| Bits of Information from various newspapers 1970's
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| Tidbit
from the Monroe County News,
February 2, 1970 C.C. Searls, Postville's railroad depot agent for the past 36 years, is retiring after 65 years with the Milwaukee railroad company. His father and grandfather were also railroad agents. ~Contributed by S. Ferrall |
| New
Albin News from the Allamakee
Journal, July 15, 1970 By Mrs. Clara Pohlman - Keith Eric, little son of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Kruse, returned home from the Caledonia hospital Tuesday where he was a patient since early this month. He received burns about the arms and head in an accident about home. - Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Hink, Nancy and Robert James, came Saturday to visit with Mrs. Hink's parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Dollar, Sr. Mrs. Hink is the former Joy Dollar. - Miss Jean Numann and brother, Kevin, left Saturday for their home in Yorkville, Ill., after a two-weeks visit with the Melvin Pohlman family. - Mr. and Mrs. Martin Schuttemeier of Denver, Colo., spent several days visiting relatives and friends in the New Albin and Lansing areas. - Mr. and Mrs. Versell Pohlman were Sunday evening callers at the Mrs. Ben Pohlman home. - The community was deeply shocked to learn of the passing of Alvin "Bud" Sires Sunday evening. - Mrs. Loretta Gruber of Waco, Texas returned to her home last Friday after spending the past months with her sister-in-law, Mrs. Gladys Bakewell and other relatives, the Earl Grubers, Harris Grubers and John F. Troendle family. - Master Daniel Meyer of Waukesha, Wisc., left Sunday for Caledonia, Minn., where he plans to stay a week with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Goetzinger and family. He had been here visiting other grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Meyer. - Mr. and Mrs. Fritz Meyer, Craig and Cindy of Waukon, spent their vacation here with his parents, Mr. and MRs. Howard Meyer. ~Contributed by Errin Wilker |
| Looking
back to July, August, September and October 1970 -William MANDERSCHEID’s funeral was held in Lansing -Funeral services were held at St. Patrick’s in Waukon for Louis WILLIAMS. Pallbearers were R. J. KIBBY, E. C. SULLIVAN, Earl JONES, Leo McCABE, William CONNOR and Ambrose LINK. -Waukon’s Village Farm and Home Store will move to its new location a half mile south of Waukon. -Elizabeth DELANEY’s (age 86) funeral was held at St. Patrick’s with burial in Hanover. -Last rites for Margeurite HOWE, 71, were held at St. Mary’s, Hanover. -Waukon relatives learned of the death of Ralph O’MEARA. He died suddenly of a heart attack at Wheeling, Illinois, where he is a career Navy man. -Rites were held in Waukon for Mrs. Frank WALSH. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Misc.
News Items from the Allamakee
Journal, November 4, 1970 -An open house for Mrs. Martin (Agnes) Conway was held at Wexford. She was 95. -Anna Thorp's funeral was held in Lansing. -Pfc. Martin Seeley is now stationed in Germany. -Norbert Aschom Jr. received the "Outstanding Young Man" award from the Prairie du Chien Jaycees. -A girl was born to Mr. and Mrs. Bill. Boardman of Cincinnati. -George Lee Jr. is hunting big game in Montana. -Mrs. Clara Guider will move to Waukon. -Rev. and Mrs. Clyde Lee celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. -A home liturgy was celebrated at Nita May's in honor of her mother, Mrs. Fannie May, a shut-in. ~Contributed by Errin Wilker |
| Looking
back to January & February 1971 -Rites were held for Andrew BRESNAHAM, 75 at St. Patrick’s. -Mike CONNOR Real Estate shows the MORITZ house for $7,500. -Last rites were held for Nora BYRNES, 88, at St. Mary’s Hanover. -A large crowd attended the Joe FERRING sale. -Herd cows brought up to $390; steer calves up to $190. John WOOD and Forest RYAN bought most of the cattle. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to March & April 1971 -Robert STILWELL died Tuesday of a heart attack. -Rites were held for Fred HANCOCK, 89, at St. Patrick’s. -Killed when their pickup went down an embankment north of Postville were Donald SNITKER, 42, and Donald EWING, 36. -Last rites were held for Bridget BYRNES, 88, who died in Caledonia. -Bill WELSH resigned as a rural mail carrier. -Dick DELANEY has been transferred from Alaska to Kellogg Airport at Battle Creek, Michigan. -Mrs. Alvina CROWLEY visited her daughter, Mrs. ALLWOOD and family in Colorado. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to May 1971 -Louis HULL, 68, died at the Waukon Hospital. -Rites were held for Francis COLLINS, 67, at St. Patrick’s with burial at Hanover. -Services for Orlan GAVLE, 60, were held at Big Canoe. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Tidbits
from the Monroe County News,
May 24 & May 31, 1971 -Elmer Sander, Postville, was recently awarded a plaque and certificate honoring his 38 years of service to the Postville Boy Scout organization. (24th) -William A. Kneeland, resident of the Postville state bank, was honored by the Iowa Bankers Assn. for his over 50 years of service in the banking business. Mr. Kneeland started in the Clermont bank in 1915 and has held various offices in the Iowa Bankers Association. (31st) ~contributed by S. Ferrall |
| Looking
back to January 1972 -Rites were held at St. Patrick’s for William COLLINS. -Delton MOHWINKLE died of an apparent heart attack. -Rites were held in Chicago for Joseph QUILLIN. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to July and August 1972 -Approval was given by the Federal Communications Commission for sale of KNEI, Waukon, to Dave HOGENDORN by Ralph SWEENEY. -Mr. and Mrs. Leo TEELING of Dubuque were killed in a car crash in Dubuque. -Porky MEYER had the pleasure of a visit form his father, 91, who told him, “This place is the closest you can get to Heaven, son.” -Clare DUGGANS sold the S&D Café to Mr. and Mrs. William Clark. -Ben KELLEHER’s funeral was held at Immaculate Conception. -Lois Ann LINK and Randall HAGER were married at St. Patrick’s. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to October and November 1972 Rites were held in Waukon for Mayor Robert WHITE, 51, and Robert KRUGER. -Funeral services were held in Waukon for Jessie “Jay” LANE. -Anna ZOLL has been appointed deputy director of the National Red Cross Blood Donor Program. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to January and February 1973 -Waukon deaths reported are Hershel STONE and Leonard RYAN. -Funeral services were held at Holy Ghost Church in Dubuque for Lucille BIBBY (KIBBY?) COLLINS, 65. -Mrs. Alice WILLIAMS will leave from Kansas City on a tour to Rome. -Rites were held at St. Patrick’s for Joseph O’HARA and Robert REA, 82. -Rites were held at Hanover for Alfred HOWE, 78. -Rites were held at St. Patrick’s for Hazel WHALEN, 82. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to May and June 1973 -Funeral services were held for Victor ZOLL, 86, at St. Patrick’s in Waukon. -Funeral services were held at St. Patrick’s for Canice BYRNES, 48, with burial at Hanover. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to July and August 1973 -Mrs. Reuben HAGER received word of the death of her sister, Florence FAEGRE. -Funeral services were held for Edgar KIESAU in Waukon. -James O’MEARA and son of Auckland, New Zealand, are guest of Mrs. Alvin CROWLEY of New Albin. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to December 1973 -Rites were held at St. Patrick’s, Waukon, for Bud PLEIN and Hazel KIBBY. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to January and February 1974 -Fr. KROCHESKI’s funeral was held in Dubuque. Her served many parishes in the county. -Rites were held for Mrs. Ray SPINNER in Waukon. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to May, June and July 1974 -Last rites were held for Myril SULLIVAN and Mrs. Joe FAHEY at St. Patrick’s. -The R. J. KIBBYs enjoyed a trip to Mexico. -Mrs. Bob ANDERSON”s funeral was held at St. Patrick’s. -Mrs. Art O’BRIEN’s funeral was held at Lycurgus. -Rites were held at West Ridge for Harold O’NEILL. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| News
from the Allamakee Journal,
August 21, 1974 -Mr. and Mrs. Tom Riehm and son Joey of Milford, Iowa spent the weekend with his uncle and wife, Mr and Mrs. Harold Riehm and sons. -Mrs. Stanley Buege returned home from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she visited her sister, Mrs. Stacia Holter, and her son, Mike. Mrs. Buege accompanied her son, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Buege and family of Caledonia, Minn. All visited with the Holter and Dennis families. -Mr. and Mrs. James Benson and daughter, Mary Terese, of Elmhurst, Ill. spent the weekend with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Mauss. -Miss Heather Valesh, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Keith Valesh of Oelwein, came Monday to spend a week with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. James Valesh. -Mr. and Mrs. Emil Vonderohe of Illinois were recent guests at the home of brothers and sisters, coming to attend the St. John's (Wheatland) Mission Service on August 11. -Lance Corporal Darell John Olson of San Diego, Calif. spent from Wednesday until Friday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Versell Pohlman, his aunt and uncle. He went from New Albin to the Mabel, Minn. home, of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John G. Olson. -Mrs. Pete Fink, Jody and Lori, visited at the Lennie Mellick home in Cedar Rapids from Monday until Thursday. -Mr. Irvin Meyer and Billy and Ruth Breitbach of Balltown, Iowa, and the Rev. Robert Levenhagen of Dyersville, Iowa, left last Sunday for Albuquerque, New Mexico, returning home Friday from a visit with Mr. and Mrs. Ralph P. Meyer and family. -Mr. and Mrs. Donald Hosch, Joe and Jean of Pensacola, Fla., came Monday to visit his mother, Mrs. Inez Hosch. They came by way of Charles City, where they visited sisters and brothers of Mrs. Hosch. They returned to Charles City on Thursday, leaving from there to attend the wedding of their daughter, Mary Ann Hosch, to Dr. James A. Cerney at Pueblo, Colo. on August 22. Dr. Cerney is in the service. -Mr. John Crowley is a patient at the Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse. -Mr. and Mrs. James Dollar and Mickey, Judy and Sammy of St. Paul Park, Minn. spent Saturday as overnight guests at the home of his mother, Mrs. Vie Dollar. The James Dollar family met their daughter, Judy, in Des Moines after Judy had spent a week visiting her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Hink and family of Higgensville, Mo. The Hink family took her as far as Des Moines to meet her family. -Mr. and Mrs. Richard Oitzman of Caledonia, Minn. became the parents of a son on August 13. -Brayer Karl Amble, New Albin, was granted the Master of Science ini Elementary School Administration at Winona State (Minn.) College during the 1974 summer session. Vice President of academic affairs, Dr. Donald A. Warner presided at commencement. -Mr. Amble was one of 140 graduates who participated in the commencement exercises on August 17 at the college's Memorial Hall addition. ~Contributed by Errin Wilker |
| Looking
back to September 1974 -Albert KIBBY’s funeral was held in Waukon. -Joe PLADSEN’s funeral was held at Old East Pain Creek. -Mr. and Mrs. Ben QUILLIN celebrated their 25th anniversary. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to February and March 1975 -A former Hanover resident, Joseph BYRNES, 57, died at Nashua, Montana, after a short illness. His brother, Cyril BYRNES, attended the funeral. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Misc.
News from the Allamakee Journal, September 24, 1975 NEW ALBIN NEWS - Mr. and Mrs. Chuck Meyer of Caledonia, Minnesota, are the parents of a baby boy that was born on September 19. Mrs. Stanley Buege is helping to care for their children during the mother's stay in the hospital. She is the former Grace Buege. - Mrs. Gladys Webb was a recent patient at the St. Francis Hospital in La Crosse, Wisconsin. - Mr. and Mrs. Ray Zoll went to Des Moines to attend a meeting of the Professional Rights and Responsibilities Commission. While in Des Moines they visited with George Zoll and were overnight guests of the Gerald Kuehns in Earlham. - Rev. C. Kent Wever entered the Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse, Wisconsin, as a medical patient on Friday. CARD OF THANKS We wish to thank all our friends, neighbors and relatives for the cards, money, flowers and other acts of kindness at the time of our recent sorrow, the death of Charles King. Our thanks especially to Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Larson for cooking dinner and to the employees of the Lansing Company for their memorials -Mr. and Mrs. Lester Fink CARD OF THANKS I Would like to express my thanks to all who visited me and sent cards in expression of their concern while I was a patient in Lutheran Hospital - Rev. Clyde Lee CARD OF THANKS I would like to express my thanks to everyone who visited me, and also thank you for the cards and flowers while I was a patient at the St. Francis Hospital -Mrs. Gladys Webb ~Contributed by Errin Wilker |
| Looking
back to September and October 1975 -Kenneth HAMMEL’s funeral was held in Waukon. -Waukon deaths were Clem KELLY, 76, and Clem HOWES, 71 -Rites were held in Hanover for Tom Burke, 85. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to January 1976 -Funeral services for Jack Breshnahan, 50, of Clinton were held Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 11 a.m. in St. Patrick’s Church, Waukon. Breshnahan died suddenly at his home in Clinton. -Funeral services for Mrs. Reber (Lois Lane) Breshnahan and her son Randall Francis, 17, of Rossville were held Monday, Jan. 19, at 11 a.m. in St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Waukon. They died Thursday, Jan. 15, as a result of an automobile accident south of Waukon. -Waukon relatives received word of the death of Joe Murphy, 58, which occurred in Chicago. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to February 1976 -Rites were held at St. Patrick’s for Laura Breshnahan, 86 who died Feb. 7. -Rites were held in Cedar Rapids for Ray Frankland, 73. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to April & May 1976 -A former resident John Quillin, 75, died in Chicago; the funeral service was at St. Mary’s, Hanover. -Mrs. Carl (Lucille) Link died suddenly April 30, burial from St. Patrick’s. -Other Waukon deaths: Bert Marsden, 86, and Francis Handy INTLEKOFER, 56, and Celia BURKE, 83. -Rites were held in New Albin for Alvin Crowley, 64, who passed away May 26. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Tidbits
from the Allamakee Journal,
June 9, 1976 LANSING NEWS -Mrs. Kathryn McCabe and son John of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Hurm of Portland, Ore., and Charles Hurm of rural DeSoto were Lansing callers on relatives and friends last Thursday and Friday. They visited the Cyril and Harold Hurm families as well as Miss Rose Hurm on different occasions. Mrs. McCabe has had the Journal ever since leaving here 47 years ago. It has been a few years since she last visited Lansing. -Charles Smith was taken to the Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse Sunday afternoon after receiving injuries to his back as a result of a motorcycle accident near Stoddard, Wis. He was riding, with Ralph and Bill Bartels and Donald Leppert when his bike went out of control. -Shirley Weipert of Freeport, Illinois came for Memorial Day weekend and spent the following week vacationing with her mother, Mrs. Florence Weipert, and relatives. On Wednesday she and her two daughters visited her son, Francis Weipert, and family of McGregor. Betty and Sue Weipert returned with them for a visit of a few days in Lansing. -Father Ray Bohrer of Mason City, and his brother, William, of Milwaukee, Wis., were brief county visitors on Tuesday of last week calling on relatives and friends hereabouts. After visiting their sister, Mrs. Bill Curran and family in Lafayette they stopped to see Mr. Eugene Brennan and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Steffen. -Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bechtel of Cedar Rapids spent the holiday weekend with their daughters, Mesdames Roger Kruger and Ray Rick and families of the Waukon vicinity while visiting other relatives and friends in Allamakee County. Both have especially good jobs with the Cedar Rapids school district and in a couple of years are eligible for retirement. While here they got together with Frank's old buddy, Harold Fritz and wife. ~Contributed by Errin Wilker ........ there's lots more!!! continue reading this issue of the Allamakee Journal ..... |
| News
from the Allamakee Journal,
July 7, 1976 LANSING NEWS -Mr. Erwin Gruber returned to his Lansing home on Second St. Saturday after spending about two months at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Bob Mefferd, and family of Marion. -Mr. and Mrs. Bill "Buckshot" Sandry and sons Billy and Bruce returned to their Davenport home Monday, having spent the holiday weekend with home folks, the Odean Sandry family. While out fishing Sunday, they caught a good mess of bluegills and three turtles on pole and line, the turtle catch being a local record, we think, for an angling trip. Sixteen year old Billy is now the regular first baseman on the Davenport high school baseball team. -Mike Karnik, left early last week for Houma, La., where he will be employed as a diver for the Santa Fe Co., a firm that lays oil lines. Mike was first in his class at the Divers Institute of Technology in Seattle, Wash., from which he graduated on June 25. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Karnik. -Joe Dunlevy accompanied his daughter, Colleen, to Wausau, Wis. on June 27, and he will be a guest at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Bob (Mary Jo) Hartwig, and family for a short time before visiting Colleen in Ann Arbor, Michigan later this summer. -The Dick Roeder family of Rockford, Ill. drove over and spent the weekend with Lansing relatives, the Howard Revoirs and the Bob Roeder family. -Mr. and Mrs. Sam Bell of Columbus Junction, Iowa visited at the home of her folks, Mr. and Mrs. John Pete Spinner, over the long holiday weekend. ~Contributed by Errin Wilker ........ there's lots more!!! continue reading this issue of the Allamakee Journal ..... |
| News
Tidbits from the Allamakee Journal,
July 14, 1976 LANSING NEWS -Mr. and Mrs. Eugene P. Dani of Janesville, Wis., are spending the week at the James Keenan and J.T. Calahan homes. -Mrs. Frances Early is recovering from cataract surgery she had recently at a La Crosse hospital. She is living at present time at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Lawrence "Dutch" Protsman and family. -Ann Murphy of Cedar Rapids visited her mother, Mrs. Marie Murphy, over the weekend. -Mrs. Ellen Hanley entered the St. Francis hospital on Tuesday of last week and underwent surgery for cataract. -Lansing's George Bishop harvested ripe tomatoes from his garden already this summer. -John Manning and Mike Garrity of Racine, Wis. spent a couple of days visiting John's parents, the Cyril Mannings, this past week. -Kari and Mike Long, children of Mr. and Mrs. Kieth Long of Omaha, Nebraska, are staying with their grandparents, the M.W. Longs, this week. Kieth and his wife plan to come during the weekend and take the kids back after the Bicentennial. -Mr. and Mrs. John Dunlevy and David and Martha were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Brayer Amble and family last Thursday afternoon at a picnic on a sandbar near Victory, Wisconsin. -Gary McKee caught a sunfish that weighed one pound and two ounces a couple of weeks ago. That's a huge sunfish, as any fisherman will tell you. -Hot weather has been the rule in Lansing for the past couple of weeks. Kern Kelleher reports that on Saturday his thermometer registered 100 degrees in the shade during the afternoon. Ray Schobert had 98 degrees at his home. ~Contributed by Errin Wilker ........ there's lots more!!! continue reading this issue of the Allamakee Journal ..... |
| Looking
back to March 1977 -Rites were held in Waukon for Frank HAUSMAN. -Rites were held at Lycurgus for Frank WELCH. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to November & December 1977 -Rites were held for Norris GAVLE, 69, at Big Canoe Lutheran Church. -Waukon deaths were Kathryn ZOLL, Anna FOLSUM, Harry FITZGERALD, 83, and Emmet AOLL, 84. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to January & February 1978 -Roger and Arlyn PLADSEN bought the Mark MAUSS auto agency. -Rites were held at Waukon for a former Hanover resident George O’HARE. -The former Curt NORDHEIM farms were sold at an opera house auction, bringing $1,653 per acre. -Lois LINK HAGER, 25, died on Tuesday, June 6*, in the LaCrosse Lutheran Hospital where she had been taken after being injured in a one-car accident 10 miles east of Waukon. Also killed in that crash was 27-year-old Dennis LOGAN of Waterloo. -A former resident, Thomas MAHONEY, 83, died in Dubuque. ~* The heading says January and February 1978, but the entry says June 6 – not sure where the mistake is. Also, see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to February 1979 -Rites were held at Sat. Mary’s Hanover for John E. McCORMICK. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Looking
back to December 1979 -Rites were held at St. Mary’s, Hanover, for Lucille BURKE, 84. ~*see note at the bottom of the page |
| Postville
Herald, winter of 1979 ........ Which Was Worse -- 1936
or 1979? by Maxine DeGarmo Weather has made more news stories this winter than most of us can recall. The stories our parents and grandparents excited our imagination with, have become a reality. Were those words used to describe 1979? No, they were penned by the late Bill Klingbell, publisher of the Postville Herald, in 1936. Headlines then read. "Iowa In Grip Of Worst Winter In 117 Years" and "Traffic Tied Up By Drifted Snow". Headlines not unlike those of 1979. Statisticians have been making comparisons between the two winters because of their severity. We thought it might be interesting to review the winter of 1936 as it affected the Postville area. In searching the newspaper files of that year, we found that the primary concern was the supply of coal. Though many area towns found their supplies depleted, Postville did not, thanks to the local suppliers, the Farmers Store and Hall Roberts' Son. As early as December 21, 1935, old man winter hit a solar plexus blow as hard to take as one of Joe Louis' knockout drops, according to Mr. Klingbeil, when 11 degrees below zero, accompanied by a strong northwest gale helped drive the fearful cold right through to the marrow. (Now we call it chill factor.) Nevertheless, Shafer Cole and Harold Meland loaded a sled with blankets and provisions and took boy scouts on an outing near the Old Stone House, where they cut their own firewood on a 20 below morning. And a pot of coffee, when set off the fire, froze solid in 50 minutes. From that time until the issue of February 27, weekly official thermometer readings, kept by J. M. Thoma, never recorded morning temperatures above zero and once it was 30 below. Like 1979, snow accompanied the cold. January 22 was reported by the Des Moines Weather Bureau as the coldest day in Iowa since 1912 with snow drifts reported to be hard as cement. Mail carriers had several enforced holidays. Schools were closed, meetings of organizations cancelled (sic), even church services on three Sundays. (In 1979, Postville's rural carriers have missed one delivery, however, that is not to say what will happen when the snow melts and the frost goes out of the roads.) Days that school was held, attendance dropped 33 and one-third per cent and there were many cases of frozen faces and ears. Janitor Charley Ohloff kept all the rooms piping hot and Supt. Carroll arranged for hot lunches to be served pupils at noon by the domestic science department. One day when school dismissed early, a group of Postville businessmen took their cars to school and took the pupils home. Fayette county had about 1000 cords of wood for those on relief in the vicinity of Oelwein, but some of the needy protested when they found they had to saw it themselves. The cold wave kept the crew of WPA workers, (if you don't know what those letters mean, ask your parents) who were crushing and hauling rock on the road west of Postville, at home. Drifts prevented the men getting to the quarry for several days. It was even too cold to put up ice, though it was wonderful for making it. Bill Stockman and his icemakers were laid off for several days. Postville Street Commissioner, Wm. H. Hein, reported hauling over a hundred loads of snow off the business district. One Monday, seven teams attached to bobsleds were in Postville. Six farmers found hitching posts to tie teams to on the south side of the Busy Bee Cafe and the other was tied on the south side of Luhman and Sanders store. Every storage garage in town was packed with cars brought in by townspeople to be kept where they wouldn't freeze up and burst. Regarding the cold, Mr. Klingbeil reports, "We are getting so used to the temperatures way down the line that when it hits zero many parents have to flog their children to keep them from taking off their shoes and going barefoot." Mr. K. was also moved to make a plea for the installation of telephones in rural schools after many instances of children being marooned in school houses. Others were marooned during those trying days. Ed Overland, attending a Jamesway convention in Des Moines was forced to stay extra days because orders were issued to let highways remain blocked while opening the roads to the coal mines. Gertrude Sanders, Carolyn Campbell, Catherine Staadt and Ellen Miller were marooned in Chicago. Marjory Deering's birthday party for classmates turned into a slumber party after a blizzard hit. At Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo the coliseums were kept open for those who had no fuel to keep warm. If they had no transportation, policemen provided it. Many churches also provided shelter. At one point in Iowa, two carloads of hogs on a stock train froze to death. Even down in Washington D. C. everything was tied up with 16 inches of snow and congress had to adjourn. Getting along locally without mail for several days gave people of today a chance to enjoy the solitude the old timers used to have quite frequently in the good old days and they didn't have any radio to tune in either to relieve the monotony. Along the Postville-Gunder road, 35 farmers with scoop shovels, working from Saturday noon until midnight and again Sunday, helped the county snow plow open that highway. In front of the Lawrence Welzel place they found an auto buried under the snow. Mr. and Mrs. Ed McNeil, Mr. and Mrs. Glen Meyer and Mrs. Ethel Meyer served the plow crew and farmers with a warm Sunday dinner. Even cold weather and drifted roads however, didn't deter dancers from driving 50 miles to shake a leg to the Jan Garber orchestra at Oelwein. Braving the winter elements were, Mr. and Mrs. Arno Schutte, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Casten, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Schultz, Harlan Wegner, Milda Jones, Charles Beucher, Bob Kelleher, Ed Kozelka and Anna Mae Schultz. At the John Martens place west of the creamery, it was reported drifts were so high that those people could step off their porch and walk on top of 25 ft. high drifts clear over the top of the poultry house. Frank Hangartner had a busy afternoon and evening during one blizzard pulling stalled motorists on highway 18 between his place and the John Dyke farm north of him. Foreman Frank Severn reported that the local state highway garage was kept busy repairing snowplows. The cold seemed to have made the working parts quite brittle and breakdowns were frequent. Out in Ludlow, farmers hitched four teams to a V-shaped snow plow made of heavy planks and with ten men shoveling, worked two miles through deep drifts only to learn that the county plow had broken down and could not open the road. By the time the plow was available, the road they had opened was drifted shut again. But on the philosophical note, the comment was made that hundreds of gallons of gas had been saved. That snow removal was mighty costly for the railroads, may be judged by the expense of the Milwaukee on the Postville section of approximately 12 miles. Checks for February arrived for the snow shovelers which, of course, included some extra workers, and the checks totaled the sum of $369. 04. (That's not just one check, you know, that's for everybody.) Even as things change, they remain the same, and so it came to pass that one March day, Charles F. Reincke, proprietor of the Commercial Hotel, saw a robin in the city park across the street. ~contributed by Mary Durr from from her mother's scrapbook collection. |
*This clipping is from the Lansing
Journal "Looking Back" collection of the late
Harold Devitt. The contributor wrote: "These were
given to me, so I don't know when they ran as "Looking
Back" items. I still am not certain who typed these pages,
but I think it should be noted that many of the entries are just
little snippets that somebody chose to type up. I’m sure the
original paper has more information on some of these
entries."