👋 Before I Say Goodbye... (2 of 2) 👵🙋‍♀️

1920's-1930's

Two of my maternal aunts, Lucile and Mildred, wrote down their memories of when they were growing up on a farm in Michigan in the early 1900's. Their book is titled, "Before I Say Goodbye..."

This is the final half of their memories during the 1920s and 1930s. My mother Leona, who was older than either of them, is frequently featured.

August 13, 2009: Lucile (age 84), my mother Leona (age 91) and Mildred (age 89)

Until they passed (Mildred, age 94 in 2013; my mother Leona, age 94 in 2012; and Lucile, age 97 in 2023), they were the last remaining relatives of their generation on either side of my family. Now the members of my generation are the oldest surviving ones on this planet (or any other).

🙋‍♀️ Prologue 👋

I am including pertinent episodes from their book in this missive containing stories about my mother Leona (Mother) and other incidents that occurred during her time. Mother was a year older than Mildred and seven years older than Lucile.

Since their mother Emma (Mom) worked in town (Traverse City, Michigan) as a nurse during much of their lives on the farm, Mother was the surrogate mother to her five younger siblings during these crucial years in their lives – a great background for later raising her 11 children!

The Mom and Dad referred to in the memories are their parents and my grandparents, Will and Emma Schwind.

The following episodes of their book are a continuation of my missive titled, "Before I Say Goodbye... (2 of 2)."

🙋‍♀️ Episode 36 – Kittens 👋

We always had plenty of kittens. We had one striped mother cat that came to our house to stay. She was a good mouser – and the most prolific mommy cat in the whole word. We loved that cat, and she would give us two batches of kittens a year.

She must have been monogamous with one “Tom,” as they were always the same colors. One gray, one black and white, one tiger, one all black, and one either calico or all white. We always called the all black one Nicodemus.

Mom had a laundry room on the back porch and when she’d notice the cat was ready to have her babies, she’d put some soft rags down for her and leave the door open. Many a time, Edith and Lucile were there to see her birthing, but they could never see how they got there until she was already licking them clean. They just magically seemed to appear. She must have trusted us a lot to let us be there when she gave birth.

One day when the kittens were older, Nicodemus decided to move them from the laundry room to the woodshed. This meant she had to carry them in her mouth, go through the kitchen door through a small part of the kitchen, and out through the woodshed door.

She was carrying her tiny all-gray kitten when she saw Leona coming and put it down on the floor. Leona thought it was a mouse she had brought into the house and seeing it move, picked it up and threw it down as hard as she could to kill it. The poor little kitty let out a piteous “mew” and Leona realized what she had done. She felt so bad, and we were all relieved that it lived.

Leona did not enjoy the cats in the house like us kids did, as she had to clean the corners that the kitties used for their bathroom (really don’t blame her). She always said that she couldn’t get that smell out no matter how much she scoured and scrubbed.

1959: On the Kroupa farm (my farm located 3 ½ miles from the Schwind farm). My sister Liz is holding a cat next to my crying brother Walt. We were never allowed to bring our animals into the house – I guess that cleaning the house for 11 children and several adults was enough for our mother.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 37 – The First Day of May 👋

The first day of May was always a special day in school. It was always like the first day of spring. Not much time was spent on studies that day as it was a day of “nature study.”

Accompanied by our teacher, we had permission to go to the neighbor’s woods, find the first flowers of Spring – spring beauties, adders-tongues, trilliums, Dutchman’s breeches (with their little pink (girls) or yellow (boys) trimmed pants), and also mayflowers (these were a delicate white flower and quite rare).

First Flowers of Spring

Center: Dutchmen's breeches (girls)

Clockwise from the upper left: mayflower, adder's-tongue, spring beauties, and trillium

Anyway, it was just such a great day after a long winter. I guess you could compare it to “Spring Break.” Mildred remembers the boys were allowed to go fishing on the first of May.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 38 – More About Grade School 👋

While in school, all eight grades (Kindergarten to 7th grade) were held in one large room. The teacher would call each grade up to the bench (2nd grade reading, 4th grade arithmetic, 8th grade geography, etc.). It was really great as we were learning sublimely so much more than just our own grade.

Usually the grades from 1 to 5 were seated in smaller desks, in rows in the middle of the room, and the 6, 7 and 8 were lined up on the outsides, in larger desks. We were always allowed to pick our own desks and remained there throughout the school year, unless too much whispering and other infractions made the teacher change our seat.

We had a huge wood-burning stove in back of the room for heat. We believe the Rudy Neumann family cut all the wood and also brought the water to school, for which they were compensated.

The older boys usually kept the stove stoked, and in the wintertime especially, always had a glowing bed of coals ready at noon. With pointed sticks whittled especially for this, we put our sandwiches of bread and butter on them and toasted them to a super-delicious, butter-dripping-brown. It was absolutely the best!

Another thing we always looked forward to was the Christmas program. We spent hours and hours on rehearsal of plays and poems, and every Christmas carol.

The older boys would erect the stage (at least a foot off the floor) and put up heavy curtains on three sides. More than once, a performer would fall off the stage, or was pushed off, but it was such a festive time of peace and good will. The parents would all come and thoroughly enjoy it (even though they may have been sick to death of hearing their kids rehearse it at home).

We had a Mr. Sullivan for our teacher. His wife was a very talented seamstress. She made at least five darling little full-skirted dresses out of crepe paper in all different pastels for us smaller girls (Lucile’s was lavender), and we all sang the following song for the Christmas program:

We are the girls from Santa’s follies

We dance around like little glass dollies

We are happy just because

We belong to Santa Claus.

We can dance and we can sing

We can do most anything

We will show you how it’s done

I’m sure you’ll say it’s a lot of fun.

Then she taught us a little dance, and it was a big hit.

Also, for a Thanksgiving program, Mrs. Sullivan made all of us little girls crepe paper costumes that were little fat pumpkins that she fit to us, with matching pumpkin hats with green stems for our heads. Then we sang and danced:

We are little pumpkins, all jolly, round and fat

Awaiting for your pumpkin pie, Now what do you think of that?

You’ll bake us in your oven, and happy we will be

On this Thanksgiving Day.

Roast turkey, cranberries, squash, We hope you have your fill

And all the other tasty things, Go at them with a will.

No matter what you’ve eaten, you’ll like us best of all

On this Thanksgiving Day.

Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan didn’t have any children of their own so she enjoyed doting on us little girls. She was so pretty, and so nice.

Another memorable thing that we did in school was when some of the teachers had the whole school stand up, and we started the day with fifteen minutes of singing. We had songbooks, and the teacher let us take turns choosing which song. We learned many of Stephen Collins Foster’s songs, Old Black Joe (probably would be banned today), Swanee River, Carry Me Back to Ol’ Virginny, and other favorites like Juanita, America, Battle Hymn of the Republic, and The Little Brown Church in the Vale. After the singing, we all pledged allegiance to the flag. What a great way to start the day!

The last day of school was simply one of the best. Not only that school was over and we were promoted to the next grade, but it was a joyous time as well, as all the parents came. We had a potluck of wonderful foods, and to top it all off, the Treasurer, Theodore Lautner, took enough money out of the treasury and bought gallons of maple nut ice cream for dessert and we could have all we wanted. This was such a treat to us as we didn’t have that at home – probably as we had no way to keep ice cream and the maple nut was just the best!

🙋‍♀️ Episode 39 – The Cow Yard 👋

Riding Cows: A few incidents happened in our cow yard that are memorable. The barn was built with an overhanging roof for shelter for the animals when the weather was bad. On one side was a large water tank, fed by a rainwater cistern above it. Cows always gathered there when coming in from the pastures.

August 1964: I (Barbara) am holding my son Mike (age 1) in the cow yard by the Kroupa barn (my farm) beside an irritated black-and-white Holstein cow

One day the boys got the bright idea of trying to ride the cows. We would climb up and stand on the side of the water tank and try to get our leg over one of them when they came to drink. They bucked harder than a bronco, but much to John and Ferd’s chagrin, Mildred was the only one who rode a cow! She hung on for dear life for a few steps before she was bounced off. Good thing Dad didn’t know about it. We’ll bet there wasn’t much milk that night! It’s a wonder they didn’t go “dry.”

The Polka-Dot Bloomers: Another time, Edith and Lucile were playing in the cow yard (don’t ask – probably making mud pies in the zinc can covers that Mom used for canning) when Edith had to go to the bathroom. Well, she just didn’t have time to run all the way up to the toilet. Now Mom had just made Edith some new polka-dot “bloomers,” as we called them, and Edith loved them. So, as not to dirty them, she took them off and squatted down. As she crouched there, she looked up just in time to see one of the cows chewing her cud – and her polka-dot bloomers were hanging out of her mouth! Oh! Was she ever mad. She cried all the way up to the house, and got a scolding to boot!

Salt Licks: We used to have salt licks for the cows, which were huge solid blocks of salt, and we can remember getting stones and chipping off pieces to eat. Guess we didn’t mind if the cows had licked on it.

The Purple Cow: We always named all our animals. We had a Jersey cow we called Henrietta and another one we called Klantha. Mildred said Klantha was named after the most productive cow at the State Hospital, where Mom worked. No matter what the poem says – I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one, but I am telling you right now, I’d rather see than be one – she WAS a purple cow, with sharp horns and little teats, and it was hard to milk her.

Milking Cows: John had made T-shaped stools to balance on when milking, and we did a lot of it. The cats would always come around when they smelled the warm milk. We would try to squirt the milk in their mouths, and it landed on their fur – and the cats loved it and licked every bit of it off themselves.

On the left is a stock photo of a man on a T-shaped stool milking a cow with cats watching

Sometimes a cow would rip open one of her teats on the barbed wire – and watch out when you tried to milk her. Lucile still has a scar where a cow kicked her while she was milking her – the cow sliced open the top of her knee with her sharp hoof. It’s a wonder we didn’t get hoof and mouth disease! Of course, there was always the disinfecting turpentine to use.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 40 – Winters 👋

Our winters were long and cold, and there was much more snow than we get now. Dad and the boys, more than once, had to shovel the snow off our roofs.

The county didn’t have the large snow-throwing plows they have now, but had just large V-shaped plows in front to knock a hole through the snow on the roads – just wide enough for the cars.

Many times the plows couldn’t get through the lower passes as there was too much accumulation, especially after a storm. So when the farmers would see the plows coming off in the distance, they’d rush out and together hand-shovel a few feet off the top, going from one low pass to another, so the plows could get through.

Many times after a storm when the roads were blown shut, the snow was too deep for us little kids to walk in the road. Mildred used to walk ahead of Lucile so she could follow in her tracks – or else, we walked on top of the snow banks to school. Either way, we usually ended up with a wet crotch, and our long, cotton stockings and long-handled underwear were soaked to the skin.

We remember so well in the wintertime when Dad always got up ahead of everyone to start the fires going in the kitchen range and big stove in the living/dining room. He would then come to the stair door and holler up to us, “Kids, time to get up.”

We girls would come downstairs in our long underwear and put on our dresses for school in front of the stove. We would always yell at the boys, “Don’t come in, we’re dressing.” The folks always tried to instill modesty in us kids.

Sometimes, if it was still too cold to get dressed, we always asked Mom if we could get in bed with her where it was cozy, and she taught us little poems. We looked forward to these times with her (and I’m sure she did too). One poem that she taught us was:

There was a mouse, once had a house

Twas made of leaves and grass.

Quite happy there, year after year

The time did gaily pass.

One summer day, for work or play

The mouse did leave her nest.

Her young ones three, snug as a bee

Were warmly put to rest.

Then came a boy, with thoughtless joy

He found the little mice

And in his hat, to an old cat

He bore them in a thrice.

The poor old mouse, came to her house

When all her work was done

And much distressed, she found her nest

And all her babies were gone!!!

Talk about “bonding” with your Mom! It was great!

🙋‍♀️ Episode 41 – Christmas 👋

The folks couldn’t afford much for Christmas. We were content with tangerines (a real treat), hard candy, chocolate-covered creams, and nuts in the shell.

Many times there were hand-knit sweaters and mittens for all of us. Mom always made dozens of mittens and Edith and Lucile’s were always attached to a crocheted string and strung through their sleeves so they wouldn’t lose them. There was a green and brown sweater for John, with such an intricate pattern it could almost be reversible. And Edith and Lucile usually got dark sweaters with white stripes around the neck. How hard and long Mom must have worked knitting us gifts for Christmas! We surely didn’t appreciate a hand-knit sweater then, but we’d give our eye-teeth for one now if she was still alive.

In school, our friends would all boast about their gifts from their grandparents. We always felt bad as we didn’t have any grandparents to give us gifts. (Grandpa Schwind died when Lucile was six months old and Grandma Schwind died when she was two. Mom’s parents lived in Europe).

Our Christmas tree had no lights (we didn't have electricity), and we only had a few bulbs. Most of the decorations were beautiful colored paper ones with pouches on them that you could put candy in (Mom had got them from Europe). We also had chains we pasted together of different colored papers, plus popcorn strung on the tree.

The folks always said on Christmas morning, we had to wait until Dad called us. We were all awake, crouched on the stairs, giggling and whispering in the dark, and we’d leap out at him when he opened the stair door to call us.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 42 – Husking Corn 👋

Dad had a corn shredder to get the husks off the field corn. He used to put it on the barn floor, and had a chute down into the basement of the barn, under which he parked his big high-topped wagon.

The shredder didn’t take all the husks off completely, so we can remember we’d get in the wagon and finish husking it, plus we would sort out any red ears as he didn’t want them mixed up with the others. We hated it as it was not only dark down there and cold, but once in awhile, an ear would hit us if we weren’t watching closely – and that hurt!

🙋‍♀️ Episode 43 – Lighting 👋

We used to have kerosene lamps for light. Then we got the incandescent lamps with their fragile wicks. They pulled down from the ceiling and gave off so much more light.

Then, wonder of wonders, an electric company was coming through and trying to get all the people to sign up. When they were finally digging the holes for the electric poles and setting them, we know of one neighbor who was so vehemently against it that they would plug all the holes up on their property, so the electric company would have to re-dig them.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 44 – Telephone 👋

Then we finally got a telephone. It was put on the wall, with a mouthpiece, ringer, and a receiver attached. You couldn’t dial a number, but had to ring for “Central” to answer, give her the number and she would connect you. When you were through, you had to “ring off.”

This song was popular then:

Hello Central, Hello Central,

Give me 603.

Please don’t keep me waiting here.

I want to talk to Georgie dear.

Hello Georgie, Hello Georgie,

Goodness gracious me.

I don’t want to go out tonight.

Right at home I’ll stay.

I want you to come up here

And show me that you love me dear.

I’m all alone, all alone.

Nobody’s here but me.

Parlor’s nice and cozy, everything is rosy.

We’ll have lots of – hurry up and get here, honey,

Take a car, it isn’t far, my time is all my own.

Hurry up, there’ll be lots you’re missing.

We’ll have lots of kissing.

Mom and Dad have left me all alone.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 45 – State Hospital 👋

Driving Mom to Town: We had the world by the handle! At least Mom and Dad could talk more frequently, as Mom worked in town at the State Hospital and could only get home on weekends – and not even then if we had a blizzard and the roads were impassable.

We had a Model “T” and then the Model “B.” That one was larger than the Model “A,” and it was a 4-door. Most of the time, either Edith or Lucile had to sit on a little collapsible seat on the floor at someone’s feet, but we were only too happy to go anywhere. Many a time, Dad would take us with him when he had to take Mom back to work.

One time, somewhere around Bay Street, we were driving along and the car dropped down on the back left side – and our wheel rolled past us and down the street in front of us. Dad quickly stopped the car, went running after his wheel, brought it back and attached it again. Someone apparently hadn’t tightened the nuts enough and it came off.

Being a Nurse at the State Hospital: The State Hospital intrigued us, with all the barred windows, and many patients would wave or make gestures to us. Mom always cautioned us, “Don’t you ever laugh or make fun of these people, as they are sick!” So we would wave back at them.

Mom was well liked and a popular nurse at the hospital. As this was a German community and many of the patients couldn’t speak English, the doctors had Mom sit in on all the case histories and translate for them. Even the superintendent of the hospital (Mr. Sheets) called on her all the time. Also, she had to accompany the doctors to translate, when they had to go out and get the patients from their homes. (One patient they found living in a ditch, and when Mom put her in the tub to bathe her, Mom said worms and bugs came out of every orifice and practically crawled the walls.) No wonder she was mentally ill.

The Opera Singer: This brings to mind some of Mom’s experiences as a nurse at the “Asylum.” She had a well-known opera singer in her care. The lady had had a nervous breakdown, and her husband brought her to the hospital to get well. They had traveled extensively during her operatic career, and it was obvious he loved her very much and stayed with her as much as he could. In those days, there wasn’t much they could do for mental illness, except to keep them clean, nourish them well, and give them complete bed rest.

At the hospital, once a week the patients were encouraged to go on stage there and put on entertainment for everyone, even for the nurses and doctors. In fact, this was not only something to keep them occupied, but therapeutic as well, as many of the patients could act out their fantasies.

However, Mom’s patient, the opera singer, never participated, no matter how much she was coaxed. After a few weeks, she begged the doctors to let her go home. Her doctor told her that when she could make herself go up on the stage again and sing, she would be well enough to leave. Finally, after many weeks, the lady was willing to try, and she sang the following song. Mom said that she had the most beautiful voice she had ever heard (and Mom had attended many operas in Vienna, Austria). All the nurses and doctors were there, but the opera-singing patient's eyes were only on her husband, who had been so loving, caring, and encouraging while she was ill.

I am only the words, you are the melody

And it takes the two to make a song of love.

Tell me, what good are words without a melody?

They’re like the earth without the sun above.

Although I was asleep, the music’s in my heart

The song can’t be complete if we keep the two apart.

But when my words are wedded to your melody,

Then the world will hear a perfect song of love.

When she finished, the lady was weeping for joy (along with her husband), as she was so happy to be well again. She and her husband came to Mom and thanked her over and over again. They begged Mom to come with them and be their personal nurse, but, of course, Mom had to decline as she was married. But she often wondered what kind of life she would have had with them.

The Padded Cell: Here’s another episode from Mom’s nursing days at the State Hospital. Mom had one case of a lovely lady patient that was so pitiful, as they did not know how to treat her illness. She would be perfectly normal for long periods of time, and then she would come up to Mom and say, “Nurse, it’s time to lock me up again.”

They would put her in a padded cell (which had no furniture, padded walls, ceiling and floor), and small peepholes, to check on patients. There she would go completely berserk! When, after checking on her frequently to see if she was okay, the lady would finally say, “Nurse, I’m okay again. You can let me out now.” Mom used to feel so sorry for her, as the patient could feel the “spells” coming on, but couldn’t control them.

Dangers at the State Hospital: But there is a flip side that will show some of the dangers at the State Hospital. To begin with, all the doors were locked, and the nurses carried their keys attached to themselves to open the doors and close them behind themselves. The nurses all worked 12 hour shifts, from 6 AM to 6 PM, or 6 PM to 6 AM, for $60 a month. Mom was a supervisor on an 85-bed ward.

One night, Mom was working the night shift. After seeing that all her patients were fed, bathed and into bed for the night, to pass the long hours she would get out her crochet hook and work at different projects (including repairing mistakes made on sweaters by the superintendent’s wife, Mrs. Sheets).

Engrossed in her work, and probably a little sleepy herself, she had a premonition that she should turn around. When she turned her head, she saw one of her patients had gotten out of bed, broken off a chair leg (they have superhuman strength when disturbed) and had it raised over Mom’s head. Mom jumped up and grabbed her and said “What are you doing out of bed?” The patient said, “Someone told me to kill you!”

From then on, Mom always sat with her back to a corner to crochet so no patient could sneak up on her. The nurses had to “ring in” every hour on the hour. If they didn’t, help was immediately dispatched to their floor to check on them, as the first thing a disturbed patient did was try to grab the nurse’s keys.

Treatment of Mental Illness: Just a note to let you know how mental illness was treated then. All mentally ill people that came to the State Hospital were assumed to be syphilitic,* unless proven otherwise. They had no medicines for it.

* syphilitic* – a person affected with syphilis. Syphilis is a chronic bacterial disease that is contracted chiefly by infection during sexual intercourse, but also congenitally by infection of a developing fetus.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 46 – Threshing and Haying 👋

Threshing: Back to the farm. Threshing time was a big day of excitement. The farmers all worked together, helping each other. The thrasher was owned by brothers, Harry and Otto Lautner, and each days’ progress was reported down the line so we knew approximately when they would arrive at our place.

Then there was a big flurry of killing the chickens, cooking them with all the trimmings, along with various pies – rhubarb, lemon meringue and apple.

We younger kids had to stay out of the way of the men, who were carrying the grain in gunnysacks on their backs to the granary. If we got too close, some of the men would pretend to grab us and put us in the bag, and boy, did we laugh in glee when they couldn’t catch us!

Haying: Haying was a lot of hard work too. After the hayfields were all cut with a mower pulled by the horses, they had to take the hayraker, pulled by the horses, and rake the hay into long rows. Then Dad and the boys would take pitchforks, make the hay into stacks, drive the horses and hay wagon along, and pitch the stacks onto the hay wagon.

Then us kids would get on the hay wagon (barefoot, of course) and stomp the hay down so they could get more on. Lucile was always afraid there might be a snake in it.

Putting the hay in the mows* of the barn was pretty hazardous.

* mows - The compartment in a barn where hay, sheaves of grain, etc., are stored.

Dad or the boys drove the team onto the barn floor with the hay. Dad would get on top of the load and, using a huge hayfork which was connected to pulleys, would stab a huge bunch of hay, and secure it. Then one of the boys would drive one of the horses, whose harness was attached to the rope in the pulley, and drive away from the barn. In this process, the hay was lifted up.

Some way, Dad could control the rope, swing it into the mow and detach it. He’d bring the huge fork down and plunge it into another bunch of hay and repeat the process until it was all unloaded.

It took many, many loads of hay to fill the mows. Dad always warned us to stay away from the pulleys, but little Edith saw some hay in the pulley and tried to pull it out. Instead, it pulled her whole hand in and left a horrible scar across the top of her hand from the little finger to the thumb from the rope burn. She carried that scar all her life. John used to hate the haying season as he suffered from hay fever and his nose and throat would get all stopped up, but Dad needed his help.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 47 – Dangerous Stunts 👋

Our guardian angels must have surely worked overtime for us kids. We did the most dangerous stunts, and only stopped when we nearly killed ourselves.

When the haying was done, that was the time to crawl up on the crossbars in the barn, grab the hay rope (which hung down from the top of the cupola of the barn and had the big fork attached to it), and swing from crossbar to crossbar across the barn floor (no net to catch us).

Then we’d dare each other to somersault in the hay. Then dare each other to take two somersaults, then three somersaults. As Lucile had no trouble with the first two, she took the dare of three somersaults! She never made it – she missed the hay pile, and her knees came up and hit her under the jaw. What a jolt that was! She thought she had broken every tooth in her head. She could’ve broken her neck! That ended it for awhile, but not for long.

We learned to take the pitchfork and make thicker piles – and was sure not to leave the pitchfork in the hay. How we ever grew up without serious injury, we’ll never know.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 48 – Planting 👋

Besides knowing when to plant and how to rotate the crops every year, planting was what every farmer had to know to survive.

Planting Corn: Corn was especially important, as it was all done by hand, with a “single” corn-planter or a double one (which had one side to hold the kernels and the other side to hold the fertilizer). You poked the planter in the ground and by pulling it sharply together, it expelled the corn and fertilizer into the dirt. You then covered it with your foot, and on to the next square.

This was done, of course, after Dad had “marked” the field with his horse-drawn marker which made rows about 3 feet apart. When you went over it the opposite way, it made “blocks” so you could plant in even rows.

Planting Grains: The grains (wheat, oats, rye and buckwheat) were planted by using a horse-drawn “drill” which dispensed both grain and fertilizer.

Manure: Of course, the “bought” fertilizer was only used if the animals couldn’t produce enough. This was another whole operation. Dad had a horse-drawn manure* spreader.

* Manure is organic material that is used to fertilize land, usually consisting of the feces and urine of domestic livestock, with or without accompanying litter such as straw, hay, or bedding.

Every day the manure had to be removed from behind the animals with a fork, and new straw put down for them. This was part of the “chores” to be done every day. This mixture of manure and straw had to be taken out and put in a huge manure pile out in the cow yard. In the Spring, after it thawed, it was loaded into the manure spreader, and Dad went out and spread it in the fields. Then it had to be plowed under in preparation for the spring planting.

Plowing: Plowing was so hard as we had only one plow (horse-drawn, of course) and it took many, many days to plow the fields. This is something Lucile never did, but Mildred said that she remembers helping Dad plow and cultivate.

Lucile remembers as a kid being sent to replant the missing hills of corn that didn’t come up from a 5-acre field. Darn hard work – but nothing was easy on the farm. And the boys would trick Lucile into taking the drag a few times around the field, by betting her that she couldn’t do it.

Planting Potatoes: Planting the potato field was especially hard as Mom and Dad had to carry the potatoes in a sack on their backs, with a strap over the neck and one shoulder. You took the hand planter, shoved it deeply in the ground with your foot, opened the planter by leaning it forward, slipped a potato from the sack into the hole, pulled the planter out, and covered the hole with your foot. It took a certain amount of expertise to do this well and oh, what dirty and back-breaking work.

Mom and Dad worked so hard! And it took many acres of potatoes to feed us year round, as it was our staple food.

Speaking about the potatoes – if there weren’t enough left in the spring to plant whole, the potatoes were cut in many pieces – just so there would be a couple of “eyes” on the piece to grow. They treated these by mixing up batches of blue vitriol (sulfuric acid) and water. This was highly caustic and Dad warned us not to touch it, but Mildred said the kids always put their hands in and played in it (when Dad wasn’t around), as it was such a beautiful blue color. Yes, those guardian angels were working lots of overtime hours!

🙋‍♀️ Episode 49 – Gardening 👋

When Mom wasn’t working in town, or baking, canning, knitting, crocheting, making butter, or helping in the fields, she kept a wonderful garden. We’d have fresh lettuce, onions, green beans, cucumbers, beets, radishes, cabbage, sweet corn, squash, pie plant (rhubarb) and new potatoes.

She always had “hot beds” of lettuce right on the south side of the house. Dad built them up and put screens over them to keep the chickens, etc. out.

She also grew her own herbs – dill and chives. And flowers! She always had flowers – geraniums, African Violets, gladiolas, roses, Cosmos, bachelor buttons, hollyhocks, marigolds, snapdragons and Sweet Williams – to name a few.

We also had an asparagus patch under the plum trees on the west side of the house. John and Lucile used to be the ones to check out the first sprigs in the spring, cut it, boil it with salt, add milk and butter and feast. We loved it.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 50 – Animal Husbandry 👋

Sex in the Animal World: To continue what all Dad had to know and do, he also had to know about animal husbandry and be a part-time veterinarian. God forbid, us girls were never told about sex in the animal world. All we knew was that when one cow jumped on the other, and that cow stood still and didn’t shake the other one off, we reported to Dad every time we saw it happen and it had to be “taken away.” Then Dad would put a rope around the cow’s neck, and lead her down to Robert Lautner’s farm, and leave her for a few days. We never did connect the two when months later she had a calf.

Birth of a Calf: One time, we were playing in the stable and looked up and, much to my amazement, saw a leg protruding from under one of the cow’s tails. We had no idea what was going on, but felt we should report it to Dad. Well, Dad quickly ran down to the barn, ordered us not to come with him, and he was there a long time. Finally, he came to the house and reported a new calf. Apparently, the calf was in a breach position, and he had to reach in and turn the calf, and help pull the calf from the cow.

Just as with the birth of our kittens, it was never explained to us, and we just accepted it as part of the farm life. Of course, Dad explained it to the boys as they got older, but us girls were kept innocent as long as possible.

Sick Joke: That reminds me just how innocent (dumb?) we were, as there was a young man from Detroit that used to work as a “hired hand” with Ferd down at the Burkhart farm. His name was Frank Liebgott, and we called him Frankie. Lucile had a huge crush on him and was ecstatic when Ferd invited him to Sunday dinner.

When dinner was through, Edith and Lucile cleared the table and took the dishes into the pantry, where we had a nice sink to wash them in. It was a “modern convenience” as we had a hand pump and sink there besides a water faucet, and we always filled the tea kettles and put them on the stove for doing the dishes before we ate. (We also always kept the “reservoir” full – which was on the right side of the wood range.) By the time we were all through eating, the water would already be hot enough for washing and rinsing the dishes, etc.

We always closed the pantry door while doing dishes when we had company. It was Lucile’s turn to wipe, so she was free to dash into the dining room with all kinds of cute (she thought) things to say to Frankie, while he was visiting with the folks and Ferd. Of course, he would laugh politely which only encouraged her more.

Then Lucile thought of a funny joke John and Ferd had told her the week before (at least, they laughed like fools when they told her). Not having a clue to the meaning, Lucile burst in and said, “Frankie, Frankie, when is a chicken the heaviest?” He said that he didn’t know. She blurted out “When the rooster’s on top of it!” and laughed like crazy. Only a sick grin came to their faces, and she got the impression Mom wanted to kill her. Slightly daunted by their reactions, she stayed in the pantry for the rest of Frankie's visit, and finished wiping the dishes.

Outhouses at the Country School: Thinking back about school, we can still see the two little outhouses in the back, one for the boys and one for the girls. They were made with little cupolas on top for air. We can remember a bunch of boys would all go in at once and we would hear them laughing and laughing. My brother told me a long time later that the boys would hold their urine for a long time to build up pressure and then would see who could hit the cupola. Wouldn’t you know it? The only one that could beat them every time was S.A.L. (the smallest boy there).

Also that brings to mind when we used to walk home from school in the wintertime. The boys always walked ahead of us girls, and would leave long, crooked, yellow trails in the snowy road for the fun of it, and us girls would laugh all the way home, as we knew what they were doing.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 51 – Prohibition & Uncle Henry 👋

Dad always had home-brewed beer or wine around, and was allowed to have it even though prohibition was in effect, as he could legally make enough for his own use. However, my Uncle Henry (Mom’s sister Mary’s husband) had a regular business going on at their home on Barney Road.

May 1912: Emma (Mom) standing behind Henry Kirsch (Uncle Henry) and Emma's sister Mary

Uncle Henry made hooch* – bathtub gin,** beer, and wine.

* Hooch is alcoholic liquor especially when inferior or illicitly made or obtained.

** Bathtub gin was a homemade high-proof liquor made from fermented fruits and vegetables. It was called bathtub gin because it was made in a tall bottle — so tall, in fact, that it could not be topped off with water in the sink. Many people filled it up in the bathtub for this reason, and that's how it got its name!

He also had slot machines; rented a few rooms out for a couple of hours; plus Aunt Mary’s famous chicken dinners. They became very well-heeled during prohibition. (We “poor kin” weren’t very welcome there, and didn’t really want to be because they might be raided.)

They had two sons, Ernest and Bill, and one daughter Elsie, that went to high school with Isabel and Leona. (They always wondered where Elsie got all the nickels, dimes, and quarters. They found out that she had the slot machine concession!)

Of course, Uncle Henry was paying off certain people, as we know judges, lawyers, cops, and their girlfriends found their way to this “speakeasy” in the country. What finally did him in was the boys were taking the “hooch” to school and peddling from their car, and apparently sold it to the wrong undercover cop.

Well, of course, Uncle Henry was arrested and sent to Jackson Prison. We hardly knew him when he got out as he had lost so much weight, probably between 50 to 60 pounds. He said the food was awful. They dished out boiled potatoes with a dipper onto your plate, and if you happened to get a rotten one or two, you shut your mouth and ate it. Anyway, after some time, he asked Dad to go “bail” for him as none of his rich “friends” would do it (it was $500).

Well, Dad went to a bail-bondsman – Dad delighted in telling this part of the story. The bail-bondsman asked, “What do you need it for?” and Dad said, “To get my brother-in-law out of the jug!” He got the bail and Uncle Henry got out, and, of course, paid him and thanked him. Maybe our folks were poor – but they were honest and upright people with a good reputation, which is worth your weight in gold.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 52 – Honesty & Integrity 👋

Our folks always believed that “honesty” and “integrity” were the most important qualities to live by. One day, years later, when Lucile was on her own, and didn’t have enough money for food, she went into Stephan’s, a small grocery and meat market near her apartment, and asked Mr. Stephan if he would let her have some soup and bread until the next day when she got paid. He said “of course” and gave her what she needed.

True to her word, Lucile cashed her check the next day, went into Stephan's and paid him with a $5 bill. When she got back to her apartment, she counted her change, and he had given her the change plus 5 dollars, instead of 4. She turned right around, went back to the store and said “Mr. Stephan, you gave me too much money” and gave him the $1 back. He said “Yup, you’re Bill Schwind’s girl, all right!” She told Dad about it, as it was a great compliment to him.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 53 – Tolerance for Others 👋

Mom and Dad’s honesty, integrity, and tolerance for other people, regardless of their race or color, were woven into our characters by their example as was the way they were brought up. There was a black family named Carter that lived about 2 or 3 miles west of our place, around the Henry Bankey place. At this time, they were the only black people around for miles, and of course, shunned by many. Their daughter “Lee Essie” (spelled phonetically) went to high school with Leona, and Leona was the only one who would talk to her.

One day Leona was going to the library on her lunch hour and Lee Essie called to her and asked if she could walk with her, as she was afraid. Leona said “of course,” and was her friend from then on. This led to Mr. Carter stopping in to visit with Dad many a time, and Dad enjoyed talking with him. It must have been extremely lonesome for the Carters.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 54 – The Indian at the Door 👋

Our place was always known, somehow, by strangers, to be a place to stay or get food if they were hungry. A good example of this was when our grandparents were still alive. There was a terrible blizzard and as they were huddled by the fire, someone knocked at the door. When Grandpa opened the door, he found a young Indian man standing there. This was very brave as Indians were not looked on very kindly in those days.

Grandpa immediately bade him to come in and sit by the fire, and he put a blanket around the Indian as he was about half-frozen. He couldn't speak English but Grandma quickly fixed him some food to eat, got blankets and made a bed for him on the couch.

The Indian ate, but insisted he’d sleep in the barn. So Grandpa got a lantern and took the blankets out to the barn for him. In the morning, he came to the house, wouldn’t eat any breakfast, but accepted some food to take with him.

In the Spring, after the snow was gone, there was another knock at the door. Here was the same Indian with half a deer on his back for them, in payment for their kindness. Grandpa and Grandma were delighted with the integrity of this man, and told this story to many people.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 55 – Homemade Goods 👋

Another thing Mom did in her spare time was to make homemade laundry soap. It was too harsh for bathing, but worked good for washing clothes. She would try anything. She had a recipe that called for lye, pork grease, and I think, wood ashes, which she boiled up in a huge iron pot outside and poured into various pans to be cut into bars when it cooled.

Another time, I believe it was through the Extension Club, Louisa Lautner, Celia Neumann and Mom got together someplace and made wonderful cotton mattresses for all of us. Before then, we had straw and corn-husk mattresses!

In the Winter, Mom would set up her quilting frames (they took up the whole room). She would quilt all the “crazy” quilts that she had sewn together, piece by piece. Then she would put a backing on, lightly stuff them with cotton batting, and tie them in certain patterns. A BIG job! Where did this woman find all the time to do all this work?

Whenever Mom sat down, out came her knitting needles or crochet hook. She was always busy.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 56 – Home Health Care 👋

We don’t ever remember Mom being ill, but she must have been and just didn’t complain.

We do remember, however, when Mom was canning tomatoes, and had just filled a quart jar with scalding hot tomatoes, put on the rubber band, and topped it with the zinc cap. Then gripping it tightly in her hands, she screwed the cap on as tightly as she could. The glass broke and the scalding tomatoes burned her whole arm. We remember the huge water blisters that formed and she must have been in agony, though she wouldn’t let us know how much it hurt.

As Mom was an RN, she never took us to a doctor, but treated us all herself. In fact, we dare say, she delivered most of the kids in the Adolph & William Lautner families, as the doctor couldn’t get there in time, so they always called on Mom.

One time, William Lautner walked down to get mom as his wife was going to give birth. It was the worst storm of the year, of course, and in the middle of the night. He had a kerosene lantern for light. Mom got bundled up and they started out. The first thing that happened was that the lantern blew out, so they had to find their way in the dark. But Mom made it in time, and Mrs. Lautner (Isabelle) had a baby girl.

Mom always figured it was a neighborly thing to do. But Mrs. Lautner told me more than once, and at Mom’s funeral, how much she owed Mom for all her help for both of her children. I remember that she brought a wonderfully moist apple cake to the funeral lunch at the house on Randolph Street.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 57 – More About Mom 👋

We don’t think we children really appreciated all the things Mom did during her life. She was very intelligent – she spoke, read and wrote two languages – and she learned English while taking nurse’s training. She graduated at the top of her class before she was married.

She asked about words at Stephen Lautner’s where she worked and remembered she had heard the hired men talk about manure. She said it sounded so nice and asked Mr. Lautner about it at the table. He said, “Emma, I’ll tell you later.”

Dad had heard there was a “good-looking” German girl down at Stephen Lautner's, so he’d thought he’d go down and check her out. When he got there, Mom had just finished doing the dishes and was going to throw out the dishwater and almost hit Dad in the face! This was the beginning of their love and life together.

Mom loved music (especially classical) and had attended the opera many times in Vienna, Austria with her oldest brother, Emil, who had a PhD in philosophy. She also loved poetry and instilled in us the love of these things.

She loved dancing, and she taught us kids the waltz, schottische, and polka. In fact, as a teenager, she and her friends used to steal out of the house at night and go down to the edge of their village and dance around the campfire with the gypsies, as the gypsies were not allowed to come into their village. Mom said “They were so handsome, with their black flashing eyes, white teeth, and boy! Could they dance.” She also said that they could play their violins so expertly, they could make them laugh or cry.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 58 – Radios 👋

We remember when we were small, we had a hive-shaped radio (same shape as those chocolate creams we didn’t like, but ate anyway). Later, Mom was able to obtain a lovely large Silvertone radio from someone at the hospital where she worked. It was a low console model made of beautiful oak wood. It even had shortwave on it.

We were ecstatic with this beautiful piece of furniture and we got such good reception. We used to listen to Jack Armstrong - the All-American Boy, Fibber McGee and Mollie, Amos and Andy, The Shadow with the c-r-e-a-k-i-n-g door, and comedian Fred Allen.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 59 – Playing Cards 👋

We also used to play a lot of cards – Euchre, Pedro, Flinch, King Thirty, Rummy, and Nello.

Nello was a German game where each hand was worth eight points, and you played eight hands, each one different. You could not tell anyone what trump was, as everyone had to remember which hand you were playing.

1st hand = all aces worth 2 points each

2nd hand = all queens worth 2 points each

3rd hand = all hearts worth 1 point each

4th hand = King of diamonds worth 8 points

5th hand – eight of spades worth 8 points

Can’t remember the rest, but the object of the game was to see who got the least amount of points. The last hand you tried to get rid of all your cards.

Lucile remembers playing Pedro, and John was her partner. We had to “give” in the game and if you got the bid, you named the trump. Then you would try to get all the tricks you could, relying on your partner to come through at crucial times. Lucile really didn’t know how to play very well, so she hung onto her top card to come back and take a trick, but something went awry and she didn’t get to play it, and they went “up” sky-high. She can still rememberJohn’s exasperation when he looked in her hand and shouted “There she sits with the Queen!!!”

🙋‍♀️ Episode 60 – Drinking Water 👋

We had a large windmill on our farm that we relied on for all our drinking water. Sometimes it would go on the “fritz” and that meant lugging huge 5-gallon pails of water from the cistern by the windmill, or gathering rainwater from the cistern that watered the animals down by the barn.

In the wintertime, we got clean snow and put it in large kettles on the stove to melt. John was always the “tinkerer,” always trying to invent easier ways of doing a job. So he built a small wagon that would hold two 5-gallon pails, and it sure made the job easier. The boys were always searching the neighbor’s junkyards for parts.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 61 – The Guillotine 👋

John came up with a brainstorm one day when Mom asked him to kill a couple of chickens for Sunday dinner. He hated holding them by the feet and chopping their heads off, and figured a guillotine would not only be easier, but much more humane.

So he got some really hard-coil springs from somewhere, filed down some old files that Dad had (as Dad had told him there was excellent iron or steel in old files), built the guillotine, and put these razor-sharp blades in it. The blades were somehow attached to the coil springs and when released, it would easily cut small pieces of wood in two.

After much testing and demonstrating for us, he was ready! OK, time to get that chicken. He grabbed it by the feet, put its head in the notch cut out for it, pulled the blade to the very top, and SNAP – down it came on the chicken’s neck. The chicken just let out a “SQU-A-A-C-C-K-K.” It didn’t even crimp its feathers! John said, “Wait a minute, I must not have done that right.” He repeated the procedure, and the same reaction from the hen. Well, he had to get the axe then and do the job right. Back to the drawing board – he never did get that guillotine to work!

🙋‍♀️ Episode 62 – The Fire in Her Eye 👋

Mom was washing clothes one hot day, and she was all disheveled and sweaty, and not dressed for anyone to visit. A fellow came to the door selling magazines and asked Mom to buy a subscription. She told him “No, thank you. I’m not interested.”

Much to her chagrin, he deliberately looked her up and down and sneered “It’s quite obvious, ma’am, why you wouldn’t be interested.” Boy, was Mom angry! I don’t blame her. She could have read and written that magazine in two different languages, which was more than that salesman could have done, I’ll bet. I think he saw the fire in her eye, and quickly left. If Dad had been there, he would’ve run him off the porch.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 63 – Hard Work 👋

Birthing Children: All the things Mom did, plus give birth to nine children (she lost two of them by miscarriage). We believe she was one of the hardest working women we’ve ever known, and Dad was there by her side, working together.

Refrigeration: In the winter, Dad and the neighbors would take the big hayrack and horses, and drive to Long Lake when it was frozen over. They would cut ice into large blocks, bring them home, and store them in the ice-house, with sawdust sprinkled in between. We could keep things pretty good in our ice boxes, as we had no refrigerators.

Washing Clothes: Wash day was always tedious. Before we had automatic washers, we took turns (100 times each) of manually pushing and pulling the paddle to swish the clothes in the soapy water. Then you manually put the clothes in the wringer with one hand and turned the wringer with the other, to put the clothes in the rinse water. Then you swished them through a second rinse, and wrung them out again to hang on the clothesline. We bought “blueing” in small bottles, with a one-hole shaker top, and added this to the rinse water to help get whiter clothes.

We finally got a washer with a gasoline engine powering it. You had to start it by pushing down hard with your foot (like you start a motorcycle). Mom did this. It was great, but we were always afraid of it. Even though it worked the wringer, we had to be so careful not to catch our fingers in it, as it was much faster. Then we progressed to the electric washing machine. Wow! What a wonderful convenience! We just take it for granted now.

Firewood: We remember Dad cutting trees in our woods and trimming them into logs with the boys helping him. Then he got the horses and dragged them to the house, where he had a band saw set up. With the help of us kids, he buzzed all the logs into about two foot chunks. Then we all threw the chunks into the woodshed, where us kids had to stack it. A lot of it had to be split with the axe to fit in our cookstove, and some into kindling for starting the fires. Mom used to split some of the wood also. They were all stacked separately. We had to have enough for two stoves to burn all winter, so the woodshed had to be full.

Ironing: We went through a succession of irons for pressing clothes. We remember the flat irons that we heated on top of the wood stove in the kitchen. There was a top that fit over the irons, and we would secure it in place, and iron until it got too cool, then detach it and attach another iron. We had three or four irons that we could alternate so to have a hot iron all the time.

Then we got a gasoline iron. It had to be filled with gasoline and lit, and when hot enough, you could iron with it . It puffed and hissed, and we hated it. It was not only heavy, but scared us to death, as we thought it would explode at any time.We had no “easy care” fabrics back then. In fact, we made our own starch by boiling flour and water together, and later adding a blue wax of some kind so the iron could slide over the fabric easier and make ironing more effortless.

Then, thank God, came the electric iron and easier fabrics to work with. I can remember ironing our pillowcases and sheets, the men’s undershorts, tablecloths, etc. Sure don’t do that anymore – in fact, we hardly iron anything anymore, as most of it is put on hangers as wash and wear.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 64 – Intelligence & Talent 👋

Mildred was a very intelligent girl, and always did well in school. They were required to take county tests when they graduated from the 8th grade, and Mildred had the highest grades in the whole county. Dad and Mom were so proud of her! Mildred left home shortly after graduating from the 8th grade, probably as there was a depression on. She worked for her room and board for Rosenthal’s, who owned a clothing store called Rosens. They, apparently, were orthodox Jews, as they wore little “skullcaps,” she recalls, and only ate fish on certain days, etc.

Later on, Lucile’s teacher entered her in the spelling bee in the county, and the first time, she came in second (Virginia Fleis won), and the second year she entered her again, and she won and Virginia Fleis came in second. Lucile remembers the first year, she went down on “superintendent.” She spelled it “Superintendant.”

Leona talked Lucile into singing “a cappella” as part of the entertainment before the spell-off, and she sang “South of the Border” (one of Gene Autry’s songs). Lo and behold, the audience kept on clapping and wouldn’t stop until she sang another. She didn’t know what to sing, and Mom suggested “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen.” For always being so backward, it’s amazing that she had that much “grit” to do it. Anyway, Leona and Mom and Dad were pleased.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 65 – Beekeeping 👋

Another thing Dad did was keep bees, and harvest the honey. He had a special hat with netting attached, long enough to cover his face and neck, plus a denim jacket for this job.

Have you ever seen a swarm of bees fly overhead? They are huge, and when we’d see them, we’d run in and tell Mom and Dad. They would take off running after them over the fences and through the fields to see if they could catch them when they lit. The bees form a huge, buzzing ball, all protecting the “queen” in the middle. If they were lucky enough to find them in a tree, for instance, Dad and Mom were prepared with a gunny sack or whatever, and had to hold it beneath the bees while Dad gave the branch a hard knock so they’d fall into the sack. Whichever ones didn’t go into the sack, they’d always follow the queen bee, so Dad would carry them to an empty hive he had.

Sometimes, if the bees got too far away, Mom and Dad would jump into the car and follow them as far as they could and then have to get out and run after them. They weren’t always successful, but the fun was in the chase, and victory was a bonus. The farmers around them were very grateful that Dad kept bees, as they helped propagate their fruit trees, etc.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 66 – Neighborliness 👋

It seemed that back in those days, there were so many things that the neighbors did together. I’ll never forget William Lautner hitching up the horses to the big haywagon, when we had an all-day blizzard, bringing many blankets, and the horses plunging through the huge drifts to pick all of us kids up from school. We’d all sit on the edge of the haywagon, pull the blankets over our heads, and he would drop us off as we came to our homes. How kind he was!

🙋‍♀️ Episode 67 – The Belt Noose 👋

At another memorable time, John had just bought himself a real leather belt. He was a proud guy and always wanted nothing but the best, so he saved for quite some time to get it. It had a clasp that, in order to release it, you had to pull it a little tighter.

He was showing it off to Lucile and, playfully, put it around her neck. Well, he pulled it to release it and it didn’t let go. He pulled it again, tighter now, and it still wouldn’t release. He pulled it again, really tight now, and Lucile is now scared and hollering her head off, “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!”

By this time, John is so frightened, he got out his jackknife, slid the blade under it and cut it off her throat. He was so angry with her (he probably could have slit her throat by then) and said “if you could talk, you could still breathe!” Mom had no sympathy for him and told him it was his own fault, as he shouldn’t have put it around her throat to begin with.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 68 – Pain-Oil Fudge 👋

One day, when the folks went to town, John and Lucile decided to sneak some of Mom’s sugar and make fudge. We had it all mixed and boiling on the stove (John was stirring it) and when it got to the soft candy stage (a crucial time for good fudge), he took it off the stove, added butter, and said “Lucile, quick! Get the vanilla!” She reached up in the cupboard (next to where Mom kept medicines) for the vanilla, and quickly put in a couple of teaspoons.

The sound it gave off was like a small atomic bomb – w-h-o-o-s-h! All they could smell was alcohol. John yelled “What in heck did you put in there?” Mistakenly, she had grabbed a small dark bottle just like the vanilla, but it was mom’s “Pain Oil.” Boy, was he ticked off! But, you know what? We wished we could have had it patented, as the mixture turned so hard, so quickly, we could not pull the spoon out of the pan, nor could we wash or scrape it out!

Well, to hide our misdeed, we went out in the backyard and buried the pan, upright spoon and all! Mom always wondered what happened to her favorite pan and one silver spoon!

🙋‍♀️ Episode 69 – Oleo & Butter 👋

Margarine or oleo was put on the market in the ‘40’s, probably on account of WWII. It was packaged in four blocks just like butter, but was white, since the farmers protested against it being colored yellow as it was in competition with butter. A color packet was enclosed.

We would let it come to room temperature and then blend it in with a fork. We thought it was pretty good.

Joe’s mom and dad were visiting us one summer (Joe is Lucile's husband) and his dad said to Joe’s mom, “Mildred! Now this is good butter. What brand do you use, Lucile?” Lucile sheepishly admitted it was Keyko margarine. Joe’s mom always bought unsalted, “country” butter (she called it) and to me, it had little flavor. Mildred said that later on, the oleo manufacturers made a deal with the farmers, and were allowed to sell it already colored.

🙋‍♀️ Episode 70 – Paper Money 👋

To show you how scarce money was – one afternoon, when Lucile was about 6 or 7 years old, she was playing in the front yard. She noticed three odd looking “leaves” being blown gently across the yard, and they landed almost at her feet. She didn’t know what they were, so took them to Dad. He said “Lucile, where did you get these?” She told him the breeze had blown them to her feet. By the incredulous look on his face, she knew it was something unbelievable – they were three $1 bills, and she didn’t know what paper money was, but to Dad, it was a miracle!

This leads into another story. A friend of Mom’s who worked with her at the hospital, rode his motorcycle out to the farm to visit. While talking, he pulled out a dollar bill and a dime. He told Lucile she could have either one she chose. Well, not knowing what paper money was, she chose the dime, as she knew that was money. She couldn’t imagine why everyone laughed. (He must have known for sure which one Lucile would choose too, or he wouldn’t have made that offer!)

🙋‍♀️ Episode 71 – What Do Doctors Know? 👋

On Lucile’s 18th birthday, Mildred and her husband Wayne (they had been married about a month) were at our house, probably to celebrate her birthday. Lucile was all dressed up in high heels, and Wayne, kidding around, pretended he was going to give her a birthday spanking. She jumped up, ran outside, slipped on the wet grass and fell. Feeling a sort of numbness in her arm, she looked down at it, but it didn’t register what had happened – she was probably in shock.

Wayne immediately knew what to do. Being a strong guy, who kept himself physically fit, he grabbed her arm on both sides of the elbow and snapped the elbow back into the socket.

As this was a Sunday, Lucile went to the doctor the next day to have it checked. He examined her arm, told her that it could “not have been out of the socket,” read something in his doctor’s book, put her arm in a sling, and said “That’ll be three dollars.”

Lucile figured it was three dollars wasted, as she went back to work, did all her typing, and three days later she threw the sling away. Underneath her arm, from the armpit to the wrist, it had turned black and blue. Thank God, Wayne had been there when she fell – he knew better than the doctor!

🙋‍♀️ In Closing 👋

And so, although in no chronological order, this is a little glimpse of our lives, as recalled by Mildred and Lucile – its joys and the hard parts (some good, some bad) – but we think it made stronger people of us. Maybe that’s why we can now enjoy our “golden years,” and appreciate our upbringing. Our folks always taught us, by example, that a “good name” is more important than any amount of silver and gold – and they were right!

🙋‍♀️ The Grand Finale 👋

Isabel wrote the following in her mother's obituary in 1969.

"Some time after my mother's death, Dad called me, half laughing and half crying. `Ma left me a message,' he kept saying. He showed me the last page of Mom's family history notebook.

On it, in her own handwriting, written apparently the last time she was home, were the words from the song In the Gloaming.

In the gloaming, oh my darling,

Think not bitterly of me!

Though I left you broken-hearted,

Left you lonely, set you free.

Though my heart was filled with longing,

What has been can never be.

It is best to leave you thus, dear,

Best for you and best for me.

You can listen to this YouTube version of In the Gloaming sung by Evelyn Tubb by clicking on her image below.

Emma Schwind (Mom) passed away in the hospital on 8/1/1969 at age 77. William Schwind (Dad) followed her not long afterwards, dying on 1/26/1970 at age 84.

July 1964: Emma Schwind (age 72) holding my son Mike (age 8 months), & Will Schwind (age 79) at their home in Traverse City, Michigan

🙋‍♀️ Epilogue 👋

I have only a very few photos of myself and my aunt Lucile together (and none with my aunt Mildred). My first photo of myself with Aunt Lucile is in 1964 when I was 23 and she was 39, and the last time is when I visited her in 2021 when she was 95, two years before she died.

August 1964: At the Dining Table on the Kroupa farm (my farm)

Clockwise from the far left: Lucile's husband Joe Lickteig, my baby son Mike, my father Frank Herbert Kroupa, Barbara (myself) in front of the window, Lucile, Rose McGill (my grandfather Will's sister), my grandmother Emma (Mom) my grandfather Will (Dad) and John McGill (Rose's husband)

July 2021: Visiting Aunt Lucile at her daughter Julie's home where she was living

From the left: Lucile, my sisters Mary and Lila, and Barbara (myself)

👵🙋‍♀️ The End to Before I Say Goodbye... 👋