Author: Ronald Guenther
Written: March 4th, 2014

I had said that when the children were young there was the custom and it still exists in Germany where the little children, especially the little girls, pass around a little booklet called poesie and their friends write in it.  Well, I have Aunt Mamie’s poesie from the year 1903.  It was a gift to her from Verna Humke and Verna writes:  Forget me not.  I thought that I would write in a few of the little poems that her friends wrote.  These children are all dead now, of course, but it is fun to see what they were thinking.

Dear Mamie,

Roses may wither,Flowers may die.Friends may forget youBut never will I.        Your friend and schoolmate, Rose Humke

Dear Mamie,

There is room for my namein your album, there is rooomfor my love in your heart.There is room for us both inHeaven where true friendsnever part.     Your friend and schoolmate, Rita Schulmerich

Dear Mamie,

These few lines to you are tenderedBy a friend sincere and true.Hopeing but to be rememberedWhen I am far away from you.     Your friend and schoolmate, Nellie Wallach

There are a number of others.  Aunt Mamie kept this little book.

During the time that they lived in Coos County, they always made a point of visiting the relatives in Ashland.  Once they decided to take Aunt Louise and mom with them.  Grandma and Grandpa were delighted at the possibility, but Aunt Louise made a terrible fuss.  We cannot do that, there is going to be something terrible happen and anybody sitting in the back seat of the car is going to be killed.  She was so adamant that grandma and grandpa decided that the children should not go to Ashland.  Well, they had hardly left town when they were rear ended, the back of the car was completely smashed in and anyone who had been sitting in the back seat would have been killed.  As it was, neither Aunt Mamie nor Uncle Heini were seriously hurt.  This was an example of Aunt Louise’s gift of second sight.  There were others, but I do not remember them anymore.

As it turned out, the road did not come to where Uncle Heini and Aunt Mamie had their farm.  Farming is actually very expensive.  When you think about it, there is a lot of equipment that has to be bought and so on.  When you are watching your nest egg dwindle, you start to cut corners, take short cuts that really never pay off and that is what Uncle Heini started doing.  The hired man had to be let go, Aunt Mamie started to spend time in the fields helping.  So, the summer before Aunt Louise died, she spent at the farm doing all the house work, trying to help out.  After she came back home to Arago, the whole family took a big trip to Sunset Bay and we still have a picture of the three children from that adventure.

But things never looked up for Uncle Heini and Aunt Mamie.  The road never came, in fact, it did not come for forty five years after Uncle Heini had bought the place.  They simply could not make any money and were losing money continuously.  Finally, it became obvious, they were broke.  Aunt Mamie had a nervous break down and Uncle Heini took her to Ashland to her sister, our Aunt Ag, where she remained for a year.  Uncle Heini in the meantime lost the farm and had to go to work in the “Big Mill”, at that time owned and operated by Dant and Russell and later by Georgia Pacific.  He was able to put enough money together to buy a small acreage (I think about twenty acres) and log house out in Englewood, which was where they lived when we knew them.  After Aunt Mamie returned to Coos Bay after she recovered from her nervous breakdown, she went to work at the battery separator plant run by Evans Products in Bunker Hill and between the two of them, they were able to take care of their debts and pay off the loan for the Englewood place.  Then Aunt Mamie could quit.  But she during those times, she made her own soap by filtering out the lye from ashes.  It was a harsh soap but really got things clean.  Uncle Heini had several cows and a huge vegetable garden.  He raised all their vegetables.  They always had a big German Shepherd dog that scared us all to death.

After leaving Aunt Mamie and Uncle Heini, Aunt Louise returned to Arago to the eighth grade and that was the year she died.

To be continued.