Sometimes I would think I should call and talk to Dad, but nothing new here to talk about – But I never had to worry. He was always full of news & old stories, of his youth & I would write them down as fast as I could on a scrap piece of paper. Now when I find the paper I’m not sure what I wrote cause I didn’t get all the words down and how I wish I could call & ask him. He is missed so much. Once when I called he told me during the depression 1934 eggs were 5 cents a dozen, corn was 11 cents a bushel & roasters 4 cents a pound. He shipped ½ box car load of hogs to market in St. Joseph, Mo. in 1933. They were 2.65 a hundred, the freight yardage & commission took it all – He never got a cent.
Kansas Memories of our Dad – Ezra Hohulin
The first time he drove a car was in 1916, at the age of 14. He drove a Model T Ford about ¼ mile down a dirt road. Ben Reber let him drive his car. At Will Lithi’s he drove Emil Wenger’s Harley Davidson motorcycle ½ mile. To get it started you had to push it & run with it. The starter was on the handle and as it took off you had to jump on. Dad said it went so fast his sleeves were flapping & when he got back the man was scared cause he went so fast. Dad said “it never got in his blood”. Dad worked for a road construction company out of Ft. Scott, KS. Helped build a road north out of Ft. Scott to Kansas City. Dad hauled crushed rock for the base of the brick. Dad wanted to go to Detroit, Mi. to work for Henry Ford’s factory making $5.00 a day - so he went out to tell his mother who was hanging wash on the line. When Dad told her, she took hold of the clothes line & cried & asked him not to go. So he obeyed his mother and didn’t go. Then (Doc) Lee Wenger ask him if he wanted to go north & do harvesting of corn. He quit his job with the road construction company that day and went. That’s where he met our mother, about 6 weeks later, in 1924. Dad met our mother at a party. He really didn’t want to go because he didn’t know anyone but his friend encouraged him to go. When he entered the door he saw her across the room. When it was time to eat they took a number & was to find a girl with the same number – so he thought he would go over & see what number she had – it was the same & they ate together. When he met Grandma Meyer & said who he was she gave out a holler, cause she lived upstairs in the same house in Switzerland that his mother lived in. Dad went rabbit hunting with the Meyers & there are pictures of the rabbits & horse drawn sled. They were married December 22, 1926 in Bern, KS. They took their honeymoon to Ft. Scott, Gridley, KS. & LaMar, Mo. Grandma Hohulin, Aunt Elizabeth, & Uncle Herm Hohulin went along. They drove 2 cars – Dad’s car was first – Uncle Herm was driving the second car. Dad’s car hit a mule standing in the road. Uncle Herm wondered why Dad took to the ditch with his car – he didn’t see the mule. We lived on a farm near Price – south of Sabetha. I was born on another farm – but this is the first place I remember. I cut my Achilles tendon pulling a hoe behind me when we were cleaning up & Dad made me stay off my foot till it was healed. I never had any trouble with it. I remember one time Gypsies came to the front door to beg & Bob ran out the back door & mom was afraid he would be kidnapped. One time Aunt Sophia brought a box of cones & we had ice cream cones at home. I thought that was wonderful, & we roasted marshmallows & let them burn black & pretended we liked them that way. I was in first grade in a one room school with a pot belly stove & out house toilets. Bob was in second grade. We moved to Sabetha in 1934 – I remember Valentines Day was my last day at Summet School in 1st grade. In Sabetha Dad had a feed store & drove for Swift & Co. Dad bought a house in Sabetha for $600.00 but lost it in the depression. Dad had his appendix out and a few months later when I go sick – Dad was sure that I had appendicitis too. The Doctor said no. But my appendix was ruptured in 10 hours – cause we had to wait for a surgeon to come from Kansas City. I remember when I left for the hospital Bob wouldn’t kiss me good bye because he didn’t want to get it. He was sure it was because I swallowed a wooden bead – we were chewing them acting like they were gum. I was in the hospital for 3 weeks – no penicillin then. One of the nurses made me a paper nurse’s cap to wear & that’s when I decided to be a nurse and never changed my mind.
By Rose Marie Hohulin Klopfenstein