Kari, a first grader at Elvehjem Elementary, arrived home after school, very excited. She announced she would be an angel in the Christmas program. (Yes, sixty years ago things were different.) Being Kari’s mother, I wasn’t surprised she would be selected. With shoulder-length blond hair and an angelic being, who wouldn’t choose [...]
Even during the two-week winter break, Paul was busy with scheduled wrestling practices most every day. Near the end of the second week, he finally had a free day, and he, along with Bill Sommers, was invited by some of the veteran teachers to play cards. Paul and Bill, no doubt regarded [...]
On a late December 1959 afternoon, Paul and I bundled up two-and-a-half-year-old Kari and year-old Lori to go to the Capitol for the annual Madison Public School Christmas event. The Capitol, adorned with a huge beautifully lit Balsam Fir in the center of the rotunda, captured the festive spirit. Along with hundreds [...]
Decorating cookies, getting ready for our elementary school and Sunday School program, getting a tree and decorating it, sledding, tobogganing, ice skating, anticipating gifts…the memories of Christmas in the forties keep emerging. Growing up during the Great Depression and World War II years, over eighty years ago, was very different from today. [...]
Since moving to Osage in 1951, our family is renting. Seems foreign, because in Ogema (Wisconsin) we still own a home, the same house where I was born in 1936. I lived there until my father’s work caused him to commute further and further away. Now he’s building Our Savior’s in Osage [...]
Never before or since have I lived in such splendor as I did my senior year in high school. During the years my father was building Our Savior’s Lutheran church and for three years after, my family rented five different homes in Osage. The opportunity to rent Dr. Isham’s home for one [...]
In March 1950, when Arthur was eight years old, my parents plus five-year-old Ruth, traveled to Axtell, Nebraska. I remember it well, because they were gone over March 13th, my fourteenth birthday. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Mattson, elderly friends of my folks, stayed with the rest of us kids while they were [...]
I turned six in 1941, so I finally was able to attend school. I loved first grade—and every grade thereafter, though I have to admit, it was the “extras” that I loved the most—decorating the windows, straightening the books in the library, cleaning the chalkboards. I thought I was the smartest in [...]
Growing up in Northern Wisconsin was mostly great, but If I had a complaint, it would be the short summers. A good hot day seemed never to occur before the 4th of July, and one could expect a killing frost early September. So, we had to make those few short weeks count [...]
My six-month dental checkup occurred this morning December 14, 2014 with Dr. Green in Austin. I no longer dread such appointments—is there any profession that has undergone such a transformation? When I was a kid, we only visited the dentist following days of excruciating pain and all the home remedies had failed. [...]
