The first home I remember was at 218 North 4th Avenue in the city of Wausau. When I was a baby my parents had lived in an upper flat on North 3rd Avenue but I do not remember living there. My father delivered groceries with horse and wagon for a grocery store called “Cash Trading Co.” on 304 First Avenue South where Palace Clothes later had their store. A man Albert Rapraeger, was one of the owners of Cash Trading Co. and his family had lived at 218 North 4th Avenue. They decided to sell it and gave my family a chance to buy it for $1600 I believe. It was very run down but my parents being young were happy to have a home of their own. (On the day my father paid the last $100 on the mortgage, Albert hung himself. They had 2 sons and 1 daughter–I used to walk to school with Esther in high school.) There was a red barn, a wood shed and an outhouse in the backyard. Also a clothesreel for hanging up wash. In one part of the barn there was a chicken house with an outside wire pen where we had a flock of mixed chickens. The woodshed held wood for the cookstove in the kitchen and also a wood burning stove in our living room which was only opened on holidays like Christmas and Easter; until my grandmother Gottlieba Schrader came to live with us. She occupied that room then; it had been our living room. Our Grandma Schrader was a dear, kind person and we children loved her. My Mother went to work cleaning homes and offices and Grandma took care of us while our Mother worked.
There were 4 of us children: myself born 1907, Alice in 1910, Milton 1912, and Marie in 1913. Milton was weak and had double hernias from birth for which he was taken to a chiropractor; a Dr. Lapin, who had him strapped to a metal frame which was 3” higher in the center and 2” lower on the ends. It did no good and he had an operation for the hernias which was needed and did help. When Milton was 3 years old our family doctor in whom we had much faith advised my parents to take Milton to the Mayo Brothers Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to get their advice. They spent one week there and Milton was given a complete exam. They prescribed cod liver oil for him which was a heavy cream colored liquid which he took always everyday. He was also given egg nogs which we made at home every day. He was never very strong but became the Wausau’s city electrician when he grew up and married Leona Pond. They had no children. My sister Alice developed diabetes and doctors did not know how to treat it at that time and she died at age 11.
Funerals were held in the home in those days. My Mother took it very hard, and it took a very long time for her to accept Alice’s death.
When we were all quite very young we were sent to a Sunday School called Mary Poor Memorial Chapel on 3rd Avenue close to our home. It lasted one hour from 3 to 4 o’clock on Sunday afternoons. We each brought a penny and were given a religious card and a little 4-page paper called “The Dewdrop.” I used to read the Bible stories in The Dewdrop to my Mother when we came home, sometimes by the light of our big square coal stove which had isinglass on 3 sides. We had no electricity at that time.
I remember well the day my parents decided to have electricity put in our home. We were all excited about it.
By that time my father had opened a very small grocery store on North 4th Avenue near the Grant School where we children went to school. I remember we had a nice American Flyer sled and on one of my trips to the store with the sled I came to the sidewalk at the end of the 200 Block and the sled dropped to the road unexpectedly and I hit some metal on the sled causing me to break one of my front teeth. We had a nice dentist, Dr. Anderson, who has his office above Miller’s Jewelry store on the corner of Washington and 3rd Streets. Our medical doctor, Dr. Nichols and Dr. Anderson shared a “waiting room.” My Mother worked for both Dr. Nichols and Dr. Anderson’s wives in their homes as well as for Rev. Ernst C. Grauer, the minister of Saint Paul’s Evangelical Church my parents later joined. They treated her very well as she did very good work. She ate lunch with Rev. and Mrs. Grauer.
I was confirmed when I was 13 and was glad when it was over.
My Mother bought me a brown silk dress for “Examination” where we were asked questions which we recited answers to, and a white lace dress for confirmation. My aunts and uncles in Wausau were invited for dinner on “Confirmation Day.” My picture was taken at LaCerte’s studio across from Curtis & Yale. It was enlarged and hung in our living room.
While we were very young we went to Sunday School at 9 A.M. which Mrs. Grauer taught. As we became older we graduated to the older class taught by Rev. Grauer. While I was still in 7th grade at Grant School I started going to Catechism classes at St. Paul’s Church for which we were excused from school about an hour every Wednesday afternoon. There were about 4 or 5 children from my class. On Saturday we went to catechism class too.
After I finished the 8th grade at Grant School I first wanted to become a teacher and enrolled at Marathon Co. Normal on the corner of 7th and Stewart Avenue because a friend Erna Anklam and her brother William were going there. When I found we were going to teach in the country I decided it wasn’t for me and I enrolled at Wausau High School, now known as Wausau East and remodeled completely. I sat in seat J-10 in the big hall. We only needed 16 credits to graduate and when I saw I could meet the requirements sooner, I asked my folks if they would give me $10 for summer school so I could graduate in 3 years instead of 4. So I took 3 subjects to get enough credits, and then I started in the English Course, I took some Commercial subjects, shorthand and typing. My friend, Auguste Gease, also graduated in 3 years and we are now both widows and correspond still as she lives in New Jersey after many years in Japan, teaching English and adopting a little Japanese boy named William after her late husband.
I liked penmanship and had Mrs. Thresher and Mr. Hickey as my teachers in penmanship. While in Mr. Hickey’s class there were contests at Whitewater and I was chosen to compete. We were taken to Whitewater by train and our meals and hotel room paid for. Another girl, Elsie Johnson of Wausau, was also chosen so we were together. None of us won but we enjoyed it.
While going to high school I walked over a mile 4 times a day as I came home at noon and I took my father’s dinner to him on my way back a block off my route. By now my Father had moved his store several times. One time on Second Avenue where there was a Farmers barn. They would bring eggs and butter which they took out in trade, buying feed for livestock even. He had a small room in half of the back of the store where he served ice cream and farmers could eat their lunch. From there he moved to 108 North 2nd Avenue where he rented a store from a Mrs. Pagel. By that time I was helping in the store after school. I always took his deposits to Citizens State Bank on Alexander and Second Avenue. He no longer delivered groceries with a horse and wagon and had purchased a small truck which I believe Milton drove. It was my job to clean the glass candy case, putting in new supplies and keeping it neat. I also cleaned other things and waited on customers. We sold kerosene which I didn’t like when people came on Sundays for it. There was an “outhouse” near the alley – no running water. Then my folks decided to remodel our house and build it large enough to have the store there. In summer my father worked at the remodeling and I took care of the store most of my time. My Mother had taken some boarders and with the store at home it was easier for her to get groceries. There were 5 bedrooms upstairs. In one large room over the store 4 boys were accommodated. She had put her notice in at The Wausau Business College and we had many girls from there. My Mother had hired a girl to help her with the work as there were 12 boarders, including myself.
My friend Erna and her sister Clara were some of the first boarders, also my cousin, Ella Hofmann, who had come to Wausau to work. They were the first boarders Mother had. By now I was working at the Marathon Shoe Company as a stenographer. My friend Augusta also was a “steno.” After 4 years, I met my dear husband, Wallie.
I had a boyfriend, Harold Buckman, who was nice looking and who Mother and Father approved of. We kept company for 4 years – until he went to Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. He had taken me to Milwaukee for his sister Irene’s wedding. We stayed at his aunt’s house, and everyone believed we would get married. I did too, but I also knew he would be meeting many girls at college so when I met a young man, an accountant, who was helping audit the books of Marathon Shoe Co., I smiled at him and he at me. After about a week we spoke to each other and I still have the first note he wrote asking me to wait for him in the hall. But their work was finished sooner than expected so we couldn’t keep our date in the evening.
On my Mother’s side, her father’s name was Henry Passehl and I believe her Mother’s name was Ernestina[Caroline]. They lived on a farm in the Town of Johnson, homesteading. They came from Germany but their children were all born here, except for the oldest, being my Aunt Tena who was married to Charley Hein. Our grandparents lived on the farm and once I remember Mother took us to visit them on the train to Edgar. Her mother had died and Grandpa Passehl then married a Polish woman [Florentine]. Grandpa Passehl was very strict – a hard-hearted man and we never cultivated a love for either one. He forced Milton to eat the crust of his bread which he wasn’t used to having been sick so much.
We never visited them again.
My mother had a step-sister, Bertha, and a step-brother, Rudy, who we liked very much. Aunt Bertha married a man named Glen Riley and they had 4 or 5 boys. Uncle Rudy married Ella Carns and they had a daughter named Nyla. I believe they were divorced later. Aunt Bertha who lived in[…] visited our Mother after I lived in Milwaukee and when she died her sons sent a trunk with some things to my Mother as keepsakes. They lived in Denver. Uncle Glen never made a good living for his family – a shiftless type. He had been in “jail” at the time they were married at my parent’s home. Aunt Bertha was determined to have him and my parents had taken her into our home as she was about to give birth to a baby – a son named Arthur Riley. They had more boys, one named Glen after the father.
Aunt Tena sometimes took me along when they went visiting; meant a ride in their car on trips to Athens.
We always enjoyed going to Aunt Tena and Uncle Charley Hein’s on holidays; we played croquet on her lawn and liked to swing in her “lawn swing.” They lived on 9th Avenue, probably about 133 North 9th Avenue, to us it was “on the hill” as Wausau didn’t extend much further in homes to the West at that time. They had a horse named Dolly, of which Aunt Tena was very fond. They also had a cow, 2 pigs, 2 dogs, some cats and a flock of chickens. Aunt Tena made their butter and every fall they butchered the pigs and our mother was asked to help “catch blood.” Aunt Tena couldn’t see her pigs killed and would go in the farthest corner of the house and cover her ears so she didn’t hear the squealing of her pigs. They were like pets to her. They made sausage and smoked the hams. They had a “smokehouse” which she always painted a pretty sky blue. They had one son named Carl and every morning before he went to school he took their cow to Marquardt’s cow pasture. Seems they allowed people to pasture their cows there. After school he would get the cow home so Aunt Tena could milk her. They had a fence at the edge of their lawn on one side and garden on the other side so animals were always in the barn or pen on the east side – she was very particular about their house and yard. The nice lawn swing we liked to swing in was located on the one side. It had room for 4 or more and it swung by applying pressure on the floor of the swing.
They had a woodshed for storing their winter supply of wood and in which they had an “outhouse” and the Sears Catalog was always there for toilet paper.
I first remember Uncle Charlie Passehl and Aunt Martha living on an upstairs flat on 7th Avenue (about 125 North) owned by a family named Erickson. Uncle Charlie was a very kind and loving person, as was Aunt Martha. She had been Catholic but religion didn’t seem very important in their case. She had a sister who came to visit them occasionally; they had some boys but we never knew them. Aunt Martha and Uncle Charlie had no children – he was one of my sponsors and on my 10th birthday he took me to Maneckes Jewelry store across from Curtis and bought me a pretty ring which he let me choose. It had a red stone in the center with little pearls on each side. I still have the ring but the red stone is out. I thought a lot of Uncle Charlie and Aunt Martha.
On my father’s side there were Uncle Oscar, Uncle Julius, Aunts Rozina, Annie, and Mary. Uncle Oscar lived in Dorchester and had a large family – Annie, Otto, Lydia, Hilda and Elsie (twins), Hulda, Odelia, Arthur and Arnold. Annie went to Milwaukee and lived there, coming home seldom. Otto married a girl named Loretta and we used to send each other Christmas cards. They came to visit Marie and Edward once and they called us over. It was after Marie had the stroke. (Otto was in nursing home and died there.) Uncle Julius married a girl named Bertha and I don’t remember ever seeing them, they lived in Kennan and had a boy named Otto and a girl named Hulda. Aunt Annie married a man named Reinhold Hoffman and they had 5 children – Eddie, a cheesemaker, George, twins Freada and Ella, and Esther. I don’t remember who any of them married, except that Ella came to Wausau and worked at the Marathon Shoe Co. She was a pretty girl and was engaged to marry Albert Kolbe but drowned while on a boat ride with him. She stayed at our house and we enjoyed having her. My Mother was having boarders at that time. Aunt Rozina also married a man named Hoffmann whom I don’t remember having ever seen. She had 5 boys – Edwin who drowned, Edward married and worked in Wausau, Elmer who ended up in a home for people not quite balanced, Harry who I don’t know where he ended up, and Arnold who married and lived in a mining town in the south, and we heard he was killed in a mining disaster. She, Aunt Rozina, had a hard life and my Mother let her do some work for her us to help her with money. Aunt Mary married Uncle Henry Martens and had 3 children, Amanda Gumz, Goldie Rendie, and Ervin who married Viola Patitz. They had 3 children – Winifred, Norman and Norbert. Nancy and Winifred went with boys at the same time and were married about the same time, Winifred to Reuben Hass and Nancy to Roy Dallmann. Norman died of a heart attack at a very young age, and Norbert may still be farming. Viola and Ervin sold their farm and lived in Abbotsford until Ervin died of asthma I believe. She stayed in their home for a time but now has living quarters in a home in Abbotsford. She has had trouble with her eyes. Winifred’s husband died and she remarried to Richard Herrmann; Nancy’s husband also died and she remarried to Marvin Leffel.
I was married to Wallie on August 16, 1930.
Schrader-Polzin Wedding - Walter & Mabel (Schrader) Polzin - August 16, 1930 - St. Paul's Evangelical Church - Wausau, WI
I went to Milwaukee to work in 1929 and found a job as secretary to an elderly man named John Warnken, at Cutler-Hammer on St. Paul Avenue. I met many girls there and made friends easily. It just so happened that the husband of a girl who had stayed at our house (Helen Schmidt) while she went to Wausau Business College was the head of the Store Department at Cutler-Hammer. I was not in that department. Helen and Herb Webster were having a hard time during the early depression – it just started in 1930 and I remember so well when Wallie and I were looking for a place to live after being married. I had been staying at Mrs. Bertha Quade’s on Hadley Street, near the lake. She was like a mother and had recently lost a daughter [Eleanor Quade] to tuberculosis. She also had a married son, Oscar, a pal of Wallie’s, and a late-comer, Bobby. Her husband [William Quade] wasn’t well and died while I lived at her home. Wallie had taken me to find a job (Cutler-Hammer) and then he found a job which was at the Milwaukee Stamping Co. in West Allis. So after marrying we looked for something to rent in West Allis. We found a nice new upper flat at 374 South 77th Street – a new neighborhood across from the Fair Park. We had a living room, dining room, bedroom, kitchen and storage space for $35.00. Then the depression set in in earnest and after 2 years we were forced to look for something cheaper (we found an upper flat for $25.00 with heat). But much happened during those 2 years.
Our baby girl was born and we were so happy. He took me to Wausau to my folks (by train) because we didn’t feel we could afford a hospital bill, and my folks were agreeable.
Wallie worked hard finishing and painting furniture for our baby. There was a beautiful Reed buggy, a high chair, a bed, and a wicker clothes hamper. Everything was a pretty green. The baby furniture we acquired through Wallie’s brother, Harry – seems he owed Wallie money and gave us these things in payment. Harry had married Laura Metzelfeld and they had 3 children: Audrey (1921), Warren (1923) and Harriet (1925). They lived in Brookfield, a suburb of Milwaukee and had a big garden with raspberries which the children helped pick.
Grandpa Polzin lived with them and they had a big 2-story house, all bedrooms upstairs. Laura’s brother Walter lived across the road from them. His wife’s name was Selma and they had 5 or 6 children, Lorna being the oldest and we wrote letters to each other with our Christmas cards. She married a Wally Heiners and they live in Menomonee Falls. Their 4 children are married – one son who was single and had a good job died suddenly just recently [Jeff]. Lorna’s folks died sometime ago and aunt Selma was in a nursing home some years before she died. I also wrote to her and she answered, Lorna helping her. Audrey and Jack used to visit her and take her outside to see the flower garden at the nursing home on North Avenue. They also brought her flowers.
Then Wallie was laid off entirely and we could not even afford $25 for rent and asked our landlord if we could store our furniture in their attic so they could rent the upper flat to someone else.
We decided to take a trip out West (with my folks) instead of a honeymoon. My folks bought a beautiful new Dodge car and we bought a big trunk for the back of it. My father packed 6 dozen eggs and (a lot of) bacon (I don’t remember how we kept things cool). Mother packed the dishes we would need and we had a camp stove for making meals. She had made thick sleeping pads and we had 2 tents which we carried on the 2 front fenders.
“Out West” - "The wedding trip will include an automobile trip through Yellowstone Park, to Salt Lake City and points in California..."
After staying in Yellowstone Park two nights we headed south on Route 66 for Reno, Nevada, on our way to California. (It was Reno instead of Las Vegas then – known as a gambling place then – Las Vegas came into being later.) There were no concrete roads – only two-car width road of granite and not very good ones either. We reached San Francisco and found Market Street where my friends lived. Market Street is on a steep hill and we had to park on it in front of the apartment building. I believe we had called them to let them know we would visit them. They invited us for a dinner they prepared – a very good one – and invited us to return for another dinner the next day. My friend Gussie had married Captain Reid who served under Douglas MacArthur and we enjoyed those dinners very much after camping for many days for two weeks. Entire trip took three weeks. Gussie had stayed with me at Mrs. Quade’s one night before leaving for California. Her brother George who left Wausau with her took a bus for Oregon and she met Captain Reid on the bus to California. We took some pictures on the roof of the apartment building with Gussie which are in my photo album. After driving through miles and miles through Nebraska, Iowas and many other states we arrived home safe and sound, happy that we had seen so much, and so safely.
There were six of us and we wanted to see so much. There were no fast food places or motels in 1930 – we were lucky to find cabins 3 times. We enjoyed seeing the ocean – no Fisherman’s Wharf then – and parks around San Francisco. Hollywood was in it’s infancy – and we weren’t interested in seeing it.
We were “on the County” by then which we was a form of help to people who lost their jobs. There was nothing like Social Security yet. The County gave you a little food which was awful – coffee smelled like onions, the little meat was fat pork of some kind and we were very disgusted. We had had an accident in 1931 while on our way home after driving to Wausau for my parents 25th wedding anniversary on April 12, 1931. We bought a 1929 4-door Ford on a Saturday morning and drove to Wausau the same day. On our way home south of Mosinee a bus from Wausau cut in front of us hitting an oncoming car with folks from [Stratford] disabling their car and it flew across the road onto our car, hitting the hood and front end. Wallie had his hands on the steering wheel and the hard jolt broke his wrist very badly – bones sticking out. After a long trial, the case having gone to the Supreme Court, we finally were awarded $4500 two years later, after lawyer fees and medical expenses.
Accident - Monday, April 13, 1931 – Wausau Daily Record-Herald (p. 1) - “Five Injured When Cars Collide Near Mosinee Yesterday” - ...Mr. and Mrs. Walter Polzin of West Allis were probably the most seriously injured. Mr. Polzin sustained a fracture to his right arm, a dislocation to the arm and a cut above the left eye...
We had stayed at my folks as Wallie couldn’t work that way – he did do some painting for my Mother with his left arm in a sling, but he grew restless and after a few weeks my folks drove us back to our home on 77th Street where we lived for two years. When our baby was about a year or little more I began to lose weight and was so tired all the time, and could hardly do my work. Finally we decided I would go home with baby Nancy and see Dr. Reist to find out what was wrong. My folks must have come down to get us, I don’t remember if we had a car. (Our wrecked car was pulled to my folks’ garage.) Dr. Reist found I had a goiter and must be operated on at once. So I was taken to Memorial Hospital for the operation and got along very well after it. Wallie wrote me every day and my Mother and Marie took care of Nancy after I was out of hospital. Marie came down with me for a few weeks until I could manage myself. We got a daybed for in the dining room for Marie to sleep on. We also got a small wash tub and a cute red and white bathing suit for Nancy and the little children in the neighborhood used to come to watch her. Marie and I had some gay colored house pajamas we bought for $1.00.
Then Wallie began working less and less and the “big depression” set in. That’s when we were “on the County” for a short time and our case was still not settled. Finally we decided we would ask my folks to let us come and live with them temporarily. They let us do that as we had had word our case would soon be settled and it would be necessary for us to be in Wausau. We did receive the money finally from the insurance company but Wallie had no job. One day he said “Let’s go to the World’s Fair in Chicago.” He had paid my folks for time we lived with them and we knew Nancy was in good hands. So we took the train to Chicago. After spending a few days there at the Fair we were ready to go back but Wallie said he’d like to see the fellows at the Milwaukee Stamping Co. – to see who was still working.
Let’s go to the World’s Fair in Chicago.
Chicago World’s Fair (1933) - 1934 - Chicago Centennial Celebration - "A Century of Progress" (1833-1933)
Clyde Arenz, Wallie’s boss, was there and when he saw Wallie he said, “Come right back to work.” So we took the train to Wausau to get our little girl and clothes and asked my folks to drive us back to Milwaukee, which they did. We had little time to find a place to rent and finally found an upper flat on 84th Street. A doctor lived downstairs. Wallie walked to work – 72nd & Walker I believe – a very long ways. On his way to work he saw a flat for rent on 76th Street for $35.00. It was a lovely flat – fireplace, sun parlor (5 rooms), 2 bedrooms, dining and living room and kitchen with a breakfast nook where Nancy’s picture was taken when a man came around taking pictures. We have a nice large picture of her sitting on the table in the nook.
People did anything they could to make some money during the Depression.
Nancy had a gray and white cat for a pet we called Mitzie, and the little boy upstairs had a rabbit he called Bunny. Have picture of them holding their pets. We lived there for four years when Wallie spied a nice little English Colonial house one block north which was for sale. We looked at it, liked it and bought it for $4500. Nancy could go to the same school and she went to Central High where she graduated from in 1948.
During the summer she wanted to go to Wausau because she had a boyfriend who lived on a farm in near Edgar. She and Winifred Martens both got jobs at Wausau Insurance and stayed at my Mother’s. Winifred also had a boyfriend near Abbotsford and both girls got married quite soon and lived on farms. Nancy’s husband Roy Dallmann was given an 80 acre farm from his folks, and she learned to milk cows. Winifred had lived on a farm most of her life so was used to farming. In 1952 we bought an acre lot in New Berlin, Wisconsin, and with the help of our good friend Art Hass had plans drawn up for our house. It had 4 rooms (very large living room to accommodate Wallie’s baby grand piano) and 2 bedrooms, kitchen and dining area, and bath. We had a sun parlor to which the 2-car garage was attached. There was room for more bedrooms upstairs. Living room had an oak mantle for the fireplace and oak bookcase. The kitchen had yellow tile and blonde cupboards, dining part was covered with a rubberized fabric, red, gray and yellow. We had windows on both sides of dining area. Also had a nice patio toward the back which we covered with a yellow and white metal awning, stationary type windows facing east all had maroon awnings like color of brick on the house. We had a long planter passing the huge living room window which Wallie kept filled with flowers. We lived there 20 years – both working all the while. Wallie drove to work and I could catch a bus on Greenfield Avenue and transfer on 70th Street to a Wells Street car which took me downtown as I worked at various places – a card shop and at Gimbels at The Accommodation Desk. I met many nice women there and corresponded with them even while living in Wausau; many of whom are now deceased.
My last job was with American Family Insurance on Mayfair Road and there Wallie drove me before going to his job. I had worked for a District Manager, Robert Bicknell, who lived on 117th Street and where Wallie also had to drive me before going to his job. Robert Bicknell had charge of the agents in Milwaukee and had an office together with an attorney, Mr. F. Kleurin on the corner of 65th and North Avenue which I could get to by taking a Wells Streetcar and transferring to the North Avenue car. I did typing for the attorney as well and met Dolly Cole who I still correspond with. We would go over to Mayfair every noon, sometimes just to look at the windows and decorations. As the agency grew, Robert Bicknell changed his office to the basement of his home on 117th Street. He had a lovely wife, Rusty, 2 daughters and his mother-in-law lived with them. I enjoyed working there very much. When he decided to leave the Company he got a position for me at Milwaukee office.
Through my sister Marie and her husband, Edward Schaepe, we were able to buy a half acre lot from them and next to them [on 3000 Wildwood Lane – Ed & Marie lived at 2914 Wildwood]. It had many trees, mostly pine on the back part of it. There was a nice spot to put a house and we proceeded to build in 1971. Edward drew up the plans for a lovely house – living room, 3 bedrooms, bath, dining room and kitchen with many cupboard and large closets throughout the house. We worked hard moving here – Wallie did all the finishing of the wood himself, knowing so much about it. He also did the finishing of Nancy’s new home after her husband passed away. We gave her money for most of the home also. Lumber and labor were both still reasonable and we wanted her to have something nice as the old farmhouse she lived in was in very bad condition. By now she had 3 children – Clyde first, Cheryl and Janice both little girls, each 3 years apart. She had worked at Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) while still farming and the 2 older children helped at home. Janice was about 11 years old when their father died. It was a very heavy load for her so we helped as much as we could while still keeping our jobs, where the money came from. We were in our new home in Wausau 12 years when on a Saturday morning, September 10th [1983] while I was dressing in the morning I heard a very loud noise from the bathroom and knew something heavy had fallen. Wallie always got to the bathroom first to wash and shave, so when I heard the loud noise I said in a loud voice, “What was that?” Getting no answer I got to the bathroom as quick as I could and found my dear husband on the floor – he had had a heart attack. I finished dressing as fast as I could and was in shock trying to think what to do. I first tried to pump his chest and heard air coming from his nostrils. His eyes were closed, also his lips. I didn’t know enough to force his mouth open and breathe into it. So I called the ambulance – on 32nd Street – and they were here immediately with 2 paramedics.
With a Carload of Love... 