River City Memoirs VII River Citydave Memoirs Engel Ghost Ghost of Myself
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Dave Engel Ghost of Myself River City Memoirs VII River CityDave Memoirs Engel Ghost Ghost of Myself River City Memoirs VII1 Ghost River City Memoirs iver City Memoirs VII: Ghost of Myself is a collection of stories previously pub- Rlished in the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tri- bune 1998-2008. This limited edition is available only to supporters of the South Wood County His- torical Corp. publication fund. ommendation to : Phil Brown, SWCHC; Lori Brost, SWCHC; Kathy Engel, CMSPT; Allen Hicks, Daily Tribune; Holly (Pearl) Knoll, assistant editor; Daniel P. Meyer, patron saint; Warren Miller, Print Shop. emo: no entity other than the Wiscon- sin Rapids Daily Tribune is autho- Mrized to scan, copy, reprint or transmit material from this volume without the expressed, written permission of River City Memoirs. River City Memoirs 2009 5597 Third Avenue ©Rudolph WI 54475 You’re either part of the solution or part of the problem. Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998) 2 From the first River City Memoirs 1983 River City Memoirs Ghost he title “River City Memoirs,” But so much for the English major In a typical sendup of the fads of comes from the history major I side of life. For History, I took a look at youth, the 1959 Tribune lampooned a almost was at Point college the 1959 Tribune (fifty years ago), and cultural phenomenon we now know Tand to the 80 per cent of readers who sampled references that are part of the presaged the collapse of conventional prefer me that way: the gray-bearded, disappeared world the ghosts of my gen- moral values. prosaic, fact-filled, “Uncle Dave.” The eration had lived in. “Beatniks, in case you don’t dig the bulk of my stories have been in the his- Like the Rapids Theatre. term, are a curious collection of queerly tory category. They are my gift to you. It was just behind my lamp post on dressed convention-haters in full flight The reason I didn’t finish a major in Grand, on this particular night featuring from the world and in fresh pursuit of history is that I couldn’t remember the the “Mysterians,” in which scary space art. They express themselves by flailing first seven (or nine?) U.S. colleges in monsters chase shapely human females bongo drums and by painting and writ- the order they were founded, provid- around the block. ing – and sometimes, apparently, just by ing early evidence that I wasn’t a match Next door, the Friendly Fountain, sitting in bathtubs.” for that nit-picky world. So I took the where good girls didn’t go, and Perry’s We had one beatnik in town. When he path more traveled by those with bad Sport Shop, where bad boys bought was absent, my friend Mike and I ex- memories for details and a headful of baseball gloves, boat cushions and Chi- plored his “pad” and I know a couple of big ideas to the department of Eng- nese slingshots. his abstract art compositions ended up in lish, a discipline (or lack of discipline) Kitty-corner upstream on 2nd Street the SWCHC Museum. Also still around where ghosts are popular and so is the was the Sugar Bowl restaurant and can- are my own bongo drums. concept of “myself.” dy shop. After midnight in the 1960s, I But it’s time to tie up the ghost. Thus, the English major half of the watched a righteously humungous rat I once wrote, “It is an evening in July book title and that part of the book, bound from the vicinity of the Sugar 1945 and the world is taking a turn.” But “Ghost of Myself,” goes out to the 20 Bowl, no doubt flushed out by the radar it was actually October 1995, and I was, per cent of you who appreciate me un- cooking inside — one of those moments English-major-like, looking over my fa- der my Mid-State Poetry Towers beret. I knew would come back to haunt me. ther’s shoulder, in a small “hotel” above Providing a readership for columns like The nicest theater was the Wisconsin, a downtown Wisconsin Rapids tavern, this is your gift to me. on West Grand, advertising the always where he penned a letter for my mother- Both the History and English people palindromic Ava Gardner in “The Naked to-be, who waited in Manitowoc, Wis. have witnessed the struggle to explain Maja.” A post-show snack could be had The attempt to explain the way I felt this dichotomy, as in this passage, pub- at Wilpolt’s pretty nice restaurant, offer- about all this hastened my hiatus from lished well before the New Millennium: ing the “biggest egg whip in captivity.” the Daily Tribune. “You’re getting pret- “When David, his unbuckled overshoes The biggest screen in 1959 was to ty far out,” the editor told me. snagging, tramped along the ridge of be found at the Highway 13 “outdoor,” Yeah, that’s right. Next thing you snow banks from Two Mile School in with Jerry Lewis cavorting in “The Gei- know, it was, “Got’m” and a one-way the spring of 1953, the ghost of himself sha Boy.” On Buck Night, an entire car- ticket to never-never land. was with him, taking notes for later ref- load of hijinks for one dollar. Spooky stuff. That’s what English ma- erence. When Dave leaned on a lamp For the worst generation, there was jors do. post, smoking Salems and watching hot Clarence and Helen Molepske’s River- October 2009 rods drag up Grand Avenue, he was not side bar, where I, a few years later, was alone.” to join friends for great Saturday nights. 3 Ghost River City Memoirs Table of Contents Fifties Timeline 7 Sesquicentennial 79 Murtfeldt 120 Korea 10 Inside Job 80 Father’s Day 121 Christmas on the Avenue 12 Two Mile Landmark 81 Murtfeldt II 122 Consolidated Landscape 14 9/11 Reminders 82 Farm Kid 123 Old Man Winter 16 Clara 83 Terwilliger Bunts One 124 March Madness 1951 18 Consoberries 84 Billings: Nash 125 Krohnographs 20 Eileen 85 Billings: Neighborhoods 126 1951 Spring 22 Rapids 1977 86 Cantin 127 Reuben 24 Marsh Harvest 87 Famous Dave 128 NEPCO 26 Lincoln 88 Suffragette City 129 Necedah Visions 28 Cranboree 89 Einstein’s Brain 130 The Howe School 30 Elsi Schultzenheim 90 Bee Bee at the Circus 131 NATATORIA 32 Leadership 91 1955 132 Army Men 34 Farrish 92 Cranboree Canceled 133 Pew Doodles 36 Wagner’s World 93 Hospital 1955 134 Stinkin’ Town 38 WSAU 94 Grove of Trees 135 Tail Gunner Joe 40 Bee Bee 95 Mel 136 Paul 42 Gronski 96 Tale of Two Cities 137 Bo 44 Grace 97 Laird in Marshfield 138 Bad Boys 46 Holiday Spam 98 Hank 139 Blackjack 48 Girly Man 99 No Success Like Failure 140 Big Kahuna 50 Assumption 100 Milwaukee and Vine 141 Cad Bates 52 Parishes 101 Imagineer 142 Too Many Daves 54 House Calls 102 Biron News 143 America’s Fairyland 56 Comics 103 Kahoun 144 Hurls Baby Into Furnace 58 Mary Hogan 104 Mary Hogan II 145 Kanieski 60 Zieher’s Arpin 105 Road Kill 1955 146 Knuth’s Beat 62 Rudolph Neighbors 106 Bixmas 147 Elksquire 1945 64 From Here 107 Last Little Indian 148 Illustrations 66 Sampson’s Burns 108 Laird III 149 Pull Up Your Socks 68 Champions 109 Lineup 150 Indian Jeff 69 Uncle Ralph 110 Hurlbut 151 Mayor Bach 70 Old North Side 111 Benitz 152 Alice’s Restaurant 71 Pupilation Explosion 112 Benitz: Sorry 153 Calkins’ Centralia 72 Pardoning Mortimer 113 Red Raiders 154 Sampson’s 73 Little Eau Pleine 114 Holland Road 155 Newton’s 74 Jake Chadwick 115 Brig Bombers 156 Mead-Witter 75 Zimmerman Part One 116 Riot 157 Camp Peterson 76 ‘Buseum’ Part Two 117 Courting Wipperman 158 Jere Witter 77 Litzer 118 Martha Klappa 159 Four Dead in Georgia 78 Rember Chadwick 119 Bye Bye Bee Bee 160 4 River City Memoirs Ghost Trust Nothing 161 Big Frogs 201 The Devil’s Mother 241 Bancroft Tornado 162 Eisenhower doctrine 202 Gores the Butcher 242 Trouble 163 Vesper School 203 Picture Postcard Past 243 Stevens’ Point 164 The Usual 204 RFK @ LHS 244 Haunted 165 Red Owl 205 Santa was my Brother 245 WCTC 1956 166 Honoring the Sabbath 206 Cold Room 246 SWCHC 167 Blei 207 Glory Be 247 Memorial Day 2006 168 Building 208 Marceil 248 Conway 169 Herr Sigel 209 Clean Gene 249 Nehring 170 High Fliers 210 Cohen 250 City Point 171 Sara Kenyon 211 1980 251 Sphagnum Czar 172 Tom Nash, Pilot 212 1970 Restaurants 252 Worst Generation 173 War Against Nature 213 Squares Were Cubes 253 Shoplifting 174 Myron In Chicago 214 Abattoir 254 Winden Part One 175 T.W.B. 215 1957 Strike 255 Recall 176 Sandy at the Library 216 Sputnik 256 Anti-Union Five 177 Botkin 217 1957 Misc. 257 Sock and Roll 178 Essence of Gil 218 I Believe You 258 Curfew 179 Butch 219 World War II 259 Courthouse 180 French Connection 220 War Contracts 260 Judge Cate 181 Pernin 221 WWII-II 261 Union School 182 Pip Botkin 222 Witter Farm 262 County Centennial 183 3 Botkins 223 Half-Century of Schooling 263 Log Cabin School 184 Dead Poet Society 224 Memorial Surprise 264 James Daly 185 Soldier Pip 225 Field House 265 Palimony 186 Natwick from Hollywood 226 Papermaker Blues 266 More Schools 187 Beaver 227 Judge Connor 267 Centralia High 188 Who Killed Mary Hogan? 228 Educate Your Brains 268 Solomon’s Cousins 189 A Grieved Community 229 Dutch Mill 269 Schools 1966 190 Jesseca Penn 230 Buzz’s 270 Grim 191 Model Extraordinaire 231 Wrong George Mead 271 Ike 192 Last Civil War Widow 232 Bast Washes from Maverick 272 Rudolph School 193 Marsh Angels 233 Columbian 273 St.