive a gift from us and there was a birthday cake. I'm sorry, Bertie.
            One or the other of the children, as they became capable of baking, did make a cake for my birthday. The first time was on the Schultz place when Rose Marie baked one. There were other times but one of my birthdays that I distinctly remember when we lived on the Redeker place. I sensed something was brewing and I decided to stay out of the way so when the children came home from school, I prepared to cook a kettle of soap, which kept me outside about two hours. Dad was working at the Panhandle station at night, so he wasn’t home for supper, but the girls had invited Grandpa, Grandma and Fritz or Harry, for supper. It was a Friday night and we had a delicious salmon loaf, besides other good food. They told me later that Mrs. Osborne had mixed the salmon loaf at school for them. A few years before she died, Mrs. Osborne told me that Rose Marie brought two or three eggs at a time and left them at school until she had enough to buy a can of salmon, and then Mabel mixed it up for her. Lillian was in on the conspiracy too, so she came up with a gift for me. I appreciate the secret planning and work that each one contributed to
it. My latest celebration was when I was 65 years old. Bob and Alberta had a dinner party for me at Reading. Later, others came and we played cards. This was also Howard and Marilyn's 20th wedding anniversary. All the other birthdays, we've celebrated together, I'm very thankful for. For Dad’s 50th year, I made a three tiered cake. You all have always done so much and given us so many gifts.
                                                            This and That
            One day Howard came home from school when he was in the first grade. His blue corduroy:' suit was in a terrible mess. On questioning him he told me that Billie Stitchnot hit him and knocked him down. When I decided to call his mother to see what really happened, he admitted that he fell out of the swing into the mud.
            Art was our hard luck baby. He had a variety of diapers from blankets and other things that I pressed into service, but I guess they were the softest and they were clean.
            On the Schultz place, we had a bantam rooster. The children complained to me that he attacked them. I didn't think such a little thing could hurt anyone until he flew at me one day. We had noodle soup that day.
            Rose Marie had the bad habit of cutting off good jeans for shorts and then stashing the pieces in the attic, where I eventually found them. Another time, the girls were supposed to wax the upstairs. At that time we made kerosene and paraffin wax, so she proceeded to use the scrub mop to apply it; needless to say, I had to find another rag for my mop.
            Roger was always so appreciative of the clothes that I made him. One fall, I had made him a plaid wool jacket and a pair of slacks. He was four. As I was dressing him to go to the Fall Festival he said, "Boy! I'll bet they'll say he’s sure a spiffy little guy "
            After Dad's surgery, as Howard and I were waiting at the hospital, I heard the music of his favorite southern Bong "Ole Black Joe". Music is always so touching.
            I'm amused when I recall the time Connie told Dad "All my dresses are made out of craps".

                                                            Bertie's Contribution
            I remember the time Connie and I had our picture taken at Speece's. How important I felt in my new dress and then how we had to fold our hands in our laps just so.
            The times we went shopping at Emporia and you would give each of us a little money to spend and I always ended up buying some dumb jewelry even though I knew it would make you mad. That was a good idea you had of a way to keep us satisfied while you shopped cause I remember just how long it took and how hard the decision was on what to buy.
            Lea's wedding was fun 'cause Connie and I were in it and we got the outfits for it. I remember that we were all supposed to genuflect on the altar together before we walked out of church. I started to leave and everyone else genuflected so when they started to leave I went back and genuflected. I asked Lea about that a couple of years ago but she didn't remember that.
            Once when Rog was teasing Connie and I on the front porch, at the Kiene place, I went in your room and got your high heel shoe and hit Rog over the head with it so held leave us alone. I hit too hard and made him bleed so I ran and hid in the attic. When he found me he kissed me 'cause I was so afraid he would die.
            Art and Rog always used to throw us up in the air and you would always get mad at them and say, "one of these times you're going to drop one of them and paralyze them for life". Well, one time one of them did drop me and I cried because I knew I was paralyzed for life, even though it didn't hurt me.
            David Briscoe was spending a day on the farm with Mark one summer. They got some eggs from the hen house and hid, waiting for the milk truck to leave. Then as the truck drove out, they threw the eggs at the back end of it. Of course, you saw them from the kitchen and the next day when the milk truck came they had to apologize and take a pan of soapy water out and wash the egg off.
            Once some cousins we didn't really know came to visit on a Sunday. A boy was Mark's age and kind of an obnoxious kid, so Mark asked him to see who could jump the farthest. The winner had to land on a sack Mark had placed over a pile of fresh cow manure. Of course, the boy didn't
see what Mark had done and, of course, Mark let company try first. The sack slid when his Feet hit it and he fell back in the pile of manure. Mark had told Connie and I what he was up to so we were hiding behind a tree, cracking up.
            We always liked to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Brown. Grandpa always snuck us to the basement for a sample from his wine barrel.
            Once Molly and I stayed at Grandma's together after Grandpa was gone. Grandma gave us old wallpaper and paste and curtains to decorate the playhouse. We had a lot of fun doing that, but the paste smell attracted a big black snake, so we were afraid to play in it for a while.
            We always had fun visiting Uncle Mike’s and listening to him play the harmonica. Larry and Roger always did mean things to the animals whenever we were there.
            I remember once when Uncle Sylvester came and stayed for a while. He tied a rope around the outhouse once to lock Connie in. He always would say a funny prayer after the regular one at meal time.
            Then there was the time Mark and I were wrestling on the bed upstairs at the rock house. We knocked a lamp over on the bed and didn't see it when we went downstairs. I remember, it burned a hole in the quilt and mattress.
            Charlotte was combing my hair one Sunday when we had a lot of company. I think it was Thanksgiving, anyway I wouldn't hold still and she slapped me, but then she felt bad and she started crying.
            The great bobsleds dad and the boys used to make, and then the bobsled parties with all the Reading gang.
            The surprise party for Ginny's 16th birthday. Jimmy Sue and Cathy sneaking around all day getting ready for it, and then when all the kids came that night, Ginny was mad: 'cause her hair was a mess.
            When you, Mary Catherine, Molly and I went to Topeka shopping for my wedding dress material and material for bridesmaid dresses. Then Cathy was helping me cut my dress out and we got two back panels cut out wrong and had to get more material, and then made the very same mistake again. You finally took over. Mary Catherine having such a fit because Connie pinned all the covered buttons On her bridesmaid dress instead of sewing them on. Then after the wedding, Connie put my suitcase, etc. in the car before we left on our honeymoon. Half way to the Ozarks I realized that she hadn't put my clothes bag in, so I had one swimsuit cover up that I had to wear with all my shorts, since all my blouses were in the clothes bag.
            Who could forget Ginny's wedding day! Connie and I weren't married yet so we thought it was great fun. I guess not everyone thought it was so neat though.
            When Mark graduated from high school and Cathy and I took water guns and got him in the face as the class marched out. I believe Mark mouthed something like "Oh sh--!.)" We just couldn't let the last of us graduate without some kind of special recognition.
            Our fun family campouts. Someone had a fantastic idea when they came up with that. Hope we have many more.
            We forgot to thank you for the wonderful celebration for our Fortieth Wedding Anniversary eight years ago. This year, Fr. Curt read the Mass for our intention on our Fortieth Anniversary. Virginia Stevenson heard the Mass with us. Connie and Doris O'Connor invited us out to dinner which was such a pleasant surprise. We enjoyed it immensely.
                                                            Shirley’s Contribution
            I sang some solos during my school years.
            Lived at home while Al was overseas and had Jim. He was seven months old before Al saw him. First grandchild on both sides. I didn't even realize you were pregnant with Mark at that time.
            I took my first cousin, Floyd Haag, as my date to a girl ask boy party. Even used our car to pick him up.
            Dad let me drive the car to school when I was only 15 and didn't have a driver’s license.
            When we lived on the Vashultz place, we kids would walk in the ditch on the hill after it had rained. The water would be running down and weld get clay and bring it home and mold it into various shapes and bake it.
            Also when we lived there we used to take the bike to the top of the hill and coast down all the way across the bridge.
            Same place when the creek bed was dry weld find Indian heads and arrows. Had a swimming hole in that creek in summer and winter we slid on the ice. Also had the goat. It always got its head caught in the pig wire fence. One time when it got out of the pen it came up on the porch while we were eating dinner. Daddy went to kick at it, and his knee went out and he sat right down on the porch. Naturally we all laughed. It was so funny.
            Same place. Rosie and I had our tonsil's out during Christmas holidays and you told me I wouldn't be able to sing for awhile. So when I was coming out of the anesthetic I was singing Santa Claus is coming to town.
            Thouret always walking in her sleep. Nearly walked to the creek one night. Another time she was going through the motions of chopping wood. One time she was sitting on the hayrack.
            We always made a hammock every summer.
            Thouret and I kept the horses going around to operate the ancient hay-baler.
            We used to earn money working in the garden so weld have money for the July 4th picnic.
            We girls bought several bottles of fingernail polish when we went to Emporia. You found out about it and made us take it back.
            The night Roger was born. I woke up and heard a lot of commotion going on and wondered about it. The next morning, when it was time to get up, I had a new baby brother.
            When we played house we would pretend Rog was our little girl, and we called him Marie. we still tease him about that.
            The wreck I had with your car when I knocked down that mail box and broke the axle. I was coming back from Osage City. Had taken Jim (baby) to the doctor. He was lying on the front seat and began to cry. I looked over at him and when I looked back up here was this mail box cowing right at me. I was very seared.
            When I was living at home after I was married, that summer I was pregnant, had diarrhea and a bad case of poison ivy all at the same time.
            Howard lots of times would take me to the Sunday night movie, even though I was pregnant.
            The night before I delivered Jim, I had taken Grandpa and Grandma Brown home to Hartford and spent the night with them. Fritz took me to Rosie's on his way to work the next morning and Rosie took me to the hospital that afternoon. You came to the hospital then, so that spoiled Cathy's 10th surprise birthday party, and I'm still hearing about that.
            The time Connie got baby Jim out of bed, and how I scolded her.
            Always enjoyed when Uncle Sylvester was home on leave and listened to his tales.
            Used to work for Tony Snider's for $1.50 a day cleaning, scrubbing, waxing, washing, ironing, baby sitting and cooking all in one day, and you wouldn't let me ask for any wore.
            Always enjoyed going walnut picking in the fall. Loved cracking walnuts by the hour and eating them. Enjoyed making homemade ice cream. Sometimes we made it in the winter. Dad would crack the ice from the pond. Sometimes we'd make it from snow.
            Always a thrill when we had a litter of puppies, then when they were big enough Howard would crate them up and sell them. One day we walked home from school and found Roxie dead on the road. She'd been hit by a car.
            Always enjoyed being in 4H and attending achievement days and the fairs and 4H camp.
            Used to make necklaces out of pumpkin seeds and drops of candle wax.
            One night my jeans had fallen off the bed and were against the chimney that came through the floor. They had smoldered. It's a wonder we didn't have a fire.
            Appreciated my 18th surprise birthday party with the kids from Olpe. Received a robe with white polka dots from you and dad and a vanity set from Olpe kids.
            Always appreciated all the fun Christmas and Halloween parties you had for us.
            How we'd line the upstairs steps and pray the rosary.
            Always enjoyed visiting Grandpa and Grandma. Went through Grandpa's paddling machine and listened to Grandma's stories and songs.
            Enjoyed all the Sunday visiting with our cousins and friends and stopping by on Sunday mornings after church to see Grandpa Haag.
            How our Shetland pony was so tame we could walk under him.
            How I used to try and laugh like Mr. Schultz.
                                                            Connie’s Contribution
            Probably my favorite memory is that of "making butter" (not real butter) • By "making butter" we meant tromping in the mud after a spring or summer rain until it was all gushy and cool between our toes. I remember how you used to set a bucket of water outside eor us to wash in afterwards.
            Of course, being the tomboy that I was I enjoyed the cattle and horses; I used to love to ride Trixie and pretend I was a great stunt rider.
            Also loved swinging from loft to loft on a rope in the barn.
            I remember once when we let the cow out of the barn with the milking machine still on. we forgot to lock the stall. Often we forgot to remove the kickers too. Poor cows.
            I remember once when I was very small one of the older brothers told me (while I was sitting on the gate) to make a face at mean Ole "Roaoie" by putting my thumbs in my ears and wiggling my hands and sticking out my tongue. Mean ole "Roanie" then proceeded to come charging and butted the gate so hard that I literally flew off.
            Also Bertie and I used to like to visit Cy and Daisy and Daisy would always give us a penny to go home.
            Other memories include rotten egg fights in the barn whenever the Fagan's came out. Also remember watching the older ones have rodeos whenever you folks were gone.
            In high school Bertie and I had a great time when Dad was marshal. On Thursday night when he was always at Knights of Columbus meetings and Mom was somewhere too, we'd always take the old pickup (marshal truck - old blue antique) weld crank open the front window and drive up town and park in the alley. Then when some of our friends went speeding down Main Street, weld turn on the siren and chase them. We always had a good laugh because they'd think it was Dad. One night we really got the truck overheated. We hurried home and parked it but it was still steaming when Dad got home. I don't remember if he noticed or not but we were sure scared. I think we pretended to be sleeping.
            The first time Thouret saw an aero plane, she was so thrilled. This was after we had her fitted for glasses. Previous to this time, she could hear the planes but was too near sighted to see them. The school nurse had df6covered her need.
            When Cathy ran into a barbed wire fence and fell down then got up and repeated the incident due to her poor eyesight, and the time she missed catching the ball at school and it hit her in the eye, because she couldn't see it. Her glasses were being repaired. Dr. Capps told us there was only one other kid besides Cathy that broke his glasses more often and the last time he hadn't gotten home with his.
            The time Dad, Mark and Connie helped a cow then later Connie and Mark went to check on her. She took after Connie who managed to start over the fence but with a good nudge from the cow fell a little harder.
            When Art spilled the contents of the pot on the floor and I made him wipe it up. Grandpa felt sorry for him and offered him a nickel. Art said "grandpa better keep his money".
            Howard WB.B riding Ted and carrying a shovel which accidentally hit the horse on the hip causing him to jump out from under Howard, depositing him on the ground.
            The time Rose Marie had surgery for a supposed tumor but turned out nil.
            Through the years, praying the rosary daily has been one of my objectives; the recipients of its benefits, always the ones most in need of spiritual and physical strength. We would do well to help restore more private devotions within our families. Remember the promises to St. Bernadette and to the three children at Fatima when Our Lady appeared to them.
            We have been truly blest in so many ways. We have triumphed many times when despair seemed inevitable. We marvel that with such a large number of people, so closely united, that we haven't suffered more serious accidents and illnesses. Our prayers will be answered best when we will hear that Mike is reunited with his dear family.
            This has proved to be quite lengthy and yet I know we have probably not recorded many things that are important to most of you. The grandchildren’s births are recorded separately.
            We haven't elaborated on the baptisms and weddings, but I think the weddings, especially, are a task for each one of you to record for your own family. We are sorry if we have seemed to slight any of you, but we've related things as we remember them. Our foremost goal through the years is to try to be fair and not to show partiality to anyone member of the family, and so we have had to spread ourselves quite thin. We know the many times we've spent together are cherished memories and our hope for all of you is that your lives together will be as satisfying
as ours have been.
            We worry about the many temptations that plague this present and future generations. We have never regretted the things we had to forego due to having such a large family. In our early years, I secretly hoped that, some day, I would be able to acquire a "Baby Grand" (piano) but
instead, we were blessed with many "Grand Babies" (our own and our grandchildren). We always felt that if the Lord wanted to trust us with so many human beings, who were we to refuse?
            Our advice to all of you; always be morally conscious a virtue that is sadly misrepresented so frequently.
            Obey the Ten Commandments. "Beware of that shrill group of constant dissenters who have risen to challenge the very moral teaching of the church. Their dissent is in many cases self-serving. They don't want to lose the following they have built by offering debased teaching.
            Listen to the church. Do not rush to find excuses for not accepting the teaching of the church, but rather be faithful to what the church teaches." - D.F.
May we all be rewarded by gaarn.rig heaven as One Big Family, there to praise and rejoice with Our Savior for all eternity.
Your Parents,
Albert and Helen
February 18, 1976
 


            We lovingly refer to our children, grandchildren and their respective spouses as the "In-laws" and the "Outlaws”
            We are constantly grateful for the comparative good health with which we have been blessed. Our patience ran "short" many times, but I guess that is a common trait of humanity.
            We recall the time Rose Marie had such a passion for cardinal feather that Howard shot the coveted prize one Sunday afternoon when we lived on Eagle Creek. After Dad's "lecture", I think they both acquired more respect for the beautiful wild life that the Lord provided.
            Another time, when Howard was in high school, he used the cream check to participate in a "poker game". Lucky for him, he came out winner.
            I've always wondered about the "panty raids" in Emporia when Art was in college.
            Several times when Mark was due for a little physical punishment, he begged me to take him in back of the house out of view of passing traffic; of course by that time, I would "cool off" considerably.
            Roger acquired a "mania" of breaking chicken's legs, then hiding the victim under a pile of boards. We'd retrieve the victim though and dress it for our next meal.
            We failed to record Ida Jo's appendectomy at about the time Jimmy McAnarney was born. This caused her to miss the day for Senior pictures so she had this done later.
            When Mark was about two years old, he was finishing a glass of kool-aid. As he tipped the glass up for the last bit of kool-aid, a small piece of ice lodged in his throat; however, it soon melted and when he was able to speak, he said "cold".
            When the children were in school at Reading, the principal, Mr. Hahun, gave them a choice of a free day, either "New Year's Day or food Friday". We informed our group that they wouldn't attend classes either day, consequently, the whole school was granted days off.
            In the foregoing pages, we failed to recall the horrible Lindberg kidnapping. This occurred the year Shirley was born. That is one of the things we needn't worry about, as there surely couldn't be any ransom. The poor are truly blest in many ways. Dad always says, "I don't need the money, it's always the other guy that needs it."
            We're not too well versed in the bible, but one reading that always brings back memories is from John, chapter 16, verse 16. "A little while and you shall see me and again a little while and
you shall not see me because I go to the Father." It happened the week after the above reading. Albert was helping put hay back in the barn with the aid of a pitch fork when casually he repeated the gospel, of the previous Sunday. His brother and perhaps one or two other workers heard him quoting the bible, when, suddenly, he disappeared to the ground floor below, having over stepped the edge of the hay-mow; luckily, he was uninjured but from that day on he was the object of
considerable teasing, and we still smile whenever the reading is repeated in Sunday Mass.
            In my high school days, quite frequently there were occasions for singing solos or duets. Ann Schadegg and I were teamed up for this activity, she being soprano and I alto. Two numbers that we harmonized to were "Hark to the Mandolin"and"Welcome Sweet Springtime".
            On another occasion, some of the youth of the parish, coached by Dr. and Mr. Bierman, presented a play; between acts, six young ladies, including Mary Louise Perrier, Ann Schadegg, Mary Brown and I worked out a routine to the then popular "Collegiate". Dad as the College sheik and we were the "flappers". We wore red and. while crepe paper dresses and sang and danced to the above mentioned jazz tune.
            When Thouret was quite small, she spilled a jar of beets. The red vinegar soaked into her clothes. In her hand was a butcher knife. At first glance, I was terrified, thinking she had cut herself
but realizing the red color as not blood, I soon discovered what had happened.
            When Connie was about 4 or 5 years old, she prevailed on the older girls to teach her to embroider. They were in the upstairs bedroom. Connie was holding her material on her lap and sewing away. The girls persistently told her that she'd be sewing her embroidery to her dress, but she completely disregarded their advice, finally she held it up to show them and sure enough, her dress was attached. She then proceeded to stick them with her needle, since they couldn't refrain from laughing at her.
            One evening as Cathy was getting ready by candle light to attend a basketball game, the deodorant stick she was using ignited. We heard her stomping around upstairs and upon inquiring about the noise, she told us what happened. Later that night as the younger children went upstairs to bed the whole second floor was full of smoke. Parts of the deodorant stick had been deposited in the springs of the old cot and had started smoldering in the excelsior padding. W[hen the boys came home that night, they helped Dad carry the cot outside just in case. About 5 a.m. the whole yard was lighted up from the burning cot. We have been so lucky so many times.

 



 
 
 
 
 
 


 

Just Reminiscing!
 
As I look back to '28
  Recall with joy the yuletide season,
I couldn't feel that Madam Fate
  Withheld the future without reason.
 
Had we known then what lay ahead
  Could we have found the needed courage
To battle through the great depression
  And all the trials and recession?
 
To think we may have tried to see
  What was in store for you and me
And then without a little gambling
  We might still be out there rambling.
But Love and Faith and Hope we had
  And Him to praise when down or glad
And human lives He blest us with
  What greater joy is any gift?
We pray that blessings still will fall
  On all our offspring, large and small,
And at the end, let is be great
To be united at Heaven's Gate!
 
Helen Rose Brown Haag
December 19f 1977
 
 
Thouret Lea
My gifts or talents are not tangible gifts of
creativity, but more a thirst for knowledge -
a love of reading and pleasure of interacting
with people and watching God word in their lives.
So, my gifts at the Celebration Mass is to let
you know of my deep love and appreciation of you
as my parents and I thank God for you.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Prayers Can't Be Answered
Unless They Are Prayed
 
"Life without purpose, is barren indeed-
There can't be a harvest, unless you plant seed,
There can't be attainment, unless there's a goal,
And man's but a robot, unless there's a sole...
If we send no ships out, no ships will come in,
And unless there's a contest, nobody can win...
For games can't be won, unless they are played,
And prayers can't be answered unless they are prayed...
So whatever is wrong, with your life today,
You'll find the solution, if you kneel down and pray...
Not just for pleasure, enjoyment, and health,
Not just for honors, and prestige and wealth,
But pray for a purpose, to make life worth living,
And pray for the joy, of unselfish giving,
For great is your gladness and rich your reward,
When you make your life's purpose,
The choice of the Lord.
 
 
 
 

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