FRONT PAGE NEWS (Part 1)

Several years ago Steve had told me that there was a newspaper article in the Fort Dodge Messenger about his arrival in Iowa. Before my first trip to Slovakia in 1996 I went to the Fort Dodge Public Library to search the microfilms of the Messenger for the article. I was looking for clues about Steve’s home village. I thought the article might have some helpful information.  I knew he had come in the summer of 1930 so I scanned papers from May, June and July. Reading newspapers on microfilm was a tedious task. I could not find the article and began to think that Steve’s story about the newspaper piece was made up.

A few years later one of Jim Miklo’s friends was tearing apart an old house and found a yellowed newspaper in a wall. He read the paper and noticed an article about Steve Miklo Sr. meeting Steve Miklo Jr. for the first time. Recognizing the Miklo family name he gave the newspaper to Jim, who gave it to me.  The newspaper was crumbling so only part of the article was present.  Having the date of the newspaper I returned to the Fort Dodge Library and was able to print the full article from microfilm.

Here is a picture of the crumbling newspaper. Look for FORT DODGE MAN MEETS HIS SON FOR FIRST TIME toward the bottom of the fourth column. The complete article will appear in the next post.