ISSUE 32

June 2006

 

Dear LP-53 Classmates, Spouses, and Friends all;

Greetings!  The year is one-third passed as I write, and one-half gone when you receive this letter. Everything happening too fast for my operating speed.  I keep my little red truck in the slow lane, knowing that those passing are rushing nowhere.

Signs of the Times
These days, most protestant churches have traditional and “contemporary” services (maybe the Catholics do the same).  Contemporary means casual dress, soft sermons, and singing praise songs, not hymns.  When our teenage grandsons are in town, we attend the contemporary service ... the boys wear short pants and polo shirts.  The same boys wear long pants, long sleeve shirts and ties to their hockey games. A sign of the times.

What’s new in La Salle-Peru
The May 17, 2006 NewsTrib noted erection of steel silhouettes of I&M Canal passengers, circa 1848, at the Lock 14 site.  There is a big effort to make the restored canal a tourist attraction.  The group doing this hopes to build a circa 1848 canal boat.  A company in New York offered to build one for a little over $1,000,000. A “local contractor” bid $298,000.  The group hopes that the local contractor gets the job.  The name of the local contractor was not revealed.  My hunch, it is Don Haas, LLC.

A BIG picture and article in the NewsTrib about “Herman” the pigeon, shown on shoulder of his adopting provider who is the proprietor of The Flower Mart on Gooding Street.  Our class mate, Warren Kalisiak fed the abandoned new born bird, and the bird adopted Warren.  “He’s a conversation piece, that’s for sure,” says Warren.  Maybe you residents have come to know “Herman.”

 

Best joke from the Internet
A woman is driving toward home in northern Arizona when she sees a Navajo woman hitchhiking.  Because the trip had been long and quiet, she stops the car and the Navajo woman climbs in.  During their small talk, the Navajo woman glances surreptitiously at a brown bag on the front seat between them.  “If you’re wondering what’s in the bag,” offers the driver, “it’s a bottle of wine.  I got it for my husband.”

The Navajo woman is silent for a while, nods several times, and says, “Good trade.”

 

Memories
Thanks to the memory of classmates, I am able to fill in some blanks, and add information to memory words in the last issue:

About the cement plants: Enid Garner Johnson wrote; “I retired from Marquette Cement Mfg. Co. with 30 years of service.  Just before my retirement in 1983, Lone Star Industries bought out the Marquette Company.  The Illinois Cement Company was originally known as Alpha Cement Company.  The other cement plant in Oglesby was known as Lehigh Portland Cement Company which went out of business a long time ago.” 

Pauline Celano Marko sent a memory prompted by the silver spoon story in the last issue.  “After reading the article, I went to the kitchen counter, opened the drawer containing my table service, and there it was!  I fondly picked it up and looked at it again.  In my mind I could still see the La Salle business district and all the stores that lined First St.  At the jewelry store, I looked at all the silver spoons, to choose the very best pattern.”

I think artists, like Pauline, have a special gift for creating images.  Pauline continued, “Another item I received ... when I was a senior, was a small cedar chest.  It fits inside a dresser drawer and is still used to hold small items.”

Marge Marion wrote that she still has her silver teaspoon, and she also mentioned receiving the small cedar chest, which she too, still has. Marge could not remember the merchant that gave the chest.  Pauline said it came from the furniture store on the south side of First St., across from Woolworth’s.

I remembered a furniture store on the south east corner of First and ????   A e-mail was sent to our forum asking for help with identification.  All of the replies said that the north-south street at that location was Marquette.  There were several suggestions for the name of the furniture store: Hummer’s; Wobrock’s; Fredman’s; Tri-City; and City Furniture (owned by band leader Johnnie Kaye).  After several iterations which put these stores in their proper location, the conclusion was that the merchant who gave the cedar chest was “Fredman Bros.”  who also used the title; “Friendly Fredman Bros.”

 Before sending the e-mail, I could not recall the name of any furniture store in La Salle.  After receiving replies, I could remember all of them, and even picture them (I have a clear image of Hummer’s at Second and Joliet).  It is interesting how a clue makes a link to a hidden place in memory and opens it.  The mystery search also brought to Jim Brooks’ mind, Urbanowski’s in Peru and Venturelli’s and Clydesdale’s in Oglesby.

Sheldon Raizes also remembered that at Christmas time, for several years, Fredman Bros. sponsored free showing of the movie, “National Velvet” at the La Salle Theater.  I remember seeing the movie at that theater.  My memory pictures a matinee attendance, and some thing else unusual in the memory picture ... maybe it was the “free” show part.

For  reason unknown to me, the song by The Four Freshmen, “Graduation Day,” came to my mind at this graduation time of year, so I did a Google search.  The song was a No.1 seller in 1956... after our graduation day.  The lyrics got to me: 

“There’s a time for joy
A time for tears
A time we’ll treasure through the years,
We’ll remember always
Graduation day.”

I remember graduation day, and also have dear memories of all those times I treasure with high school friends, many of whom did not graduate.

I am soooo glad, in my septuagenarian decade, to maintain contact with my high school friends, who continue to validate the good memories.

 

In Memoriam
Classmates:
With this issue we note the passing of two classmates.  Our In Memoriam list now names 63 classmates.

Harold F. “Smokey Joe” Wrona died February 24, 2006.  “Smokey” was not pictured in any of our Ell Es Pe’s.  I don’t know anything about surviving family.  Brief obituary listed his address as 101 10th St., La Salle.  This was where he lived when we were in high school.

Shirley Amsberg Harlow died May 17, 2006.  Shirley is survived by her husband Harry, three children, and five grandchildren, brother Louis, our class mate, and sister, Clara.   Shirley endured with good spirit, a long battle with cancer. She gave a lot of support and encouragement to Shirley Hyson Peoplis, during her battle with cancer.       

Family Members:
Judy Batchelder Turner’s mother, Edith, passed away February 21, 2006, age 93.  Edith was Jim Brooks’ stepmother.        

All those we love are part of us,
For things of beauty leave their trace.
And memories of all we've shared,
Are treasures time cannot erase.
-- Anonymous 

Class Information
Remember in your Prayers
Eleanor Mills Neave is suffering from dementia and memory loss, resulting in emotionally upsetting times.  She is receiving treatment as resident at the Sunrise of Gurnee, Illinois assisted living center.  Elly and Don appreciate prayers on her (and his) behalf during this trying time, which we all pray will be temporary.

At the end of May, Enid Garner Johnson was in the hospital with pneumonia, complicated by her heart and lung problems.  We hope and pray, by the time this letter is delivered that Enid is home and doing well.

It’s A Small, Small World
A story from Sheldon Raizes: “A group of people here in Sun Lakes (AZ) volunteer and usher at the Angels spring training baseball games.  We get paid, and the money goes to a charitable organization.

“I was assigned to a certain spot to usher and was joined by a Tempe city employee, who said he was assigned the same spot.  We had about 4 hours to talk ... he was talkative.  After about 2 hours, he mentioned that he was from the Chicago area and a while later, we found out we were high school classmates.  He was Gene Pezanoski.  Wearing caps and sunglasses, it was hard to recognize each other in the first two hours.

“In later games, Gene was stationed at the Angels runway, sort of as a security guard.  I saw fans handing him baseballs, and he was signing them.  Some of the fans even asked him to pose for pictures.”

Sheldon’s story did not relate how Gene has become some sort of “celebrity.”  Maybe Gene will let us know.  (Good story)

Scholarship Award
Barbara Kotecki Pyszka represented our class at the 2006 Scholarship Awards Program held April 19, 2006 in the auditorium.  Barb wrote the following for the newsletter:

“The LP Class of 1953 Earl Trobaugh Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Heather Arbet, 2938 Seventh St., Peru.  In addition to earning a 3.22 GPA, Heather is a person of many interests.  She has served in numerous organizations at LP, including: the Foreign Language Club, Art Club, Gold Cord Club for community service, Environmental Club, and Special Olympics Volunteers.  She was also Varsity Boy’s Basketball Manager. This year, in addition to the LP’53 Scholarship, Heather received the Philadelphia Quartz Service Award.  Heather’s area of study will be teaching Special Education.  She has enjoyed working as a volunteer in her mother’s classroom and has developed a particular interest in those students with special needs.”

Heather is the third recipient of our scholarship.  I continue to be impressed with the letters of application that students write.  My opinion is that LP is doing a good job in the selection process.  Our scholarship does not represent a lot of money, but it does represent a sign of encouragement, which is appreciated.

The scholarship award amount was established at the level of $1,000.  At the time, we agreed to a periodic adjustment in the amount to account for inflation and increased tuition costs.  If there are no serious objections, I recommend that we advise the LP Foundation to increase the award amount to $1,100, beginning with the 2007 award.

 Marriage Album Project
Send us your wedding pictures and recent pictures for this project.  We, (Jim or I) will scan and return.  Additions to the album have been slow in coming, (many thanks for those we have received) but Jim and I are not discouraged.  This is a good project.  Help us out by sending pictures ... when you are young, pictures are worth a thousand words; when you are our age, they are priceless.

Genealogy
This subject generated some interesting replies.  Many more of our classmates had parent and grand parent immigrants than I imagined.  Here’s a sampling:

Both of Rose Tominello Lane’s parents immigrated from Sicily, along with paternal grand parents.  She remembers that her parents spoke Italian, always. As a child, Rosie learned Italian (when Mom speaks, you listen and learn).

Both of Minnie Venturelli Larson’s parents were born in Italy and came to the U.S. in early 1900's.  Minnie wrote that all of her Italian girl friends in Oglesby had immigrant parents ... Mary Ann Favrin, Mary Barra, Mary Cheechin.  Some were from the same villages in Italy and came “en masse” to the U. S.  Several families, including Minnie’s paternal parents settled in Standard to work in the mines.

Kay Constantine Keenan’s paternal grand parents immigrated from Italy, and also settled in Standard.  Her paternal grandfather was mayor of Standard.  He worked at the Cherry coal mine, missing the disaster because he stayed home from work to be with his ill wife.  Her maternal grand father, surname Leyes, was a German immigrant.

Both of Bob Keenan’s paternal grand parents were immigrants from Ireland, and his maternal grandparents, surname Picco, were Italian immigrants.

Loretta Wojciechowski Stenbeck’s father immigrated from Poland with his parents.  Her mother was born in La Salle in 1895 to immigrant parents.  Loretta’s parents attended public schools, learned English, and spoke with no noticeable accent.  Loretta wrote that she attended St. Hyacinth’s elementary school, (along with about a dozen others of our class) where the Nuns came from Poland and taught Polish history in the Polish language.

Art Gatza attended St. Hyacinth’s, where his dad was the caretaker (he opened the door for Loretta when her dad dropped her off for school).  Art remembers having the same Nun for a teacher for four or five of their eight years there.

I did a analysis of our class members, using a general indication of nationality based on surname.  Let me say, from experience with such analyses, individual errors are offset by other individual errors and the composite total tends toward the correct answer.  Astrid probably knows a mathematical theory that supports this phenomena.  Here’s my conclusion of our class’ heritage:

Loretta noted that her parents were proud to be Americans, of Polish descent.  I think it was the same with others... “we are Americans, of Italian, or Irish, or German, etc. descent.”  Not, African-Americans, Mexican- Americans.

I am sorry to hear the current language that puts a modifier before American.  Such language reflects division, rather than assimilation.

By the way, I started this genealogy and nationality thing BEFORE the big and sorry illegal alien political football thing bouncing around (not getting to the end zone) this spring. 

What Brought Immigrants to our Area?
The building and operation of the Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal, which opened in 1848 brought many to the area.  These immigrants would have been from the generation preceding our grandparents.  Note that the I&M Canal linked Lake Michigan to the Illinois River and to the Mississippi.  The I&M Canal “dumped” into the Illinois River at Lock No. 14 in La Salle.  The Illinois was not navigable up river for the approximate 100 miles from Peru to Lake Michigan, but it was for the approximate 200 miles from Peru to the Mississippi.

Railroad entrepreneurs saw the value of the link from Lake Michigan to LP and ventured to build a railroad along the same line, extending on to Davenport, Iowa.  The venture was known as the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, which began work in 1851, with Grenville Dodge as chief engineer.  Dodge met his wife in Peru.  He is best known as Lincoln’s railroad builder, became a Lt. General during the Civil War, and after worked as chief engineer for the Union Pacific building the East to West link of the transcontinental railroad that met with the Central Pacific at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869.  He is also one of the persons in the steel silhouettes just added to the Lock 14 site.  The Illinois Central railroad was also built in this time period.

Railroad engines needed coal to burn and build steam; the owners needed commodities and people to haul and earn income.  All were found in our area ... coal to mine, grain and limestone products, and people.

Most of our immigrant ancestors came to the area, because of the coal mining and farm labor work available in the 1890s and later. The key to this work was the transportation and commerce system established by the I&M Canal, the Illinois River, and the Rock Island and Illinois Central Railroads.  There was one exception.

The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad company formed a subsidiary called the St. Paul Coal Company.  That company opened the coal mine at Cherry, Illinois on December 11, 1905.  The sole customer of the mined coal was the parent railroad company.

The Cherry Coal Mine disaster happened on November 13, 1909, a Saturday (miners worked six days a week).  At the time of the disaster there were 450 men and boys in the mine ... 259 died (20 miraculously survived and  were rescued a week later after the mine had been sealed and then re-opened).  There are several web sites which contain details and pictures.  One includes a narrative with nationality of victims, as follows:

It is interesting to note that 16 nationalities, including American, are listed with these grim statistics.  Our area was populated by late 19th and early 20th century immigrants.

The St. Paul coal mine in Cherry closed operations in 1927.  There you have a indicator of what caused many of our ancestors who first immigrated to Standard and Cherry, to move to La Salle, Peru, and Oglesby.  The mine closed, what do they do now?  These people were now Americans, citizenship earned by legal process and hard labor ... trustworthy and dependable.  Banks loaned them money to become farmers and merchants and proprietors.

Did You Know?
The Illinois River’s elevation drops 140 feet in the 100 miles from Lake Michigan to Starved Rock.  In the 230 miles from there to the Mississippi, the total drop is only 20 feet.

Eight dams and locks were built to complete The Illinois Waterway in 1933.  Those locks continue to operate, with some maintenance, but no change in design.  In distance of miles from the Mississippi the locks are at:

• Mile 326: O’Brien

• Mile 291: Lockport

• Mile 286: Brandon

• Mile 272: Dresden

• Mile 245: Marseilles

• Mile 231: Starved Rock

• Mile 158: Peoria

• Mile 80: La Grange

Our “Buzz” Byczynski was not only the Lock Master (Buzz would say the term should be capitalized) at Starved Rock, but was also a diver who at one time or another did inspections inside all of the river’s locks.  As recently as 2005, our Kent Kain did part time inspection work of grain being loaded onto barges going down the Illinois, to the Mississippi, to the Gulf of Mexico, then through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean and on to China, side-by-side with the barges containing Portland Cement.

Address Updates:
Residence Addresses:

• Harry and Lynn Conkey: 1223 La Rambla, Santa Fe, NM 87505

• Eleanor Mills Neave: 3176 Woodland Dr., Zion, IL 60099-2001.

New E-Mail Addresses:

• George Renkosik: cgrenkosik@ivnet.com

• Sharon Petitte Rigazio: smrigaz@earthlink.net

• Hey Art Pyszka - send new email: old address doesn’t work.

Phone Number Correction:

• Leah Roush Krevitz: (619) 955-8219

July 2006 Gathering
The gathering dates are July 21 and 22, 2006.  We also plan to play golf July 20 at Spring Creek (Spring Valley), tee time 12:30 and will go out to dinner that evening, not hosted and unscheduled at this time (need to let me know if interested and I will let you know). We plan to meet at Deer Park 11:00 AM, July 21 followed by golf ... a cocktail gathering and dinner out that evening.  Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at Mary Jeanne Stuart’s, 1645 Bucklin St. beginning at 5:30 PM.  Then out to John’s Northstar for dinner about 7:00. No golf scheduled for 22nd.  We will meet at Senica’s Oak Ridge dining room Saturday evening the 22nd.  Dinner reservation time is 7:00 PM.  The bar is open earlier, and some of us will be there before 7:00 PM to be sure that all is functioning properly.

Financial Info Correction
In the last issue, I mentioned that Kaye Harl Arkins is the sole authorized signatory for our Class of LP 1953 account, which I also said has existed for more than 50 years.  None of that is correct.  Sandra Zubowski Perra also has signatory authority.  Our current account evolved from our 10 th reunion (Kent Kain, Treasurer), to our 20 th reunion (Connie Hylla Marini, Treasurer) to our 36th reunion in 1989 when the current account was established. 

Information & Stories
Please send information, retirement activities, stories, address changes, etc. to: