Elma and Al

Lots of good history in this one.

Grandma! You knew we were going to read these because you saved them! Anyway, clearly, they couldn’t wait to be together. They were not spring chickens either. Remember that she was 24 and he was 30. I wanted to give some reference to the phrase that she mentions “I’ll do the cooking honey, and you can chop the wood”. The phrase was from a song written and sung by Bill Bailey in 1902. Later this song would be recorded by Patsy Cline in 1953.

She also mentions the death of a priest, Reverend Frances Luebberman. It took me a while to find any information because she spelled his name wrong. He died on March 6, 1931.

Grandpa was such a descriptive writer. See for yourself below.

Elma is distraught in this letter, because she hadn’t gotten a letter from Al in a day or two. : ) She talks about how glad she is that Al has a job, because many people are starting to struggle. Those are my words, but my interpretation is that the depression was just starting.

The interesting part about this letter was the last part when she mentioned Victoria Marx. Victoria Marx married Walter Sitzman. She mentioned that they were having difficulties, so I’m wondering if Walter lost his job in Chicago. They moved back home and more than likely were being supported by her family of Marx barbecue fame. The interesting part is that her sister married my grandmother’s older brother – my grandma had two brothers and Ed was the older one. Ed married Tillie, short for Othilda, who was Victoria’s sister. Ed died fairly young – he had schizophrenia and was in the state hospital. I don’t need to say anymore about that. Tillie went on to marry Carl Rodenburg in 1947.

I decided to post another letter from Al, because in the next letter Elma is distraught that he did not write. But here he is on March 10…

They sure are missing each other. I had to crack up when I saw the big X on the center of the actual letter. The use of the X to represent the X cracks me up. Funny though, I do not ever remember seeing them kiss in public. Or even in their own house. I knew them for probably 30 years, more like 25 because my grandfather died in 1991 and I was 25, and I never saw them kiss.

On another note, there seems to be a competition between Marie and Oscar andc Elma and Al. And remember that Marie was my grandma’s little sister and Oscar would be her husband. Oscr Nunning. They would both die well before my grandparents and I never knew them. We never spent time with them. I find that interesting.

From the man who hardly ever spoke, comes an outpouring of love that seems uncharacteristic. When I was growing up, 40+ years after this letter was written, I remember my grandfather sitting at the kitchen table and he would greet us the same way every time saying “well, well Jenny”. He was a man of few words when I knew him, but the beloved backbone of the family.

If you’re following along you’ll notice that Elma and Al have been apart for a month now. Elma mentions a lot of people–remember she was crammed into that 80 yr old farmhouse with her parents, Nick and Sophie, Nick’s sister’s–Kate and Phine (Josephine)(Cecelia did not live with them), brothers Ray and Harold, and sister, Marie. That’s eight people in a house that only had two proper bedrooms and no AC. It was crowded.

Grandma mentioned going to Meser’s and they came over to the Bassemier’s house. Remember that Christina Meser just died about a month ago. I am certain the family and the neighbors mourned her for a long time. Grandma also mentioned Oscar and Marie, who would be married a year after Elma and Al. At this time Marie was only 20. Harold and Ray were 19 and 16, respectively.

Well, it’s a cold day in northern Indiana. It looks like that rain in southern Indiana was snow in northern Indiana. Even today that is the case. It’s a Sunday so grandpa went to mass. I wonder if he misses Saint Boniface and going to church with his family in Evansville. Very likely.

Elma responds to Al’s previous letter, not the one from March 6, but the previous letter. Elma talks about a couple of things worth noting – the weather, the fact that she had a cold, remembering that Al had a cold, reflecting on Al’s installation of phones at KKK headquarters in Kokomo, and recommending that Al sees someone–maybe a chiropractor–for his cold. Well, it was March in Indiana so of course, it was rainy. The other thing to note was that it was a Friday, and Elma went to church. They were members of Saint Boniface, and I can imagine that going to church during the week was the way of connecting with other members of the community. As always, their love is palpable.

Well, this letter is a doozy! I will let you read then I will comment.

Well, here we are again, Al missing Elma. It is March in northern Indiana so the weather is a bit unpredictable. I think that the real news here is that grandpa installed phones at the KKK headquarters in Kokomo Indiana. So of course I did some research. Grandpa had the name a little bit wrong. The name is Mafalfa Park. I found more information at the digital civil rights museum at Ball State University. Here is what they had to say: “On July 4, 1923, approximately 200,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) met at Malfalfa Park in rural Kokomo, Indiana [1]. The crowd gathered to celebrate the state’s transition from a KKK Province to a Realm and to inaugurate a new Indiana Grand Dragon [2]. As the great number of attendees suggests, the Klan was well established in Indiana by the 1920s. The KKK originated in the South after the Civil War, but quickly spread to other states, where members pursued their mission to intimidate people that diverged from their profile of an ideal American. Their targets included African Americans, Jews, immigrants, and Catholics.”

There is a lot more at the digital civil rights museum page above, but suffice to say that Indiana had one of the largest Klan memberships with Klaverns as they were called in every county and the governor and US senators were controlled by the KKK. Embarrassing and disgusting. And there was grandpa in the middle of all of it. Above I cited that the KKK was against Catholics. In my ignorance I did not realize this but grandpa probably knew and that’s why he expressed such trepidation at entering the building.

I am so glad that times are at least a little bit different now, but it is a good reminder that we’re not that far off from that time.

Mafalfa Park is now Camp Tycony, a YMCA camp just west of Kokomo on 52 acres.