My Journey Into My Past

                                                             THE GREATEST GENERATION       They called it the “Greatest Generation,” the time when all America pulled together to preserve our way life and to protect our Allies.   The men and women of the 1940’s gave their all.   The men lined up at the recruiting centers to enlist, the women took off their aprons and went to work at the factories and businesses that were left without the manpower that formerly kept things running.   Victory gardens replaced front lawns, as the army was sending canned goods to the troops and families had to grow and preserve foods to replace those things. Children took their wagon...

                                                              It;s your turn                                GUS c. 1914 WITH THE FASTEST HORSE IN CARLETON      My grandfather, August John (Gus) Wickenheiser was a lover of horseflesh.  His horse was the fastest, the flashiest and finest horse in his small town.  He loved to race other men, and usually won.  He courted my grandmother Eliza Paulina (Lena) Rivard in a fancy buggy with brightly painted wheels, and gifted her with a crocheted scarf to keep her neck warm in 1915.  He loved his horses. However, marriage, children, and other obligations became more important as time went on.  When he bought his first automobile, the children were thrilled and later related to...

  FRESH ORANGES The winter of 1925 was a tough one for my mother, Clara Mary Wickenheiser.   She lived on a small farm, so there was meat, eggs and vegetables from the garden to eat.   Her Ma could squeeze a penny three ways before she spent it, saved every piece of string, button, paper scraps and cloth to reuse or repurpose. Her Pa worked the farm and at Kahlbaum Brothers Grain Mill.   The growing family celebrated Clara’s 7 th birthday on December 10, 1925, and the family began to prepare for Christmas.   The Advent candles would have been lit, the decorations made and put up, and the children tucked up into bed to wait for the big day. The family went to Mass to celebrate the birth of Christ, came home to a good breakfast, and finally the parlor doors opened.   Mom told me about that Christmas.   She remembered the children getting fresh, juicy oranges to savor, and she got a new, never used pencil.   What a treasure.   I can just se...