|
Werner and Emily Dahlheimer— Family Memories and Stories If anyone has any special memories or stories about Werner or Emily, or about time spent on their farm when growing up, please send them to Dahlheimer/Bebeau Family Genealogist
By granddaughter, Kay (Dahlheimer) Anderson: Tarzan rope in the barn, now THAT was scary! Holding the baby chicks in the coop each year. Every year I gave Grandpa three tins of Snuff for Christmas the smell of snuff always reminds me of him…along with that lovely smell of his spittoon under his chair in the TV room! Lilies of the valley always reminds me of them. When the farm went, I transplanted some to my house, then some also went to Derrick's house. Drinking out of the well that you had to pump. Standing on the manure cleaners in the barn and seeing how long you could last before you fell in. Having our “own” cow and brushing them in their stalls. Milkman coming to get the milk, he gave us chocolate milk. Making mazes in the hay bales in the barn. Being a “country gink” or a “city gink”….what is a gink anyway!!?? Going across the road to the pasture with the horses and trying to get on them to ride them in the pasture. Not playing dolls with Ginny, but playing Horses! Always going to the Rogers church festival, playing the games, eating the dinner, gambling on the horse race game and playing BINGO!
By granddaughter, Lynn (Dahlheimer) Schroeder: A big memory of Grandma was when I fell in the cistern. Each time cousin Barb, sister Jane and I would go into the barn, our ritual was we would jump on the board covering the cistern--we did not know there was water underneath. One day, I was the last to jump on it but I fell through. Luckily I grabbed onto the sides of it as I fell through. I was screaming for help. Jane and Barb went to get Grandma. She came running/limping to me carrying a broom for me to grab onto. I was so glad to see her. She pulled me out. Afterwards we found out it was the cistern covering a big holding water tank that went under the driveway. Dad had Grandpa put some cement blocks on it. I never jumped on it again. Grandma was a hard worker canning foods, taking care of her garden and chickens. It was fun to hear the rooster crow in the summer mornings when we slept at their house. We loved to hold Grandpa's special finger--the short one that got cut off somewhere. Sometimes we've even argued about who got to hold onto it. Also, when they had the church chicken dinner/festival we all knew we could go to Grandpa and get more money for the carnival games/rides after our parents said no more.
By granddaughter, Jane (Dahlheimer) Heinrich: I loved spending summer vacations at their farm in Rogers. One of my special memories is riding on the tractor to the mill with Grandpa. Afterwards we'd go to the farm store and often Grandpa would buy us candy. At that time the road from the farm into the town of Rogers was made of dirt and the main two-lane road passed near Rogers. We had to pass by an old house where an old man lived. There was always lots of junk in his yard. He was scary! I remember my cousin Barb and I holding funerals for birds that died, and there were lots of them. One of our favorite things was to stand by the road out front and try to get the semi truck drivers to honk their horns for us. Cousin Barb and her family lived nearby so we visited them often - one of our favorite things to do was to make cakes and cookies with Barb's play oven. Eleanor, her Mom, must have had a lot of patience to let us in her kitchen and make such a mess! We also loved to go hay baling with Uncle George and his sons. They'd do all the work and we'd ride on the wagon! The annual church festival was an event to look forward to... Grandma's special recipe for dressing was well known and was one of the highlights. This was a time to see all the relatives and play lots of church festival games (bingo, go fish). I loved going into the old church to see the windows donated by our ancestors! That was probably the beginning of my interest in our family history. We enjoyed going across the road the Jackie Dahlheimer's farm to play in the woods and ride horses (it's now developed into a huge truck stop). Grandma and Grandpa had a huge garden in the backyard. Nearby was an apple tree we used to climb. I can remember many green-apple belly aches! One of my favorite meals was barbequed chicken with Grandma's special BBQ sauce. It was our family tradition to spend Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's farm. We loved their sparkly silver Christmas tree with the multicolored light that shown on it (Kay has it now). On the way home Dad would tease us saying he saw Santa Claus' sleigh in the sky. It was a sad day many years later when the farm and land was sold for development (but time moves on). We visited it for the last time on a cold winter day and took pictures of some of the places in our memories (house, barn, the old pump, etc.).
By great-grandson, Derrick Schroeder: I remember how Grandma Dahlheimer would count cars, trucks, buses, and everything else that would pass her house on I-94 and Hwy 101. She’d keep a tally on a notepad next to the chair in her living room.
|