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In spite of the new milking machine, Al left the farm and joined the U.S. Army where he witnessed history in the making. It began with basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas, and moved to Fort Gordon, Georgia. “Then I went to Berlin,” he said. “It was 1960. The Cold War was on. In Berlin I worked for the Provost Marshal Officer as an Assistant Desk Sergeant. Actually I was the clerk typist.” Then it got interesting. Al tells his story. “It was August 13th, 1961, in the evening, after midnight on Saturday. Our duty officer, Captain Jack, an Italian, a great guy, said he was going to retire for the evening and he didn’t want to be disturbed. About one o’clock in the morning the phone rang. “It was the Berlin Brigadier Commander, Lieutenant General Johnson. I told him the Captain didn’t want to be disturbed but he didn’t take no for an answer so I knocked on Captain Jack’s door. When I told him General Johnson was on the phone, he said to tell him he’ll be right there! “We learned the Wall was going up between East and West Berlin. It started as barbed wire fence and went to a ten-foot concrete block wall. That’s when Checkpoint Charlie came about.” Checkpoint Charlie is the name given by the Western Allies to the best known Berlin Wall crossing between East Berlin and West Berlin. The Wall fell in November 1989. Alphonse Lehner was in the U.S. Army for three years -- 1960, 1961, 1962 -- and during that time he and a young girl back home in Minnesota were exchanging letters every week. Funny thing is, they had only briefly met before Al left for the Army. They hadn’t even dated. *** Louise Ann was born to Frank and Adella Skudlarek on March 9th, 1944, at the St. Cloud Hospital. “I was their first daughter in a family of eight children,” said Louise. “Our family was as diversified as a family can be. There’s a potter, a priest, a farmer, school teachers, an air force veteran, and a social worker." Occupation of her parents? “My father was a dairy farmer and Mother was the CEO who called all the shots. She’d say, ‘Frank, I think you better plow the north forty today.’ He’d go plow it.” “Adella, my mother, was one of triplets and two of them were perfectly identical. Angie would start the sentence and Mom would finish it,” said Louise. “The three sisters were put into bread pans to keep them warm, and they went in a sleigh to church for baptism. They were placed between two feather mattresses. I can’t believe the priest didn’t come out to the farm for baptism.” Louise said her parents were the first family in Stearns County to get electricity. “Our home was comfortable,” she said. “I always thought all farm families had Persian rugs and a baby grand piano.” What were her parents like? “My mother entertained all the time,” said Louise. “She cooked and baked and had the most pristine garden. Still, she ironed the white shirts for Dad and milked cows and drove tractors, whatever was needed, until the children got old enough to help. Then we became the CEO’s. Even the girls did a lot of the farm work. Our older brother William went to the seminary really early so he wasn’t home to do it. And our brother Leo went off to the Air Force. It was younger brother Tom who took over for the family. It’s a Century Farm, in the family for 140 years now.” “My parents were very faith-filled,” continued Louise. “Mom went to Mass every day, and every day during May we would say the rosary every night. Mom didn’t go to daily Mass after Dad died because she was afraid the car wouldn’t start and she couldn’t get back home. Dad was a silent faith-filled man.” Louise attended school in Holdingford, graduating from Holidingford High School in 1961. Then it was on to the St. Cloud Beauty College for eight months of training.
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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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November 2014 |
