MEMORIES of the DOOR PENINSULA Was Crejted by the Students in Lois Koehn 'S and ~ Mary Wanke 'S Sixth Gr Lde L1n~Ua9e ~ Rt S Cl~Sses at Thomas J
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Memories Of the Zc ~ · Door Peninsula Memories Of the Door Peninsula MEMORIES OF THE DOOR PENINSULA was creJted by the students in Lois Koehn 's and ~ Mary Wanke 's sixth gr lde l1n~ua9e ~ rt s cl~sses at Thomas J . Walker Middle School. The students interviewed longtime residents of Door County, t r anscribed the in terviews and edited the transcripts until they arrived at the articles within. Our special th anks to the people \'/ hO spoke of their lives, and to the students \'/ho were there to hear them. This project was funded with a grant from the Door Coun ty Historical Society. FRONT COVER "Memories Of the Door Peninsul a" is b~· lac Cote , a sophomore at Sturseon Bay Hi 9h School . He is n 1986 recipient of a summer art scho larshi p to Silver Lake Col lege for his pencil sketch of Odin, a Viking qod . TABLE OF CONTENTS Joe Allie ... .......................................... 1 Lee Birmingham . 4 Catherine Boyd . .. ........ .. ............. ........ ...... 8 Con Conjurske ... .................................. ... 11 Gebora DeBroux . ... ............. ................ .... 14 Fred Erskine . 18 Genevieve Gerlach . .................. .. ........... .. 21 Evelyn Grassel . ....... .... ............. .. ......... .... 23 Jane Greene ........................... .... ............. 26 Stanley Greene ......................................... 29 John Groenfeldt . ...................... .. .............. 40 Stanley Jacobson .. ... .... ....... .. ................... 44 Marie Kalms ......... .................................. 47 Esther Knudsen . 52 Floyd and Helen Knuth . 56 Clara Kreft . .. ... ......................... ............ 62 Mr . and Mrs. Milton Lenius Sr .......................... 65 Gerhard Miller ... .. .. .. .. ............. ............ 69 Iva Moore . .......... ........... .. ...... ............ 75 John E. Nelson . .. ..................................... 81 Varian 01 sen. 85 George Oram . 90 Fred J . Pete rs on . 94 John Peterson . .... .... ............................... 96 John Purves .. .. .......... .. ...... ... .......... .. 98 Hannah PreuLer .. .. ........ ......................... 104 Fritz Reynolds .. ....... ....... ..... .............. 109 Grace Samuelson ... ......... ........................... 112 Hoyt Vrooman ............................. ........... 118 Nick Wagner . .. ... .. ...... ........................ 121 Al Wanke . .... ............................. .. ........... 124 Georgianna Walters .. ....... ... .................... 128 Ted Wester ........ ............. ..................... 130 ,... Laura Wiegand .... ... ................................ 133 13[1lJ Nil rnr SCENES ... f.· ' \ . \ I j' • Grace Samuelson and Evelyn Grassel told of their school days and experiences as youn g girls so thilt Thomas J. Wfflker Middle School sixth graders would know what to expect when they began interviewing senior citizens for an oral history proj ect. Also pictured are Cheryl Heikkila, Lori Brauer, Bambi Quam and Kim Car l ey . - Tim Barr nnd Molly Simon 1i sten as Advocd te reporter 'ind "old timer" Cheri Harris role pl;1ys n senior citizen -. llere students are admiring character dolls Cheri rlayed ...,itil as i1 youngster. The robe, rocker and gray hair were also "props". Behi nd the scenes co nt'd: f-< - ~ ,-: • • , "I :· .,~,. _,,~· -~~.. ;. ·~~~·~- ... .~:.: .. ~ ,,,,.._, Fred Erskine and George Oram recall early ba5eudll days in Door County during proofreading party. Al so pi ctured are Scott Richard, Richard Kyllonen, Keven Berns, David Soleck i and Jeff Teich . •· WtAJ>E CO,\IPl.E'l'ES,, OHAL JUSTOHY '" • • fft •PH o.JJiX:T ~v:~ John Groenfeldt, Doo r County Historical Soc iety presiclent, and Grace Samuelson prepare for a historical exhibit. ~mP.l~B~m~mn - - 1 Tr·11cy Schu111,1cher, Paul a Gunn 1augsson and Kathy Verl1, Sturgeon Bay High School business educa tion rlcp.-1rl111cnt., print f inal intervievis . - THE PAST DAYS OF COMMERCIAL FISHING By Jenny Berumen Jodi 'l'orstenson Andy Di tewig Joe Allie was a commerci~l fisherman for most of his life . He, his father, and his grandfather went out f r om approximately five- thirty in Lhe morning to twelve noon every day. They - fished mainly on Lake Michigan and Lhe Green Bay waters. In the early forlies the Allie Brothers bui lt a fish and cheese markel on the Wesl Side of SL11rgeon Bay . TL was located on Madison Avenue on I.op of th•:! hi I l, where the Sa\.,ryer Cafe is now . Joe nm-1 lives aL 226 S. 15Lh ,\vc>nu~ with his wife, Caryl. - JENNY: When did you start and stop commercial fishing? JOE: After I graduated from high school in 1933, my two brothers and I joined my father in commercial fishing. We were forced to stop commercial fishing in 1965 when the DNR closed the lake from Kewaunee to Baileys Harbor. JENNY: Did you run into any trouble with storms? JOE: Yes, we did . The storms from the northeast were so bad at times that it would stir up the bottom of the lake and break the nets. When we pulled them up, instead of getting fish, we got a bunch of sticks and dirt, and sometimes clinkers from steamboats. ANDY: Where did you catch the fish? JOE: Well, we mai~ly caught our fish in Lake Michigan and in the Green Bay waters. JODI: How deep was the water where you caught the fish? JOE: I caught the trout in 90 feet of water and I caught the chubs in 420 feet of water , 10 miles out in L~ke Michigan . ANDY: Where did you work after they closed commercial fishing? JOE : I worked at Peterson Builders as a shipbuilder. JENNY : After the fish were cleaned, what did you put them in? JOE : We put them in boxes, 100 pounds to a box. We had 1,200 foot long nets. We would lift 12 boxes a day. CARYL : Did you tell them about the fish you shipped by plane? JOE : We took a plane to St. Louis, Chicago, and New York once a week to Kroger's Food Store. We brought 1,800 to 2,000 pounds of fish a week. On that day we would pack the fish at noon . JODI : What did you use t o catch the fish? JOE: We caught the fish with large gill nets and sometimes pound nets. A gill nel is a large net with mesh that allows only the head of the fish to pass through, but entangles the gill covers as the fish tries to escape. AND Y: What kinds of fish did you catch? JOE: We caught trout, perch, smelt, herring, whitefish, and chubs. JODI : What part of the boaL did you work at? JOE: I stood at the opening and threw out the nets and pulled them in . I also cut and cleaned the fish. ANDY: After you cleaned them, where did.you ship them? JOE: We shipped them to Kr oger's Food Store in St. Louis, Chicago, and New York. We used to pack them up at noon , ship them, and they would get there tha t evening. Our objective was to get fresh fish to the market. Jod;, ~"~'i) ::ro<a; :re."'\\'1 1 ~'" <1 l ~~ 'i \. LEE BIRMINGHAM By Brandon Powell Mike Yedica fhrough Rain or Snow. Lee Birmingham was born in 1914 in Sevastopol on Cherry Road. His faLher was n farmer, buL became a rural mail carrier in 1918. During Lh e ' 20s, L0e became a Navy postal carrier . BRANDON: What was your childhood like? LEE: Well, I lived on Lhc Lop of ll ou l e 's Hill, which is now Jefferson Street . In Lhe spring we moved back t o the farm again. On e fall my dad sold the farm. Then we mov ed to L0\11n and lived on Sherman Street, which is Sixth Avenue now. The firsL dav I wenL LO school, I came home in the middle of Lhe morning . My mother asked, "What are you doing home?" I answered, "E.vcrybodv wenl out to play so I figured I'd come home." She replied, "That was on l y a r ecess ! You better go back." The year I graduoLrd from high school was the year they put Lhe new addition on t he h igh school . I got out in Na y, insLend of June, o[ 193 1. 4 The next fall I was too young to get a job, so I took a "post-graduate" course in business and typing. And that's as much education as I got. BRANDON: What was your first car like? LEE: My first car was a model T Ford, a paneled delivery truck, home-made job. Most of it was 1918, remodeled a little bit. The front end was 1923, but that ' s as new as it got . It was originally a delivery truck for Frank Starr's grocery. It had the nickname of the "Night Rider" when I got it . It ·got that name be cause Frank's kids used it for some "extra("urricular" work at night, taking out girls and stuff like that. I got it from Roy Marshall, who was a rural carrier like my dad . I went out there one day, and it was sitting in the garage. I said, "Gee, I ' d like to buy that car ! " He said, "Well, you can have it for $20.00." Of course I didn't have $20 . 00, so he said, "Well, you can work it off . " So that summer I worked hard and earned the money working with Martin Larsen, planting and picking corn. That was my old Susabella. Being a paneled delivery truck, it was tall and thin as cars were in those days. I thought it wasn't good enough for me, so I fixed it up a little bit . I put more seats in the back. An old red plush seat from the horse-drawn bobsled was swiped from my dad's barn. I took that, drilled some holes in the floor of the truck, and mounted that the opposite way the driver's seat was facing. Then the people in the back couldn't see what was coming ahead of us or see what was going by, so we put a rear view mirror in the back, so that the people in the back seat could see what was coming. Susabella was long, narrow, and high, so we had to put a ladder to the tailgate so people could get in and out without jumping. When we drove in the back and opened the do?r, my mother said she didn't know how many were coming in for supper because there were always two to a half dozen in the car .