David's Memoirs

Around The World and Back David’s Memoirs by David Zahrt Written by David Zahrt with some supplemental fill in by daughter, Heidi Zahrt Self Published October, 2018 Carson City Nevada All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2018 David Zahrt AROUND THE WORLD AND BACK David Zahrt’s Memoirs CHAPTER 1 Marengo, Iowa CHAPTER 2 Turin, Iowa CHAPTER 3 State University of Iowa CHAPTER 4 Drew University CHAPTER 5 Ecumenical Institute CHAPTER 6 Sydney and Oombulgurri, Australia CHAPTER 7 Mill Shoals - Pace - Memphis CHAPTER 8 Kenyan Story CHAPTER 9 Homestead Return CHAPTER 10 Carson City CHAPTER 11 Musical Journey CHAPTER 12 Bicycle Trails 1 2 FOREWORD Over the years, my father, David Zahrt, spent countless hours reflecting on and writing about his life. It is a treasure for us that he has had the foresight and wisdom to record his experiences to share with his grandchildren and future generations. I am grateful that David and Linda Zahrt are Jay’s and my parents and for the life we have been given. Working with him to create this book and reading his recollections I see his life as a gift from a new perspective. This quote from one of Dad’s files shows that an underlying theme in his belief system is gratitude. “I return to A GRATEFUL HEART. One of my favorite prayers is found on page 22. It is adapted from the Week of Prayer for World Peace, 1978. We pray for the power to be gentle; the strength to be forgiving; the patience to be understanding; and the endurance to accept the consequences to holding to what we believe to be right. May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil and the power of love to overcome hatred. We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe in a world emancipated from violence, a new world where fear shall no longer lead men to commit injustice, nor selfishness make them bring suffering to others. Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy to the task of making peace, praying always for the inspiration and the power to fulfill the destiny for which we were created. I find this prayer inspiring and foundational. DZ” David has led an intentional life of service. His soul is nourished by his family, the bounty of the earth, protecting the environment, help for human potential, working toward world peace, working in community, and music. His strengths are creativity, energy, vision and reflection. He is a leader by example, teaching and living the changes he wishes to see in the world. The chapters are organized in chronological order with the exception of two chapters that weave strong threads throughout his lifetime: Bicycles and Music. This book contains only a small compilation of the thoughts and writing my Dad has created. Someday, another edition may be printed! With much love, Heidi Zahrt 3 4 CHAPTER 1: MARENGO TO IOWA CITY Early 1900’s Conrad Jay Zahrt and Elsie Gould were married and raised a family in Marengo, Iowa. They had three boys and a girl. Their daughter, Iona, died at age 15 of encephalitis. Given the way Grandma Elsie recalled it over and over again, I think it broke her heart to have lost her only girl, Iona. Irwin, the oldest was nicknamed Tony. Everett was next, and Norman the youngest. Norman was valedictorian of his high school class. He was attracted to the girl in the junior class who would later become the valedictorian of the next year’s graduating class. She was Luella Sprague Rouse. Once Norman graduated from high school he decided he would attend the State University of Iowa (SUI), in Iowa City. His parents were astounded. They did not know how he could afford it. He went to work and managed to assemble the needed resources. One of the ways Norman had afforded university was to live off campus in a boarding house. He managed to get a roommate from the city of Onawa, IA, a town in Western Iowa. His name was Dave West. Norman and Dave hit it off well together. Luella Sprague Rouse was born into a family of 8 children in Fargo, SD, as the baby of the family. Her father died 2 months prior to her birth. Her mother died 3 years later. She stayed with her oldest brother and his wife until some neighbors, the Rouses, friends of the family, adopted her. Her adopted mother died within 2 years. Her adopted father took a series of housekeepers and finally married the third one. Eventually Mr. Rouse moved to Marengo, IA, and took a job in the Iowa County Courthouse. Luella graduated from Marengo HS as valedictorian of her class in 1935, a year after Norman. She was too young to go into Normal School Training so the following school year she worked for her father in the Iowa County Courthouse, and then matriculated at Iowa Teachers College, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in the fall of 1936. By that time Norman and Luella had seen enough of each other to decide that they wanted to marry. They must have estimated that their families would not consent, for they eloped. They drove across the state and visited Luella’s sister Gertrude and family in Sioux City, Iowa in December 1936. Over the weekend they arranged to drive to Elk Point, South Dakota, and have a Justice of the Peace marry them. 1937-1942, Iowa City Norman and Luella’s first child was a boy. Norman suggested that he be named after his favorite university roommate; David West. The suggestion stuck. I was given my uncle Ernest’s name as a middle name. So David Ernest Zahrt was born September 4, 1937. I have never used my middle name. I do not even put down my middle initial as "E”. My wife, Lin, says that my name ought to be Frank and Ernest, because I’m so preoccupied with being serious. Pat and Jane DeSpain were high school classmates of Norman and Luella. They had enrolled in SUI also. So, Dave West and Pat and Jane DeSpain were in a group identified as SUI colleagues. Don Reese, one of Dave West’s high school classmates was also attending SUI. Once Dave introduced him to Norman and Luella, Don was included in the SUI colleague group. My last name, Zahrt, is German. That is concurring with popular opinion to follow paternal lineage. Certainly my mother's, grandmother's, great grandmother's, lineage is as important as my paternal lineage. My mother, Luella, had some German ancestry. My grandmother Elsie, on my father's side was English. Many people have difficulty spelling the name, Zahrt. The spelling is no longer used in 5 Germany today. The "H" is silent and it rhymes with heart. In the process of explaining that, I have had people suggest to me that I get the "H" out! The word "zart" in German means "tender, affectionate". It is probably a good name for me. Perhaps the Frank and Ernest front, that I so often wear, is protection from the vulnerability that comes with being tender and affectionate On January 1, 1940, Norman and Luella’s second child, Christy, was born. She was the first child born in Iowa City in1940. They picked her name from the SUI Homecoming queen, Christy Brown. Coincidentally Christy Brown was from Western Iowa, near Onawa. Her parents lived near a small town called Turin, IA, in Monona County, that was Don Reese’s home town. Because of an economic shortfall Norman and Luella had their newborn, Christy, placed in an experimental nutritional program being run by the SUI Hospital for the first six months of her life. The experiment measured intake and output of the infant. It had the net effect of simultaneously being a sensory deprivation experiment. That event has had life-long ramifications for Christy. I have few lasting impressions of the early days in Iowa City. It was important for me to attend the University Pre-School. It was an all-day preschool that included lunch. The only lasting impression I retain comes from lunchtime. I despised cooked spinach. The staff insisted that the preschool children eat everything on their plate. One day when spinach was served I saw no other alternative but to hide myself under the lunch table. The ploy worked for a short period of time, but the teachers finally discovering my hiding place. Once found, I was required to eat my spinach. It was a requirement that nauseated me. One of the early residences of the Zahrt family was directly across Dubuque Street from the First Methodist Church. On Sunday morning it was the custom to walk a block south to Market Street and purchase the Sunday paper. I enjoyed making the walk regularly with one of my parents. One Sunday morning I was given the money for the paper and sent off by myself to get the Sunday morning paper. Once I was in the store the impulse to spend the money on candy overcame me. I returned home with candy instead of the Sunday paper. It was a crisis because the nickel set aside for the Sunday paper was the only spare cash available until next week. It was in this apartment that Norman accidently placed Christy on one of the steam heated radiators, when it was steaming hot, giving her a serious burn on the backside of her thigh. In the deep recesses of my memory I recall one of the gatherings of Norman and Luella’s college crowd.

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