I WAS BORN...
By Louise Heiselman
May 7, 2004
II was born in a small town called Octavia, in Butler County. Nebraska. My parents named me Mary Louise. My Mother made sure I was called by the whole name, Mary Louise; but, by the time I was in junior high, I shortened it to Mary Lou and then in high school my brother Chester and my Dad started calling me Louise and so it usually depends on who is talking to me what I am called. However if I am in a doctor’s office and a nurse calls for Mary, I usually set there and don’t answer as I don’t realize they are talking to me.
My father had been called to be the pastor of the Baptist church in Octavia. They used to tell how they heard that World War I was declared while they were on the train moving from deep in the heart of Texas to Octavia.
I had five older siblings, my sister Earldean (closest to me in age) was eight years older than me and then the rest were two years apart. Ralph was my oldest brother and he was 16 years old when I was born and the big brother everyone looked up to, even my parents.
Since my siblings were all born in Texas, they were really proud of being "Lone Stars", and would sometimes tease me by calling me a "Bug Eater". Did you know that the Nebraskans used to be called "Bug Eaters" before they were called "Cornhuskers"? Can anyone tell me how that term ever got started?
I was about two and a half years old when my parents moved to Wymore where my parents ministered at the Baptist church there. There isn’t too much I remember about living there except I remember the parsonage had a big front porch and there were three or four steps up to the porch. One day when I was supposed to be taking a nap I got out of bed and took my doll and little suitcase and started down to the railroad station. I can’t remember the name of the people that owned the grocery store down near the railroad station but they went to the Baptist church. She saw me walking alone with my doll & suitcase and called to me and asked me where I was going and asked me to come into the store. I told her I was going to catch the next train to Lincoln. She told me that the train wouldn’t be there for a little while and then she gave me a big sack of candy. In the meantime she had her husband call my mother and tell her where I was.
During that time Mother had discovered I was gone and she had asked several of the kids in the neighborhood if they knew where I was, but no one did. When Mother got the call, she sent my Brother Chester to get me. Chester was twelve years older than me and he picked up a little switch and tapped my legs as we walked back home. But as a four year old, I don’t remember the switching hurting as much as when we got close to home I saw that the front steps were lined with the kids setting on them, pointing their fingers at me, saying, " She’s getting a licken." But what hurt more than that was Mother took my sack of candy and passed it all out to the kids on the steps.
I started the first grade in Palmyra where Dad was the pastor of the Baptist church. The parsonage was right next door to the church. Many of the members of the church lived on farms and so I often got to visit the kids and play in the haylofts.
We raised chickens and mother made the best angle food cakes from scratch. After she made the cakes she would take the dozen egg yokes and make home made noodles. After she rolled them out and cut them in long strips, she would cover the back of chairs with towels and hang the noodles on the chairs to dry. Do any of you remember your mothers making home made noodles? I think they were so much better than the commercial packaged noodles we buy today.
Some kids grow up and live most of their lives in the same area and have the same friends, but by the time I was in the fourth grade we had moved again to another small town named Surprise, Nebraska. The town is in a valley between two hills. The Little Blue River runs through the town. There was a mill on the river and a dam that you could stand on the bridge and see. I often got to go fishing with my Dad down on or by the dam.
The Baptist church was just across the bridge next to the river. Across the road from the church was a beautiful little park that was well kept. Every year a Chatauqua came to town for several days in the park. It always drew a big crowd from all around the county. The chatauqua would have many different types of entertainment. How many of you have ever had the joy of attending one?
In the back yard at the parsonage was an old barn. We raised chickens and a goat, but the best part about the barn was the hay loft where I had a play house. We could climb up the ladder and then play dress up and had plenty of room to even put on our own little talent shows.
In those days we kids weren’t enrolled in a lot of activities like kids are today. A lot of the activities were in connection with the churches and some of us took music lessons and had to practice, but then we just entertained ourselves by playing jacks and marbles. Yes, we girls had our marbles too and loved to play. Then there was hopscotch, dominoes, checkers etc. I spent many hours in the winter down by the heating stove cutting out paper dolls and their clothes from the Sears Catalog. On Saturday nights the farmers would come into town to do their shopping and often there would be a street dance on the square or a silent moving picture there. My older siblings bought us a radio. It was one of those that you had to put on the earphones to listen to and only two people could listen at a time, but how exciting to listen to Amos and Andy and the other programs over the air.
During this time the banks across America were closing and the bank in Surprise also closed. This just about destroyed the community. So many people lost their life savings. I only had five dollars in savings but I thought that was a lot.
One of the church members had a farm with an old wooded area and a lot of trees that needed to be cut down or sawed up. They let Dad cut the wood for our heating and cooking stove. A lot of the farmers would bring in chickens, meat and canned meat and milk to help with Dad’s salary.
We moved from Surprise to Lincoln after I completed the seventh grade. This was during the depression. Surprise has gone through several floods and two tornadoes and the church is gone as well as many of the stores. The school has closed and the bank never re-opened. Now there are less than a hundred people living there. But I am sure there are many people that still have very fond memories of their time spent there the same as I do.After the stock market crashed and so many banks closed, many people lost their jobs and homes. Those were very difficult times and there were many people who committed suicide because they could not face losing everything. This was called the great depression. Many people are suffering financially now, but in those days they didn’t have social security, medicare and medicaid, food stamps and the other relief agencies that they have these days. In some parts of the country people stood in long lines waiting to get a little free food.
Many of our friends and relatives lost their jobs and their savings. But we all tried to help each other-either with food or living quarters. People found whatever small, temporary jobs were available. Everyone went without the luxuries and little extras that some people nowadays consider "essential".
My brother Chester lived in Aurora, Illinois and worked for the
C B&Q railroad; he wasn’t married at that time. He had my parents and I move there to be with him, so we were fortunate not to go through some of the things many went through. We lived there for two years.
Aurora is about 30 miles from Chicago and a river runs through the middle of town. So the town is really East and West Aurora. It’s kind of like you live on the North or South side of "O" Street here in Lincoln. We lived in East Aurora, so I went to East Aurora High but we went to the Baptist church in West Aurora. The rivalry between East and West Aurora High schools was similar to what used to be between Havelock High and Lincoln High.
Louise