Chapter 2
College Years
When our grandparents died, Helen and Harold, our cousins, each got one of the two smaller houses while Chick and I shared the larger house. We struggled to make a life for ourselves. These were depressing years for us.
Just out of High School, I was looking for work and found a job with the railroad. My crew push a four wheeled car along the tracks and cut the weeds at all the intersections, so the engineers could see where the tracks and the roads would intersect.
Chick worked odd jobs to keep us in food and helped to make it possible for me to attend Eastern College. I worked at the college to pay my tuition and at a pool hall, sweeping the floor to help out. We ate a lot of baked beans those years.
The winter mornings were pretty cold. We had a wood burning stove that we would cook our evening meal on and then it was our source of heat for the evening. We often climbed into bed to stay warm. In the mornings I would wake up, dress quickly and run to school to get warm. At that time, the college offered a free breakfast. I don't think I ever missed one.
Eventually, Chick and I joined the National Guard. While serving, we camped at Rapid City. It was a good experience for us. We learned to shoot the M-1's, carbines and B.A.R's. We built bridges across small streams and learned to make pontoon bridges.
During our time in the National Guard, the "sit down" strikes became popular. As members of the National Guard, we were called-up to address a sit down strike at one of the packing plants in Sioux Falls. We were issued guns, but no ammunition. We were led into a room inside the plant where we stayed, while the workers were all around the building waving sticks and knives. Our National Guard unit was sent home that night - but called back the next day. This time we were each issued one bullet, but told NOT to use it. It was scary.
In 1936, Bob Buntrock and I hitch hiked & rode the rails to Oregon. The first day we went from Madison to South Sioux City, NE. We slept in a railroad car that night and made it on to Lincoln, NE the second day. We stayed a couple of days with Bob's relatives who lived near the Nebraska State Capitol building that had just been recently completed. When we got back to our trip, we caught the first railroad car going west - Whew, we just made it. We stayed on that train to Denver. Some ride - no food for 400 miles. The train made stops for water, but none for food.
We hitchhiked across Colorado and had some interesting experiences. We spent one night in a jail, just to keep warm and another night in a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp. We had to buy bus tickets to get out of Colorado. We spent two days in Salt Lake City and then went north to Idaho and crossed the Snake River at Coleur d'Alene, ID then on to Spokane, WA.
We took a wild ride to Pasco, WA. on a freight, to a place where the North-South trains met East-West trains to exchange railcars, and move on. As we left the cars, we were met by a crew with shotguns. They stopped us from going in to town by circling us. When the rail cars were all rearranged, we were told to pick one and get on it. We did.
The beet harvest was a failure that year and the results were many Mexican workers without jobs. We got back on the freight as we had intended, and went on to Portland, OR. From Pasco to Portland the night "Bulls" (Railroad Police) were on both sides of the trains the entire way.
At this time we came upon a Hobo village with food and participated in their Hobo Jungle dinner. We had some money, so we went to a bakery and bought stale bread and rolls as our contribution to the meal.
We went on to Portland and arrived at the freight yards. We got a room for $1.00 and got cleaned up with Civilian Conservation Corps clothes. We stayed in Portland a couple of days and found a good place to eat where we could get a sirloin steak for twenty cents and went to afternoon movies. Then we went on to Corvallis, OR where Bob's relatives lived. They were farmers and owned a farm just outside of the city. We arrived right at harvest time.
In Oregon I learned to harvest Vetch. There were two varieties of Vetch - Hairy & Common. This is the plant that is planted between trees in orchards to keep the weeds down. Bob's family did custom work. They owned a combine and would go from farm to farm during harvest time. We stayed and worked with them about a month. The first day, my job was to drive the team of horses. I'd never worked with horses before and had trouble Uturning corners. The next day, I had a different job. Later, we went on to a large orchard and pick plums to be dried for prunes. We did other work around the orchard, as well.
During this time, we met three fellows from Minnesota and worked together as a team for a while. Bob and I decided to go into the city of Corvallis where I got a job at a pear cannery. Bob didn't find a job, so he went back home. I stayed two more months and then went back to South Dakota, too. I bought a bus ticket to Sioux Falls, SD. The trip was non-stop, except for bathroom and meal breaks. I arrived back in Sioux Falls in about 24 hours.
I finished my second year at Eastern and decided to spend the second summer in Oregon. I made the trip to Oregon alone. This time, I met the Root family from Madison (the twins) and worked for them a few days.
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I then went on to California. I hitched rides from Corvallis to Sacramento, CA and was in Sacramento during the week of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, but decided not to go there because of the crowds.
I then Hitched to the Nevada border and caught a freight train into Reno. I traveled all night crossing Nevada, Utah and the great Salt Lake. Then hitched across WY on a new highway. I stopped at Oelrichs, SD where I visited the Bell's, Frank and Edna and their children Harold and Helen.
While in Oelrichs, Edna insisted that I visit Chadron College and talk with Coach Armstrong. I decided to go to school there and with Chick's help of $25.00 a month and Edna's good support and influence, my life changed direction.
The first year at Chadron my courses were History taught by Wilson, Physic taught by Phillapott, Coaching taught by Armstrong and English taught by Hanson.
That year I made the football team and made my first trip to Hayes, KS. We had an interesting year. The players I remember were McGinnis, Murray, Butler, Pool, Morgan, Armstrong, Trux, Barkley, Brooks, Finkey and Paxton.
I roomed in a house with eight other students, just across the street from the college and kept busy studying. I remember one History class with Wilson. He would take the side of the Indians. Many of them visited the class for a small hand out. They used the money to get home or to purchase some form of alcohol.
Phillapott was a special teacher. My Physical Education Course under Armstrong, a down to earth teacher, was where I learned a lot about coaching and handling students. I learned about athletes foot then, too. Armstrong was popular with students, faculty, fans and even his opponents.
I spent the summer in Madison with Chick. John Dire, "Skunky" Beelse (nick named that because he would rid houses of skunks and often carried their aroma with him) and I drove north to North Dakota during harvest time looking for work. It was a rainy day as were were driving along the highway, when a farmer hailed us and hired us on the spot. We worked for him for 10 days.
I took the job of helping to unload the shocks of hay from the wagons into the thrasher. It was a steady job, as I went from wagon to wagon without breaks. The only breaks I got were when the tractor broke down. When the farmer paid us for our work, he gave me 50¢ more per day because I worked that job. When we were finished there, we returned to Madison.
I returned to Chadron for the second year and arrived at school the same day that Germany invaded Poland. I had hitched a fast ride from Madison to Rapid City and stopped at Oelrichs to visit the Bell's and then went on to Chadron just in time for classes and football.
Chick helped me by sending money and I got a job for 35¢ an hour. I worked limited hours for Coaches Armstrong and Robert's and Miss Gregory. Bob Bowman and I coached the prep football team for Coach Robert's and for our efforts, received teaching credits. Coach Armstrong had me referee Intramural Basketball and other sports he scheduled. Miss Gregory asked me to do library research on current events for her History classes.
Chadron had a good year in football. W-4, L-3, T-1. All the teams that defeated Chadron had undefeated seasons. Chadron was known to have good basketball teams, too. Leading Basketball scorers were Bob Bowman and Armstrong, a brother to Coach Armstrong.
While I was at Chadron, I remember one assembly that featured Gutzon Borglum, Sculptor of Mount Rushmore. He spoke about his project and his commitment to it.
I was able to graduate in May and was looking forward to getting a teaching/coaching job. I left Chadron "debt free" due to an unexpected donation of $30.00 in my name. I suspect Coaches Armstrong and Roberts, but no one ever owned up to it. When I returned for our 60th year class reunion, I found it was classified as a scholarship.