Johann Franz Friedrich ‎(John)‎ SCHULTZ  ‎(I1608)‎
Given Names: Johann Franz Friedrich ‎(John)‎
Surname: SCHULTZ

Gender: MaleMale
      

Birth: 28 May 1904 46 28 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death: 7 March 1987 ‎(Age 82)‎ Parkers Prairie, Otter Tail, Minnesota, USA

Personal Facts and Details
Birth 28 May 1904 46 28 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA

Address:
In Home Of Parents


Christening 3 July 1904 ‎(Age 36 days)‎ Hillsboro, Traill, North Dakota, USA

Address:
Immanuel Ev. Luth. Church



Show Details Source: Source #12

Marriage 25 January 1934 ‎(Age 29)‎ Evelyn Emma WILKE -
Biography 8 February 1985 ‎(Age 80)‎ Written by grandson, Paul Schultz, as told to him by Grandpa John


Show Details Note: John Frank Schultz, Sr. was born on 5/28/1904 in Hillsboro, N. Dakota. He had 13 brothers and sisters. From youngest to oldest they are: Fred, Bill, Henry, Karl, Ida, Franz, Emilia, Ella, Dorothy, John, Erick, Freida, Walter and Margaret. Three of them died within a year after being born.
On the farm where John lived he would go with his brothers and sisters and herd the cows back to the barn. Then they would feed, water and milk the cows. After this he would go to bed and then get up early and do it all over again and then he would go to school.

John only went to school for 6 years. He didn't like school and didn't have any favorite subjects. He said and I quote, "I didn't really like school much. I was kind of a roughneck."

John didn't have any girlfriends, but his best friend was Teddy McDonald. John said they pulled quite a few pranks but he couldn't remember any of them.

In 1934 he married Evelyn Wilke and they moved to a farm 4 miles South of Miltona. John became a farmer because he had been raised on a farm and that's all he knew how to do. John and Evelyn were married for 45 years until she died in 1979. During that time they had 8 children, six boys and two girls.

After their house burned down in 1970, they moved to a house on Lake Irene. He then worked at R & R Ready Mix for 5 years and is now retired.

John's favorite season is summer. He remembers many summers in N. Dakota when cyclones would hit. They would squeeze things to the ground and smash things instead of blowing them all apart like tornadoes do. He also had accidents of his own. When he was five or six he went through a manure spreader. When he was 16 he was kicked in the head by a horse. Also while he worked at R & R he fell off a ladder and broke both this legs.

John's favorite sport is baseball. He's played the sport since he was a kid. When he got older he raised enough money to start a baseball team in Miltona. He eventually started the first team in Miltona and became the president and manager of the team. As the manager he won most games.

John said if he could do anything he wanted he would visit all his relatives in N. Dakota, California, and Nevada.

John liked Franklin D. Roosevelt for what he did for America in the times of the depression. When he was active being a baseball fan he also admired Harmon Killebrew.

John doesn't know much about the schools now, but in the early 60's he tried to get the Miltona and Carlos school districts to build one school instead of one for each town. The school board voted against it. John thinks there is too much crime in the world now days, but doesn't know what to do about it. He says everything that could be done has been done and nothing works.

John, who now lives alone, is retired. He works in his garden and picks up cans. Last year he made over $300 picking up aluminum cans.

John said one of his scariest and funniest moments was when John and his friend Teddy McDonald went to N. Dakota for a weekend when they were in their 20's. They picked up a couple Indian girls and parked in the woods. Suddenly they were surrounded by Indians. One of them cut him with a knife on the arm. Then Teddy hollered, "Shorty, get your gun." Shorty was John's nickname. When Teddy said that, all the Indians took off and they got away safely. Now that's a wild life!

Globally unique Identifier E1B94BBFC72B18458407D8B809A000B76EF2
Death 7 March 1987 ‎(Age 82)‎ Parkers Prairie, Otter Tail, Minnesota, USA

Burial 10 March 1987 ‎(3 days after death)‎ Miltona, Douglas, Minnesota, USA

Address:
Mt Calvary Luth Cemetery,


Biography April 1997 ‎(10 years after death)‎ Written by Marlys Schultz Steidl


Show Details Note: My father, Johann ‎(John)‎ Franz Friedrich Schultz, was born the tenth child of Frank and Endrina ‎(Meyer)‎ Schultz on May 28, 1904 on a farm near Hillsboro, North Dakota. This is where he grew up and attended school through sixth grade. By then he had learned the three "R's" -- Reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic, as it was called back then. Then he had to, or did, quit school to help on the farm. I recall my Dad telling how he, and usually his sister Dorothy, used to take eggs and homemade butter to town to sell or trade at the general store for other goods the family needed. I recall Dad telling that for a time he drove a horse drawn school bus to transport other kids to school.
My Dad's father died in 1918 and his mother died in 1921 according to records. After that Dad worked for his brother William ‎(Uncle Bill, as I knew him)‎ who had taken over the family farm. I also remember Dad telling something about working near Devils Lake, North Dakota for a time; I'm not sure doing what. I would suppose doing farm work or whatever he could find to earn some money.

In 1930 or 1931, Dad came to Minnesota to visit his sister Dorothy, who had married Henry Froemming and moved to a farm near Miltona, Minnesota in Douglas. Dorothy had met Henry when he went from MN to ND to work ‎(probably picking potatoes)‎. Henry and Dorothy were married in 1924 and moved shortly afterward to the farm where Henry had grown up on the S.W. side of Lake Irene near Miltona.

In 1929 my dad bought a new Model A Ford Coupe. That is the car that he drove to MN when he came to visit his sister Dorothy and family. I can only imagine how many flat tires, over heated engine problems and rest stops he must have had to make in those days to make the approximately 200 mile trip from Hillsboro, N. Dakota to Miltona, MN. No freeways, just dirt, pot-holed trails, I'm sure. I wonder how much beef jerky he had put in his bag to eat along the way. The trip probably took a week or more.

After coming to MN, Dad stayed with, and worked for Henry and Dorothy on their farm. He also worked for a man named Erick Keinitz, who owned a wood cutting and lumber sawing mill, and for a farmer named Emil Block, and others wherever he could find work.

My Dad met my mother, Evelyn Wilke, when she went to work for Dorothy Froemming before and after one of her children were born in 1932 or 1933. My mother had met the Froemmings at a house dance party at the Carl Miller home which was between Miltona and Parkers Prairie, MN. House parties were, for the most part, where people went to socialize back then; at least in this area. Carl Miller was my Mother's Uncle.

My Dad and Mother were married on Jan. 25, 1934 at the home of her Dad, Bill Wilke. They lived there with my Grandpa Bill and Mom's younger sisters and brother until 1936. My mother's mother had died when she was only 10 years old. Since Mom was the oldest one of her sisters and brother, she stayed to help out there. Dad helped Grandpa Wilke on the farm and also continued to work for Erick Keinitz, Emil Block and others. Marlin ‎(now deceased)‎, their oldest son was born while they were living at Grandpa Wilke's home.

In about 1936, Dad and Mom got a job working at Piga's Resort ‎(Ed)‎ on the east side of Lake Miltona. Dad worked as a maintenance man, fishing guide, and grounds keeper. My mother worked as a maid to Mrs. Piga in the main house and also as a cabin cleaner and cook for the resort. Dad and my mothers uncle, Herb Wilke, also did a little "bootlegging" in those dry '30's to make a little extra money. Mom and Dad's living quarters were in a little house in the woods about 3/4 miles east of the resort. That is where I ‎(Marlys)‎, their second child was born on Feb. 6, 1938.

In the spring of 1939 my parents moved to a house east of Parkers Prairie ‎(Ottertail)‎ where Dad worked on a farm owned by a farmer named Ed Peterson. They lived there for about one year. In 1940, Dad and Mom rented a farm about 5 miles east of Miltona that was owned by a Skoglund family. There, Marlo ‎(now living in Eagle River, Alaska)‎, their third child
was born on March 27, 1941. Besides milking cows, raising some hogs, chickens, turkeys and ducks and plowing and harvesting his fields with his four horses, Dad made eveners for horse drawn wagons, etc. He built a box to attach to theback of his 1929 Ford Coupe. Dad and Mom then hauled them all the way to N. Dakota to sell for $1.00. I remember Dad telling how the hogs they raised for butchering sold for $3.00 each! I remember riding on the back of one of the 4 horses that pulled the Sulky plow as Dad plowed the furrows down the field.

Dad and Mom rented the Skoglund place through the summer of 1943 when they bought a 120 acre farm from Robert Schulke southwest of Miltona between Lake Carlos and Lake Miltona. Part of the land that they bought is now a part of Lake Carlos State Park. My twin brothers, John and Jim, were born while we lived there. They were born in St. Lukes Hospital in Alexandria, MN on May 26, 1944. So was my brother Wayne, on Oct. 23, 1949, sister Barbara on Dec. 15 1950, and my youngest brother Gary on April 17, 1953. All were born in the old St. Lukes Hospital.

Mom and Dad farmed their land there, raising corn, hay and small grains, milked cows, raising hogs, chickens, ducks, geese, and their EIGHT kids!

Dad liked to fish and he built a small ice fishing house which he'd load onto the horse drawn sled to put on either Lake Carlos or Miltona so he could go spearing. All of us kids vied for time when we could go fishing on a Sat. or Sun. afternoon with him. It was always a thrill to be able to go with him to that dark ice house and sit and wait for the BIG fish to come in for Dad to spear. Dad always carved his own decoys to jiggle in the water to attract the "big ones". He also carved many to take to Miltona to the local hardware store to sell to others. I remember helping him cut fins for the decoys and melting the lead in a tin can on the wood cook stove to be used as sinkers for the decoys. I even carved one of my own, under Dad's guidance and painted it blue. Dad said it was a very good decoy, but I don't really recall that it ever lured a fish into the spearing hole. I have the feeling that it never got used unless I was in the house at the time with Dad, and then only for awhile. We'd change decoys every little while. But that is the kind of man Dad was -- he'd never hurt my feelings for anything! I do remember watching Dad spear many big fish when he used decoys that he had made. He would be excited and so would 1. Fun! Dad didn't own a boat of his own until later years, but as I was growing up we often went in the evenings to fish sunfish off the shores of Lake Carlos or to fish bullheads at the Lake Carlos Dam, the mouth of the Long Prairie River.

Dad trapped a lot - muskrats, mink, raccoon. He would skin carcasses after chores until all hours of the night. These were sold and the money was used to buy school clothes and Christmas presents. The boys got interested in trapping and hunting coons with dogs. The most was 128 coons in one season and that was with the aide of their coon hounds. They got $1.00 for muskrats and $3 - $4 for coons.

Dad liked to play baseball. In the late 1940's and early 1950's he was one of the most instrumental persons in organizing a baseball team in the town of Miltona. Dad helped to raise money to purchase a piece of ground of Ben and Lawrence Wilkes on the north edge of Miltona to make a baseball field. He started and coached the first "little league team99 and helped to recruit players and coach the first players for the "Big Team" in Miltona. The team is now known as the Miltona Tigers. We have a picture of Dad receiving a cake at a party held for him in 1956 in appreciation of all that he had done for the team. We rarely missed a Sunday afternoon ball game. Only dire need would stop that such as putting up hay if rain threatened. In later years Dad always followed the Minnesota Twins ball games on radio or TV. He never did get to attend a game in person, but he was a faithful fan.

Dad was a faithful member of Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Miltona, Mn. He spent many hours along with others helping to build the church in the 1940's. He was a Trustee at Mt. Calvary for many years. Every Sun. morning if at all possible, Dad, Mom, and all of us kids sat in the same pew in the church - third pew from the front - right side.

In Feb. of 1970, their house on the farm burned down. They lost all of their household possessions. No one was home at the time. The fire was determined to have been started by an overheated wood stove which was

used to heat their home. Many friends and family rallied to help. Then Dad and Mom rented a house near Miltona to live in until Oct. 1970 when they purchased a home on the west side of Lake Irene. In the meantime, Dad and Mom auctioned off all of their livestock and machinery. Ted and Marlys Steidl ‎(me)‎ purchased the land from them.

In the spring of 1971, Dad went to work at R & R Ready Mix by Miltona where his sons, Jim, John, & Wayne also worked. On that job, Dad ran the rock crusher, did painting and many other odd jobs around the plant. My mother babysat for my brother Jim and wife Deanna's two children and also for a neighbor's two small children.

In the late fall of 1971, Dad fell from a ladder while painting at R & R and broke bones in both his feet. This put him out of commission for most of that winter as both feet were in casts. By the spring of 1972, Dad was back to work at R & R at his regular job and continued to work there through the fall of 1974. His eyesight wasn't very good anymore, and Mom, who had Lupus had lots of medical problems. His car started on fire under the hood that winter. Since his eyes were not very good for driving anymore he never got the car fixed; therefore he retired from R&R in the spring of 1975 at the age of 71 years old.

Just because Dad retired from R & R Ready Mix does not mean that he retired. Always an avid gardener, Dad tilled up more of his grounds and he and Mom planted, grew, and sold vegetables. They had a big strawberry and raspberry patch. They sold their produce to the grocery store in Miltona, to tourists and their regular customers. They also gave plenty of it away to their kids, good friends, and neighbors. They had almost meticulous flower beds and lawn. Dad also had to take care more care of Mom whose health was worsening.

In the early winter of 1977, Dad was diagnosed to have cancer in his left lung and had surgery to remove a part of the lung. He then had radiation treatments in St. Cloud, MN for 6 weeks, after which Dad showed cancer f ree.

That spring at the doctor's advice, Dad started taking short walks in the open air to strengthen his lungs and body after the lung surgery. Along the way he began to notice all the cans and litter along the roadsides. He decided to bring along a bag each morning and pick cans and other garbage up along his way. He would bring the cans back to his garage, crush them with his feet and fill bags of them to be taken to the local recycling center by one of his sons. This became his daily routine. His lungs grew stronger again and he got paid a few cents per lb. for the crushed cans.

In the meantime Mom's health problems worsened. She had many operations and even the smallest scratch would cause an infection that wouldn't heal. Over the years she had her gall bladder and spleen removed and a colostomy She also had a pacemaker put into her body.

The disease affected all the systems of her body. She died in the Parkers Prairie Hospital on Sept. 3, 1979, exactly one month short of her 66th birthday. We all know that she is in heaven with God and all the other saints and angels.

After Mom died, Dad began to walk more and further everyday to help occupy his time, picking up the cans along the roadside. He would take his bags with him. His little dog, Snoopy, was his constant companion as he walked. Dad would often walk up to 15 or 20 miles per day if the weather permitted, filling his bags, tying them shut and setting them in the ditch and go home and wait for one of his kids to come by and take him to pick up his full bags and bring them home.

At one time he saved enough money to buy a much needed hearing aid. There were times when us kids wondered if he really needed the hearing aid, because he always seemed to hear very well what we didn't want him to hear! But don't parents always seem to hear those things? , Dad had eye surgery in one of those years to remove cataracts from both eyes. That helped him alot. Dad was featured in our local Alexandria paper in 1984. A big picture of him walking with his sack on his back full of cans that had been thrown along the roadsides. His little dog Snoopy was at this side. Dad, I'm sure was one of the first people in our community to start the "clean-up our highway and roadside" projects. I had never heard of such a project before. Now days there are signs all over saying "Help keep the next 2 miles clean". As far as I know, my Dad was a pioneer in that project in this area.

In 1985 Dad began to have lower abdominal problems and was diagnosed as having colon cancer. He had surgery and a part of his colon was removed. He had a temporary colostomy as a few months later his colon was reattached and he seemed to be fine. But Dad never really did feel good again, and could not keep up his walking, yard and garden. The cancer had spread and he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was getting very hard for him to be alone. He chose not to have any more radiation treatments. ‎(The doctors said it would not cure it anyway)‎. His greatest wish then was just to be able to join his beloved wife, Evelyn.

In Sept. of 1986, he moved into St. Williams Nursing Home in Parkers Prairie, Mn. There he made friends with the nurses and other residents playing cards and etc. He continued to take walks there as long as he felt up to it and weather permitted. He was still the avid outdoorsman he had always been.

Dad passed away on March 7, 1987 at Parkers Prairie Community Hospital. His funeral services were held at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Miltona, MN. He was laid to rest beside our mother, his beloved wife, Evelyn, in Mt. Calvary cemetery on the SW side of Lake Irene - only a few miles from where they met, married, and lived for the most part of their years together.

"Thank you, Mom and Dad, for all the things you did for me in all the years you were there for me."
I don't know what more to say even though I have many more memories. If I could write them all it would be a BIG book, and none of the memories are bad. There were hard times due to sickness, not quite enough money to go around it seemed, but they always made it. They were good hard working people. I wish there were a lot more people in this world like my Dad and Mom. I know they are both residents of God's Kingdom in Heaven at this time. I hope somehow that they can know how much I appreciate all the things they did for me and taught me while they were here on this earth. Like most kids, I know I did not appreciate them enough back then. I know I never said "Thank You" enough times to them. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if I ever said "Thank You" to them when I was a kid. Let me say it now - "Thank you, Mom & Dad, for all the things you did for me in all the years you were there for me. Now that I'm getting old and have gone through a lot of years, I realize what you went through just to raise one kid like me. Thanks, Mom and Dad."

Written by your daughter,
Marlys Schultz Steidl
April 1997

Other resources for information:

My brothers John & Jim and their wives Marie and Deanna
My sister Barbara and husband Glen Fuller
John Wilke ‎(Mom's brother)‎
Donna Wussow ‎(Aunt Dorothy Froemming's daughter)‎
Marsha Luedeke ‎(Secretary at R & R Ready Mix Company)‎

Religion Lutheran
Last Change 1 April 2009
View Details for ...

Parents Family  (F662)
Frank SCHULTZ
1857 - 1918
Endrina MEYER
1875 - 1921
Fritz Wilhelm Ferdinand ‎(Fred)‎ SCHULTZ
1894 - 1925
William Friedrich Karl SCHULTZ
1895 - 1974
Heinrich Gustav Emil ‎(Henry)‎ SCHULTZ
1896 - 1966
Karl August Ludwig SCHULTZ
1897 - 1898
Ida Bertha Adelheid SCHULTZ
1898 - 1980
Franz Johann Wilhelm ‎(John)‎ SCHULTZ
1899 - 1900
Emilia Louise SCHULTZ
1901 - 1901
Ella Martha Emilie SCHULTZ
1902 - 1919
Dorothy Otilla SCHULTZ
1903 - 1983
Johann Franz Friedrich ‎(John)‎ SCHULTZ
1904 - 1987
Erick Emil Alfred SCHULTZ
1907 - 1991
Elfrieda ‎(Frieda)‎ Bertha Louise SCHULTZ
1908 - 1976
Walter Emil Edmund SCHULTZ
1911 - 1982
Margaret Edna SCHULTZ
1915 - 1955

Immediate Family  (F79)
Evelyn Emma WILKE
1913 - 1979
Marlin SCHULTZ
1934 - 1989
Marlys SCHULTZ
-
Marlo SCHULTZ
-
John F. Schultz SCHULTZ
-
James K. SCHULTZ
-
Wayne SCHULTZ
-
Barbara SCHULTZ
-
Gary SCHULTZ
-


Notes
Biography John Frank Schultz, Sr. was born on 5/28/1904 in Hillsboro, N. Dakota. He had 13 brothers and sisters. From youngest to oldest they are: Fred, Bill, Henry, Karl, Ida, Franz, Emilia, Ella, Dorothy, John, Erick, Freida, Walter and Margaret. Three of them died within a year after being born.

On the farm where John lived he would go with his brothers and sisters and herd the cows back to the barn. Then they would feed, water and milk the cows. After this he would go to bed and then get up early and do it all over again and then he would go to school.

John only went to school for 6 years. He didn't like school and didn't have any favorite subjects. He said and I quote, "I didn't really like school much. I was kind of a roughneck."

John didn't have any girlfriends, but his best friend was Teddy McDonald. John said they pulled quite a few pranks but he couldn't remember any of them.

In 1934 he married Evelyn Wilke and they moved to a farm 4 miles South of Miltona. John became a farmer because he had been raised on a farm and that's all he knew how to do. John and Evelyn were married for 45 years until she died in 1979. During that time they had 8 children, six boys and two girls.

After their house burned down in 1970, they moved to a house on Lake Irene. He then worked at R & R Ready Mix for 5 years and is now retired.

John's favorite season is summer. He remembers many summers in N. Dakota when cyclones would hit. They would squeeze things to the ground and smash things instead of blowing them all apart like tornadoes do. He also had accidents of his own. When he was five or six he went through a manure spreader. When he was 16 he was kicked in the head by a horse. Also while he worked at R & R he fell off a ladder and broke both this legs.

John's favorite sport is baseball. He's played the sport since he was a kid. When he got older he raised enough money to start a baseball team in Miltona. He eventually started the first team in Miltona and became the president and manager of the team. As the manager he won most games.

John said if he could do anything he wanted he would visit all his relatives in N. Dakota, California, and Nevada.

John liked Franklin D. Roosevelt for what he did for America in the times of the depression. When he was active being a baseball fan he also admired Harmon Killebrew.

John doesn't know much about the schools now, but in the early 60's he tried to get the Miltona and Carlos school districts to build one school instead of one for each town. The school board voted against it. John thinks there is too much crime in the world now days, but doesn't know what to do about it. He says everything that could be done has been done and nothing works.

John, who now lives alone, is retired. He works in his garden and picks up cans. Last year he made over $300 picking up aluminum cans.

John said one of his scariest and funniest moments was when John and his friend Teddy McDonald went to N. Dakota for a weekend when they were in their 20's. They picked up a couple Indian girls and parked in the woods. Suddenly they were surrounded by Indians. One of them cut him with a knife on the arm. Then Teddy hollered, "Shorty, get your gun." Shorty was John's nickname. When Teddy said that, all the Indians took off and they got away safely. Now that's a wild life!
Biography My father, Johann ‎(John)‎ Franz Friedrich Schultz, was born the tenth child of Frank and Endrina ‎(Meyer)‎ Schultz on May 28, 1904 on a farm near Hillsboro, North Dakota. This is where he grew up and attended school through sixth grade. By then he had learned the three "R's" -- Reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic, as it was called back then. Then he had to, or did, quit school to help on the farm. I recall my Dad telling how he, and usually his sister Dorothy, used to take eggs and homemade butter to town to sell or trade at the general store for other goods the family needed. I recall Dad telling that for a time he drove a horse drawn school bus to transport other kids to school.

My Dad's father died in 1918 and his mother died in 1921 according to records. After that Dad worked for his brother William ‎(Uncle Bill, as I knew him)‎ who had taken over the family farm. I also remember Dad telling something about working near Devils Lake, North Dakota for a time; I'm not sure doing what. I would suppose doing farm work or whatever he could find to earn some money.

In 1930 or 1931, Dad came to Minnesota to visit his sister Dorothy, who had married Henry Froemming and moved to a farm near Miltona, Minnesota in Douglas. Dorothy had met Henry when he went from MN to ND to work ‎(probably picking potatoes)‎. Henry and Dorothy were married in 1924 and moved shortly afterward to the farm where Henry had grown up on the S.W. side of Lake Irene near Miltona.

In 1929 my dad bought a new Model A Ford Coupe. That is the car that he drove to MN when he came to visit his sister Dorothy and family. I can only imagine how many flat tires, over heated engine problems and rest stops he must have had to make in those days to make the approximately 200 mile trip from Hillsboro, N. Dakota to Miltona, MN. No freeways, just dirt, pot-holed trails, I'm sure. I wonder how much beef jerky he had put in his bag to eat along the way. The trip probably took a week or more.

After coming to MN, Dad stayed with, and worked for Henry and Dorothy on their farm. He also worked for a man named Erick Keinitz, who owned a wood cutting and lumber sawing mill, and for a farmer named Emil Block, and others wherever he could find work.

My Dad met my mother, Evelyn Wilke, when she went to work for Dorothy Froemming before and after one of her children were born in 1932 or 1933. My mother had met the Froemmings at a house dance party at the Carl Miller home which was between Miltona and Parkers Prairie, MN. House parties were, for the most part, where people went to socialize back then; at least in this area. Carl Miller was my Mother's Uncle.

My Dad and Mother were married on Jan. 25, 1934 at the home of her Dad, Bill Wilke. They lived there with my Grandpa Bill and Mom's younger sisters and brother until 1936. My mother's mother had died when she was only 10 years old. Since Mom was the oldest one of her sisters and brother, she stayed to help out there. Dad helped Grandpa Wilke on the farm and also continued to work for Erick Keinitz, Emil Block and others. Marlin ‎(now deceased)‎, their oldest son was born while they were living at Grandpa Wilke's home.

In about 1936, Dad and Mom got a job working at Piga's Resort ‎(Ed)‎ on the east side of Lake Miltona. Dad worked as a maintenance man, fishing guide, and grounds keeper. My mother worked as a maid to Mrs. Piga in the main house and also as a cabin cleaner and cook for the resort. Dad and my mothers uncle, Herb Wilke, also did a little "bootlegging" in those dry '30's to make a little extra money. Mom and Dad's living quarters were in a little house in the woods about 3/4 miles east of the resort. That is where I ‎(Marlys)‎, their second child was born on Feb. 6, 1938.

In the spring of 1939 my parents moved to a house east of Parkers Prairie ‎(Ottertail)‎ where Dad worked on a farm owned by a farmer named Ed Peterson. They lived there for about one year. In 1940, Dad and Mom rented a farm about 5 miles east of Miltona that was owned by a Skoglund family. There, Marlo ‎(now living in Eagle River, Alaska)‎, their third child
was born on March 27, 1941. Besides milking cows, raising some hogs, chickens, turkeys and ducks and plowing and harvesting his fields with his four horses, Dad made eveners for horse drawn wagons, etc. He built a box to attach to theback of his 1929 Ford Coupe. Dad and Mom then hauled them all the way to N. Dakota to sell for $1.00. I remember Dad telling how the hogs they raised for butchering sold for $3.00 each! I remember riding on the back of one of the 4 horses that pulled the Sulky plow as Dad plowed the furrows down the field.

Dad and Mom rented the Skoglund place through the summer of 1943 when they bought a 120 acre farm from Robert Schulke southwest of Miltona between Lake Carlos and Lake Miltona. Part of the land that they bought is now a part of Lake Carlos State Park. My twin brothers, John and Jim, were born while we lived there. They were born in St. Lukes Hospital in Alexandria, MN on May 26, 1944. So was my brother Wayne, on Oct. 23, 1949, sister Barbara on Dec. 15 1950, and my youngest brother Gary on April 17, 1953. All were born in the old St. Lukes Hospital.

Mom and Dad farmed their land there, raising corn, hay and small grains, milked cows, raising hogs, chickens, ducks, geese, and their EIGHT kids!

Dad liked to fish and he built a small ice fishing house which he'd load onto the horse drawn sled to put on either Lake Carlos or Miltona so he could go spearing. All of us kids vied for time when we could go fishing on a Sat. or Sun. afternoon with him. It was always a thrill to be able to go with him to that dark ice house and sit and wait for the BIG fish to come in for Dad to spear. Dad always carved his own decoys to jiggle in the water to attract the "big ones". He also carved many to take to Miltona to the local hardware store to sell to others. I remember helping him cut fins for the decoys and melting the lead in a tin can on the wood cook stove to be used as sinkers for the decoys. I even carved one of my own, under Dad's guidance and painted it blue. Dad said it was a very good decoy, but I don't really recall that it ever lured a fish into the spearing hole. I have the feeling that it never got used unless I was in the house at the time with Dad, and then only for awhile. We'd change decoys every little while. But that is the kind of man Dad was -- he'd never hurt my feelings for anything! I do remember watching Dad spear many big fish when he used decoys that he had made. He would be excited and so would 1. Fun! Dad didn't own a boat of his own until later years, but as I was growing up we often went in the evenings to fish sunfish off the shores of Lake Carlos or to fish bullheads at the Lake Carlos Dam, the mouth of the Long Prairie River.

Dad trapped a lot - muskrats, mink, raccoon. He would skin carcasses after chores until all hours of the night. These were sold and the money was used to buy school clothes and Christmas presents. The boys got interested in trapping and hunting coons with dogs. The most was 128 coons in one season and that was with the aide of their coon hounds. They got $1.00 for muskrats and $3 - $4 for coons.

Dad liked to play baseball. In the late 1940's and early 1950's he was one of the most instrumental persons in organizing a baseball team in the town of Miltona. Dad helped to raise money to purchase a piece of ground of Ben and Lawrence Wilkes on the north edge of Miltona to make a baseball field. He started and coached the first "little league team99 and helped to recruit players and coach the first players for the "Big Team" in Miltona. The team is now known as the Miltona Tigers. We have a picture of Dad receiving a cake at a party held for him in 1956 in appreciation of all that he had done for the team. We rarely missed a Sunday afternoon ball game. Only dire need would stop that such as putting up hay if rain threatened. In later years Dad always followed the Minnesota Twins ball games on radio or TV. He never did get to attend a game in person, but he was a faithful fan.

Dad was a faithful member of Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Miltona, Mn. He spent many hours along with others helping to build the church in the 1940's. He was a Trustee at Mt. Calvary for many years. Every Sun. morning if at all possible, Dad, Mom, and all of us kids sat in the same pew in the church - third pew from the front - right side.

In Feb. of 1970, their house on the farm burned down. They lost all of their household possessions. No one was home at the time. The fire was determined to have been started by an overheated wood stove which was

used to heat their home. Many friends and family rallied to help. Then Dad and Mom rented a house near Miltona to live in until Oct. 1970 when they purchased a home on the west side of Lake Irene. In the meantime, Dad and Mom auctioned off all of their livestock and machinery. Ted and Marlys Steidl ‎(me)‎ purchased the land from them.

In the spring of 1971, Dad went to work at R & R Ready Mix by Miltona where his sons, Jim, John, & Wayne also worked. On that job, Dad ran the rock crusher, did painting and many other odd jobs around the plant. My mother babysat for my brother Jim and wife Deanna's two children and also for a neighbor's two small children.

In the late fall of 1971, Dad fell from a ladder while painting at R & R and broke bones in both his feet. This put him out of commission for most of that winter as both feet were in casts. By the spring of 1972, Dad was back to work at R & R at his regular job and continued to work there through the fall of 1974. His eyesight wasn't very good anymore, and Mom, who had Lupus had lots of medical problems. His car started on fire under the hood that winter. Since his eyes were not very good for driving anymore he never got the car fixed; therefore he retired from R&R in the spring of 1975 at the age of 71 years old.

Just because Dad retired from R & R Ready Mix does not mean that he retired. Always an avid gardener, Dad tilled up more of his grounds and he and Mom planted, grew, and sold vegetables. They had a big strawberry and raspberry patch. They sold their produce to the grocery store in Miltona, to tourists and their regular customers. They also gave plenty of it away to their kids, good friends, and neighbors. They had almost meticulous flower beds and lawn. Dad also had to take care more care of Mom whose health was worsening.

In the early winter of 1977, Dad was diagnosed to have cancer in his left lung and had surgery to remove a part of the lung. He then had radiation treatments in St. Cloud, MN for 6 weeks, after which Dad showed cancer f ree.

That spring at the doctor's advice, Dad started taking short walks in the open air to strengthen his lungs and body after the lung surgery. Along the way he began to notice all the cans and litter along the roadsides. He decided to bring along a bag each morning and pick cans and other garbage up along his way. He would bring the cans back to his garage, crush them with his feet and fill bags of them to be taken to the local recycling center by one of his sons. This became his daily routine. His lungs grew stronger again and he got paid a few cents per lb. for the crushed cans.

In the meantime Mom's health problems worsened. She had many operations and even the smallest scratch would cause an infection that wouldn't heal. Over the years she had her gall bladder and spleen removed and a colostomy She also had a pacemaker put into her body.

The disease affected all the systems of her body. She died in the Parkers Prairie Hospital on Sept. 3, 1979, exactly one month short of her 66th birthday. We all know that she is in heaven with God and all the other saints and angels.

After Mom died, Dad began to walk more and further everyday to help occupy his time, picking up the cans along the roadside. He would take his bags with him. His little dog, Snoopy, was his constant companion as he walked. Dad would often walk up to 15 or 20 miles per day if the weather permitted, filling his bags, tying them shut and setting them in the ditch and go home and wait for one of his kids to come by and take him to pick up his full bags and bring them home.

At one time he saved enough money to buy a much needed hearing aid. There were times when us kids wondered if he really needed the hearing aid, because he always seemed to hear very well what we didn't want him to hear! But don't parents always seem to hear those things? , Dad had eye surgery in one of those years to remove cataracts from both eyes. That helped him alot. Dad was featured in our local Alexandria paper in 1984. A big picture of him walking with his sack on his back full of cans that had been thrown along the roadsides. His little dog Snoopy was at this side. Dad, I'm sure was one of the first people in our community to start the "clean-up our highway and roadside" projects. I had never heard of such a project before. Now days there are signs all over saying "Help keep the next 2 miles clean". As far as I know, my Dad was a pioneer in that project in this area.

In 1985 Dad began to have lower abdominal problems and was diagnosed as having colon cancer. He had surgery and a part of his colon was removed. He had a temporary colostomy as a few months later his colon was reattached and he seemed to be fine. But Dad never really did feel good again, and could not keep up his walking, yard and garden. The cancer had spread and he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was getting very hard for him to be alone. He chose not to have any more radiation treatments. ‎(The doctors said it would not cure it anyway)‎. His greatest wish then was just to be able to join his beloved wife, Evelyn.

In Sept. of 1986, he moved into St. Williams Nursing Home in Parkers Prairie, Mn. There he made friends with the nurses and other residents playing cards and etc. He continued to take walks there as long as he felt up to it and weather permitted. He was still the avid outdoorsman he had always been.

Dad passed away on March 7, 1987 at Parkers Prairie Community Hospital. His funeral services were held at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Miltona, MN. He was laid to rest beside our mother, his beloved wife, Evelyn, in Mt. Calvary cemetery on the SW side of Lake Irene - only a few miles from where they met, married, and lived for the most part of their years together.

"Thank you, Mom and Dad, for all the things you did for me in all the years you were there for me."
I don't know what more to say even though I have many more memories. If I could write them all it would be a BIG book, and none of the memories are bad. There were hard times due to sickness, not quite enough money to go around it seemed, but they always made it. They were good hard working people. I wish there were a lot more people in this world like my Dad and Mom. I know they are both residents of God's Kingdom in Heaven at this time. I hope somehow that they can know how much I appreciate all the things they did for me and taught me while they were here on this earth. Like most kids, I know I did not appreciate them enough back then. I know I never said "Thank You" enough times to them. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if I ever said "Thank You" to them when I was a kid. Let me say it now - "Thank you, Mom & Dad, for all the things you did for me in all the years you were there for me. Now that I'm getting old and have gone through a lot of years, I realize what you went through just to raise one kid like me. Thanks, Mom and Dad."

Written by your daughter,
Marlys Schultz Steidl
April 1997

Other resources for information:

My brothers John & Jim and their wives Marie and Deanna
My sister Barbara and husband Glen Fuller
John Wilke ‎(Mom's brother)‎
Donna Wussow ‎(Aunt Dorothy Froemming's daughter)‎
Marsha Luedeke ‎(Secretary at R & R Ready Mix Company)‎

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Christening Source #12

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Family with Parents
Father
Frank SCHULTZ ‎(I770)‎
Birth 2 November 1857 28 30 Gros Sabow, Kreis Naugard, Pommern, DEU
Death 22 November 1918 ‎(Age 61)‎ Fargo, Cass, North Dakota, USA
18 years
Mother
 
Endrina MEYER ‎(I880)‎
Birth 1 October 1875 31 28 Effington, Otter Tail, Minnesota, USA
Death 12 September 1921 ‎(Age 45)‎ Hillsboro, Traill, North Dakota, USA

Marriage: 13 October 1889
5 years
#1
Brother
Fritz Wilhelm Ferdinand ‎(Fred)‎ SCHULTZ ‎(I1519)‎
Birth 12 September 1894 36 18 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death July 1925 ‎(Age 30)‎ California, USA
15 months
#2
Brother
William Friedrich Karl SCHULTZ ‎(I1995)‎
Birth 5 December 1895 38 20 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 5 February 1974 ‎(Age 78)‎ Hillsboro, Traill, North Dakota, USA
1 year
#3
Brother
Heinrich Gustav Emil ‎(Henry)‎ SCHULTZ ‎(I1530)‎
Birth 5 December 1896 39 21 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 3 November 1966 ‎(Age 69)‎
1 year
#4
Brother
Karl August Ludwig SCHULTZ ‎(I1541)‎
Birth 1 December 1897 40 22 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 29 July 1898 ‎(Age 7 months)‎ Hillsboro, Traill, North Dakota, USA
1 year
#5
Sister
Ida Bertha Adelheid SCHULTZ ‎(I1553)‎
Birth 3 December 1898 41 23 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 4 June 1980 ‎(Age 81)‎ Sioux Falls, Minnehaha, South Dakota, USA
1 year
#6
Brother
Franz Johann Wilhelm ‎(John)‎ SCHULTZ ‎(I1564)‎
Birth 18 December 1899 42 24 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 25 August 1900 ‎(Age 8 months)‎ Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
13 months
#7
Sister
Emilia Louise SCHULTZ ‎(I1575)‎
Birth 8 January 1901 43 25 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 2 October 1901 ‎(Age 8 months)‎
17 months
#8
Sister
Ella Martha Emilie SCHULTZ ‎(I1586)‎
Birth 2 June 1902 44 26 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 7 February 1919 ‎(Age 16)‎ Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
1 year
#9
Sister
Dorothy Otilla SCHULTZ ‎(I1597)‎
Birth 30 May 1903 45 27 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 23 May 1983 ‎(Age 79)‎ Alexandria, Douglas, Minnesota, USA
1 year
#10
Johann Franz Friedrich ‎(John)‎ SCHULTZ ‎(I1608)‎
Birth 28 May 1904 46 28 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 7 March 1987 ‎(Age 82)‎ Parkers Prairie, Otter Tail, Minnesota, USA
3 years
#11
Brother
Erick Emil Alfred SCHULTZ ‎(I1619)‎
Birth 19 January 1907 49 31 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 11 March 1991 ‎(Age 84)‎ Alexandria, Douglas, Minnesota, USA
17 months
#12
Sister
Elfrieda ‎(Frieda)‎ Bertha Louise SCHULTZ ‎(I1630)‎
Birth 7 June 1908 50 32 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 12 November 1976 ‎(Age 68)‎ Flint, , Michigan, USA
3 years
#13
Brother
Walter Emil Edmund SCHULTZ ‎(I1641)‎
Birth 30 June 1911 53 35 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 25 March 1982 ‎(Age 70)‎ Madison, Lake, South Dakota, USA
4 years
#14
Sister
Margaret Edna SCHULTZ ‎(I1652)‎
Birth 31 August 1915 57 39 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 7 February 1955 ‎(Age 39)‎ Jamestown, Stutsman, North Dakota, USA
Family with Evelyn Emma WILKE
Johann Franz Friedrich ‎(John)‎ SCHULTZ ‎(I1608)‎
Birth 28 May 1904 46 28 Caledonia, Traill, North Dakota, USA
Death 7 March 1987 ‎(Age 82)‎ Parkers Prairie, Otter Tail, Minnesota, USA
9 years
Wife
 
Evelyn Emma WILKE ‎(I1902)‎
Birth 3 October 1913 Parkers Prairie, Otter Tail, Minnesota, USA
Death 3 September 1979 ‎(Age 65)‎ Parkers Prairie, Otter Tail, Minnesota, USA

Marriage: 25 January 1934
4 months
#1
Son
Marlin SCHULTZ ‎(I1903)‎
Birth 9 June 1934 30 20 Ottertail, Otter Tail, Minnesota, USA
Death 23 November 1989 ‎(Age 55)‎
#2
Daughter
#3
Son
#4
Son
#5
Son
#6
Son
#7
Daughter
#8
Son