This is a Blog site created by Bob Reed (in Florida) for folks who live--or used to live--in Marcus, Iowa. Its purpose is to exchange notes, news, remembrances, and thoughts about life in and about Marcus, or news about one's family, friends or acquaintances.
Monday, July 02, 2007
July/August 2007 Discussion
Continue the conversation by clicking on the comment link below.
June Dias: Thank you for sending me the lifetime member card (or did Maxine Shea mail it?). I would like to ask for a favor. My last name is spelled gEn - Morgenthaler not Morganthaler. Could you have it corrected on any rosters or records the Historical Society keeps. You do not need to send me a revised card - this one is fine for me. Thank you so much for your assistance. I knew your Dad and Kenny in school. Bonnie Morgenthaler
Bonnie -- Maxine Shea mailed it to you, but I'm the one who makes up the cards. I am so sorry for the typo in your name. I do have it correct in my membership database, so I have nothing to blame other than my fingers hitting the wrong keys. Since yours is a lifetime card, I will of course send you a new one. And no, it's no trouble. - June Dias
(This from Bob Reed. Neither of our passwords is working)
NOTABLE AREA FOLK A fellow from LeMars—Frank Starzel—was the innovative chief of the Associated Press for thirty-three years. He started out at his father’s newspaper there; he died in the 1960s.
A guy from Cherokee—Harold Schuster—was a Hollywood actor, editor, and director from the ’30s to the ’50s. He directed such films as The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo and Dinner at the Ritz and early television episodes of The Twilight Zone and Lassie.
And even closer to home, a former Marcus lady by the name of Rae Wright wrote a song that was featured by Kay Kyser and Orchestra in a dance at the Cobblestone Ballroom in Storm Lake in the early ’60s. She was a former society editor of the Marcus News.
And when he was starting out, Lawrence Welk played a dance at a little hamlet south of Marcus called Fielding. Ana one, ana two. Bob Reed
A Goof! Quite obviously the Marcus lady who wrote the song that Kay Kaiser played at the Cobblestone Ballroom did so in the 1930-1940 era--- not in the 1960's. That band did not exist then, although the Cobblestone may still have been operating Bob Reed
The account on the demise of the ash tree that Kurt Dorr wrote, only begins to tell the devastation that the emerald ash borer is causing. The small park in Lansing where I usually have lunch was 95 percent shaded by 40 to 60 year old ash trees. The city started to study the problem two years ago, and this year realized they were doomed to failure. 40 percent of the trees are dead, another 40 are badly stressed, and the remainder are infected. For three weeks now, my lunch has been interrupted by the chainsaws of the parks department clearing the doomed trees. Very few people come to the park any more, most can't watch what is happening.
Now there are rumors that a new bug has come in from overseas that may be killing maple trees.
I for one, would hate to see Marcus look like it did in the late 60's when all the elms died.
Who remembers walking through Nagles looking at the clothes and the jewelry? A winter coat? An Easter hat? Remember Mrs. Nagle? She was always dressed well, hair and nails done. Did anyone work there? I remember waiting on Bud (Floyd?) at the R&E Cafe ... always a plain well-done hamburger for dinner ... Any stories to share?
Gray Matters: The Nagle Story by Margaret Dorr
In a recent section of the Chronicle featuring the town of Marcus, we were brought up to date on the progress of the Marcus Historical Society. In discussing the Society, we Marcusites often bring up names of people from the past whose memories are certainly to be preserved.
One example is the Nagle family. Some of the details of their earliest history require additional research, so I will start with the story of Lauretta Fowler Nagle, who married into the family in 1922.
In 1868, a year before the arrival of Marcus’ first pioneers, her grandfather, Neville Redmon, of English stock, settled in rural Plymouth County where he built the first frame schoolhouse and became its teacher. His daughter Bertha, Lauretta’s mother, was also a teacher. She had met and married Harrison Fowler in Minnesota and they were farming in South Dakota when he died following a farm accident.
Left a widow with five children and one on the way, she returned to Le Mars where Lauretta, her eldest, grew up and graduated from high school in 1916. She, too, was a teacher, first employed near Inwood. About that time she met the Nagle brothers who convinced her to come to the Marcus area where she taught in several rural schools before marrying Floyd in 1922.
Floyd, always the entrepreneur, was selling Wearever Aluminum at the time. The popular cookware was marketed through an innovative in-home demonstration system. Lauretta very effectively assisted in his presentations. If farmers hadn’t the cash to purchase the popular ware, they brought eggs and chickens to trade.
Ingeniously, the brothers stored this produce in their late father’s old livery barn until shipping. This was the beginning of the Nagle produce business. They soon expanded, built a new warehouse, and became associated with the J.R. Hakes Co., of Laurens.
From wholesaling groceries they next turned to the retail trade. Acquiring a dilapidated structure centrally located on Main Street, they remodeled it into a fine cash and carry grocery, first in the area. That building now houses the Hy-Vee Drug Store.
Their retailing interests continued to expand when Floyd started selling men’s hats and shoes from a room at the back of the store. Before long, Lauretta launched the Apparel Shop in the south half of the building, from which area ladies were fashionably outfitted for generations. Mrs. Nagle retired from its active management in 1979, at the age of 80.
The second Nagle brother, Maurice “Bud”, opened a garage and auto dealership, across the alley to the east in the early 40’s. They first dealt only in used vehicles, but following WWII, they obtained the Chevrolet franchise and the business flourished.
In the early 70’s Marvin Hesse, purchased the business from the retiring Nagles and changed the name to Hesse Chevrolet. This successful operation still thrives in the spirit of those early owners, with Dave Stephenson as present owner-manager.
The Nagle story is just one example of the kind of thing the Marcus Historical Society will be doing, along with other such area organizations, to preserve Cherokee County’s past for posterity.
P S: To the Marcus Historical Society -- Dave Stephenson is a real history buff. He’s good at both seeking it out and preserving it. The Society might want to tap into his skills, but don’t tell him I mentioned it!
To all graduates of MMC and its "ancestor" schools
High school reunions are coming up, so I would like to take this opportunity to challenge all the classes of MMC and its “ancestor” districts---Cleghorn, Grand Meadow, Holy Name, Marcus, M-C, Meriden--to follow the lead of the MMC Class of ‘75 by donating a scholarship to be given out by the MMC Foundation. What better way to affirm your own education and the communities who nurtured you?
By awarding a scholarship through the MMC Foundation, which is a member of Iowa’s Dollars for Scholars program, your scholarship could be doubled by matching funds from member colleges. What a deal!
$35,000 was given this spring to the MMC Class of 2007 from individuals and groups from our local communities and Cherokee County. Make sure that number soaks in--thirty five thousand dollars!! It’s really great to see all these groups and individuals showing their commitment to the education of our young people.
If you graduated from MHS or MMC and were the valedictorian of your class, you received the Gund Award. This monetary award was always a significant amount worthy of the best in class. In the past few years the money received from the Gund Fund has been reduced and without funds from the Lions Clubs of Cleghorn and Marcus we would not be able to give our valedictorian much of anything. In both 2006 and 2007 MMC had three valedictorians! The MMC Foundation has dipped into our principal to add to these awards. So here’s a challenge to all valedictorians to contribute any amount so that we have adequate funds to supplement the Gund Fund for the class of 2008--and even beyond.
Get creative there are many reasons for you to give to the new graduates of MMC through the MMC Foundation--to celebrate your class, to remember a classmate, to affirm the best in class, or just because it’s a good and caring thing to do.
Please send your donations to the MMC Foundation, Box 412, Marcus, IA 51035-0412. Questions may be directed to John Carey, Kay Dettmann, Renea Ogren, Supt. Jan Brandhorst, or to me.
Thanks, Mavis E. Diment Vice President MMC Foundation
P.S. If your class isn't very good at coordinating the money part of this, consider passing the hat at your class reunion or having everyone send their contribution invididually to the foundation. It's a great way to give back.
Mavis: Thanks for the information about the MMC Foundation. For those of us who are not local and a few years removed from the days when the only scholarships were the Gund Fund and Lions Clubs scholarships, can you share some details about how the foundation operates, the number of scholarships awarded, eligibility criteria, the selection of the recipients, etc.?
You can watch Betsy Bies, daughter of Mark Bies, by cutting and pasting the link below into your browser. She ran the two mile at the 2007 Nike Outdoor Nationals. She came in 3rd in her heat.
Hello, my name is Carmen Dorr. My father was Stuart Dorr, and my grandparents, Arthur and Bertha Dorr, were residents of the Marcus area all their lives. They lived within the city limits from the 1950s to the 1970s. One of my sisters is attempting to plan an extended family reunion for the Art & Bertha Dorr family and -- since we are now scattered all over the continent -- we need suggestions/ideas for a nearby resort-type area that might accomodate a group of 100 people or more. I would sincerely appreciate any ideas you might offer. Thank you!
Hi Carmen! Planning for 100 people? Wow! You could find accommodations in the Lake Okiboji area. The Melvin Dorr family had a reunion there and our family also had one at the Inn on the lake with a visit to Marcus (about 60 miles away). The kids and grandchildren loved it! Go to Lake Okiboji Iowa on the web. Bob Reed
With this most recent accident at the RR crossing just outside of Marcus I think the Marcus community should work together on putting in a RR Crossing light. With the LSCP ethanol plant expanding everyday it brings more and more activity to the area. We cross the tracks almost daily. At night it is difficult to distinguish which lights are from the ethanol plant (since it is its own city of lights) and which may be from an approaching train. During the day there are also things obstructing the driver's view, equipment, misc. storage buildings, corn fields, etc. Without the RR lights the chances for accidents to occur there are increasing as LSCP plant expands.
I have just been enjoying the blog while trying to find some information about the lives of the members of the Class of 1962. I was a member of that class--the first that graduated from the new high school. We never inhabited the building, but we used the stage for graduation--as I remember it--because it was almost done and would hold more people. We must not have had baccalauriate there, however, because I also remember standing (in my graduation robe) in front of the old stage in the old building too.
We have lost two members of our class this year: Leonard Seggerman and John Wankum. Those two join the rest who have gone before: Jerry Spencer, Gary Fisher,Dick Nielsen,Carol Pease and Weldon Ohlendorf, Jr. I promised to do something in memorial: thought this posting was appropriate along with other possibilities.
Unfortuniately, I won't be attending the reunion which will be the night of the Marcus Fair parade. Two of my cousins, Susan Nielsen Loukakala (Vancouver) and Patricia Nielsen Cowan (Dallas) and me (the country cousin from Latimer, IA) are flying to Philadelphia for Mary (Nielsen) DeFranco's birthday. We plan to go to New York for Wicked and to the Jersey beach. Since I have never been to the northeast, I can't pass up the chance to enjoy family and see the sights.
However, I'll miss seeing old acquantainces at the Marcus Fair too. Do enjoy the festivities.
My name is Teunis Schuurman from Vollenhove, The Netherlands I'm in a research after the plane crashes around my town during WWII. One , 2 Lt John J Carroll , of the 55th BG , 38th FS came down 10 mi East of my town.
At the same time 3 other P-38's , Lightnings, of his group were KIA. One of them was James Michael Garvin from Marcus, Iowa 2nd Lt James Michael Garvin, born 4 jul 1915 son of Michael Ambrose Garvin and Eliza Ann Gordon , Marcus , Cherokee, Iowa was killed 29 nov 1943 as a P-38 pilot of the 55th Fighting Group and 38th Fighting Squadron based at Station 131 USAAF - Nuthampstead , England
To my knowledge he was the third child out of 5 1. Gordon Ambrose Garvin - 11 nov 1897 - 19 apr 1972 2. Mildred Marie Garvin - 7 nov 1900 - ???? 3. James Michael Garvin - 4 jul 1915 - 29 nov 1943 4. ..............???? 5. ..............????
Do have have these names till sofar - in connection to James Michael Garvin. Jo & Mel Gross , Great Niece & Great Nephew-in-law
Like to be in contact with somebody who can tell me more about 2 Lt James Michael Garvin.
Photos & stories are welcome
See also my link with the WWII stories. http://www.geocities.com/t_schuurman/jack-edward-gibbs.htm
Sharon --How good to read your Blog. We'll miss seeing you but you must make the NY trip. Give your cousins my love and tell them to start blogging! I had to respond to your graduation memories. Melvin was on the board and we were all so proud of the new bldg. and thrilled about having the first event in the gym. He had met Wylie Mayne, Harvard educated atty. from SC and thought he'd be the perfect speaker. Just before that Mayne announced his candidacy for US Representative, so M. called him and insisted he leave all politics out of his talk. However, he did just the opposite. I can still see Melvin fuming through the whole "campaign speech" you got instead of a commencement address. Mayne died not long ago. As I read all the glowing accolades, I kept recalling a bit of the opposite side we'd seen. Weird how selective memory is, right? Have a great trip and blog us a bit of a report. Margaret Dorr
Some regular contributors have reported trouble logging in and their passwords not working. This may be because blogspot.com was recently purchased by google.com, and now google accounts are required to login and establish your identity with the blog.
If you don't have a google account, you can create one by following the links at the blogspot sign in page starting with claim your old Blogger Account
Carmen -- When I told my sister-in-law, Lulu Dorr Grauer (a second cousin of your Grandfather Art) of seeing your name on the Marcus Blog, she asked me to get your surface mail address. She has some clippings about your family which she would like you to have. Put it on the Blog or send it to me (margaret@midlands.net) whichever you prefer. Margaret Dorr
IOWA WEATHER! I received a wonderful letter from Lois Krekow recalling the July 4th fire in nearby Remsen in 1936. It nearly burned the whole town down. She enclosed a great writeup from the "Remsen Bell Enterprize"(of June 28, 2007) about the tragedy. Many of her relatives were involved. The fire was supposedly started by some kids playing with fire crackers. Some 15 homes and 18 business places were swept away in the conflagration.
The Marcus and other nearby volunteer fire departments rushed to the scene to try to help stem the flames, which were fed by the extremely tinder dry conditions.
It had been over 100 degrees in the area for some time, but the Marcus American Legion had chosen the holiday to dedicate their new building on Main Street and the "show must go on". My mother was speaking and noticed that murmers were spreading through the crowd and men were beginning to leave. She assumed that her speech was driving them away. But the Marcus firemen were answering the call for help and responding.
In December of that same year, Marcus was snowbound and isolated for days with no transportation coming in or out, due to a 3-day blizzard that closed the town down. The temperatures were below zero. My dad slept at the depot trying to coordinate the freeing of the relief trains with supplies that were stuck in the 20-foot snow drifts outside of town.No cars or trucks could get through the continuing accumulation. The school and business places were closed for days.
Area residents must have wondered what in the world they did that deserved such happenings. But as they say "If you don't like Iowa weather, just wait a minute." Does anyone have other recollections of these events?
We just returned home from the Marcus Fair parade. It was a great parade and everyone had a fun time despite the heat. It was rather disappointing though.... after the parade we happened to be driving behind the float carring the Class of 1982. For several blocks they disposed of their empty beer cans in various residents yards.Alot of beer cans!!! In some cases the residents were outside and witnessed this. How disrespectful....the Class of 82 showed their class....or lack of.
“Little Heathens” by Mildred Armstrong Kalish, a native Iowan now living in California, is a GOOD read. The book has been well received by the critical community, even meriting front-page treatment by The New York Times Book Review. In it, Kalish recounts her childhood memories of life on an Iowa farm in the midst of the Great Depression. She is a remarkable memorist. A memorist, the N.Y. Times reviewer explains, is not only “one who writes an autobiography” but also “one who remembers everything.”
Mildred Kalish does just that, recounting her life, along with that of her two brothers, younger sister, and their divorced mother. After the father was mysteriously banished from the household, the family of five divided their time between her maternal grandparents’ farm and a house in the small eastern-Iowa town of Garrison.
Being just a few years older, I could identify with much of her story, in spite of our many differences in family circumstances. Unlike me, she had brothers and a divorced mother, and they all lived with her extraordinarily strict grandparents. But there were other differences that set me to wondering. Now I am curious to know, in certain respects, which version of those long-ago years was most common, hers or mine.
Kalish told of their holding box-socials at the schools she attended. In my experience, box-socials were things of the past. My parents told of them when they were kids in country school, but they were no longer common by the time my mother was teaching, and unheard of when I was in school. So now I’m puzzled about this almost generational time lapse between eastern and central Iowa customs.
Another thing she emphasized, was her grandparents’ refusal to go to either a doctor or a dentist. She made it sound as though that were the norm, saying it was because such services would take so much hard-earned money. Then too, she claimed that the adults took care of all such matters with home remedies. Well, that wasn’t the case in my family. Regardless of the fact that we were as poor as the proverbial church mice, we somehow found money for regular dental check-ups as well as the services of the family doctor when necessary. My arm, broken in a foolish childhood accident, was set by him. Later, in another careless maneuver on my part, I got a huge sliver in a forefinger. When it became seriously infected I was again treated professionally. I still bear that scar.
When I developed a serious ear infection, following a bout of scarlet fever, a specialist from Fort Dodge was summoned to the farm. Years later, while at the University, I learned that one of the few co-eds on campus who had her own car was that specialist’s daughter. My dad assured us he could understand, as he recalled what he considered the exorbitant fee he had paid for her father’s services. Were my parents the exception or were Kalish’s grandparents?
In spite of my questionings, I thoroughly enjoyed “Young Heathens.” Whether you are young, old, or in-between, I recommend it. Mildred Armstrong Kalish has poignantly preserved a bit of Midwest history, which we were in serious danger of losing.
A few weeks ago I was looking for more stories about the younger generation’s summer activities. Happily, I found this one, not about vacationing, but about working abroad. Cameron Kranig, MMC graduate, Class of ‘95, has just returned from England where he worked as a kiln technician at the Conoco-Phillips Refinery, in the North Sea village of Grimsby.
Cameron is a welder, but I could as easily call him an artist, who uses a welding torch instead of a paint brush. He learned the skills from his self-taught father, Bob Kranig, who can do anything with metal and a torch! Cam’s artistic side was evidenced during college, by his award-winning photography. Another example of his talent is a wrought-iron altar he designed and welded for the Children’s Youth Ministry of his church in Sioux City.
Young Kranig works for Phillips Kiln Service of South Sioux City, which constructs and repairs kilns for a variety of industries, world-wide. He was one of a crew of forty the company sent to the UK. These fellows worked side-by-side with a similar group over there, giving them a unique inside view of the way things really function in England. Their first surprising discovery was the fixation with safety. It seems the Brits would do anything to avoid involvement with the nationalized health-care system, which they view as a complete disaster.
“The key to this avoidance was bureaucracy,” Kranig said, as he described the days of paper work it took before they could even start working.
Over there, everyone works a 40-hour week. With their high unemployment rate, there is no possibility of overtime. To provide universal health care and the other “perks” of their socialist system, England has (get this!) a 60 percent income tax.
According to Kranig, with absolutely no chance to get ahead there’s no incentive to do anything but a so-so job. Those fellows were astounded by the speed and energy with which the “Yanks” attacked their work. The job was finished days ahead of the time they estimated it would take.
Cameron was also struck by the totally “buttoned up” attitude of the workers, especially toward their superiors. A particularly obnoxious manager, wearing a rain slicker, showed up late one morning where the men, soaked to the skin, had been working for hours in their cotton coveralls. To the English laborers’ astonishment, two Americans started splashing the boss and continued until he was soaked, despite his rain gear.
He didn’t retaliate, possibly for fear of annoying his tormentors who were getting the job done so efficiently. The Brits they worked with, seeing examples like this, became much more relaxed and easy-going by the time the Americans left for home.
Kranig, admittedly a hard-core conservative, came away totally convinced that anyone who wants the US to increase taxes and adopt universal health care should visit the UK for a window into what our future would be like under those proposals. He, for one, wants none of it.
His extensive reading and research, combined with this personal experience, left him prouder than ever to be an American.
“In spite of being the youngest major power in the world, we have the oldest continuing system of government because ours is founded on a bible-based system of moral values,” Cameron observed. He is convinced that nothing beats having a Midwest work ethic and living in the center of the greatest nation in the world.
Now there is a thinking young man’s summer experience which I’m truly proud to tell you about.
When I visited Marcus during the Fair, Marcus's own Bonnie Husman, a former empoyee at Nagle's for a short time, admitted that she had some great stories about working at this long-time Main Street mainstay.
If you meet her on the street, ask her to share one or two with you. Maybe she'll take the plunge and jot down a story or two here too! Thank you, Bonnie!
Kyle, Hey--thanks for the query about the MMC Foundation--and my apologies about not answering sooner! I didn't expect any replies so I guess I didn't check this site. I've only been on the Foundation for a little more than a year so I'm not readily conversant with all our rules and regs. There are a number of local scholarships now that weren't around in your era. The Foundation is a member of the Dollars for Scholars Program (just search that phrase) and there are a number of colleges and universities in Iowa that also belong. Because the scholarships are given through the Foundation some of the kids are able to double the scholarship by attending one of the member schools or to get special consideration--such as not having their work study reduced due to their receiving a scholarship. Examples of some of the scholarships are one from the area health care people, including the vets; at least one from Holy Name; the teachers' scholarships; agribusiness; and some are memorial scholarships such as the one from the Debbie Krekow family. Another example that I'm most familiar with is the Grace United Methodist scholarship. We have a scholarship committe at the church which has made the criteria for the scholarships and we are the ones who determine the winners. The church writes a check to the Foundation which in turn writes the check to the student/college. Renea (Mrs. Steve) Ogren is our guidance counsellor now and she has a Local Scholarship application that students are to fill out. It is a lot like the NHS application that Mrs. Wankum uses. After reading several pages about the student's activities both in and out of school and some short essay questions, we feel that we know a lot about each student. That application is sometimes all that a committee uses but I'm sure that some are like my church which asks more information from the applicants. The Foundation also awards scholarships to all graduating MMC seniors who are going onto higher education. At the present time the amount we are able to give is not huge, but it will grow as the Foundation's funds grow. Does this help? If not, let me know and I will do some more research.
Just a note to see if anyone remembers my family and I from the 1940's and '50's. My name is Gary McCoy. I lived with my brother MW "Mac" McCoy and graduated from MHS in 1954. Now live in Florida. Gary McCoy
I moved away from Marcus in 1963 when I was sixteen years old. I would have graduated in the class of 1965. My parents were M.W. (Mac) and Grace McCoy. My uncle is Gary McCoy who also has a posting on this discussion board. My family relocated to Mississippi on the Gulf Coast and I still reside there in Long Beach, MS. Glad to see the web site and enjoyed looking at all of the pictures. John McCoy
June Dias: Thank you for sending me the lifetime member card (or did Maxine Shea mail it?). I would like to ask for a favor. My last name is spelled gEn - Morgenthaler not Morganthaler. Could you have it corrected on any rosters or records the Historical Society keeps. You do not need to send me a revised card - this one is fine for me. Thank you so much for your assistance. I knew your Dad and Kenny in school. Bonnie Morgenthaler
ReplyDeleteBonnie -- Maxine Shea mailed it to you, but I'm the one who makes up the cards. I am so sorry for the typo in your name. I do have it correct in my membership database, so I have nothing to blame other than my fingers hitting the wrong keys. Since yours is a lifetime card, I will of course send you a new one. And no, it's no trouble. - June Dias
ReplyDelete(This from Bob Reed. Neither of our passwords is working)
ReplyDeleteNOTABLE AREA FOLK
A fellow from LeMars—Frank Starzel—was the innovative chief of the Associated Press for thirty-three years. He started out at his father’s newspaper there; he died in the 1960s.
A guy from Cherokee—Harold Schuster—was a Hollywood actor, editor, and director from the ’30s to the ’50s. He directed such films as The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo and Dinner at the Ritz and early television episodes of The Twilight Zone and Lassie.
And even closer to home, a former Marcus lady by the name of Rae Wright wrote a song that was featured by Kay Kyser and Orchestra in a dance at the Cobblestone Ballroom in Storm Lake in the early ’60s. She was a former society editor of the Marcus News.
And when he was starting out, Lawrence Welk played a dance at a little hamlet south of Marcus called Fielding. Ana one, ana two. Bob Reed
A Goof!
ReplyDeleteQuite obviously the Marcus lady who wrote the song that Kay Kaiser played at the Cobblestone Ballroom did so in the 1930-1940 era--- not in the 1960's. That band did not exist then, although the Cobblestone may still have been operating
Bob Reed
The account on the demise of the ash tree that Kurt Dorr wrote, only begins to tell the devastation that the emerald ash borer is causing. The small park in Lansing where I usually have lunch was 95 percent shaded by 40 to 60 year old ash trees. The city started to study the problem two years ago, and this year realized they were doomed to failure. 40 percent of the trees are dead, another 40 are badly stressed, and the remainder are infected. For three weeks now, my lunch has been interrupted by the chainsaws of the parks department clearing the doomed trees. Very few people come to the park any more, most can't watch what is happening.
ReplyDeleteNow there are rumors that a new bug has come in from overseas that may be killing maple trees.
I for one, would hate to see Marcus look like it did in the late 60's when all the elms died.
Dan Steffen
Who remembers walking through Nagles looking at the clothes and the jewelry? A winter coat? An Easter hat? Remember Mrs. Nagle? She was always dressed well, hair and nails done. Did anyone work there? I remember waiting on Bud (Floyd?) at the R&E Cafe ... always a plain well-done hamburger for dinner ... Any stories to share?
ReplyDeleteGray Matters: The Nagle Story
by Margaret Dorr
In a recent section of the Chronicle featuring the town of Marcus, we were brought up to date on the progress of the Marcus Historical Society. In discussing the Society, we Marcusites often bring up names of people from the past whose memories are certainly to be preserved.
One example is the Nagle family. Some of the details of their earliest history require additional research, so I will start with the story of Lauretta Fowler Nagle, who married into the family in 1922.
In 1868, a year before the arrival of Marcus’ first pioneers, her grandfather, Neville Redmon, of English stock, settled in rural Plymouth County where he built the first frame schoolhouse and became its teacher. His daughter Bertha, Lauretta’s mother, was also a teacher. She had met and married Harrison Fowler in Minnesota and they were farming in South Dakota when he died following a farm accident.
Left a widow with five children and one on the way, she returned to Le Mars where Lauretta, her eldest, grew up and graduated from high school in 1916. She, too, was a teacher, first employed near Inwood. About that time she met the Nagle brothers who convinced her to come to the Marcus area where she taught in several rural schools before marrying Floyd in 1922.
Floyd, always the entrepreneur, was selling Wearever Aluminum at the time. The popular cookware was marketed through an innovative in-home demonstration system. Lauretta very effectively assisted in his presentations. If farmers hadn’t the cash to purchase the popular ware, they brought eggs and chickens to trade.
Ingeniously, the brothers stored this produce in their late father’s old livery barn until shipping. This was the beginning of the Nagle produce business. They soon expanded, built a new warehouse, and became associated with the J.R. Hakes Co., of Laurens.
From wholesaling groceries they next turned to the retail trade. Acquiring a dilapidated structure centrally located on Main Street, they remodeled it into a fine cash and carry grocery, first in the area. That building now houses the Hy-Vee Drug Store.
Their retailing interests continued to expand when Floyd started selling men’s hats and shoes from a room at the back of the store. Before long, Lauretta launched the Apparel Shop in the south half of the building, from which area ladies were fashionably outfitted for generations. Mrs. Nagle retired from its active management in 1979, at the age of 80.
The second Nagle brother, Maurice “Bud”, opened a garage and auto dealership, across the alley to the east in the early 40’s. They first dealt only in used vehicles, but following WWII, they obtained the Chevrolet franchise and the business flourished.
In the early 70’s Marvin Hesse, purchased the business from the retiring Nagles and changed the name to Hesse Chevrolet. This successful operation still thrives in the spirit of those early owners, with Dave Stephenson as present owner-manager.
The Nagle story is just one example of the kind of thing the Marcus Historical Society will be doing, along with other such area organizations, to preserve Cherokee County’s past for posterity.
P S: To the Marcus Historical Society -- Dave Stephenson is a real history buff. He’s good at both seeking it out and preserving it. The Society might want to tap into his skills, but don’t tell him I mentioned it!
To all graduates of MMC and its "ancestor" schools
ReplyDeleteHigh school reunions are coming up, so I would like to take this opportunity to challenge all the classes of MMC and its “ancestor” districts---Cleghorn, Grand Meadow, Holy Name, Marcus, M-C, Meriden--to follow the lead of the MMC Class of ‘75 by donating a scholarship to be given out by the MMC Foundation. What better way to affirm your own education and the communities who nurtured you?
By awarding a scholarship through the MMC Foundation, which is a member of Iowa’s Dollars for Scholars program, your scholarship could be doubled by matching funds from member colleges. What a deal!
$35,000 was given this spring to the MMC Class of 2007 from individuals and groups from our local communities and Cherokee County. Make sure that number soaks in--thirty five thousand dollars!! It’s really great to see all these groups and individuals showing their commitment to the education of our young people.
If you graduated from MHS or MMC and were the valedictorian of your class, you received the Gund Award. This monetary award was always a significant amount worthy of the best in class. In the past few years the money received from the Gund Fund has been reduced and without funds from the Lions Clubs of Cleghorn and Marcus we would not be able to give our valedictorian much of anything. In both 2006 and 2007 MMC had three valedictorians! The MMC Foundation has dipped into our principal to add to these awards. So here’s a challenge to all valedictorians to contribute any amount so that we have adequate funds to supplement the Gund Fund for the class of 2008--and even beyond.
Get creative there are many reasons for you to give to the new graduates of MMC through the MMC Foundation--to celebrate your class, to remember a classmate, to affirm the best in class, or just because it’s a good and caring thing to do.
Please send your donations to the MMC Foundation, Box 412, Marcus, IA 51035-0412. Questions may be directed to John Carey, Kay Dettmann, Renea Ogren, Supt. Jan Brandhorst, or to me.
Thanks,
Mavis E. Diment
Vice President
MMC Foundation
P.S. If your class isn't very good at coordinating the money part of this, consider passing the hat at your class reunion or having everyone send their contribution invididually to the foundation. It's a great way to give back.
ReplyDeleteMavis: Thanks for the information about the MMC Foundation. For those of us who are not local and a few years removed from the days when the only scholarships were the Gund Fund and Lions Clubs scholarships, can you share some details about how the foundation operates, the number of scholarships awarded, eligibility criteria, the selection of the recipients, etc.?
ReplyDeleteMany thanks,
Kyle Drefke
You can watch Betsy Bies, daughter of Mark Bies, by cutting and pasting the link below into your browser. She ran the two mile at the 2007 Nike Outdoor Nationals. She came in 3rd in her heat.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flocasts.com/flotrack/coverage.php?c=57&id=3751#
Kurt Dorr
Hello, my name is Carmen Dorr. My father was Stuart Dorr, and my grandparents, Arthur and Bertha Dorr, were residents of the Marcus area all their lives. They lived within the city limits from the 1950s to the 1970s. One of my sisters is attempting to plan an extended family reunion for the Art & Bertha Dorr family and -- since we are now scattered all over the continent -- we need suggestions/ideas for a nearby resort-type area that might accomodate a group of 100 people or more. I would sincerely appreciate any ideas you might offer. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Carmen!
ReplyDeletePlanning for 100 people? Wow! You could find accommodations in the Lake Okiboji area. The Melvin Dorr family had a reunion there and our family also had one at the Inn on the lake with a visit to Marcus (about 60 miles away). The kids and grandchildren loved it! Go to Lake Okiboji Iowa on the web.
Bob Reed
With this most recent accident at the RR crossing just outside of Marcus I think the Marcus community should work together on putting in a RR Crossing light. With the LSCP ethanol plant expanding everyday it brings more and more activity to the area. We cross the tracks almost daily. At night it is difficult to distinguish which lights are from the ethanol plant (since it is its own city of lights) and which may be from an approaching train. During the day there are also things obstructing the driver's view, equipment, misc. storage buildings, corn fields, etc. Without the RR lights the chances for accidents to occur there are increasing as LSCP plant expands.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI have just been enjoying the blog while trying to find some information about the lives of the members of the Class of 1962. I was a member of that class--the first that graduated from the new high school. We never inhabited the building, but we used the stage for graduation--as I remember it--because it was almost done and would hold more people. We must not have had baccalauriate there, however, because I also remember standing (in my graduation robe) in front of the old stage in the old building too.
We have lost two members of our class this year: Leonard Seggerman and John Wankum. Those two join the rest who have gone before: Jerry Spencer, Gary Fisher,Dick Nielsen,Carol Pease and
Weldon Ohlendorf, Jr. I promised to do something in memorial: thought this posting was appropriate along with other possibilities.
Unfortuniately, I won't be attending the reunion which will be the night of the Marcus Fair parade. Two of my cousins, Susan Nielsen Loukakala (Vancouver) and Patricia Nielsen Cowan (Dallas) and me (the country cousin from Latimer, IA) are flying to Philadelphia for Mary (Nielsen) DeFranco's birthday. We plan to go to New York for Wicked and to the Jersey beach. Since I have never been to the northeast, I can't pass up the chance to enjoy family and see the sights.
However, I'll miss seeing old acquantainces at the Marcus Fair too. Do enjoy the festivities.
Sharon Nielsen Elling
Hello,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Teunis Schuurman from Vollenhove, The Netherlands
I'm in a research after the plane crashes around my town during WWII.
One , 2 Lt John J Carroll , of the 55th BG , 38th FS came down 10 mi East of my town.
At the same time 3 other P-38's , Lightnings, of his group were KIA.
One of them was James Michael Garvin from Marcus, Iowa
2nd Lt James Michael Garvin, born 4 jul 1915 son of Michael Ambrose Garvin and Eliza Ann Gordon , Marcus , Cherokee, Iowa was killed 29 nov 1943
as a P-38 pilot of the 55th Fighting Group and 38th Fighting Squadron based at Station 131 USAAF - Nuthampstead , England
To my knowledge he was the third child out of 5
1. Gordon Ambrose Garvin - 11 nov 1897 - 19 apr 1972
2. Mildred Marie Garvin - 7 nov 1900 - ????
3. James Michael Garvin - 4 jul 1915 - 29 nov 1943
4. ..............????
5. ..............????
Do have have these names till sofar - in connection to James Michael Garvin.
Jo & Mel Gross , Great Niece & Great Nephew-in-law
Like to be in contact with somebody
who can tell me more about
2 Lt James Michael Garvin.
Photos & stories are welcome
See also my link with the WWII stories.
http://www.geocities.com/t_schuurman/jack-edward-gibbs.htm
Best Regards Teunis Schuurman
Sharon --How good to read your Blog. We'll miss seeing you but you must make the NY trip. Give your cousins my love and tell them to start blogging! I had to respond to your graduation memories. Melvin was on the board and we were all so proud of the new bldg. and thrilled about having the first event in the gym. He had met Wylie Mayne, Harvard educated atty. from SC and thought he'd be the perfect speaker. Just before that Mayne announced his candidacy for US Representative, so M. called him and insisted he leave all politics out of his talk. However, he did just the opposite. I can still see Melvin fuming through the whole "campaign speech" you got instead of a commencement address. Mayne died not long ago. As I read all the glowing accolades, I kept recalling a bit of the opposite side we'd seen. Weird how selective memory is, right? Have a great trip and blog us a bit of a report. Margaret Dorr
ReplyDeleteSome regular contributors have reported trouble logging in and their passwords not working. This may be because blogspot.com was recently purchased by google.com, and now google accounts are required to login and establish your identity with the blog.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't have a google account, you can create one by following the links at the blogspot sign in page starting with claim your old Blogger Account
Or go directly to here to create a new google account
Carmen -- When I told my sister-in-law, Lulu Dorr Grauer (a second cousin of your Grandfather Art) of seeing your name on the Marcus Blog, she asked me to get your surface mail address. She has some clippings about your family which she would like you to have. Put it on the Blog or send it to me (margaret@midlands.net) whichever you prefer.
ReplyDeleteMargaret Dorr
IOWA WEATHER!
ReplyDeleteI received a wonderful letter from Lois Krekow recalling the July 4th fire in nearby Remsen in 1936. It nearly burned the whole town down. She enclosed a great writeup from the "Remsen Bell Enterprize"(of June 28, 2007) about the tragedy.
Many of her relatives were involved.
The fire was supposedly started by some kids playing with fire crackers. Some 15 homes and 18 business places were swept away in the conflagration.
The Marcus and other nearby volunteer fire departments rushed to the scene to try to help stem the flames, which were fed by the extremely tinder dry conditions.
It had been over 100 degrees in the area for some time, but the Marcus American Legion had chosen the holiday to dedicate their new building on Main Street and the "show must go on". My mother was speaking and noticed that murmers were spreading through the crowd and men were beginning to leave. She assumed that her speech was driving them away. But the Marcus firemen were answering the call for help and responding.
In December of that same year, Marcus was snowbound and isolated for days with no transportation coming in or out, due to a 3-day blizzard that closed the town down. The temperatures were below zero. My dad slept at the depot trying to coordinate the freeing of the relief trains with supplies that were stuck in the 20-foot snow drifts outside of town.No cars or trucks could get through the continuing accumulation. The school and business places were closed for days.
Area residents must have wondered what in the world they did that deserved such happenings. But as they say "If you don't like Iowa weather, just wait a minute."
Does anyone have other recollections of these events?
Bob Reed
teun schuurman,
ReplyDeleteI received an email from a friend in Calfornia about James Michael Garvin. He is Lorne Means of Woodland, California.
He told me to contact you and have you get in touch with him as he can tell you about him.
Anything else please let me know.
Lorne's eamail address is:
ljmeans@gmail.com
Jack Clarkson
Marcus, Iowa 51035
email: jfclark@midlands.net
Hello Mr. Means & Mr. Clarkson,
ReplyDeleteDid read this info and was sending
an email.
Hope we will get more info about
2nd Lt. James Michael Garvin - KIA - 29 Nov 1943 -
Best regards Teunis Schuurman
We just returned home from the Marcus Fair parade. It was a great parade and everyone had a fun time despite the heat. It was rather disappointing though.... after the parade we happened to be driving behind the float carring the Class of 1982. For several blocks they disposed of their empty beer cans in various residents yards.Alot of beer cans!!! In some cases the residents were outside and witnessed this. How disrespectful....the Class of 82 showed their class....or lack of.
ReplyDelete#21 Gray Matter: An Interesting Book
ReplyDeleteBy Margaret Dorr
“Little Heathens” by Mildred Armstrong Kalish, a native Iowan now living in California, is a GOOD read. The book has been well received by the critical community, even meriting front-page treatment by The New York Times Book Review. In it, Kalish recounts her childhood memories of life on an Iowa farm in the midst of the Great Depression. She is a remarkable memorist. A memorist, the N.Y. Times reviewer explains, is not only “one who writes an autobiography” but also “one who remembers everything.”
Mildred Kalish does just that, recounting her life, along with that of her two brothers, younger sister, and their divorced mother. After the father was mysteriously banished from the household, the family of five divided their time between her maternal grandparents’ farm and a house in the small eastern-Iowa town of Garrison.
Being just a few years older, I could identify with much of her story, in spite of our many differences in family circumstances. Unlike me, she had brothers and a divorced mother, and they all lived with her extraordinarily strict grandparents. But there were other differences that set me to wondering. Now I am curious to know, in certain respects, which version of those long-ago years was most common, hers or mine.
Kalish told of their holding box-socials at the schools she attended. In my experience, box-socials were things of the past. My parents told of them when they were kids in country school, but they were no longer common by the time my mother was teaching, and unheard of when I was in school. So now I’m puzzled about this almost generational time lapse between eastern and central Iowa customs.
Another thing she emphasized, was her grandparents’ refusal to go to either a doctor or a dentist. She made it sound as though that were the norm, saying it was because such services would take so much hard-earned money. Then too, she claimed that the adults took care of all such matters with home remedies. Well, that wasn’t the case in my family. Regardless of the fact that we were as poor as the proverbial church mice, we somehow found money for regular dental check-ups as well as the services of the family doctor when necessary. My arm, broken in a foolish childhood accident, was set by him. Later, in another careless maneuver on my part, I got a huge sliver in a forefinger. When it became seriously infected I was again treated professionally. I still bear that scar.
When I developed a serious ear infection, following a bout of scarlet fever, a specialist from Fort Dodge was summoned to the farm. Years later, while at the University, I learned that one of the few co-eds on campus who had her own car was that specialist’s daughter. My dad assured us he could understand, as he recalled what he considered the exorbitant fee he had paid for her father’s services. Were my parents the exception or were Kalish’s grandparents?
In spite of my questionings, I thoroughly enjoyed “Young Heathens.” Whether you are young, old, or in-between, I recommend it. Mildred Armstrong Kalish has poignantly preserved a bit of Midwest history, which we were in serious danger of losing.
#20 Gray Matters: Cameron Kranig
ReplyDeleteA few weeks ago I was looking for more stories about the younger generation’s summer activities. Happily, I found this one, not about vacationing, but about working abroad. Cameron Kranig, MMC graduate, Class of ‘95, has just returned from England where he worked as a kiln technician at the Conoco-Phillips Refinery, in the North Sea village of Grimsby.
Cameron is a welder, but I could as easily call him an artist, who uses a welding torch instead of a paint brush. He learned the skills from his self-taught father, Bob Kranig, who can do anything with metal and a torch! Cam’s artistic side was evidenced during college, by his award-winning photography. Another example of his talent is a wrought-iron altar he designed and welded for the Children’s Youth Ministry of his church in Sioux City.
Young Kranig works for Phillips Kiln Service of South Sioux City, which constructs and repairs kilns for a variety of industries, world-wide. He was one of a crew of forty the company sent to the UK. These fellows worked side-by-side with a similar group over there, giving them a unique inside view of the way things really function in England. Their first surprising discovery was the fixation with safety. It seems the Brits would do anything to avoid involvement with the nationalized health-care system, which they view as a complete disaster.
“The key to this avoidance was bureaucracy,” Kranig said, as he described the days of paper work it took before they could even start working.
Over there, everyone works a 40-hour week. With their high unemployment rate, there is no possibility of overtime. To provide universal health care and the other “perks” of their socialist system, England has (get this!) a 60 percent income tax.
According to Kranig, with absolutely no chance to get ahead there’s no incentive to do anything but a so-so job. Those fellows were astounded by the speed and energy with which the “Yanks” attacked their work. The job was finished days ahead of the time they estimated it would take.
Cameron was also struck by the totally “buttoned up” attitude of the workers, especially toward their superiors. A particularly obnoxious manager, wearing a rain slicker, showed up late one morning where the men, soaked to the skin, had been working for hours in their cotton coveralls. To the English laborers’ astonishment, two Americans started splashing the boss and continued until he was soaked, despite his rain gear.
He didn’t retaliate, possibly for fear of annoying his tormentors who were getting the job done so efficiently. The Brits they worked with, seeing examples like this, became much more relaxed and easy-going by the time the Americans left for home.
Kranig, admittedly a hard-core conservative, came away totally convinced that anyone who wants the US to increase taxes and adopt universal health care should visit the UK for a window into what our future would be like under those proposals. He, for one, wants none of it.
His extensive reading and research, combined with this personal experience, left him prouder than ever to be an American.
“In spite of being the youngest major power in the world, we have the oldest continuing system of government because ours is founded on a bible-based system of moral values,” Cameron observed. He is convinced that nothing beats having a Midwest work ethic and living in the center of the greatest nation in the world.
Now there is a thinking young man’s summer experience which I’m truly proud to tell you about.
When I visited Marcus during the Fair, Marcus's own Bonnie Husman, a former empoyee at Nagle's for a short time, admitted that she had some great stories about working at this long-time Main Street mainstay.
ReplyDeleteIf you meet her on the street, ask her to share one or two with you. Maybe she'll take the plunge and jot down a story or two here too! Thank you, Bonnie!
Did the decks of Historical Society playing cards make it to Marcus yet?
ReplyDeleteKyle, Hey--thanks for the query about the MMC Foundation--and my apologies about not answering sooner! I didn't expect any replies so I guess I didn't check this site. I've only been on the Foundation for a little more than a year so I'm not readily conversant with all our rules and regs. There are a number of local scholarships now that weren't around in your era. The Foundation is a member of the Dollars for Scholars Program (just search that phrase) and there are a number of colleges and universities in Iowa that also belong. Because the scholarships are given through the Foundation some of the kids are able to double the scholarship by attending one of the member schools or to get special consideration--such as not having their work study reduced due to their receiving a scholarship. Examples of some of the scholarships are one from the area health care people, including the vets; at least one from Holy Name; the teachers' scholarships; agribusiness; and some are memorial scholarships such as the one from the Debbie Krekow family. Another example that I'm most familiar with is the Grace United Methodist scholarship. We have a scholarship committe at the church which has made the criteria for the scholarships and we are the ones who determine the winners. The church writes a check to the Foundation which in turn writes the check to the student/college. Renea (Mrs. Steve) Ogren is our guidance counsellor now and she has a Local Scholarship application that students are to fill out. It is a lot like the NHS application that Mrs. Wankum uses. After reading several pages about the student's activities both in and out of school and some short essay questions, we feel that we know a lot about each student. That application is sometimes all that a committee uses but I'm sure that some are like my church which asks more information from the applicants. The Foundation also awards scholarships to all graduating MMC seniors who are going onto higher education. At the present time the amount we are able to give is not huge, but it will grow as the Foundation's funds grow. Does this help? If not, let me know and I will do some more research.
ReplyDeleteJust a note to see if anyone remembers my family and I from the 1940's and '50's. My name is Gary McCoy. I lived with my brother MW "Mac" McCoy and graduated from MHS in 1954. Now live in Florida.
ReplyDeleteGary McCoy
I moved away from Marcus in 1963 when I was sixteen years old. I would have graduated in the class of 1965. My parents were M.W. (Mac) and Grace McCoy. My uncle is Gary McCoy who also has a posting on this discussion board. My family relocated to Mississippi on the Gulf Coast and I still reside there in Long Beach, MS.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see the web site and enjoyed looking at all of the pictures.
John McCoy