Memories of Harry Benjamin Warnke
These are the memories of Harry Benjamin Warnke, the son of Harry Francis Warnke and Anna Louise Quaas Warnke.
I was born on October 25, 1911, in Minneaoplis, Minnesota, the third child of six. Alice and Frances were older than I; Helen, Mildred, and Donald were younger.
What are some of my earliest memories? I recall my mother telling me about the time when I was around 1-1/2 or 2 years old. Our Father had taken the family to visit my Mother's parents on the Crow River, about 45 miles from Minneapolis. He took us children down to the river to play in the water while he swam up the river. When he came back, he found me lying on the bottom of the river. He quickly pulled me out and was able to revive me. Although I'm sure I don't remember the actual incident, the story left a vivid impression on my mind. I could almost see that little boy lying on the river bottom.
The house that we lived in was a duplex. We lived in the bottom and a family named Peterson lived upstairs. Their son, Lawrence, became one of my best friends. We started school together, along with Maurice Bleed, the police chief's son, and Roy Swason. We were close friends through high school.
One of the first things I remember about school took place during the second grade. My teachers forced me to change my usage on my left hand to my right hand. I understand they don't do this anymore. I remember it was quite a chore trying to change over. It was like
"twisting your brain!"
The School I went to had the first eighth grades in it. It was called Motley School. I think I was about an average student, no real problems, I don't remember that I did real great either.
One thing that I remember clearly was Armistic Day, when I was seven years old. People filled the streets, banging on kettle lids and honking their horns. I vividly recall the two extra bags of papers the paper boy had hanging on his bicycle. My uncle Ben was on the
service that time and returned home safely.
My parents were Presbyterian. We spent our Sundays in church and Sunday School. Occasionally we would have a Sunday school outing and picnic.
We didn't have a car when I was a boy, but we made frequent trips to my Mother's parents on the "Hutchinson Locale." It was kind of the scenic ride and made many stops. I remember one time my Dad and I took a train down to my Father's parent's home in Iowa. The train stalled in a snow storm, and we had to transfer to a freight train and finished our ride in the caboose. It was pretty cold, but exciting!
When I was in grade school they built the University Memorial Stadium within a block of the school, and we enjoyed watching that being built. It much have taken at least a year.
We had to walk two miles to school, and when I got into high school it was four miles. (Can you see today's school kids doing that?)Once in awhile we took street cars after we got into high school but it cost five cents. In those days, that was a lot of money.
In those days we did a lot of walking. On Saturday afternoons we walked along the Mississippi River, from one side to the other. I recall the Shriner's Hospital being built near the dam. That dam has been dismantled. Since then, another dam has been built, near Ford Motors and Minnehaha Falls. Once in awhile we hiked to the Minnehaha Falls , which was about 20 miles round trip. This took a whole day. Sometimes we hiked to Ft. Snelling, which was about twice as far, and took a streetcar back. Ft. Snelling is a military base which is still in operation, although now scaled back.
As a freshman in high school, I played the French horn in the Minneapolis Working Boys' Band. We traveled around the state, and played in locale parks. The band won state honors one year.
When I was a sophomore I joined the school orchestra, still playing my French horn. The instructor insisted on me playing a solo at the commencement exercise, which turned out to be an embarrassing moment. We played over the radio just before the commencement, but at the commencement I panicked or something, and not a sound would come out! I stood there, red as a beet. That was the end of my music career!
In 1927, my sisters bought me my first car, a 1923 Chevrolet touring car. One time it wasn't running so I borrowed my friend's car, Model T Ford that had doors that opened in the middle. I was driving along with it and I came to a curve. I couldn't figure out how to slow down, so I flew around the curve and drove right up a bank! I tipped it over. I guess I was driving too fast!
The last two years of high school I got a job driving for Witt's Market House, a large grocery store that delivered city-wide. That put an end to my carefree afternoons! I graduated in 1929 and signed up for collage. But, my Father became ill and died from colon cancer the next year, (1930), so that changed my plans. So, after graduation, I stayed on that job, working there two more years. About the only thing I recall about the job was that I picked to make deliveries to the Minnesota State Fair concessions.
After that job, three or four of us boys went on a selling trip for the Minnesota Woolen Mills, up in Northern Michigan. That trip
turned out to be a disaster and we only lasted one summer. No one had any money to buy anything because it was during the Great Depression.
We came back to Minneapolis and I got a job working at a hotel as an elevator operator and porter. I worked in hotels in Minneapolis until 1941, about ten years. I met Ev at Andrew's Hotel in 1938 or 1939. I was new there and was going to deliver some clean clothes to a room and a pretty little hazel eyed girl unlocked the door for me. We became good friends and our first date was on the fourth of July. I gave her a pair of skates for her birthday and was going to teach her how to ice skate, but while I was teaching her, she fell and broke a blood vessel in her wrist and I ended up taking her to the doctor. She never did learn how to skate, but she never gave up on me.
We got engaged about two weeks before we were married, which was December 2, 1939, at Reverend Gunnery's house in Minneapolis. The wedding took place during a snowstorm. Ev's sister Vi and her boyfriend Chet Olin stood for us. Mrs. Gunnery sang for us, but I don't remember the song.
Our first home was a one-room basement apartment with a kitchenette in it and a bed that pulled out of the wall.
About a week after our wedding we went to Franklin to see Ev's folks and break the news to them that we were married. Our car broke down about half way, and it took all day to get it fixed. We ended up going back home because I had to be back to work on Monday. When we did make it to Franklin, they had a chivaree on us. I didn't know what was going on. All these people came banging on pots and pans and honking horns. I was shaking. We finally went to the door and they demanded that I go buy them ice cream and cigars. We didn't have much money, but I did as they ordered. I didn't know what they would have done if I didn't!
We moved from the one-room apartment to a one-bedroom apartment on 7th street, just before our baby was born in 1940. Then my Mother got sick and we moved in with her to help care for her. Jan, our first-born, was about six months old then. We rented the apartment and my brother and two sisters each paid $4.00 a week for room and board. Ev cared for my Mother while the rest of us worked. We lived in that apartment until after Mother died in March of 1941, and then we moved down the next floor, just before Lenny was born.
We lived in that apartment for about a year and then we bought our first house by the airport for $3,300. It was a two bedroom house, with a formal dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and a full basement. It was a nice little house.
When the war broke out, I started working at the Twin City Arsenal. I worked on the assembly line, assembling bullets. I got a deferment from the service for my job. It was about 12 miles to the Arsenal and I had several passengers that rode with me each day.
It was kind of a boring job. I also got a part-time job at the Railway Express, working mornings. The war was sort of winding down, and the railroad said I would either have to go on full-time or quit, so I chose to go full-time, figuring that the Arsenal would be closing down anyway. I was reclassified for the draft to 1A, but was never called for a physical. I delivered for the Railway Express for 22 years. The doctors diagnosed me with Parkinson's disease and I had to retire on disability in 1966.
We lived in the house by the airport until our fourth child, Denny, was born. We also had another little girl, Judy, there. We moved out to Franklin after living in that house for four years and rented a big farm house. I kept my job in Minneapolis and only came home every third weekend. I loved in an apartment with a boy from work. This was hard but we wanted to get our family out of the city. We also had hopes of being farmers someday.
We only stayed in that farm house a little under a year. Arlene was born in that house and then we moved to Hector. We rented first
and then we bought a farm near Ev's folks. It had a nice house and barn, and 160 acres, which we rented to Ev's folks. We bought one thousand pullets and some other laying hens. I still worked at the railway but I started coming home every weekend. I would take the eggs back and sell them to the guys at work for ten cents a dozen. Then we started butchering the chickens because the egg price had
dropped so low. I took the dressed chickens in and sold them for $1.00 a piece.
Karen and Curt were both born on the farm in Hector. After their birth, we sold the farm and us and our seven children moved to a 70
acre farm, south of Cokato, Minnesota. This farm had about 50 acres of tillable soil and 20 acres of pasture. I was able to drive back and forth to work from this place. To begin with, we had seven or eight cows and when we sold the farm, we had about 12. We also raised soy beans, corn, and hay. Our dream of farming had come true. Lenny was 11 years old and did all the tractor work. We had to be out in the barn at 4:00AM to do the chores, and I had to be at work at 8:ooAM. Linda, Jon, and Sandy were the babies while we lived at this farm.
After ten years, we decided we couldn't keep up with the demands of the farm. It took all the money I made on my job in town to keep the farm operating, so we decided to sell the land and have the house moved to Cokato.
The move to Cokato was seven miles. We bought two acres from Ev's dad to put the house on. We had to put a basement in and it turned out to be quite an expensive move. There was quite a bit of excitement while the house was moved. A lot of people gathered to watch and it even got in the newspapers!
In February of 1960, our two oldest children, Janet and Leonard moved out to the west coast, to Washington State. In 1961, Lenny was married to Emma Gordon in Seattle, Washington. This occasion initiated our first trip to Washington State. It was quite an adventure. We went by train as I got free passes for all of us. Ev and I had eight of the children with us. We took about twice as much luggage as we would have needed!
After the wedding, we went to Hockinson to spend time with relatives and Christian friends. We make our first trip to the Pacific Ocean. It was a beautiful day in April and we didn't even need a sweater on! We were really impressed.
When we left for home we were given a joyous send-off with scores of Christians at the train depot singing hymns etc.
Janet was married in June of the next year, 1961, to Roy Matson. Both Lenny and Emma, and Roy and Jan settled in Washington; Lenny lived in Seattle, and Jan lived on the Matson farm in Hockinson, where her and Roy still live. That was the reason for our annual trip to the West Coast.