November 1, 1948 - move to Fountain City, WI Farm & a "Halloween" Story...

Recently, Margelyn and Bob Berndt were joined by Kathleen Gettrust and Tony, for a fall drive from LaCrosse, WI  along roads that would take them past the farm where our parents, James and Edna Groves, lived for 30 years from Nov. 1, 1948 to Fall 1978.  Their excursion has triggered some sibling reminiscing which I, Linda Worden, will add to this post.

Four of us Groves children were born while our parents lived on our Great-Grandmother Minnie Cox Groves' farm near Viroqua, WI.

This is a photo taken in July, 2008.

In 1948, Great-Grandma was selling her farm in order to move in with one of her daughters, Helen Hart, who would provide the support she was needing in her advancing years.  Probably our parents could have bought her farm but they decided not to for a couple of reasons.

1. The Viroqua farm was in an area of WI where tobacco was grown.  Our father did not raise tobacco as he did not think that was what a christian man should do.  He related that even though he did not have tobacco crops, everywhere he went, he was with other farmers who raised tobacco and so conversation always centered around their tobacco crops.  He decided to look for a farm out of that region so that he would not be continuously confronted with the issue of tobacco growing.   That was reason number one to move from the home farm.
2. The second reason involved land prices at that time.  In 1948, there was a growing need for tobacco.  WWII had recently ended and since cigarettes had been issued for free to the soldiers, many returning vets were addicted to nicotine and the market was growing.  This growth in sales of cigarettes and cigars caused farm prices where tobacco was raised to increase.  So the cost of the Viroqua farm was higher than the cost of the farm our parents found 75 miles away near Fountain City, WI.  Their move took all of us away from our extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins but to a home and area which we would love and in which we would all thrive.  

Aerial view of our farm buildings in the years we lived there.

Our beautiful, beloved farm home during our years of living there.

Cross Ridge School as it looked in about 2008.

Our sister, Margelyn, was born two years after our move.

All five of us children would attend the one-room Cross Ridge country School about 3 miles away and would all graduate from C-FC, Cochrane Fountain City High School, about 10 miles away.
After high school we all headed off to college and careers rather than choosing to return home to continue farming.

So in 1978 when Dad was 65 years old and Mom was 60, they had an auction and sold the farm.  They moved about 35 miles away to a home near LaCrosse, WI which suited them very well for the next 16 years.

Over the years, we all continued to drive to where our farm was so that we could relive some of our memories of childhood and keep an eye on the next owners of our land.

We were often disappointed in what we saw happening to the property.  We knew how hard our parents and all of us worked to keep the buildings, gardens, fields and yard in great shape so it was painful to see those areas being neglected.

But in 2012, the buildings and 10 acres were purchased by a couple who had grown up on farms nearby and were ready to retire to a place near their home farms.  Their purchase and the work they did to restore the buildings and grounds has brought us all much joy.

Now for the recent drive past our home place.

From Margelyn on Oct. 27, 2016:

"Hi Sibs,

 Thought I'd share these farm pics today, as we remember dad on his Earthly birthday - October 26th.

 Kak & Tony joined Bob & me for a road trip last Monday. The fall color had passed peak, but d/t the sunny day, the remaining yellows & oranges showed off beautifully.

Eckers Apple Farm - Pete was a HS classmate of mine

 We stopped at Ecker's Orchard on our way North and had a fun-informative conversation with Sara Ecker, Pete's daughter. (Tony took a pic of Kak, me & Sara) Her sister Jessica wasn't there, as she models some for Duluth Trading Company, & was out West (Colorado?) for that. She married a fellow from Australia a few yrs ago & he was there...works with the business. Their business appears to be prospering & growing, despite the damaging frost they experienced during the season. They were able to save many with apples with their 'heaters'.
We didn't talk with Mary, (who was Pete's wife) as she was busy with a pie making crew in another room. During this season she gets up at 1:00 AM to start baking pies! Her mother-in-law did that for many years, but passed away last July at 92 yrs old.

The barn which had mostly burned down, has been removed.

 We then drove up the dug way from the Bluff Siding end & across the Ridge. We didn't see anyone to talk with.

As you can see, the barn on our farm is completely removed...just the walls of the milk house remain.

They are continually working on cleaning the place up & have been doing some grading & leveling of ground. Around the house it looked immaculate.

Mom dug up baby trees in our woods and transplanted to our yard where these still grow.

Kathy and Margelyn at Cross Ridge School - now the Township Center where voting takes place.

 Dad, thanks for our Buffalo Ridge farm heritage & all the memories! Things may look quite different from when you left it, but it is being cared for with pride & incredible hard work, just like when you & mom resurrected it!  So grateful that this is still a beautiful landmark at the top of the hill!!  

With loving memories,
Marge

I would respond to all my sibs with these comments:

Thanks, Marge, for the sharing of your day with narrative and photos - loved hearing/seeing both.  So thankful you 4 had a lovely fall day for the excursion down memory lane.  Would have enjoyed being with you.  The care the farm is getting from the Bond family is really wonderful to see.  So many memories flood my mind as I see the pictures.  What an undertaking it was for Dad and Mom to make the move to that farm!  Nov. 1st will be the anniversary of the day we started living there.  The farm had just been wired with electricity but no running water or bathroom inside the house!!!  That would come 2 years later with funds provided by Bill and Amanda just as Marge was born.  I remember pumping water from the well and the cistern but have only recently been pondering what that would have meant for our family - cooking, washing dishes, bathing, laundry...  And cooking on a wood stove and heating the house with a wood burning furnace!!!  We know what that meant!!!  

 And 2 months later on Sunday, Jan. 2, there was the car accident in which my 6 front teeth were knocked out - I had turned 4 on Dec. 7th.  But I know eyes are rolling so I'll stop reminiscing for now.  Glad we all made it with our shared heritage of faith, perseverance and love.  

 All for now,

Love, Lee

Barbara responded:

Hear! Hear! I love hearing Linda and Jim’s memories…I was 1 year old when Mom & Dad moved to the farm. Just imagine the work in moving and getting organized with a baby and toddlers racing around. Linda and Jim were probably jumping up and down and Mom was probably worried sick there would be an accident/injury.

 From your photos, it looked like a sky blue perfect fall day for this. Thanks for sending.

Barbara would add a personal memory a little later:

 I think our nieces/nephews/grandkids are fascinated by family stories. I remember telling a story when we were floating in the water at Laity Lodge some years ago when Sarah, Katrina, Allison and others were still young. They egged me on and had a million questions related to it. It was the story about when my sisters plotted to scare me at this time of the year (Halloween).

I was asked to get a pail of milk from the milk house one evening after dark. I noticed how creepy the night was as I walked from the house to the barn and I almost aborted the mission because it was so scary. The wind was banging a sliding door on the granary building that I imagined was a nefarious stranger like a murderer. Clouds were racing across the moon so sometimes it was light with the full moon shining and then suddenly, it would turn dark so I couldn’t see where I was going. While I was gone, one of my sisters dressed in a sheet to come out of the granary and another was at the upstairs bedroom open window to howl like a ghost. As I was slowly picking my way back to the house (so as not to spill the milk), the wailing started from what seemed to be the heavens and a white ghostly figure emerged from the granary (had to be that murderer I had heard on the way to the barn). In a panic, I dropped and spilled the milk and huddled on the ground in a little ball, certain that I was doomed. Mom, who was in on the prank and watching from the kitchen, had second thoughts when she saw how scared I was so she apologized but my mean sisters did not! 

Kathy reliving the old days...

with help from Barb...

Since the kids wanted more, I ended by telling them how we would put nylon stockings over our heads and pull up on them to distort our faces and go to our neighbors on Halloween. Mom would be laughing so much at seeing our smashed faces that she could barely stand up.  

with Mom laughing as hard as ever and enjoying it immensely!

  

 All this conversation gave Marge the idea to find the diary Mom kept during those days.  She began to share Mom's entries.

Dear Sibs,

 Lee's email got me thinking about the move to the Fountain City farm in 1948, so I went for a search for the diary that contained 1948. Spent some time reading & crying! Much of mom's entries convey how exhausting & challenging their life was. One thing I found comforting, was their huge supportive network of family & friends. Several of them I'm not sure who she's referring to, but perhaps you will. Over the days preceding & after their move, I will share mom's entries.

October 28, 1948 entry: (Thursday)

 "Scott, Thelma, Harry & Viva McClurg & I went to Fountain City & laid inlaid linoleum. Scott has been very ill yesterday with very bad nose bleed. Got home about 9. James took a truck load up."

Mom has abbreviations for lots of words, as she only has 4 lines to write her day's account. It makes it a little difficult to make out some of the words she's written d/t space constrictions.

Stay tuned....

Marge

Mom's diary entry: Oct. 29, 1948
  "I got our clothes in order to go to Halloween party & Farewell for us at the school house. Nellie helped pack. Party collection $18.69."
 This sounds as though this was a costume type Halloween party, as she comments on getting clothes in order. Wish there was a picture to accompany this, as they left for the party!

For now, we'll stop here.  There are many more childhood memories.  Hopefully retirement will allow time for more of those stories to find their way into print on this blog.

A number of years ago, I wrote another blogpost about this move.  You can find it HERE.

Summer Memories About Thunderstorms and Hay Making the Old Way...

Bob Berndt and Jim Groves share memories.  Bob begins with this on June 10, 2016:

One of the Midwest's summer spectacular events is just coming to an end.

A big boomer of a thunderstorm. You all remember how so often after hot summer days, big storms seemed to follow. We hit the mid 90's today, and sure enough, late afternoon the sky's clouded over, and the winds picked up. Got really dark as heavy rains with some small hail hit. Nothing for lightning here, but a lot of thunder.

This is the kind of weather that makes farmers tremble these days, as in the past. Young corn could be shredded by the hail, and take the whole crop out. I remember the days being on my uncle's farm as well as the summers I worked for the folks. In August when the oats were looking so good it seemed too often that some storm came along and flattened it all. One summer working at the folks, Debbie Heuer had a field of oats across the road from our barn. He had swathed it, but a storm came along and really drove it down in the ground. No way was it going to dry. But nothing was going to go to waste there, as for the next day or two, Debbie and Jesse were out there with pitch forks, picking up all the rows and turning them over so it would dry. Talk about working by the sweat of your brow. Brutal.

June is Dairy Days yet in Wisconsin. Butterfest in Sparta this weekend, and local events all over the state. Here is a website to see what you are missing out by not being in Wisconsin in June.

http://www.dairydaysofsummer.com/

Strawberries are in full swing, and yes indeed there is rhubarb around too .

The biggest scent of the summer, the smell of fresh hay, is also in the air as haying is in full swing. The days of even the small square balers is almost a thing of the past. So much goes into haylage, and first crop was cut already in May. What is baled this month is either in these huge round or square bales.

Haying on a small Wisconsin dairy farm is a good topic for another day.

So many memories of haying. Right now sitting in the cool of air conditioning, and not thinking about two loads of hay to stack the next morning seems ok. But mowing hay in the relative cool of the morning was nicer than on a hot afternoon when you were getting close to the roof.

Bob

*********************************

Now Jim shares his memories about haying when we were still using a team of horses for the work.

Dear Bob,

1.  Thanks for stirring up the memories.

Jim Groves, Marvin Hunger and Jesse Heuer at Cross Ridge School Reunion in Sept. 2015

2.  I guess you didn't get to see Jesse Heuer last September at Cross Ridge School.  He had been very ill and had surgery in Arizona (I think) so was just fortunate to be alive. (I think his surgery might have been in CA - Lee)

3.  Before we got a power hay lift in the barn, we initially used one of the horses to pull the rope to unload the loose hay from the hay trailer up into the mow.  I had the horse step on my foot once which wasn't much fun as my duty then was to lead the horse out north of the barn pulling the rope.

4.  Dad had to take the worst job of mowing the loose hay in the early years before we got the small round baler.  On a hot, humid July or August afternoon mowing loose hay could be brutal with the sweat running down your face and the hay chaff falling down your neck inside the back of your wringing-wet shirt.

Haying on the Groves farm near Viroqua, WI.  Grandpa Bill Groves is raking hay with the team of horses.  Perhaps Mom is driving the tractor with Dad or Hubert on the load.

 5.  Since I'm into talking about the loose hay days (before bales), let me provide a program lineup of the players:  Dad - mowing/pitching hay in the barn; Mom - set the hay fork on the wagon;  Jim - lead the horse/later drove the tractor to pull the hay fork into the mow; whichever girl was not doing their nails - pull the slack rope back to the barn to prepare for the next hay fork load;  next available girl - bring fruit jars of cold water from the house to the barn. (Note from Lee:  I was right there slaving away leading the horse out and back also.  My nails had no idea that filing and polishing existed!)

6.  Yes, it sure would be nice to smell some drying alfalfa about now; that really is a favorite scent of the summer farm experience.

Jim

P.S.  Bob, you should write a book, you articulate well.  We can visualize what you are saying.

Carolyn

P.S.  Bob, you can write your stories and share them on this blog as you prepare the chapters of your book.

Lee

June 12, 2016

Kathy Gettrust and Barb Drew  "haying" in Norway after just having their nails and hair done!

Sisters Barb and Kak are in Norway this June 2016 for Barb to speak at a medical meeting and for Kak to celebrate her 70th birthday.  They sent a photo "claiming" to be haying in Norway!!!  And to communicate that years ago they would not have been in absentia for haying help because of getting their nails done but because they were fighting over hair rollers!  That would have been a real possibility!  

June 7, 1941 - Wedding Day for James & Edna Groves...

If James Burton Groves and Edna Virginia Matson Groves were still alive, this would be their 75th wedding anniversary.

William & Amanda Groves
Wedding Day November 27, 1910
Ryegate, Montana

Amanda and baby James -
born on Montana homestead -
October 26, 1913

Dad and Mom lived to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary in 2006 but Dad died in late August of that year.


James Burton Groves was born in Ryegate, MT on October 26, 1913.  His parents met in Montana as Amanda, from Forest City, Iowa, was staking her claim to a homestead there.  William, from his birthplace in Newton, NE, was working in the harvest and supporting homesteaders in a variety of ways.

Baby James

Edna Virginia Matson
July 23, 1919

Ludvick & Tessie Matson

 Edna Virginia Matson was born in the farm home of her parents, Ludvick and Tessie Oliver Matson, on July 23, 1919 near Viroqua, WI.


James and Edna met at a Lutheran Church in Westby, WI.  My Dad was singing and playing with his 3 siblings for a service which my mother was attending.  She was introduced after the service to the handsomest man she'd ever seen.

Groves Quartet: Hubert, Vernon, Mildred and James...                                     

They soon began to date...

They shared time in the out-of-doors as they worked in the Groves' maple grove...

After a year or so of dating, he must have popped the question...

Edna Matson - age 21...

There was a bridal shower probably in early 1941 and members of both families attended.

James and Edna flanking Marit Matson,
Edna's paternal Grandmother

Ludvick and Mom's Stepmother, Ella Matson, as well as Amanda and Bill Groves attended the shower.  This was held at the Groves family farm where Dad was farming with his brother, Hubert.

James and Edna at the shower...

And finally we come to photos of the wedding day.

Pastor Ferguson had conducted tent meetings nearby which were attended by the Groves family.  They responded in faith to his message of salvation and continued to revere him as a godly pastor.

Best Man, Vernon Groves; Maid of Honor, Mildred Groves - our Aunt Ming

Hand-picked bouquets of peonies from the farm garden, a dress ordered from the Sears Catalog and love that lasted a lifetime.  

and stopped for a formal portrait in LaCrosse, WI

They headed off on their honeymoon...

Another lovely portrait of the happy couple..

How grateful I am that the Lord allowed this godly couple to be my parents.
Their love and devotion to God and each other are an example and model of how two very different people can have an enduring marriage through times of sadness and times of joy
if both remain faithful to the Lord and their wedding vows.

With these photos and deep love and gratitude,

I honor your lives, Dad and Mom.

The Florence Nightingale Iris...

Margelyn Amanda Groves Berndt shares some memories and thoughts about her mother, 

Edna Virginia Matson Groves...  June 5, 2016

Edna and Margelyn - August 30, 2006 - at Maplewood Terrace

Dear Family,

Florence Nightingale Iris

I just learned today, from a FB friend's post, that there is a dark purple iris called 'Florence Nightingale'. I think that is SO cool, since iris's were one of Mom's favorite flowers, as well as purple/lavender being her favorite color! Combined with her dream of being a nurse, this 'Florence Nightingale' iris, captures it all! Her dream was never professionally fulfilled, but I believe it was lived out through her interest in medical knowledge, hospital visitation, volunteering at Gundersen-Lutheran Hospital

James & Edna Groves as hospital volunteers in LaCrosse, WI

and her God given gifts of nurturing, caring & encouragement. We can attest to her 'nursing skills' applied to us personally.

I recently was reminded of Florence Nightingale, as I was privileged to stand and recite the 'Florence

Christopher Berndt & Megan Johnson -
to be married Oct. 8, 2016

Margelyn and Megan Johnson

Nightingale Pledge', along with Megan's nursing class & other nurses in the audience, at Megan's nursing graduation on May 23rd. I only wish she & Megan could have met, this side of heaven.  She would have been so proud, seeing her dream becoming a continued reality in family & succeeding generations!

Florence Nightingale Iris

Iris's have always reminded me of mom......but now, even more!

Love,

Marge