I Believe – My Values

My first job as a teenager was babysitting for four children of our neighbor in town. Ray and Eunice Rice had a dance band who had a long gig on many weekends. This meant giving the children supper, playing with them, giving them a bath and getting them ready for bed. Ray and Eunice were out quite late so I often slept at their house.

My second job was at the John Deere store in town. They had contacted the school for a girl about sixteen who knew something about bookkeeping and I was hired. The job consisted of some bookkeeping on a sales ledger and dusting when that work was done. I worked on a full-keyboard adding machine and wrote in a large ledger. I enjoyed this job.

After a year of college I moved to a town about 150 miles from Freeman where my sister and her husband lived. My sister Doris was expecting a baby so I helped her with housework. I also had a part-time job at a clothing store as a sales clerk. After their baby was born I helped take care of him.

Early the next year I moved to Denver, Colorado and applied for a job at a large hospital. I had two brothers there and lived with one of them. Through church I learned to know a couple girls who were looking for a roommate. I moved in with them which was near the hospital where I worked. It was a job operating a large electric posting machine where I posted patient charges on a daily basis. This job was a good fit for me. My supervisor was a tall, black lady and I learned to really appreciate her.

After working there about a year, I had a call from a brother in Newton, Kansas and he encouraged me to apply for a job in the building where he worked. I had a telephone interview with Walt Unrau who was in charge of a branch of the Board of Education and Publication of the General Conference of the Mennonite Church. I got that job so after giving the hospital notice I moved to Kansas. I was hired as a production typist, which suited me well.

During that time I joined a community choir and met Orlando Goertzen whom I later married. After about a year at this job and my wedding I became pregnant. Near the time of this first baby’s birth I quit my job.  I made many contacts at this job and I did typing at home on a part-time basis.

After eleven years working at The Mennonite Press in North Newton, Orlando had the opportunity to buy a printing business in Newton. My job there was proofreader and doing some bookkeeping. When the office supply store in front of the print shop became for sale, we bought that also. We hired two clerks and I managed the store and worked part time when the children were in school.

We owned these businesses for 28 years and then we sold the business and became semi-retired. I took on another job as I was too young to retire and Orlando worked at Mennonite Central Committee.

My next job was in Hesston, Kansas working for Mennonite Aid Union insurance company. It was a small office and employed only me and the manager. We had about 20 sales people, or district secretaries as they were called, and about 3,500 policies. I worked there for about eight years and did enjoy this work.

Since I retired from this job I took on volunteer jobs working at the Et Cetera Shop thrift shop and several jobs at the Bethel College Mennonite Church. Now I work one morning a week at Mennonite Central Committee and am treasurer of our Women’s Fellowship at church.

It was late October 1950 and it was a normal school day for me. My father and brother Lowell were shelling corn. Suddenly my father was not feeling well, and soon was on the ground in pain. Lowell ran to the house and told Mom and a doctor was called. By the time the doctor arrived my father was no longer breathing. They carried him to the house and he was pronounced dead.

Lowell walked to the school and knocked on my classroom door. He gave the message to Alice Walter, my teacher, and she called me out and gave me the news.  I was in disbelief because my father had told me, when he dropped me off at school, that we would go to town when school was out and buy me some new shoes and a dress. We slowly walked home and when we got there the hearse and undertaker were on the yard. I walked in the house and uncovered the sheet from my father’s head and took a last look at his face.

Then the undertaker loaded my father up and proceeded to take him to the hearse. Our faithful old German shepherd dog saw what was happening and bit the undertaker in the leg.  No way was he going to let this man carry my father away! Plans were made for the funeral, and life for my family was changed. My father was not a man who attended church, but we did have the funeral there. There was a large crowd in attendance at the service and at the meal following.

The decision was made to move back to our house in town in the spring. My twin brothers were still at home but they left that winter for 1-W service in Denver, so my mother and I were the only ones left to move.

I was 13 so I had my high school years left to be at home with my mother. We had a renter in our house in town so we notified her we would need the house back in the spring.  My mother never drove the car, and I was too young to drive. Soon I got my license and drove when necessary.  

Holidays were never a big deal when I was growing up. We celebrated some, but others we just let slide by.

New Year’s Day – the beginning of a new year. The only thing I remember was my mother making Nee Yosh Koka (New Years Cookies) a yeast dough with raisins. The dough was made, more like a heavy batter and was left to rise. When it was about doubled, she spooned off the dough and fritters were fried in deep fat until brown and done.  Then they were glazed in a sugar glaze and eaten throughout the day.

Valentine’s Day – When I was in grade school we exchanged Valentine cards and had some sort of party on the day. When my children were that age we made sure we had enough cards for each member of their grades and they were prepared to be put in the children’s boxes in school. These often contained a stick of gum or sucker with each card.

St. Patrick’s Day – not really celebrated, but maybe remembered by wearing green and sharing with each other if we had some Irish blood.

May Day – We made baskets out of construction paper and on the morning of May Day we gathered whatever flowers were blooming at the time and filled the baskets with them and some candy to go around. Then we would sneak around to friends’ homes and put them near their front door.

Fourth of July – When I was growing up we had little money to buy fireworks, but maybe had a few sparklers or snakes. It wasn’t a big deal, but we may have watched fireworks. The same when my children were young, but occasionally we went to a fireworks display in another town.

Labor Day – Just a day off school but no celebration.

Thanksgiving – The beginning of the real holidays, usually it was observed with a big meal and giving thanks for what we had. Families often gathered together to celebrate.

Christmas – When I was growing up, the main event of Christmas was our church program which we practiced for every Sunday afternoon for a number of weeks. I loved the music of this holiday so that was special for me. When my children were young they were involved in church Christmas programs and a festive Christmas Eve service, often followed by a fondue party with friends. Sacks of fruit and candy were given out at church after the service. Growing up gifts were not a highlight because money was short. My children looked forward to Christmas morning and were the first ones out of bed to wake us and begin opening presents. The Christmas story was read before gifts were distributed and this was a yearly event. We often went to my husband’s parents for a celebration and noon meal together with other families.

So this is what happened on holidays. Today it is somewhat different.

About a half mile from the farm was the school. I started grade school at age six. I don’t recall in detail those earlier days. The school building was a two-story brick structure that housed all eight grades of grade school and four of high school, and a gym. There were four rooms of two grades each. My grade school teachers were Miss Herbst in first and second, Miss Twedten in third and fourth, Clara Gross in fifth and sixth, and Alice Walters in grades seven and eight.

As I remember I loved school. Learning to read opened a new world for me and later math, and numbers in general, interested me. My first and second grade teacher was like a mother hen. She was so kind and treated us like her children. I remember Miss Twedten always carried nose drops in her pocket. Several times a day she tilted her head back, and dropped nose drops in her nose. Clara Gross was a strict teacher but I remember learning so much in her class.

Diagramming sentences stands out as one thing I mastered in grades seven and eight. One day one of my brothers came to my classroom door to tell me our father had died of a heart attack. My teacher said her father had also died that week.

The grade school rooms were all on ground floor around the sunken gym. The music room was also on the main floor and high school on second floor.

High school years were full of excitement for me. So much new stuff to learn along with a play given each year. Coming from a musical family it was exciting that in later years we learned and performed operettas. This was definitely a highlight. I had started in band during seventh and eighth grades and continued into high school. Being chosen for girls octet, sextet and mixed chorus offered so much music into my life.

Of all the high school classes, I disliked history the most. Learning dates of certain events was of no interest to me. This continued the rest of my life. Typing, bookkeeping and all things related to office work was where my interest lay. These classes and the teachers in them were all special to me and that showed up in my grades.

Junior and senior proms were fun times as we chose themes and decorated the gym for them. I was sad when my high school years were over. It’s strange that I don’t remember too much about graduation. For our class of 23 students, we had the graduation ceremony indoors. I do remember getting some pearl earrings as a gift from my mother and some money from others.

My plans for after high school were to go to Augustana College in Sioux Falls, about 50 miles away. I attended there only one year and did not continue on because money was in short supply. I always regretted that because I loved school so much.

The wonderful smells of pies out of the oven and the hustle and bustle of activity in the kitchen were all indications of preparation being made for food for the harvest crew due to arrive that morning.

Neighbor men were called into action to help with harvest at our farm. The equipment was all checked to be in working order and soon the wagons went into the field to gather the bundles of wheat and oats ready to be threshed. The threshing machine was shared among the Spomer, Kleinsasser and Groves families, and it was our turn today.

For me it was an exciting time as the day began. The coffee and cinnamon rolls were ready for the crew to sustain their bodies for the morning work.

The threshing machine and tractor were ready and soon bundles of grain were thrown on and harvest began. All went well in the morning, and before we knew it the dinner bell rang and it was time to clean up for the noon meal.

On the bench in the yard were dishpans of soapy water and towels for washing up. Then the men gathered around our generous table, all talking and laughing and discussing the morning work.

Out of the kitchen came platters of fried chicken just butchered that morning, bowls of steaming mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans flavored with bacon and onion, plates of summer dill pickles and baskets of freshly baked bread. All was quiet as the men ate. The plates were then removed and out came the pies for dessert.

After everyone had their fill and had a short rest, the harvest started up again. By later that afternoon they were ready to shut down for the day and returned to the yard for coffee, sandwiches and chocolate cake.

Soon the neighbor men returned to their homes to do their chores and have a rest. Tomorrow was another day of harvest.

There was always plenty of food to feed our large family. We had two large gardens, one with potatoes, sweet corn, kohlrabi, turnips, and cucumbers. The garden near the house had peas, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, and onions. The small orchard contained cherries, plums, apples, and mulberries.  Throughout the year we were kept busy picking, cleaning, and preparing fruit for canning, all for winter use.

There was always the supply of eggs, fresh chickens, ducks, and geese. In addition, in the winter months we butchered a couple of pigs and a steer for our meat supply. These butchering days were always busy. From the gunshots killing the animals to the last packages of meat being wrapped and jars ready to can, we worked from early morning to night.

After the pigs were cut in half, the intestines were removed and the halves were hung, skinned, and ready to lay on the table for cutting. The excess fat was removed, cut in small pieces and put in the rendering kettle to cook down into lard. Roasts and chops were cut up, the upper parts of legs were ready to be cured for hams, and bacon was sliced. Any scraps were ground, seasoned and stuffed into casings for sausage. Lard was drained off, and cracklings were pressed, all ready for winter. For supper that night my mother always fried pork loin.

The beef was skinned, hung, and cut up for roasts and steaks. The beef scraps were ground up for hamburger. The heart, liver and tongue were portioned out and with the rest of the meat readied for the locker to quick freeze the meat in town where the meat was frozen for winter.

Throughout the year we butchered chickens as we needed them. My father chopped off the heads and we removed the feathers after scalding (dipping in boiling water). The birds’ intestines were removed and then the meat was cut up for baking or frying.

Our grocery lists were rather small because of all the vegetables, fruit, and meat. We bought flour, yeast, sugar, and salt regularly.

Baking bread was an every-other-day activity. My mother was an expert in doing this along with cakes and cookies.

Creating food in the kitchen became some of the greatest accomplishments of my life. Spending time with my mother in her kitchen brought great enjoyment for me. Thinking of what I cooked throughout the calendar year brings many memories.

In January, I think of nee-yosh-roka (New Year’s cookies). Here is the recipe for these deep fried fritters :

New Year’s Cookies

1 package yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water

1 cup cream, heat to lukewarm

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs, room temperature, beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoon salt

dash nutmeg

1 cup raisins tossed with flour

4 1/2 cups flour

Mix dough in order given to a batter

Let rise in warm place

Heat oil in electric skillet to 400 degrees

Spoon off batter into oil, browning one side turning over to brown other side

Drain on paper towels

Can be frosted with granulated sugar, or dipped in a thin glaze

Serve fresh

 

Clara Bauer cake was made and served throughout the year

No one knows the origin of the title, but it was a well-loved cake by all who had a piece with a cup of coffee

Clara Bauer Cake

Cream together :

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup shortening

Add and stir in :  

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

Add and stir in :

2 cups flour

5 tablespoons cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon salt

Add to batter :

1 cup boiling water

Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan and bake in preheated 350° oven for 30 – 35 minutes. Can be eaten plain or frosted with butter frosting.

 

A favorite in the winter was applesauce or baked apples.

Quick Baked Apples

Core and cut into quarters unpeeled apples

Place in baking dish, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon

Bake for 2 or 3 minutes in microwave. Serve warm

 

Applesauce

Core an assortment of unpeeled apples

Cook until tender, and when cool, blend and sugar to taste

Can be cooked in small amount of apple or orange juice

You’ll never notice the blended peelings

 

A good chicken casserole always tasted good in the winter.

Scalloped Chicken

1 stewing chicken, cooked, deboned and cut up

3 to 4 cups broth

1 1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 to 3 tablespoons butter

1 can mushroom soup

3 cup crushed Ritz crackers

4 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon salt

Mix in order given. Pour in 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

 

And of course homemade bread is a must eaten with a casserole.

Oatmeal Bread

Stir together: 

1 package yeast

1/4 cup warm water

Combine and set aside :

1/4 cup shortening

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup quick oats

1 cup cold water

When lukewarm start adding yeast mixture and approximately 6 cups flour

Knead and put in oiled bowl to rise

When doubled in size, form into two loaves

Let rise in loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes

 

Zwieback

Mix together

2 tablespoons yeast

1/2 cup warm water

Mix together :  

3/4 cup butter, melted

2 cups warm milk

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoon salt

6 1/2 to 7 cups flour

Mix in order given

Add 6 cups flour gradually

Knead on counter using extra 1/2 cup flour as needed

Let rise and pinch off to form zwieback

Let rise and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes

Fresh rolls were often eaten with cups of hot cocoa on Saturday night

 

We did need some greens to round our our meals

Mandarin Salad

1/2 head lettuce, torn into small pieces

1 cup chopped celery

2 green onions

1 can mandarin oranges

 

Combine :

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1 tablespoon sugar

Cook the almonds and the sugar on the stove until the sugar melts and starts to caramelize

 

Make dressing : 

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup salad oil

1/8 teaspoon pepper or tabasco

Shake all ingredients in jar, and refrigerate until ready to use.

 

Coffee Cake

This recipe is dedicated to my grandson Aaron who requests it frequently

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup oil

mix and take out 3/4 cup crumbs

to remainder add :

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

Combine well and pour batter into a greased 9 x 13 pan

Top with the 3/4 cup reserved crumbs and chopped nuts

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and deliver to Aaron

 

This is just a sampling of some of the cooking I’ve done over the years.  I have enough recipes to fill up the book.

The sounds of gunfire indicated that the steer and hogs were being shot and it was butchering day. The animals were hung to bleed out and soon the tables were set up and ready to accept the halves of meat to be cut up.

Removing the innards and separating the heart, liver and tongues began the process. These parts were put in pans of cool water. Expert hands begin cutting away roasts, steaks and soup bones. These were all separated into packages and ready to be frozen. Scraps of meat were ground into hamburger and sausage. The fat from the pigs was cut into cubes to render down for lard and cracklings.

We did not have a freezer, so packages of meat were taken to town and placed in lockers for freezing and storage. Some of the meat made into sausage was stuffed and hung in the smoke house, along with the hams and bacon, until they were ready to be consumed or stored.

This was a long day of intense labor and when finished there was also the cleanup of tables and equipment used. The highlight of the day was having fresh pork side meat for supper.

It was spring of 1942 and a moving day for the Groves family. My father’s eyesight was failing and it was necessary to change from night watchman in the city to a new place of employment. My Uncle Jake offered his farm at the north edge of Freeman for the family to live. The wagon pulled up to the house and the moving began. First the beds were loaded and then the rest of the furniture, followed by the kitchen stove, the heating stove and the contents of the kitchen.

This was a small farm with 80 acres of tillable ground, an alfalfa field, a barn, a hog building, a small chicken house, three brooder houses and a long six-room building for laying hens. The farm basically was for producing eggs for my uncle’s hatchery in town.

The barn contained room for six cows to stand ready to be milked. The hog building contained a half dozen sows and at times many little piglets.

The small chicken house held about 250 laying hens, producing eggs for the family and for butchering when needed. The three brooder houses were for the early spring baby chicks. The long six-room building contained about 1,000 laying hens.

At various times of the year, the tillable ground was planted with wheat, oats and occasionally corn. But the main work of the farm was with the animals and the chickens.

On the main floor of the farmhouse there was a large kitchen, a dining room, a parlor, a bedroom and a washroom where the milk was separated. Upstairs there was one large bedroom, one smaller bedroom and a storage room.

After many trips of moving the contents of our house in town to the country, the farmhouse soon filled up. Three of the double beds were taken up to the large upstairs bedroom and one bed was placed in the smaller upstairs bedroom. The downstairs bedroom contained a double bed and a single bed. The rest of the furniture was put in the remaining main floor rooms. There was a small washroom at the main entrance to the house off the long, outside porch.

A vivid farm life memory for me were the times I spent exploring the many areas of the yard. It was quite the adventure taking it all in. I can’t forget our black German shepherd dog. Of course he moved with us and lived in a room of one of the outbuildings until he got used to being in a new place.

When the move was done and we were getting settled in our new home, my mother was found in the kitchen fixing a meal for the family. After a much needed dinner and doing some of the chores, my brother Lowell and I set out to gather eggs. Since there were so many chickens, the eggs needed to be gathered twice a day. After getting them all gathered, we packed them in the large egg cartons in the middle room of the large chicken house. This was quite a process but we soon caught on and got the job done. Any eggs that were cracked were put aside and taken to the house for immediate use.

Back in the farmhouse, the beds were all put together and looked very inviting to all our tired bodies after a long day’s work. It didn’t take long for us to get cleaned up and ready for a night’s rest. The next morning we woke to the sound of chickens cackling and knew the day of work was upon us and “life on the farm” had begun.

My father was William “Paul” Adelbert Groves. He parents were William Adelbert Groves and Cassie Becky (Welty) Groves. He was born in Olney, Illinois in 1893. His siblings were Claude, Russell, Grace and Lulu. His parents lived in both Iowa and Minnesota before moving to South Dakota. For a time they owned a restaurant in Iowa, but a job with the railroad brought the family to Freeman, South Dakota and that’s where they settled. Their home was on the west edge of Freeman just a few blocks from where I grew up, but my grandparents died before I was born so I never knew them.

My father met my mother at a young people’s gathering in Freeman and that’s how they got together.

Early in the years of World War I my father was drafted and spent his army years in France. He was wounded by shrapnel in one leg and spent some time in a hospital before he was honorably discharged. Soon after his return, he and my mother were married in 1918. They moved a chicken house into town, remodeled it and made it their home.  

My father was employed by the city of Freeman as a night watchman on the police force. He held that job until 1942 when his eyesight was failing due to cataracts. It was then that the family made the decision to move to my uncle’s poultry farm outside of town.

My father had taken some classes on animal husbandry at a local college, so was prepared for caring for the farm animals. By that time we were a family of eight children so there were plenty of hands to help with the chores.

For the most part my father was a gentle family man. He loved to gather the family in the parlor for a time of singing accompanied by my sister Doris at the piano and he on the violin. My father was quite musical and played not only the violin but also the harmonica and sang. My siblings all caught on to these musical traits from the many evenings in the parlor playing and singing. Those were special times for me.

He had surgery to remove his clouded lenses in his eyes. At that time that’s all they did for cataracts. After his eyes were healed, he wore glasses with heavy lenses to allow him to see. He often misjudged doorways and bumped his head due to his poor eyesight. I spent a lot of time following him around trying to warn him about doorways and places where he would bump his head.

In October of 1950, while he was shelling corn with one of my brothers, he suffered a heart attack and after a short time died. I was only 13 and this was a very a sad time for me. Our black German Shepherd “Nigger” or “Nig” crawled under the porch and howled and cried for days. My brother Lowell had to crawl under the porch to give him water and food. When the undertaker came to pick up dad, Nig bit him in the leg. Some time after my father passed, mother and I moved back to the house in town. All of the older siblings were already gone from the home.

My mother was Mary Stucky and was born in 1895 to Jacob Stucky and Annie (Pankratz) Stucky. They migrated to American from Poland or Ukraine and were farmers in rural Marion, South Dakota. Her father had been married before and his new wife (Annie) was my mother’s mother. She had two half-sisters from her father’s first marriage and was the oldest of six siblings. My mother’s father died when she was only 13 and she was left to help take care of the children. She had to quit school and go to work for various families in order to make a little money to support the remaining family. Her siblings were Henry, Joe, Pete, Emma and Frances.

My mother was always a very hard worker. After her teen years of taking care of her siblings, she was well prepared for taking care of her own eight children. She was a gentle and loving mother and a role model for me. Sewing, gardening, cleaning and cooking were tasks she carried out without complaint and did so well.

Once all of her children were grown adults and gone from home, mother chose to move to Newton, Kansas and be close to family who had settled there. In 1957 she sold what she didn’t need and moved into a cottage behind my brother Carlyle’s house. I also moved to Newton later that year.

In 1964 she moved to the Koppes house in North Newton, only blocks away from our new home on 22nd Street. My girls loved spending time with her while they were growing up. She moved in with us in our home for a time before moving to the Bethel Home for the Aged after she could no longer care for herself. She died in 1971 at the age of 76.