FALLING OUT

We know that Ed and Helen Jondle had had a falling out with Ed’s father Michael Jondle.  Hard feelings and holding grudges may have been a family trait.  Tensions developed between Steve and his in-laws, Helen and Ed. There were a few skirmishes that went on to a full-fledged family feud. As a result Betty rarely saw or spoke to her parents for a period of over twenty years beginning in the early 1950s and lasting until Ed died in 1973.  And even after that Betty’s relationship with her mother remained severely strained. Betty had not practiced speaking Czech during those twenty some years and as a result had a difficult time speaking with her mother.  She told me that she could understand what her mother was saying to her, but that she (Betty) could only say a few simple things in response.

My brother Jim told me about one of the skirmishes.  He recalled that when they were living on the farm north of Clare, Steve was milking cows when Grandpa Jondle arrived and began yelling at Steve. Grandpa’s tractor would not run correctly because there was water in the engine.   He accused Steve of having put water into the tractor to ruin it. It was Jim’s theory that rain may have come in through the exhaust pipe.

Jim said that Grandpa was calling Steve names. Steve in turn got mad and went to the house to get the shotgun. Betty tried to stop him and they were fighting over the gun.  Steve said he was not going to shoot Grandpa but wanted to show him that he meant business.   In the meantime Grandpa ran to his car and drove off.  They were not on speaking terms after that. Anyone who knew Steve knows that he was not aggressive or quick to anger.  Grandpa must have said some pretty mean things to solicit such a reaction.  

I asked Betty why she was not on good terms with her parents.  She told me that her mother wanted Steve and Betty to teach their children Czech and that Ed and Helen thought that the Miklos had too many children. You may recall that when Helen Jondle consented to Betty marrying Steve, Helen had thought if her daughter married someone who spoke Czech or Slovak her grandchildren would learn to speak Czech (see post on May 20).  

Pauline recalled when Rose Mary was born, Grandma Jondle had told Betty that she was a nice baby but that she was born too soon after Johnny had died.  She also remembered that Grandma Jondle would come to the farmhouse north of Clare - while Grandpa stayed in the car in the driveway -  she would bring birthday presents for the Miklo children, but they were not able to speak to her because she did not speak English and they did not speak Czech.

Helen Jondle had very strong feelings about this and wrote a letter to Betty and Steve. I found the letter, which is written in Czech, and had it translated. Although there is no date on the letter I estimate that it was written in about 1951 or 52 after Steve and Betty’s sixth child, Barb, was born. In the letter Helen writes that Steve should go back to Czechoslovakia where, “Mr. Gottwald will be happy to take you!!” Gottwald was the Communist President of Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1953. So the reference to him in the letter indicates that it was written in the early years of the 1950s.

This timeframe is consistent with Rose Mary’s memory of Betty visiting Helen Jondle when Rose Mary was about 5 years old.  After that visit the Miklo kids did not see their grandparents on the Jondle side. Rose Mary wrote, “The last time I remember going to Grandma’s, Mom went in and had me play in the yard.  I don’t remember her being in the house very long and when she came out she was crying.  I do remember some talk about Mom having too many kids and that Barb should have been a boy.”

Perhaps Betty went to see her mother to confront her about the contents of the letter.  In the letter Helen Jondle wrote that if Betty’s children did not speak Czech she should not ever come to visit. She wrote that Betty only knew how to raise children and wipe babies' butts.  She goes on to call Steve some nasty names, like ugly Bolshevik, and writes that he did not marry Betty for love but for her parent’s money. She wrote that Steve was not a hard worker and just wanted to take from others. Again, anyone who knew Steve would not recognize him as the person written about in the letter.

The letter is so negative that I decided not to post the translation of it here. But it is an important part of our family story and sheds some light on the family psyche.   Here are images of the first two pages of the letter. It goes on for eight pages.

FIREWORKS

During the 1960s Clare hosted a grand celebration for the 4th of July. The festivities started in the morning with a church breakfast and bake sale. There might have even been a contest for the best pie.

At some point in the day there would be the kiddie parade down Front Street (we always called it Main Street).  Kids of all ages would decorate their bikes with red, white and blue crepe paper strung through the spokes, and ride down the street.  Then there would be the big parade with the fire truck and the 4H queen riding on the back of a convertible. There would be several tractors pulling decorated hay wagons representing various businesses and organizations.  The people riding on the floats would throw candy (like Tootsie Rolls) to the kids lining the parade route.

I recall one year there was a greased pig contest. A small pig was slathered in grease and let loose.  The young boys chased it and the one who was able to catch and hold on long enough to turn it in would win a $5 bill.  There was also a greased pole (a short telephone pole) with a $10 bill tacked to the top.  I can’t remember if anyone was ever successful in getting to the top to claim the prize.

In the afternoon there would be a demolition derby where old junk cars would crash into each other until there was only one car running. There was an ambulance on standby to haul the contestants into Mercy Hospital if necessary. I remember one year my older brother Jim had entered the competition and there was some worry that he might crash and burn.  

Some years there was a tractor-pull contest to see which farmer had the most macho farm machine.  And some years there was a street dance in front of Donahue’s Store.

Finally, there was a fireworks display that was so large it attracted car-loads of people out from Fort Dodge to witness the spectacle.  Betty would make grocery bags full of popcorn and fill up a cooler with root beer, orange and strawberry-flavored pop. She and Steve and all of the kids would load into the Oldsmobile. We would drive the short distance to the edge of town where cars would line up in a freshly harvested hay field. There we would lie on the hood of the car and on blankets on the ground and ooh and aah at the fireworks display.  

Here is a picture of Don Miklo, Steve and Betty’s 8th child on the bicycle that he must have ridden in one of those kiddie parades.

INDEPENDENCE DAY

For some reason Steve and Betty’s adopted hometown, the little town of Clare, had the biggest 4th of July celebration in all of Webster County. This tradition must have gone way back. A few years ago I was at an antique show in Iowa City where there was a postcard vendor who had old cards from all over Iowa.  The cards were sorted alphabetically by town. There were lots of cards from Fort Dodge. That is where I bought the illustration of Betty’s birthplace on Central Avenue shown below and also in the May 11 post.

The postcard vendor had just a couple cards from Clare. They were not actual scenes from the town, but generic pictures of flowers with “Greetings from Clare,” written across the front.  But there was something even better than a post card. There was a ribbon from the Grand Celebration at Clare, IA. dated July 3, 1897. At the time I debated about spending the $10 or $20 that the vendor was asking for the ribbon. But today I am glad I did.  Here is a photo of the ribbon along with a ribbon commemorating the Clare Band Reunion August 1 and 2, 1895 (Notice all the Irish names).  More on Clare’s 4th of July celebration in the next post.

FAMILY SECRET

In the video that I recently found where Betty discussed her and her brother's school days (see the July 1 post), she also tells us more about her mother, Helen Jondle.  Betty tells the story about Tobin’s that I posted from memory on May 16.  Betty also goes on to talk about her mother's old boyfriend back in Czechoslovakia and her parent’s relationship.

Bob:  When your parents visited their friends did they speak English there?

Betty: The parents talked Bohemian.  I remember her [Helen Jondle] telling Louie [Kriblehoby] “You can get farther if you knew two languages.”  Well, she knew only one but she said that.  And Louie just laughed at her and said, “Well, I know two languages and I get as far as Tobin Packing and back.” He was an electrician down there. [Tobin’s was a pork packing plant that later become Hormel’s.]

Bob: So why did she never learn to speak English?

Betty: She did not need it. She was stubborn. Yet, when she heard somebody else talking a language that she did not know she laughed at them.  Kriblehobys lived up on the hill as you come into town, up on the hill.  The house is white now but it used to be a bright red brick. The Kriblehobys lived on the first floor, the landlady lived upstairs.  But she was there just occasionally.  She was German and she was talking to somebody on the phone.  She did not have a phone.  She came downstairs to use the tenants’ phone.  She was German and she was talking to somebody on the phone in German.  My mother just sat there and laughed.  She thought it was funny.  She was a diehard Czech and there was nobody that was as good as the Czechs.

Bob: Did she ever talk about her parents?

Betty:  Her father was a drunk. She never said anything about her mother.  She was the only one.  She said there were other kids but they died. That is all I know.  She did not come exactly from Prague. She came from a village next to it. And she would talk about the Russian prisoners [prisoners of war during World War I].  She would see the Russian prisoners coming over the hill going to work.  Going to work in the fields.  She said they were always singing. She said they were beautiful singers.

But she said her father was a drunk.  So these people who had brought her over here, they were a Lutheran family.  She went to work as a maid for Dad’s cousin.  And that is how Dad got a hold of her. He used to go see his cousins all of the time and that was in Nebraska.  It was either Nebraska or Minnesota.  Because they lived in one of those states and then they moved to the other. It was between Minnesota and Nebraska. [Ellis Island records indicate that when she came to America in 1920 Helen was headed to Truman, Minnesota.]

And I remember every year after the oats were harvested--that was in the hot summertime--he (Ed Jondle) would make a trip to visit them.  I remember driving, him driving.  Once a year he would go visit old Charlie Jondle in Nebraska [Betty’s brother Charlie must have been named after Ed's cousin, Charles Jondle, the son of James Jondle, who was Michael Jondle’s brother].  He would make that trip to visit. I don’t remember the visit. I remember riding in the car, but I don’t remember the people.

Bob: Was that the Studebaker or the Model T?

Betty: The Model T. I don’t think the Studebaker would have made it.  Because he got the Model T when I was between 4 and 5 or something like that.

Bob: Did your mom have a formal education in the old country?

Betty:  I don’t know. I don’t know. In fact, I don’t think she did. If she wanted to figure something . . . . if she wanted to know how much was 10 + 5 she would put down 10 numbers and then she would but down 5 numbers and then she would count them.  So I don’t think she did [have a formal education].

Bob: But she could write? [This made Betty rethink her conclusion that her mother did not have a formal education.]  

Betty: Yea, in fact I think she used to write to an old boyfriend [back in Czechoslovakia]. I don’t know, but putting things together.  She called him Frankyshek.  There was a letter from Frankyshek and she used to sit there and read it.  And I know that she wrote to him. So that’s all I know.  Figure it out. I don’t know. And then she got a letter from him that he was getting married.  She wasn’t very happy. Well, that was her business, not mine.

Bob: So what did your dad feel about that?

Betty: I don’t think he knew anything. He could not read that stuff [Czech].

Bob: So he could speak Czech, but he could not read it.

Betty:  No.

Bob: Did they seem to get along with each other or did they ever fight?

Betty: Yeah, because she thought he was stupid. I don’t remember what it was about but I know they used to yell at each other. Sometimes I wonder if there isn’t a little German back in our family [At this point Betty must have remembered that like a lot of couples her parents fought about money]. She was tight.  She used to bawl him out if he bought anything.  And he would not buy anything unless he had that money in his hand. He would never buy anything and have them wait for the money.  He paid for everything he ever got. Nothing ever on payments or anything like that.  He paid for everything.

She tried to tell him how to farm too. That was after they moved up here by Clare. I think she stayed with me when one of the kids was born.  He brought her home and the farmers they were either plowing or they were picking corn. Well, he had not started picking corn yet.  He was plowing.  So She chewed him out,  “That comes first. You should get that corn in first.”

Yeah, they got along  - about as good as a lot of them get along. (End of quote.)

Above is a picture of Helen Jondle from about the time she first came to America.

CORRECTION

On June 12 I posted that I had thought that Betty had said that her brother Charlie had trouble in school because he did not know enough English. That was incorrect. I have since found a video recording of Betty when she talked about her school days at the Moorland Consolidated School. She had said that it was a neighbor boy, Lawrence Bundy, who had trouble in school.  Both Betty and Charlie had English-speaking playmates, so they both knew enough to get by in school. Here is how Betty put it:

Betty: John Flarrity, he was a leading athlete.  I read in his obituary that he was a coach at St. Edmonds for a while. Thinking back, he was the only Irishman on the school bus out in that territory.  There were the Plainers, Staneks, Fiallas, Kaplans [all Czech names]. I remember John. He was always the life of the party.

Bob: So on the bus did the kids talk English or Czech?

Betty: English. They [the other parents] were not as strict as my folks… Oh, Lawrence Bundy.  Not too many years ago at the Bohemian Hall a bunch of us were talking and Lawrence said he was in my grade, but he started a year before I did. He said, “Well, I started to school a year earlier but I did not know a word of English so they sent me home and told me not to come back until I learned English.”

Bob: Did you say your brother Charlie had trouble in school because he did not speak English?

Betty:  We both knew enough to get by because my folks every Saturday they visited Kriblehobys in Fort Dodge and they talked both [Czech and English]. Their kids knew how to talk English because they did not want their kids to struggle in school so they knew how…There was Blanche, she was a year younger than me and there was Betty after that and there was another little one. I think it was Chris.

Charlie, well he and I used to go across the road to Kaplan’s to play.  And there was Clark.  He was a little older than Charlie.  So he knew plenty, he understood.   We both had enough where we got through it.  But we did not learn it at home.  And my brother and I did not talk Bohemian with each other.  After he started to school we both talked English with each other.  So I think my mother caught onto a lot of it but she would not admit it. (End of quote.)

Here is a picture of Uncle Charlie after a successful pheasant hunt on the Miklo farm north of Clare.  I think that this was taken shorty after Steve and Betty moved to the farm in 1948.

COUSIN JÁN

Ján Miklo, Jr., 1946

Here is another photo sent by Steve’s cousin Ján in 1946.  In exchange Steve wrote back with news about his new life in America and sent photos of his family.  But eventually Steve lost contact with his relatives in Slovakia. I would attribute this to several reasons.  During World War II, Slovakia was taken over by Nazi Germany and there was no mail exchanged with America.  Then just three years after the war, the Communists took power in Czechoslovakia (1948) and discouraged correspondence with Americans. The photos from Ján posted here had come in 1946 and 1947, between the war and the Communist regime.

In addition to international politics discouraging correspondence, Steve had little free time to write given all of the work to do on the farm and taking care of several children.  I recall that Steve said at one time a cousin had asked him to send a wristwatch and then money to buy a tractor.  Steve and Betty had no money to spare and were not able to send anything to his cousin.  Sometime in the 1950s the letters stopped in both directions.

I have a long story about how photos that Steve had sent back to his home country resurfaced about 50 years later.  In 1996 as Steve’s health was deteriorating, I decided to travel to Slovakia to see if I could find his home village and establish contact with any Miklo family that might still be there.  By then Steve did not know if his cousins were still living.  He did not even have a postal address for them.

I wrote a letter to the mayor of Drahovce, Steve's home village. The letter explained my mission and asked the mayor to send the letter on to any Miklos living in the village.  I included the phone number of the hotel where we would be staying in Prague. I had the letter translated into Czech and sent it about a month before Matt and I flew to Prague for a two-week-long trip.  

We arrived in Prague on a Wednesday in late March 1996 and enjoyed exploring the beautiful city.   That Saturday morning the phone woke us in the hotel room.  On the other end of the line was a man who spoke English with a heavy accent. His name was Paulo Juris. He said his family had received the letter from the mayor and that his mother was a Miklo and was Steve’s cousin.  He agreed to meet us at the train station in Bratislava and he would take us from there to Drahovce, about a 45-mile drive from the capital city.

As the train approached Bratislava I felt nervous butterflies in my gut. Was this guy we were going to meet really a cousin? Could we trust him?  I had read stories about the Russian mafia operating in Eastern Europe and tourists being robbed of their passports and money in various sorts of con games.

We arrived in Bratislava and met Paulo in the plaza in front of the train station.  Paulo appeared to be in his late 30’s.  He was dressed casually, not wearing anything remarkable, but he did have two obvious gold earrings in his left year in the style of George Michael (at the time George Michael was an international pop music star). Paulo took us to the restaurant in the historic center part of the city where he worked as a waiter. He offered us a snack and a shot of slivovice (a traditional Czechoslovak plum brandy).  We drank the shot. It was strong stuff.  He offered us another.

I still did not know if we could trust this guy, who spoke with a heavy Eastern European accent. Matt was along for the ride and did not seem to be concerned,  but I was worried about drinking the shots of strong alcohol. Then Paulo pulled out an envelope that contained a few photos. Among them was the picture of Betty shown below
that was taken in 1937 before she had married Steve. Steve had sent a picture of his bride-to-be to his uncle and his family back home. There were also pictures of Pauline and Helen when they were young girls and a picture of Grandpa Miklo.  Paulo explained that he would see these photos around his mother’s house, and when he asked her who they were she would say, “Those are your cousins in America.”  At this point I felt at ease because it was clear that Paulo really was family.

Betty (Jondle) Miklo 1937

Here is a link to the details about slivovice, which we drank a lot of during visits to the many Miklo houses in Slovakia. Each family wanted us to drink their homemade variety:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slivovitz\

NEWS FROM HOME

Steve corresponded occasionally with his cousin Ján Miklo in his home village, Drahovce, Slovakia.  Ján, Jr., was the oldest son of Ján and Maria Miklo, the aunt and uncle who Steve had lived with after his mother had died and before he joined his father in Iowa.

In 1947 Steve received this photo taken at Ján’s wedding.  This note was written in Slovak on the back of the picture, "Štefanko, An American Slovak took this photo when he was in Piešt’any for a visit and at the wedding.  He gave us 1,000 Koruna for a wedding present  [Koruna were Czechoslovak dollars – today 1,000 Koruna would be worth about $50].  I should meet twenty such people. He took many photos and they made us happy. These are her parents and mother.”

The older woman on the right that Ján referred to as "mother" was Maria, the aunt who helped to raise Steve.

TYPEWRITER

To supplement income from the farm Steve sold seed corn.  As a reward for selling so many bags the company offered him some prizes.  One of these prizes was a portable typewriter.  It came with an instruction booklet that Betty used to teach herself how to type.  Here are some of the recipe cards that she typed on it.

FIRST COMMUNION

I posted on June 11 that Steve and Betty had no photos of Johnny before he had died.   They made an effort to have photos made of their surviving children. There were formal portraits taken at their First Communions and at various points of their youth.

Here is Pauline and Helen on their First Communion.  I remember Betty telling a story about the day.  It was in May or early in June and the previous evening Iowa had one of the latest recorded snowfalls in history.  The corn crop was ruined and Steve had to replant.

Jim on his First Communion

I could not find a First Communion photo of Rose Mary. 

Here is a studio portrait.

Here is a studio portrait of Barb. Betty made the dress. I could not find a formal photo of Barb's First Communion, but below to the right is a snapshot that Betty took with her Kodak Brownie camera.

Beth's First Communion Portrait

Barb's First Communion

Here is a photo of Don's First Communion taken on the steps of St. Matthew's Church in Clare. Don is the tallest boy, the second from the left (click for enlargement).

Bob's First Communion 

Kathy's First Communion

As Steve and Betty had more children, the formal photo portraits apparently became less important.  There was only one childhood photo each of Don, Bob and Kathy taken at a photographer's studio.  But by then, school photos were taken on an annual basis and served as an economical substitute. Betty also had acquired a Brownie camera that she used to photograph birthdays, holidays and other special occasions. 

DOLLHOUSE

Here is a photo of Helen taken when she was in grade school. There is a photo of Pauline from about the same time posted on April 26.

Helen was named after her Grandmother, Helen Jondle.  Perhaps because of that, Helen Jondle showed more attention toward her namesake. Like Pauline and Jim, my sister Helen told me stories about visiting Grandpa and Grandma at their farm northeast east of Clare.

Helen repeated what Jim and Pauline had said, that they were not allowed in the living room. But one time Grandma took young Helen into the living room to show her a wooden dollhouse that the elder Helen had put together.

I asked my sister Helen if this was a dollhouse that Betty might have played with when she was a girl.  She said no, she thought that Grandma Jondle had made it after Betty had married and moved out of the Jondle house.  She said that it had wallpaper on the walls and tiny furniture. Something Helen thought was funny: while Grandpa and Grandma’s real house did not have an indoor bathroom (like a lot of farmhouses it had an outhouse) the doll house had a toilet and to make it look realistic Grandma put a raisin in it.

ANNIE

Here is a picture of Steve’s sister Annie and her husband Phil Ormond. Steve and Betty visited them on a few occasions in Omaha.  Betty described Annie’s method of lighting her cigarettes: “Annie was the youngest girl.  They lived in Omaha.  She was the one with the long hair.  She was a chain smoker and to light her cigarettes she had that gas stove with the flames going up and she pulled her hair back and lit her cigarette and I thought, ‘My God, someday she’s going to catch on fire.’”

Annie, her husband Phil, and their sons Edward and Phillip have all passed away. 
You can see a picture of Steve’s brothers Joe and  Pete in the June 3rd post.  The only picture I have of his sister Mary is the family portrait posted on April 20th.

SLOVAK NUT ROLLS

There are three Czechoslovak ethnic recipes that Betty would prepare on a regular basis.  Sauerkraut and dumplings, kolače and nut rolls.  

The dumplings and kolače recipes she learned from her mother, Helen Jondle.  The dumplings were often served for the Sunday meal. Kolače and nut rolls were reserved for special occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

The nut roll recipe came from Emera Miklo.  Betty varied the recipe by rolling the dough out so that it was very thin and the ratio of nuts, butter and sugar to the dough was higher.  This resulted in a sweeter baklava like pastry compared to Emera’s recipe.

When I was visiting Drahovce, Slovakia, Steve’s cousin Maria made the nut roll in the same fashion as Emera, which makes sense since they came from the same village.  There is a Slovak bakery located in northern Minnesota that will be supplying authentic nut rolls for the reunion.  And hopefully some home bakers will provide some from Betty’s recipe. There will be a prize for the best homemade nut rolls.

Here is Betty’s recipe:

Dough:
Dissolve 1 package of yeast in ¼ cup of warm water

Mix 1 can of carnation evaporated milk with1/8 teaspoon salt, 1 egg, 1/3 cup of sugar,
½ teaspoon Mace (or orange peel)

Add yeast to above mixture

Add 3 cups of flour one cup at a time while mixing, may need more flour if too sticky

Kneed dough until smooth and not sticky

Let rise until double the amount

Filling:
In a blender or food processor grind and mix 1 pound walnuts, 3 cups sugar, ½ cup flour (or couple rounded table spoons of corn starch) – if using a blender you may have to do the grinding in 3 or 4 smaller batches

Roll out dough in very small batches for smaller rolls and uniformity – roll until paper-thin and about the size of a small cookie sheet.  It helps to butter the rolling pin and the surface that you are rolling the dough on.

Spread melted butter over the dough, then apply a ¼ inch layer of filling to the surface of the dough.

Roll up the dough like a jellyroll and cut into 1½- to 2-inch-long pieces.

Bake on a buttered cookie sheet at 350 for 15 minutes until the tops are golden and the sugar has melted but before it has completely caramelized. Watch the timing on the oven. Timing can vary depending on the oven and the size of the rolls.

Here is a recipe for kolače: http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/bohemianczechdesserts/r/Czech-Sweet-Rolls-Recipe-Kolace.htm

Here is a photo of Steve Miklo, Sr. and Emera Miklo.  Emera passed away in 1952 a few years after this photo was taken.

MOTORCYCLE DAREDEVIL

In the posts on April 27 we learned about some difficulty between Steve and his father.  Their relationship improved after Steve started his own family. My brother Jim remembered that they were on good terms. He said that there was a time in the mid 1950s that Steve and Betty needed a car. Grandpa Miklo lent them a couple of hundred dollars to buy one. (Pauline ended up rolling the car, but that is a story for another day.) Jim remembered visiting Grandpa Miklo and Emera out by the gypsum mills.

My sisters Pauline and Helen also remembered visiting Grandpa Miklo and the Miklo family.  Pauline wrote, “I was spoiled by Mary and Annie because we lived close to them when Daddy worked at the mills. When Johnny was in the hospital we stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Miklo. We got to see Joe and Pete and Grandma was very good to us. She made the nut rolls different [than Betty]; she made it like a bread loaf (very good). Grandpa Miklo was very good to me the little bit I saw and remember of him. I know he gave me a lot of money for my wedding gift.” Helen thought that Grandpa smelled like alcohol and garlic.

Steve used to tell us that when his father was younger he was a daredevil performing tricks on his motorcycle.  Although I never got a recording of Steve telling the story, I did record Betty telling the story almost exactly as Steve had.

Betty: They say old Grandpa Miklo used to ride the motorcycle. He would stand up on the handlebars and steer with the handlebars and that one time they wanted to cut his leg off because his leg was in such bad shape [after a motorcycle accident during one of his stunts].  They wanted to amputate his leg and he said, “If you want to cut anything you can do it right here.”  [He motioned across his neck to demonstrate that he would rather be dead than lose a leg.] Well, evidently they healed his leg up pretty good because he was running around pretty damn good when I knew him. (End of quote.)

Here is a picture of Steve and his father in front of Sacred Heart Church in Fort Dodge.  They are the second and third from the right side of the picture closest to the church. If anyone can identify the other people in the photo, please let us know.  Based on the fashions I estimate that this photo was taken in the 1940s. It may have been at a family wedding. Thanks to Lynn Rojohn, the daughter of Mary (Miklo) Johnson (Steve’s sister), for sending this photo.

FAMILY REUNION UPDATE

The Miklo-Jondle Family Reunion is only three weeks away.  Spread the word to any family member, whether a brother, sister or distant cousin: all are welcome to attend. So that we have an idea about the amount of food to prepare, please RSVP by emailing: robertmiklo@mchsi.com

The reunion will get underway on Saturday, July 13 at 11:00 AM at the north shelter in Dolliver State Park near Fort Dodge.  Pulled pork sandwiches and picnic favorites like baked beans and potato salad will be provided. Feel free to bring something to share, such as a side dish or chips. There will also be a birthday cake to celebrate Steve Miklo’s birth date, July 17, 1913.

If you can’t make it for the picnic lunch there will be a second meal at about 6:00 pm.  And there will be live music between 2:00 and 4:00.

You may wish to bring along a lawn chair or two.  

There will be a display of family “artifacts” and photos.  Bring your photo albums, but most importantly your memories to share.

Here is a faded photo of Steve, Betty, Pauline Helen, Jim, Rose Mary and Barb that was taken about 1952.

HAPPY DAYS

Although Betty hated farming the Miklos enjoyed many happy years on the farm north of Clare.  Steve worked hard to improve the property. He grubbed out four acres of willow brush, hauled out 30 tons of rocks, contended with cockle burrs and contoured 45 acres.   In addition to raising grain crops he tended 32 dairy cows and fed 120 hogs.

Betty, Pauline and Jim pitched in with farm work and helped drive the tractor at times.  Because she suffered from allergies Helen was not able to work in the fields and Rose Mary was too young.

In addition to the hard work there were birthdays, high school graduations and weddings to celebrate for the older kids.  And there were five new babies born while the Miklos lived on the farm:  Barbara (Barb), January 13, 1951, Elizabeth (Beth), March 9, 1955, Donald (Donny or Don), September 6,1958, Robert (Bobby or Bob) August 5, 1960 and Katherine (Kathy) November 25,1962.

Here is a picture of Steve with one of his sows and piglets.

HATED IT WITH A PASSION

Steve wanted to be a farmer, but Betty hated farming with a passion. In this conversation she lets that be known.  She also talks about the mice and rats that plagued the farmhouse and the used furnace that Dr. Beeh installed that lead to the house being too hot.

Bob: So did you enjoy living on the farm north of town?

Betty: No, because we had a rich doctor landlord, everything was 50-50 [the landlord collected 50% of the profits].  Including the chickens and the eggs, the milk and cream.  Finally, we got off the 50-50 but we had to pay for all the seed corn and stuff.  No, I didn’t like it.  I didn’t like it up there.  The house was full of mice and rats.  There was no way of keeping them out.

Bob: Rats?

Betty: It had a rock foundation and you could see cracks out there when you were down (in the basement).  I remember making up my order (Stanley Home Products) and there was one of those cupboards that, you know, it wasn’t built in, it was one of those Hoosiers, making up my order two o’clock in the morning and I heard something.  It was a rat going up the side of the house.

Bob: An actual rat or a mouse?

Betty: Rat. And when we moved [into Clare], when they moved the water heater, under the water heater was the carcass of a dead rat.  No, I hated that house with a passion.

Bob: You didn’t have any cats to keep them under control?

Betty: I think so, I don’t know, but I just hated that place.  I hated to go farming. I loved it out there on the acreage when he [Steve] worked down in the mine but I hated that he had to go farming.  Okay, he found out it wasn’t as rosy as he thought it was going to be.  I hated it.  With a passion.  No, I didn’t like it.  That wasn’t the doctor’s farm; that was that other place, this place out there by Lehigh.  But the doctor’s farm that was full of rats, and mice and the furnace, oh, he put in a used furnace, everything was used, that rich doctor put in.

Bob: That was Dr. Beeh.

Betty: Dr. Beeh. It was an old wood and coal furnace and there was no way of getting down to the basement until you went outside and went through the outside.  He [Steve] had to go outside to add the coal or the wood and your father didn’t want to make that many trips so he would load it up in the evening and it was so damn hot we couldn’t stand it.  There was no control.  No, I didn’t like farming.  Any of it.  I hated it. (End of conversation)

Here is a photo of Steve with his tractor.

PLUMBING (Part 3)
Here is a picture of Barb (Miklo) Hunt taken on her 4th birthday in 1955. In the background (above the cake) you can see the white metal pump that brought well water to the kitchen sink.  The door leads to part of the back porch that was converted to a bathroom.

PROPANE GAS (Part 2)

Here is a picture of Jim and his dog Hank with the Clare farmhouse  in the background. Near the center of the house you can see the propane gas tank that fueled the kitchen stove.  The window on the left is to the living room, Steve and Betty's room was above that.  The large window is the back porch. Note the cellar door, which provided access to the coal burning furnace (we will learn more about that in a couple of posts).

COOKING WITH GAS (Part 1)

We have learned from previous posts that Steve and Betty’s first home was southeast of Fort Dodge near the gypsum mills where Steve worked.  It was just an acreage where they could have a garden and raise some of their own food, but it was not a farm.

Steve had studied horticulture in school in Drahovce and liked the idea of being a farmer.  In 1944 he left his job at the gypsum mines and the family moved to a 160-acre farm near Burnside where Steve became a full time farmer. Betty raised chickens, sold eggs and had a large vegetable garden.  She would also work in the fields and seemed to enjoy running the Allis-Chalmers tractor. They were there for four years.

In 1948 they moved to Dr. Beeh’s 240-acre farm about four miles north of Clare. Betty could not remember how they met Dr. Beeh, their new landlord and business partner. The farm by Clare was 80 acres larger than the farm near Burnside so it provided an opportunity for more profit for the family.  Previously, Ed and Helen Jondle had settled on a farm northeast of Clare, so the Miklos’ move to a new farm allowed Betty to live closer to her parents.

Steve and Betty’s first two homes did not have electricity or running water. The move to the farm near Clare was an improvement because the house had electricity.  But as my sister Barb remembered, the kitchen sink had a pump to bring in well water and they had to heat water on the stovetop. Later Dr. Beeh installed indoor plumbing and there was a water heater in the basement.

Here Betty talks about the three cooking devices: a wood-burning stove, a gas oven and an electric roaster that she had to choose from: “Out on the farm there was electricity but we still had the old cook stove, I don’t know for how long.  Then a real hot summer day, your father came with a small four-burner apartment-size gas stove on propane.  There were those propane tanks right outside the door.  It was real hot and he (Steve) was feeling sorry for me getting the cook stove going so he brought that.

I had both a cook stove and the gas stove on the farm out by Clare, it was a huge kitchen and so we heated the kitchen with the [wood-burning] cook stove and of course as long as it was heating I cooked on that most of the time.  Then we had the gas stove and then I got the brilliant idea of getting an electric roaster, I even baked in that thing.  I baked bread and cakes and stuff in that electric roaster, it worked real good, I really loved it.  It didn’t dry out the baked goods like the gas stove did.  So, when I baked bread I baked great big batches so I used both, the electric roaster and the gas oven.”

Here is a photo taken in the 1950s of Betty in the farmhouse north of Clare.  The apartment-size gas stove is to her right and the electric roaster oven is on the countertop to her left.

BUTTON BOX

Here is Steve with his Hohnor button box accordion, which was used when Steve and Betty bought it.  I have not identified the two men standing next to Steve. If anyone knows please fill us in.

I do not think Steve and Betty owned a camera when these photos were taken. I suspect someone was visiting the farm and took these photos.  Perhaps they show that the family was recovering from the loss of Johnny and was enjoying some good times.   See three proceeding posts for more photos in this series.

Notice the wall paper in the background of all of these photos. It is different from the wallpaper that appears in later photos of the Miklo farmhouse.  Perhaps they repapered or perhaps these were taken while they were visiting another family.

THE “IRISH” BABY

Here is a photo of Betty, Steve and Rose Mary, who probably was between one and two years of age when this photo was taken.  Steve had picked the name for their third daughter, Rose Mary.  Betty joked that he must have had an Irish girlfriend to have chosen the Irish name “Rose.”  See two preceding posts for more about the family’s move to the farm north of Clare.

THREE SISTERS

Here is a photo of Helen, Pauline and Rose Mary that was taken in the late 1940s when the family moved to Dr. Beeh’s farm north of Clare. See the previous post for more on the story.

PIONEER

In 1948 Steve and Betty along with their four children, Pauline (age 10), Helen (9) Jim  (5) and Rose Mary (1) moved to a farm located about four miles north of Clare, Iowa. It was really closer to Pioneer than Clare, but even back then, Pioneer with only 83 residents, was not much of a town.  Today it is pretty much a ghost town with only 8 houses and 23 residents.

The farm was owned by Dr. Beeh, a surgeon in Fort Dodge.  Steve was a sharecropper.  He did all of the work and made all of the investments in equipment and seed. When the crop was sold they split the proceeds: 50% went to Dr. Beeh and 50% went to the Miklo family. Dr. Beeh even got 50% of the profit from the eggs from Betty’s chickens that she sold at the produce market in Fort Dodge.  

Betty described Dr. Beeh as a rich doctor but cheap. He installed a used coal-burning furnace into the house (we will learn more about that later). When the Miklos first moved to the farm there was some indoor plumbing but not a toilet. There was an outhouse just to the west of the house where you had to go outside to go potty.

I suspect to fulfill Betty's demands Dr. Beeh installed a toilet into an area of the house, which appeared to have been converted from a back porch into a bathroom.  I think Betty told me that the bathroom fixtures that Dr Beeh had installed had come from a funeral home in Fort Dodge that moved from their old building into a new building. (It may have been Laufersweiler’s Funeral Home, which moved into their current building in 1952.)

Even after the toilet was installed the outhouse was left in place as a spare.  I was born in 1960 and even I have vague memories of the outhouse being there on the west side of the yard that surrounded the farmhouse.

Like the Mikos and Jondles, Dr Beeh's family had some connection to the Old Country. Here is a link to a short biography of Dr. Beeh: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IOWA/2005-06/1119782000

And here is a photo of Steve and Betty in the late 1940s - about the time they moved to Dr. Beeh's farm north of Clare near Pioneer.

CHICKEN HUNTERS

Here is a photo of Pauline, Jim, their cousin Ron Johnson and Helen (click on the photo for a better view).  This was taken about the time the Miklos moved to the farm north of Clare (after the kids killed the rooster).  Ron was the son of Mary (Miklo) Johnson, Steve’s younger half sister.  You can see Mary’s photo in the April 20 post.  Mary married Harold Johnson.  They had two children, Ron (pictured here) and Lynn (Linda).  Linda has provided me with some photos for this history of the Miklo Family.

She wrote about a visit to the Miklo farm north of  Clare, “I remember going out to your dad's house for some holiday.  Your mother had this huge roaster and I was so impressed at how beautiful the turkey was in it. I mostly remember playing in the barn with all the cats and chickens.”

WHITE ROOSTER

Betty told the story of a large white rooster that the Miklos had on the farm by Burnside before they moved to Clare. It would chase Jim, who at the time was about 4 years old, around the yard.  She laughed as she remembered Jim’s little legs pumping as he ran from the rooster.

She thought that Pauline and Helen must have felt sorry for Jim, because one day she came into the kitchen to find the three kids had killed the rooster and were about to drop it into a pot of water.

Pauline, who was about 9 at the time, also remembered the story. She thought that Betty was sick in bed pregnant with Rose Mary.   They were going to make chicken soup for her.  Helen, who would have been about 8, remembered that they had a difficult time chopping the rooster’s head off. She thought Jim might have accomplished the job.  But could that be possible since he was so young? In any event, the rooster was not there to chase him around anymore.

CHARLES JONDLE BIRTHDAY

Betty’s younger brother and only sibling, Charles Edward Jondle, was born on June 13 in 1928 (85 years ago tomorrow).  He went by the nickname “Chuck,” but the Miklo kids knew him as “Uncle Charlie.”

Betty remembered that when she was six years old she got the assignment of rocking Charlie’s cradle while her mother, Helen, worked in the kitchen.  (See the post on May 15 for photo of Betty, Charlie and their parents that was taken in 1928 or 29.)

At the time he was born the Jondles lived on a farm that they rented from Albert Wesley south and east of Moorland and that is where Charlie grew up.  He would have been about nine years old when Betty married Steve and left home.

Charlie was fluent in Czech. I think that Betty told me that he had a little trouble when he first started school, because unlike her, he did not have any English speaking playmates to learn the language from. He may have assumed the job of translating for Helen when Betty married and moved out of the Jondle house.

At some point Michael and Christina Jondle helped Ed and Helen buy a farm northeast of Clare. Charlie may have already left for the Navy by the time Ed and Helen moved there. Here is a picture that I believe is Charlie in his early teens when the Jondles lived near Moorland.

FAMILY REUNION UPDATE
We have been calling this a Miklo Family Reunion, but really it should be called a Miklo & Jondle Reunion.  Members of the Jondle family are welcome to attend.  Please pass this information onto any Jondles that you know. Here are the details:

The reunion will be held on July 13 at the North Shelter in Dolliver State Park. We will announce an indoor back-up location on this site in case of severe weather.

The reunion will begin at 11:00 am and end at 9:00 pm. There will be events throughout the day, so feel free to come for all or part of the day.

There will be a picnic lunch about 12:30 – pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, potato salad, watermelon, birthday cake  and beverages will be served.  Feel free to bring a dish to share.

There will be an accordion player from about 2:00 to 4:00 to play Steve and Betty’s favorite polkas. He will also take requests.

We will have picnic leftovers and hamburgers and hot dogs at around 6:00 pm.

There will be copies of the Miko and Jondle Family Trees, historic photographs and family artifacts on display.  Please bring old photos and memories to share.

For those who need lodging we have reserved a block of rooms at the American Inn located at the intersection of Old Highways 20 and 169 about 10 miles northwest of Dolliver State Park. The rooms have two queen beds and have a discount rate of $115 per night. To reserve a room call 800-634-3444 and let them know that you are attending the Miklo Family Reunion.

The recently refurbished Quality Inn is also nearby on Highway 169 just south of Old Highway 20 and offers rooms for about $95 per night. I stayed there in May and found that they had done a good job of renovating the hotel. I would recommend it. Here is a link to Quality Inn’s website: http://www.qualityinn.com/hotel-fort_dodge-iowa-IA119

For those who want a more rugged experience and a thriftier night's stay we have two cabins reserved in Dolliver State Park for Friday and Saturday night. Each cabin sleeps six people - in bunk beds. The cost is $35 per night for the entire cabin. Email Bob at robertmiklo@mchsi.com if you would like to stay in one of the cabins. And for the real campers consider reserving your own camping space in the park at: http://www.iowadnr.gov/Destinations/StateParksRecAreas/IowasStateParks/ParkDetails.aspx?ParkID=610107

For general questions about the reunion or to RSVP email: robertmiklo@mchsi.com

JOHNNY'S OBITUARY (Part 3 - start with Part 1 below.)

Here is the obituary of John Miklo that appeared in the Monday, October 28, 1946, edition of the Fort Dodge Messenger. (Click on the image to see the full article.)

A follow-up story in the Wednesday, October 30 edition of the Messenger noted that Johnny's pallbearers were his Uncle Peter Miklo, Bernard Schwering, Fred Mihuski, and Philip Petros (the Petros Family, like the Miklos, came from Drahovce, Slovakia).  Flowers were arranged by Mrs. Harold McGough and his aunt, Mrs. Albert (Mary) Johnson (Steve Miklo's sister). A large bouquet of flowers was sent by the Catholic Slovak Union of Fort Dodge, which Steve Miklo, Sr., was a member.

The article went on with a list of people who had traveled from far away places such as Omaha (Johnny's Aunt Annie (Miklo) Ormand) and Hardy, Iowa (Betty's Aunt Julia (Jondle) and her husband Francis Hefley ),  and a long list of those who came from nearer places, such as Moreland, Elkhorn Township, Burnside, Otho, Clare and Lehigh to attend the funeral.

JOHNNY’S DRAWER (Part 2 - start with Part 1 below)

Steve and Betty grieved for Johnny for a long time. Until her final years Betty was always blue around June 20th, Johnny’s birthday, and again around the last of October when he had died.

When we were kids there was a drawer in the bottom of an old cabinet in the upstairs of our house in Clare.  We were told to stay out of it because it was Johnny’s drawer.  It contained his clothes, his shoes, his few toys (a blue tin car, a red truck missing its back wheels and a small red and blue plastic boat that the dog had chewed on), his schoolbooks, get-well cards that had been sent to him in the hospital and the sympathy cards that were sent to the family after his death.

Rose Mary Miklo, Steve and Betty’s fifth child, was born on September 17, 1947, less then a year after Johnny had died. Rose wrote this about Johnny, “As far as what Johnny died from, that story is pretty accurate.  I had the understanding that gangrene had set in which lead to pneumonia. That was what I remember Mom saying.
 
"Daddy told me that Mom was so sad after Johnny died that he thought if she got pregnant that would make her happy. (I was the result of that.) When I asked Mom about that, she said ‘You were your father’s idea not mine.’  Maybe that is why Dad named me. Mom said Dad must have had an Irish girlfriend to come up with the Irish name of ‘Rose Mary.’

“Had to be tough, being so young and losing a son like that. Mom was so young to be a mother.

“Johnny died October 28th [actually he died on the 27th] I remember that because after George and I met with Father Cullen and picked our wedding date, we were pretty excited to tell mother. Imagine our surprise when she was really upset with us because we didn’t talk to her first.  As it was that was the only date Father had open in October. We actually wanted the 14th date because George had a date for boot camp in November and our bans needed to be announced.

“I do remember his birthday was in June. The reason I remember this is because in June the summer I graduated, I had a dream about a little blond boy who was laying on top of a long box. He looked really familiar, but I didn’t recognize him, nor could I figure out who he was or why I had the vision.  I was telling the dream to Mom and Dad at breakfast, and they looked at each other and Mom started crying.  I was befuddled because, it was just a dream.  Then she said, ‘Today is Johnny’s birthday.’ Dad looked very sad, finished his coffee, patted Mom and went outside without saying a word. It was sometime later, I saw the picture of Johnny in the coffin, and it was him.  Bizarre what the subconscious mind can do.”

Here is a photo of Johnny’s blue tin car, a fabric mask that he must have gotten at school and the get well card sent to him at Mercy Hospital that arrived too late. He got sick and passed  away the last week of October, so perhaps the mask was for Halloween.

JOHNNY (Part 1)

Steve and Betty’s son Johnny got sick in late October of 1946. He had a bad stomach ache during the school day while in kindergarten.  The Miklo kids, Pauline, Helen and Johnny, were the first students to be picked up by the school bus in the morning and the last ones off after school. They attended school in Burnside.

To make time spent on the bus fair, it was school district policy that the bus routes were supposed to be reversed, so the that the first kids to be picked up in the morning would be the first to be dropped off after school. But the high school age daughter of one of the school board members was on the same bus route as the Miklos. She did not want to ride the whole route, so the school district departed from policy and allowed her to be dropped off first, leaving the Miklo kids to be dropped off last.  By the time they got home that day Johnny was really sick.   Betty rushed him to Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital in Fort Dodge.

Steve and Betty were angry with the School Board. If they had not changed the school busing policy to accommodate one of the board members, Johnny might have gotten medical attention earlier.

Johnny was in the hospital being treated for a burst appendix. While there he contracted pneumonia and died at the age of five. His family was of course devastated by the loss.

Steve and Betty did not own a camera so they had no photos to remember their little boy.  The funeral home had a photographer take a picture of him in his coffin (I think that may have been worse than having no photo at all. I will not be posting it here.)

My oldest sister, Pauline, was about nine years old when Johnny died.  She recalled that they had found some black walnuts the day before he got sick.  They cracked and ate the nuts. My sister, Helen, also remembers eating the walnuts. She also got a side ache. There is some thought that a walnut shell may have caused Johnny’s appendicitis.

Pauline remembered the funeral, she wrote, “I do not remember much about Johnny. He was a quiet boy and a mother’s boy. He was 5 and I was 9 when he died.  I remember staying at Grandpa Miklo’s house while Johnny was in the hospital and I remember the funeral and the funeral homily. The priest said that God goes out to the garden and picks his best flowers. I remember red geraniums all over.  To this day I do not like the smell or geraniums. It took me awhile to figure it out. I never did like them.”

Here is a get-well card from Robert and Roberta Coleman that was addressed to: Mr. Johnie Miklo, Fort Dodge, Iowa, c/o Mercy Hospital, 3rd floor.  It was postmarked Saturday, October 26, 4 PM. It arrived at the hospital on Monday the day after Johnny had died.  Someone at the hospital crossed off the address and added Lehigh, Iowa, the Miklos' home address. It was re-postmarked on the back Oct. 28, 12:30 PM 1946. Steve and Betty received the card upon returning home from Johnny’s funeral.

HOME ON LEAVE

Here is a photo of Ed and Helen Jondle, their daughter, Betty Miklo, and son, Charlie. Charlie must have been home on leave when this photo was taken around 1946. He would have been 18 or 19 years old. Betty would have been in her mid twenties.

ALOHA

Betty’s younger brother, Charlie, sent home photos of himself with a Hawaiian girl. Photo booths were set up near the Navy base were sailors could have their photo taken with hulu girls.  Several similar photos appeared in Life Magazine.  I suspect this was before Charlie met Ramona, his wife.

IN THE NAVY

Betty’s younger brother Charlie was old enough to enter the Navy right after the war ended.  He served in the South Pacific where he witnessed the mushroom cloud of an atomic bomb test.  Betty visited him near the end of his life.  It was thought that fallout from the bomb might have been the cause of his cancer. Here is a photo of Charlie in his Navy uniform taken sometime around 1946 when he was about 18 years old.  

WORLD WAR II
I asked Betty about her memories of World War II.  She recalled that on Sunday, December 7, 1941 the family came home from mass and heard on the radio that Pearl Harbor had been attacked by Japan.  The next day President Roosevelt asked Congress to approve a declaration of war, which they did with only one “no” vote.

During the war many consumer products including basic foods, coffee, gasoline and cigarettes were rationed to assure that there were enough supplies to feed the troops and support the war effort in Europe and the Pacific.  Steve and Betty did not normally smoke, but they were issued ration coupons to buy cigarettes along with sugar, butter and coffee coupons.  One day Steve saw people waiting in line to buy cigarettes so he decided to use the ration coupons.  He brought home a pack of Lucky Strikes.  Steve and Betty each tried one and they both felt sick. They never smoked after that.

Steve’s younger brother Pete enlisted in the Navy and witnessed battles at sea in the Pacific.  He told Steve of the horror of the Japanese bombing his ship and his fellow sailors perishing. He served on the USS Ommaney Bay Aircraft Carrier, which was sank by a Japanese suicide bomber. (I don't think Pete was on the carrier at the time it was sunk in  January 1945.) He may have been describing an earlier attack. 
 
At the end of the war, my sisters Pauline and Helen were about seven and six years old. They heard on the radio that the war had ended, and to celebrate office workers in New York City were tossing papers and ticker tapes out of the windows of skyscrapers.   To join in the celebration, they took copies of the FORT DODGE MESSENGER to the second floor of the farmhouse, flung open the windows and threw newspapers into the air.  I wonder what Betty thought of that.

On the left  is a picture of Pete Miklo in his Navy uniform. Betty described him as a “clown” in a good way.  She said he was a lot of fun.  She said that after his enlistment in the Navy was up, he went and joined the Army. (My sister Pauline thinks it was the Air Force) Pete was born in 1925 and died in 1966 at the age of 41.

On the right is Steve and Pete's youngest brother, Joe, who served in the army.  

Here is a link to details about the Ommany Bay Aircraft Carrier on which Pete sailed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ommaney_Bay_(CVE-79)

Here is a link to ticker tape parades like the ones at the end of the war:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticker_tape_parade

HOUSE MICE

Steve and Betty lived on the acreage near the gypsum mills for seven years.  The family then moved to another rental farm near Burnside in 1944. Burnside is near Dolliver State Park.  They lived there for four years.

Steve was happy to move to the new place because it had a nice barn with stanchions for milking cows. Betty was not so happy.  The barn was apparently nicer than the house, which was infested with mice.  There were holes in the floorboards where Betty would occasionally see a mouse poke its head out and then make a run for it.  Steve’s solution to the problem was to take the lids from tin soup cans and tack them down over the holes.

Here is a picture of stanchions with milk cows.

LIVING NEAR THE RAILROAD TRACKS

In this conversation Betty talks about the early days of their marriage when they lived near the railroad tracks.  The house was heated with a coal furnace.  Steve would go to the railroad track to pick up loose coal that had fallen off the coal car. They used that to heat the house.

One time when it was really cold, and they had little money, he went to the tracks but could find no coal. He climbed on to the coal car when the train was stopped and knock some down. They also burned old railroad ties.

Betty also talks about the time Helen got worms from the barn kittens and then tried to run away from home when she was forbidden to play with the cats.   There is also a story about Helen falling out of the back seat of a moving car.

Betty:  We got real desperate; there have been times when he climbed up and knocked down a few pieces.

Bob: Pieces of coal?

Betty: We were desperate.  And our fire wood was mostly those railroad ties. You know, they take the ties off and replace new ones, used to bring them home and saw them up and that produced a lot of heat.  That creosote in it, that was hard on everything.

Bob: So you lived near a railroad track?

Betty: We lived close to the railroad track, yes.  Did I tell you about Helen running away with the kittens?

Bob: No.

Betty: Oh you didn’t hear about that one?

Bob: No.

Betty: Helen was sick so I took her to the doctor. The doctor asked was she playing with any animals or anything?   Yeah, she used to play with the kittens out in the barn.  The cats had a litter of kittens; she used to play with the kittens.  So the doctor said that she had worms. He told me, take her, keep her away from those kittens and gave her a prescription to take care of the worms.

So I kept the barn door closed and I kept a close eye on her. The two girls (Pauline and Helen) would be out there playing in the yard.   And once I couldn’t find her and I called her and I went around the barn and I went around the chicken hut and I couldn’t find her.  Then I heard a car honk the horn, there she was close to the railroad tracks with a kitten under each arm running away with the kittens.  If that car hadn’t honked the horn, how far would she have gotten?  What would have happened?

And then another time I lost her in the car.  There were four of the kids there screaming and fighting, they usually did (Pauline, Helen, Johnny and Jim).  Usually there was a lot of screaming in the backseat.  There were four of them in the backseat.  We had a ’39 Plymouth.  And someway, somehow, the back door accidently came open.  The kids screamed all the harder.  I did not know why they were screaming so loud.  I looked in the rearview mirror, there was Helen running behind the car and the only thing that she got hurt, I think her thumb was a little sprained.

Bob:  How fast were you going?

Betty: I don’t know.  There was no speed limit at that time.  It was fast enough but not quite that fast because it was on gravel, it was gravel before we got to the pavement.  Some of the things that kids will do and things that happen with kids.  Those were different types of (car) locks and you just lean on it, you know, and it opened up. (end of quote)

Here is a 1939 Plymouth similar to the one that Steve and Betty owned.