Recollections of Dale Earnest Striker (Grandpa) born February 12, 1917, to Charles and Lilly Striker, Bucyrus, North Dakota (Range 97, Township 130, Section 14, NW quarter).
Childhood
My father said there was a lot of snow the day I was born. He went over to Oas’s to get the doctor. I’m not sure if the doctor came before or after I was born. Midwives delivered a lot of the babies in those days.
When I was about 1½ years old my father dug a basement and moved the house over it. Others told me that while the basement was being dug I was tied to the clothes line. Also at that age I rode a kitty-car around the kitchen and under the kitchen table.
The first thing I remember was at age five. One of our work horses, Floxy, fell off a snow bank near the NW corner of the old barn. I was in the house watching from a south window when I heard Floxy's cry as she hit her head on the ice below the snow bank. That blow killed her.
The old barn housed a couple teams of horses and the milk cows. There was a chicken house on the east side of the barn. When there was a lot of snow we coasted on sleds down the roof onto the snow on the east side of the barn. The barn’s tin roof made rain sound like a hailstorm.
To reach us by phone neighbors rang three shorts and one long, meaning that a caller moved the crank on their phone about ¼ turn for a short ring and a full turn for a long ring. There were five families on our party line and some would pick up the phone and listen in on “private” conversations. They were call “rubber neckers”. The phone hung on the south wall by the stairway to the second floor which contained three bedrooms.
When my folks bought their first Model T in 1919 it was garaged in the west end of the old barn. They bought a second Model T in 1924 and then a Model A in 1928. The second Model A was bought in the 1930’s from Mr. Nelson, the mail carrier.
In 1922 my folks hired the Lien brothers to build a new barn, 32’ x 72’ x 30’ high. The gravel pit was northwest of Bucyrus about 1½ miles. The concrete was mixed with large hoes in a 3’ x 6’ trough. My brother Marion hauled most of the lumber from a lumber yard in Bucyrus. When the rafters were in place and the boards on which the shingles would be nailed, Marion and a 5-year-old boy used the roof boards to climb up on the roof. My father had trouble keeping his little climber off the barn.
The big, new barn was a very good addition to our farm. Among other things it provided winter protection for the animals. It also had pens for calves. The barn had chutes from the haymow which we used to slide corn bundles down to the cows and hay to the horses. We children had great fun playing hide ‘n seek when there was a lot of hay and corn in the barn. We could jump down the chutes and run to the oat bin door, which was the goal.
The old barn burned down about 1930, destroying the car, corn binder, and chicken house. The chickens all died. We were thankful that the fire didn’t spread to the new barn.
In spring, summer, and fall the neighbor kids came over and we played “run my good sheep run”. We would choose two sides and a captain for each. One group would hide. Their captain would go with the other group to find his hidden sheep. The captain of the hidden group would cross his arms with one hand pointing to someone hiding and the other hand pointing to where no one was hiding. When the hunters found the entire group they would exchange roles.
One time I wanted to play games with the older children and they didn’t want me to play. One of them threw a stone and hit me on the top of my head.
One year my parents gave me a birthday party and invited the neighbor children. One of the kids gave me a fifty-cent piece which I lost it in the haymow, and felt very badly about it. We had lots of fun playing softball, horseshoes, cricket, riding calves and horses, making kites, making parachutes out of handkerchiefs, and making a tin propeller fly high. Propeller flights were made by getting a big thread spool, nailing it to a stick, driving two headless nails in the spool, wrapping a long string around the spool, putting a propeller-like piece of tin with two holes over the nails. Then, holding the thing above your head and pulling the string, the propeller would go many feet in the air. Caution: Look out for windows and other children in the area.
In the 20’s Father dug a well by the house and later piped the water into the house. When the wind didn’t blow to turn the windmill we would have to operate the pump by hand so the livestock could have water. One of our after-school chores was to fill the water tank for the livestock and to fill the water reservoir in the wood cook stove in the kitchen.
When Father put a new porch on the east side of the house he put a rain water cistern under it. When the cistern started to leak he patched the walls. When water was piped into the house we quit using the cistern.
The washing machine had a gas motor that generally acted up, taking as long to get started as it did to wash the clothes. Wet clothes were hung outside on the clothes line, even in winter. In winter the frozen clothes were brought into the house and hung on a wooden clothes rack to finish drying. Drying the clothes in the house made them smell nice, even though we had to duck walking through he living room.
The Tornado
Sunday, June 24, 1923, Bucyrus Lutheran Church Sunday School had a picnic at the A.R. Johnson farm two miles SW of Bucyrus. After Sunday services the ladies served a big potluck dinner. After dinner there were foot races, and a tug-o-war between the farmers and businessmen. The farmers won but they had to pull the anchor-man, Hank Warren, with his heels digging into the sod. I spent part of the day wrestling with other boys. It was a hot day.
When we arrived home that evening we could see that a storm was brewing but no one knew that a tornado was coming our way. There were no radios and probably no weather stations to warn people. We went to bed and I didn’t wake up until the next morning.
Our farm did not receive the full fury of the tornado but the windows on the west side of the house and barn were broken. When the window above the living room broke water came through the floor and loosened the plaster above the bed where my youngest brother Lynn was sleeping. The plaster fell and barely missed his head. Mattresses were held up to the windows to keep out the rain. The barn doors were torn off and the southwest corner of the barn was pulled away from the foundation anchor bolts. The barn was leaning about four feet to the east. Huge railroad jacks were used to straighten it and later the barn was strengthened by siding the ends of the barn (inside) with shiplap. In addition, permanent braces were installed inside. It is very likely that the 100 tons of hay in the barn kept it from being destroyed.
At the Herb Spencer farm two miles north of Bucyrus, the Lambert family had stopped to get out of the storm. When the tornado struck it lifted the house and carried it about 75 feet where it hit the ground and was destroyed. Herb walked and crawled 1/4 mile to our house for help. He had been hit in the head by a wood beam as he started upstairs to get Shirley, his baby daughter. My father took Herb back to his farm in the Model T to look for his family and the Lambert family. It was still dark. They learned that Mr. and Mrs. Lambert and their daughter Gladys had been killed. They were very happy to find the other Spencer family members alive, except Shirley - she had not been found. By lantern light they searched and found her sitting on a pile of chimney bricks with only a scratch on her cheek. It was surely a miracle that she wasn’t dashed to pieces in the storm. My father took the Spencers to the Walstead Hotel and Cafe in Bucyrus, where they were cared for until morning. He also took the dead to Bucyrus.
The tornado destroyed all the buildings on the Lundahl farm and killed Oscar Lundahl. The rest of the family escaped serious injury. Some of the buildings on the W.M. Beaumont farm were destroyed but the family escaped serious injury.
Wood from the Spencer farm buildings was scattered over many acres and had to be picked up before harvest. Dad estimated that 40 bushels of oats was blown out of his granary on the Paulson quarter north of the Spencer's home. At our farm the grain header (used at harvest time for cutting and elevating grain into wagon boxes) was blown down the hill north of the house and overturned. Also, tops of the haystacks were blown off. My father said that straw had been driven ½ inch into cedar fence posts.
I don’t remember if much damage was done on the Elwood Eck farm but a heavy stationary engine was blown from the side of an old shed into the middle of the barn yard but the shed was not damaged.
There was great sorrow over the four lives lost but also thanks to God for the many lives spared.
Snowstorms
Three-day snowstorms left a deep impression on me. It seems that my father and mother knew when a snowstorm was coming. We would round up the horses that were out on the open range, sometimes three or four miles away, and put them in the barn. We would drive the hogs out of their small low-roof barns and run them into the horse barn, where they would lay under the horse mangers. As long as the storm continued we would carry water from the outside water tank for hogs and milk cows. The horses and stock cows had to wait for water until the storm let up. The chickens stayed in the barn all winter so were not in danger from snowstorms. Some farmers tied a rope from the house to the barn to keep from getting lost in snowstorms.
Church
The church was the center of our spiritual lives. My father took us to Sunday school and church every Sunday. On Sunday morning there was nothing more important than church, for which I am thankful. I remember that Mrs. A.R. Johnson was one of my first teachers. Other teachers included the pastor's wife and my future mother-in-law, Mrs. Sever Engelstad, Jorgen Tombakken, Ole Dahle, and Ed Ahlgren, a farmer who loved the Lord.
The Sunday school Christmas program was the highlight of the year. When the church was built in 1910 the first program was in the basement. My father helped get the first tree. I remember Willy Olson lighting the candles on the tree just before the program began. He would watch the candles closely so the tree would not catch fire. When the candles were just about burned out he would pinch out the fire. Sometimes we went to church in the sled. Sleigh bells on the horses made a merry sound as we traveled through the countryside and town. My biggest Sunday school Christmas program problem was to know my piece. There were always big sacks of candy for the children and apples for everyone. When my sisters Edith and Chloe taught Sunday School they made popcorn balls for the children in their classes.
I suppose the thing I liked best about church was the song books. I enjoyed singing and memorizing songs. The sermons hit home too because Rev. Engelstad preached law and gospel. Today the law is often left out of sermons.
I went to confirmation lessons with my sister Doris. I'm sorry that I did not memorize the Catechism as much as I should have at that time because when I started teaching Vacation Bible School I had to memorize it. I was sincere as I took my confirmation vows, but I didn't accept Jesus as my Savior until I went to Bible camp at the Open A Ranch near Amidon in June, 1934. Under the teaching of Dr. H.J. Stollee from Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI) in Minneapolis, I learned how to be a real Christian. Convicted of my sins by the Holy Spirit I asked Jesus to forgive me and come into my life. He did and I was very happy. When I returned home I asked forgiveness of those whom I had sinned against. I’m glad that my father took over driving the tractor so I could go to Bible Camp.
I applied for entrance to LBI and after graduation from high school took a freight train out of Hettinger (11 miles southeast of Bucyrus) to Minneapolis. It was hard to find an empty boxcar so at first I rode on top of the boxcars where it was cold and dirty with ashes form the engine blowing over the boxcars. I finally found an empty one after 150 miles, when the train reached Mobridge, South Dakota. There were others in the boxcar, among them a man and his wife. At one town the sheriff climbed aboard looking for a fugitive from justice. He must have thought I fit the description because he began searching me but quit when he found my New Testament.
The six months at LBI were some of the most important of my life. I learned much more about the Christian life as I studied the Bible, sang in the choir, and had good fellowship, which included basketball and football.
The drought of '36
After arriving home from LBI in the spring I helped put in the crop. After a long, cold winter with little hay and straw the animals were thin. This was because of a poor hay crop the previous year. In fact I didn't recognize one of our work horses. One summer morning the temperature was 105 when we went out to cultivate (remove weeds) corn with the horses. Grasshoppers covered the corn and fence posts. When we in came before dinner (the noon meal) the temperature was 112! Dad decided that it was no use to try and save the corn so we turned the hungry cattle into the field. We had an oats field that was so thick with grasshoppers that Dad decided to cut it early. Lynn and I mowed it. Lynn caught 36 grasshoppers in one grab at the oats. We poisoned grasshoppers with arsenic in molasses and sawdust. Dad got this poison in his system through open cuts and it made his face burn and itch for years. Some livestock died from eating chunks of poisoned sawdust.
The grass was so short that the cattle pulled it up by the roots. The dirt caked into mud balls which were found in their stomachs after they died.
We sprayed the potatoes with London Purple poison to save them from gray beetles. Three loads of Russian thistles from the sloughs was all the hay we got that year. My father went into the hay-buying business for himself and the neighbors.
I don't see how my parents fed and clothed us but there was always plenty of food on the table. For breakfast we had stacks of pancakes or toast and eggs, or oatmeal. For dinner there was home-canned beef, potatoes and gravy. The potatoes were small, about the size of large marbles but they were good - boiled with jackets on. Often we had fresh fried spring chicken or older boiled chicken ‘n gravy. Chicken gravy was good on potatoes. Also, apple pie in a cake pan for dessert. For supper we often had fried potatoes and left-over meat from dinner. For dessert we had bread and raisin pudding or tapioca. Sunday supper often consisted of potted meat sandwiches, Jell-O and cake. Mother made the best chocolate cake - without a recipe.
School Days
We rode unheated school busses to the six-room school in Bucyrus, 1 1/2 miles west of the farm. There were approximately 100 students in grades 1 - 12. The 1st and 2nd grade classes met in the SW room. Miss Sommerville was one of my teachers. For music she played the victrola with cylinder records. The 3rd, 4th and 5th grades met in the NE room and the 6th, 7th and 8th grades in the SE room. For music class Alva Dahl played recordings of famous composers; Beethoven, Mendelsohn, Schubert, Bach, etc. She was a strict teacher but I think we learned more than if she had not been strict.
Alvina Moen was also a good teacher. We had spell downs once a week. I don’t remember who was at the top of the class, possibly one of the girls. During recess and the noon break we played softball, basketball, football or soccer. For lunch we brought cold sandwiches and dessert from home. Our superintendent, Joe Rosenthal, asked me to make cocoa for the children. He was strict but everyone liked him. Sometimes he sent me to the store to get a couple candy bars, one for him and one for me. When I tore a fingernail loose throwing the shot put underhanded, he poured iodine on it. The iodine made the finger hurt worse than the injury did.
One day Lincoln Brown and I were fighting at the drinking fountain because we could not allow the other to drink first. Mr. Rosenthal came along and picked us both up at once and set us on our feet. I don’t remember what else he did to us.
High school was moved to the NW room, probably because it was the coldest room and the older students could stand the cold better than the younger students.
Our faithful janitor, John Ahlgren, fired the steam boiler with coal, and carried ashes out in 10-gallon buckets on a neck yoke that fit on his shoulders. He chewed tobacco and liked to visit with the teachers and students. He half-soled shoes with cowhide or pig skin for 50 cents.
Basketball was the main sport and the high school team generally won a few games. My father often kept time with a stopwatch. In the winter our little school gym was full of kids at recess and the noon break. Games with other schools were played in the Odd Fellows Hall, which later burned down. I recall one thrilling game with Haines that we won after three overtimes,
35-34. The school bus took us to the away games, as far as Marmarth, which was about 10 miles west of Bucyrus. When we had to eat a meal on the road, the coach was particular about what we ordered - usually poached eggs on toast and cocoa. If my father didn’t go to the away games I often rode a horse to town to catch the bus and left it at the livery barn so I would have a ride home (1 1/2 miles) when the team returned from the game.
All the children looked forward to “playday” at Hettinger or Reader when the conference schools would compete for prizes in plays, floats, exhibits, and track and field events. I remember winning a sack race because the two ahead of me bumped into each other and fell. My older brother Marion won the high jump at nearly six feet
In my last year in high school I was able to win the pole vault - 10’7”. We had good school plays and operettas. We owe a great deal to our teachers and coaches for the rich experiences of those years.
College and Seminary
After high school I attended LBI for six months and then went to North Dakota Agricultural College (now NDSU) at Fargo for one year. My father gave Marion $1000 to go to NDAC so Marion did the same for me. Because I wanted to be a missionary or pastor, I transferred to Augsburg College, a Lutheran liberal arts college in Minneapolis, at the beginning of my second year. About half way through my first year at Augsburg the $1000 had been spent. To continue my schooling I worked at jobs up town and at school. During the summers I taught VBS and worked at home to
put myself through school. There were no government student loans or grants.
I graduated from Augsburg College in 1940. In the fall I went to Luther Seminary in St.Paul. On Armistice Day that year Minnesota had one of its worst snowstorms. At least 60 people lost their lives. Many were men who had gone hunting and were caught by the storm. At the time of the storm I was living at Luther Seminary and we had only soup for supper because all delivery trucks were unable to move.
The War
December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was bombed resulting in the U.S. declaring war on Japan, Germany, and Italy. At first we were told that this was a sneak attack and Generals Short and Kimmel, commanders at Pearl Harbor, were blamed by Congress . The blame was in Washington, D.C. for provoking the attack. U.S. Intelligence decoded the Japanese plans three days before the attack but didn’t warn Pearl Harbor. Our battle ships were lined up and easy targets for Japanese bombers. One steel piercing bomb hit the battleship Arizona, penetrating the deck and four more levels. exploding in a munitions storage. The ship sank rapidly and all 1200 sailors on board were lost.
Pastoral Internship
In 1942 and ’43 I did my seminary internship in the Lanesboro, Union Prairie, Preston parish in SE Minnesota. Pastor Peter Nestande and his wife were very good, kind, and helpful. Farmland was very hilly in the beautiful Root River Valley. The people were very considerate toward their student intern. During the winter I went coasting with the young people on a hill south of Preston and in the summer I played softball with the local team. We twice beat a team from Rochester. That team had uniforms but our team did not - we wore jeans.
On March 27, 1944 I graduated from Luther Seminary - I was glad that my parents were able to make the long drive to attend.
Marriage
On June 7, 1944 Amelia Engelstad and I were married at LaMoure, ND. I had known Amy for many years because she was the daughter of the pastor back home in Bucyrus. She helped me teach VBS in Reeder, ND. One evening after choir practice in 1936 her mother invited me to the parsonage. This was the beginning of the romance that led to our marriage. In the summer of 1934 I went with the Engelstads to Bible Camp.
After more than 50 years of marriage we are more in love than ever. Amy has been unable to walk since 1989 due to a nerve condition resulting in the loss of movement on the left side of her body.
Our Great Loss
World War II resulted in great personal sorrow for many families, including ours. My youngest brother, Lynn Arthur Striker, born November 2, 1921, volunteered to be a paratrooper. After graduating from the Army Parachute School at Ft. Benning, Georgia April 22, 1944, he came home for a few days. I met him at Ft. Snelling, MN and took him to visit Luther Seminary.
I received some encouraging letters from Lynn while he waited in England to be sent into battle. I believe he had trusted Jesus as his Savior before leaving England.
He was a bazooka specialist with the 82nd Airborne Division and in September of ’44 his unit was ordered to jump into Holland as part of an operation to take a bridge over the Rhine River near Nijmegen. When he and his buddy, James Hale jumped from the airplane, one carried the bazooka and the other the ammunition. They had been on the ground only a short time when Lynn was shot in the head. Medics removed him from the area but could not save his life. His young life ended September 23, 1944.
Among his personal belongings returned to the family was a New Testament, which my father and mother gave to me. Lynn had marked and underlined I Timothy 4:7&8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord shall give to me, and also to all who love his appearing”. My parents chose to not have his body returned home. He is buried in Netham Cemetery, Margratn, Holland.
A memorial service was held for Lynn at Bucyrus Lutheran Church just before Thanksgiving, 1944.
From Big Sandy, Montana I traveled to an army camp in Idaho to talk with James Hale about Lynn. He told me that they were dropped behind enemy lines and dug a foxhole to protect themselves from enemy machine gun fire. Mr. Hale didn’t want tell me a lot of details - many soldiers don’t like to talk about painful combat experiences. He did say that he shot the Jerry who killed Lynn.
Montana
Our first parish was at Big Sandy, Montana where we served Christ Lutheran, Box Elder, Sonshine School and three preaching places; Warrick, Lonetree Branch and Loma. One Sunday afternoon there was a fire in the Big Sandy church. Our good fire department put it out. Fortunately the building was repairable. After the fire a building fund was started to build a new church.
Bible camp in the Bear Paw Mountains was a highlight with Oscar Hanson, Carl B. Ylvisakey and Andrew Burgess as teachers. We hauled everything to the old CCC Camp; tents, kitchen utensils, water, ice and groceries.
There were fires occasionally out in the mountains. One fire near Warrick burned for three days before being put out by rain. While in Big Sandy our first child, Gene, was born April 29, 1945. War with Germany ended in May of that year, and war with Japan ended in September, after two nuclear bombs were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Rural Nebraska
In 1946 we accepted a call to pastor three congregations north of Albion, Nebraska. South and North Branch churches were rural and Petersburg was a city church. The parsonage was a large, beautiful brick home just down the hill from the South Branch church. During the winter on '48/'49 there was a snowstorm that produced five feet of snow with drifts as high as 30 feet near the Sever Paulson farm. Planes brought fuel oil. The Fifth Army opened the roads. The Thompson brothers who were remodeling the South Branch church, stayed at the parsonage for 10 days. We had milk cows and chickens so we got along fine until the roads were opened 40 days later. We got a wagon load of coal from the four truck loads that I had ordered.
At our parish family Luther League we had good programs, lunch, and games. In the summer we met in homes. Bible camp was at Wa-shnn-ga, near Junction City, Kansas - and Camp Cedars, Nebraska.
City Living in Nebraska
In June of ’54 we moved to Maskel, Nebraska to serve the Maskel-Obert-Wynot Parish. This area was located along the beautiful Missouri River, about 40 miles west of Sioux City, Iowa. Yankton, South Dakota was about the same distance west of Maskel. These were the two closest places where we could cross the Missouri River.
I became involved in school reorganization and helped save the Maskel-Obert High School. If this had not been done, these students would have gone to Newcastle, 12 miles east of Maskel.
The parish Brotherhood was a highlight of church activity. Also, our Luther League meetings with singing, program, lunch and games. During our time there the Obert church was remodeled.
Back Home in North Dakota
In August of ’57 we moved to Plaza, located 50 miles SW of Minot. Here we served four churches; Plaza, Spring Valley, Shell Creek, and Trinity. Again I helped with school reorganization. Parshall, ND was 12 miles west of Plaza and their school reorganization plan came within 1 1/2 miles of Plaza. A petition drive caused the line to be moved back three miles. Makoti, a town 10 miles SE of Plaza, had a school reorganization plan that included the farms of some from the Spring Valley church who wanted to be in the Plaza district. They were required to join the Makoti district.
During the six years there the parsonage and Spring Valley churches were remodeled. In August of ’63 we moved to Landa, ND, located 50 miles NE of Minot. Here we served the Landa-Mouse River-Newberg Parish. In ‘68 the Mouse River church celebrated its 75th anniversary with most of the former pastors present. A large tent was put up to accommodate the overflow crowd.
During ‘64 and ’65, I was glad to help Newberg build a new church. When we left in ’69 they owed only $3000 of the construction cost.
The Holy Spirit moved in Newberg during evangelism meetings with Ken Ellingson and Nels Pederson with some coming to personal faith in Jesus.
South Dakota
In August of ’69 we moved to the Midland-Deep Creek Parish, located 60 miles SW of Pierre, SD. Again, under the preaching of Nels Pederson some came to personal faith in Jesus.
The county school redistricting board tried to close Midland school but the Midland community launched an all-out effort to keep the school open and God worked so that the board gave Midland enough evaluation to keep it open.
Back to North Dakota
In ’74 we moved to eastern North Dakota to Churches Ferry to serve the Churches Ferry, North Prairie, and Hurricane Lake Parishes. Churches Ferry is half way between Minot and Grand Forks.
The Churches Ferry congregation built a new church in ’76.
At the New Life Crusade at Cando in ’77 quite a few of our young people came to personal faith in Jesus and some are still faithful. Evangelists and missionaries have been a great blessing in our congregations, calling everyone to personal faith in Jesus and dedication of their lives to live for Him and serve Him wherever they live, beginning at home and to the ends of the earth.
Retirement
At age 65 I retired from the ministry and we moved to Fairbault, Minnesota where our daughter Faith Malek and her family lived. There we built a modest home at 1200 Candy Lane. Money to build the house came from my father (he willed each of his children $20,000), from a Leeds, ND farmer who loaned us $20,000 without interest, and from some of our children, also loaned without interest.
And so with that money, investments that had a high rate of return, plus Social Security and pension we built a home for about $62,000 with no mortgage. Praise the Lord!
In 1984 I helped with the building of the Assembly of God church in Fairbault. Later I planted and cultivated an evergreen shelterbelt on the NW corner of the church grounds.
In 1994 our children helped us celebrate our Golden Wedding Anniversary at the Fairbault Assembly of God church. The children and grandchildren presented an enjoyable and touching program. All of Amy’s and my living brothers and sisters came as well as two carloads of friends from Immanuel Church near Albion, Nebraska. Friends also came from Landa and Churches Ferry, ND. Cousins and classmates also came from Minneapolis.
In retirement I stayed active by chaffering for Social Services for several years and by working as a night watchman for 1½ years at Shattuck Schools, an exclusive boarding school (high school) in Fairbault. I also delivered The Shopper fliers NW of town for 13 years. Gardening, yard work, and cleaning ditches to direct rain water and spring water also keep me busy. With my ‘51 Farmall tractor I pull an I-beam to blade gravel from the ditches the onto the roads in our subdivision, Carla Hills. Also did the same on Mattson Street to St. Paul road.
We joined Our Saviors Lutheran Church and later transferred to Christ Lutheran. Sunday evenings and sometimes on Sunday mornings we attend the Assembly of God church where we have many friends.
I realize some of my shortcomings as a husband, father, pastor and community builder, but I thank God for a wonderful Christian wife and
good mother of our 10 children. She has helped in the congregation; serving in the Ladies Aid, teaching Sunday School, typing stencils, helping with Luther League, conducting choirs and many other worthwhile things. She also worked outside the home as a nurse to help with financial needs. Her spiritual counsel has helped both old and young at church and in our home. Amy has made our home a little bit of Heaven for everyone who stopped by, as well a for our children. “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord for their works do follow them.”
No matter where we go we will serve the Lord. We don’t know what the future holds but we know who holds God’s children. May we be faithful until the end and receive the crown of life.