| Notes |
- Autobiography of Evelyn Flock
It all began on August 15, 1910, in a small country village of Breckenridge in Southern Indiana. My mother, Ora Hauswald, tended the small country store in what was the front room of our house. My father, William Hauswald, was a school teacher. On Saturday, he drove the horse and buggy about ten miles to a larger town of New Albany. He took to the market the eggs and garden produce my mother had bought during the week from her neighbors in exchange for the staples that she would sell the next week.
On that August 15, he was attending a teacher's institute in Corydon, Indiana, about seven miles away. He had stabled his horse in the barn of my Uncle Cort Sharp near the school. My mother made a phone call to Aunt Betty Sharp saying, "Tell Bill to get the doctor and go by and get Ma! I'm having my baby." Aunt Betty ran up the hill to the school where my father was in the meeting and gave him my Mother's message. He got the doctor and my Grandmother Sharp and we all arrived safely about the same time. I had three older brothers, so that my mother wished for a pretty baby girl, but I was the biggest and ugliest of them all! (So they tell me!) However, my Aunt Cora, who was helping my mother, thought I was pretty and the next day she carried me next door to my Mother's cousin to visit.
We moved from that village of Breckenridge when I was two years old to a farm about three miles from Corydon, Indiana, a town of about 2000. This farm had a log house that we all loved very much but we outgrew it. My parents built a new house when I was eight years old and I had a beautiful room of my own. I was very proud when I grew tall enough to see out the dormer windows. That was "my room" for twenty-four years. As I grew up with three older brothers, (Carl, Clyde, and Ray) and one younger brother,(Ed), I became a real "tomboy" doing all the things they did without letting them know that I was scared. One breath-taking moment I will always remember was swinging out over the “creek" by a grape vine from the trees in the woods that were across the creek. Another similar experience was in the hay barn when we would swing out of the second story back door on the rope that hauled the hay into the loft. The last time I jumped out of that hay loft was when your father and Uncle Ed were about eight and ten years old. My forty-five year old ankles did not respond well to that kind of treatment. I was soaking them and limping around for several days.
My mother insisted as we were growing up that my older brothers take care of me. My oldest brother, Carl, did that very well with a few exceptions. On rare occasions my parents would be away and Carl was in charge. I remember that he kept my father's razor strap very visible, but I do not remember that he ever hit us with it; neither did my father. One of my memories of Carl's care for me was when he told my mother that I had asked my cousin, Georgia, for a piece of her fried chicken at lunch time at school. My punishment was to have my Mother believe him instead of me. (I thought we had traded!) I hid in the walk-in closet of my room, under my hanging clothes and cried. When I visited Aunt Edith Hauswald, who lived in the same house, I am reminded of the little girl crying in my room.
My three older brothers and I walked to the one room country school about one half mile from our home. On rainy days, Mother would drive us to school in the horse drawn buggy. She drove her favorite horse, Bess, and knew how to harness her. One snowy morning, she was taking us to school in the sleigh and she turned the comer in the lane too fast. We all tumbled out in the snow. What Fun! Bess was the horse my mother had driven as a young girl into the town of Corydon. The people on the edge of that town would hear her coming and say "Here comes Miss Orie." She often had milk, eggs, and vegetables to give to these needy people. Maybe Bess was my Mother's dowry which she brought to her marriage along with her dauntless and courageous spirit. Bess continued to be an important part of our life. We all rode on her — I was not allowed to take her out of our fields. One day I went down the road to see my friends, Luetta and Luzetta. She almost got out of my control and I was scared — but did not tell anyone. My oldest brother got to drive her on his dates when he became sixteen.
Part of the fun at the country school was watching my older brothers and their friends having their legs switched, after they had misbehaved on the playground. They stood very straight by the heating stove in the middle of the room, stoic and unflinching, as if to say, "It did not hurt a bit." Of course not, through those jeans and boots? A cousin of my father's, Charles Dick, was one teacher who was "ahead of his time." He had the first movie screen I had ever seen. I can still remember the flickering light, powered by a small gasoline motor. The pictures were very jerky and of course, there was no sound. One such picture of the stars and moon was followed by his question, "What would you do if the moon were to fall in your yard tonight?" That was my introduction to a world that I began to understand existed beyond the community in which I had lived for six years.
My first grade teacher had two of us in the first grade. My friend Lucille Stark had similar learning abilities, so that our teacher took us through the second grade that year. Another teacher, when I was eighth grade, said that I would make a good teacher, because I was bossy! I completed the eighth grade in that country school. The teachers had prepared us well for Senior High School in the town of Corydon, the county seat of Harrison County.
A few years before that my father, William Hauswald, stopped teaching and was elected County Clerk. So I rode with him in his Model T Ford and he dropped me off at school each morning. His working day ended before my after school music lesson or other activity. He would often be chatting with the principal or superintendent of the schools. That put me on notice! I really didn't misbehave but it was a bit scary! I had one poor grade in geometry under Superintendent Reuter. I knew my father would not ask any favors for me from his friend. My physics teacher in my senior year was very challenging and encouraged me. These teachers influenced me to become a teacher.
My brother, Ray Hauswald, was two years older than I. He loved the farm and after much begging and crying, my parents allowed him to stop school in his second year in Senior High School. He became a very successful farmer and continued to do kind things for me until he died in a tragic farm accident in 1960. Since Ray was just two years older than I, we had lots of fun together. I helped him seine minnows in the creek, and he let me ride in his wagon hitched to his goat, Billy. As we grew older, he gave me my first rose bud in a vase for Valentine's Day, and bought a sweater for me to wear to school before I received my first pay check. Ray was the father of your two cousins, Darryl and Larry, whom both operate the farm and also teach school. Beverly, Darryl's wife, also teaches, and is the mother of Paul and Chris. Larry is married to Carol and they have Jeff and Jill. Carol was a teacher but now works in one of the Corydon banks. Ray's wife, Aunt Edith, had a sister, Aunt Beulah, who lived with her and they cared for each other. Aunt Edith died of a cerebral hemorrhage on July 7, 1994. Aunt Mary Ellen (Uncle Les Flock's widow) and Marilyn, their daughter, live in Corydon. Uncle Melvin Flock and Aunt Irene lived in Durango, Colorado for many years. They now have moved to Sun City, AR. They have son, Robert and grandson David, and son Richard and granddaughter Erin.
In September 1927, at the age of seventeen, I entered a small private college, Indiana Central, which has become the University of Indianapolis. I pursued a major in Elementary Education. I needed only one year of college to get my teacher's license with plans to enter summer school to complete my degree.
I had a serious accident in my dormitory room that almost changed my plans. I was drying my hair after I had set the waves with Celluloid combs. I was using an open-coiled electric heater that ignited the combs. My hair was completely burned off. I fought the flames with my hands but my eyes, hands, face, and scalp received third degree burns. One of my best friends, Julia Posz lived directly across the hall. She heard my screams and after I fell in the hall, she battled the remaining flames, covered me with a blanket and called for help. As I lay there with my eyes completely swollen shut, I was wishing I would never see myself again. I saw Julia when we went back for the 50th Anniversary at Indiana Central. She died very soon after that. I was glad that I had the chance to again express my gratitude and love.
My brother Ray drove my Mother to be with me and later came back to take us home. My burns healed and hair began to grow back. I was determined to go back to school. My mother gave me strength. She made several pretty caps for me to wear in the dormitory and bought several close fitting felt cloche hats to wear to class. I went back to school, after six weeks, made up class work and received my Teacher's Certificate. Not a happy year!
I started teaching in September of 1928. Ray loaned me his Ford coupe to drive to a one room school about five miles from home. I was eighteen at that time and had a nineteen year old boy in the sixth grade. He was physically handicapped but was never a problem.
When I started teaching, I took my little brother Ed who was eight to the elementary school in Corydon.
As I said, my brother Ray loaned his Ford Coupe to me to drive to school. On Halloween Day, I had a bag of popcorn balls and a glass jug of cider for treats for my kids. While driving to school, I attempted to pass a slow moving truck going up the hill. I slipped off the gravel at the side of the road and turned over. I walked down the hill to a phone to call my father. He came to rescue me. I picked up the popcorn balls which had scattered on the hillside and the jug of cider. My father took me to school. He called my brother, and they retrieved the car and took it to the garage from repairs. Neither one scolded me! When I got home that night my mother said, "What are you going to do to yourself next?" My father paid for the repair of Ray's car!
The shock of the burns that I had the year before destroyed my resistance and I had pushed my body strength too hard. So at the end of my first teaching year, I succumbed to tuberculosis. My parents arranged for me to live in Winter Park, Florida with friends who had moved from our neighborhood. I regained some strength there. I was nineteen years old and their son, J.T. Ellis, was fourteen years old. He said that I became his "sister by choice" and we have valued our friendship through all these years. He is retired now and telephones me often. The next year, I spent with my brother, Clyde Hauswald, in California. We lived with our Aunt Celeste Bybee (Ora Hauswald's sister). My brother Clyde, and another cousin, Charles Sharp, drove home to Indiana and took me to California with them. We spent ten days on that trip, two of which were in Grand Canyon, Arizona; they told me I would see Indians in New Mexico. I don't remember the Indians, but I do remember the hottest Chili I have ever eaten in Santa Fe, New Mexico. After two years, (1931-1932), I came back to Indiana and taught school for two years in 1933-34.
I came to the University of Denver for summer school during those years. Calvin (your grandfather) and my mother came to Denver to take me home. My father's cousin, George Hauswald lived in Denver and he encouraged me to come back to live here.
One of my brother Ray's friends, Calvin Flock, had moved into our community when we were all quite young. We shared, as a group of young people, in the activities of our church (Pfrimmer's Chapel), schools, and community. After returning to this group following our second year of College, Calvin and I became more than friends in the group. We were married in that beautiful country church on May 13, 1934, at 9:00 a.m. My mother had prepared a lovely brunch for us and we left for Denver in the afternoon on our honeymoon. We were married by our college friend Rev. Ralph O'Dell. Five of my college friends were house guests, Irene and Lucy Carmony, Ruth Noel, Sibyl Totten, and Inez Meade, who was our soloist. I don't know how my mother took care of all of us. I remember her concern was that I might be late for my own wedding. My brother Ray was Best Man and Edith Yeager was Maid of Honor. My brother Carl gave the bride away. Clyde Hauswald and Leslie Flock were ushers. Edith and Ray were married the next year. She is our dear Aunt Edith who lived on the farm. She makes us all very welcome when we can "go home."
We left Corydon on May 13, 1934 driving a 1930 Model A Ford coupe. We pulled a two-wheeled trailer behind us with all of our worldly possessions and, as Calvin said, "Five dollars in our pockets." I believe it was a little more than that! It was a long hot drive of four and a half days through the dust bowl of Kansas. The heavily loaded trailer destroyed our tires and Calvin cut wires from the tops of the fences along the road to hold our tires together until we could get into Junction City, Kansas. We bought tires there and sat on the street curb watching the parade of the U.S. Horse Cavalry which was stationed there. We continued into Denver where we were welcomed by friends of our parents who became important "family" to us ~ George and Marie Hauswald (who became Uncle George and Aunt Marie), and Golda and Clarence Higginbotham (who became Denver grandparents), Guy Hickman Families, Harry and Alice Fleshman and family, John and Ruth Stauth and family, Harold and Chaldon Denbo, and Aunts Kitty, Edmonia and Hattie Pfrimmer. These were about twenty-five of us who formed the "Indiana Club." We had many pleasant picnics and other happy times together.
The three single Pfrimmer sisters joked that they had one sister that was married — she was our Mother's friend Emma who lived in Indiana. We rented a small apartment from them and they soon became "family" to us.
The year 1934 was the sixth year of the major economic depression that began in 1928. Our plans were to finish our University degrees at Denver University but money and jobs were scarce. We were very fortunate in that Calvin was hired by Montgomery-Ward and Company and placed in their Executive training program. Montgomery-Ward had the largest retail and catalogue store in the United States and a beautiful new building in Denver. I applied for office work there in November expecting to be terminated after the Christmas rush, but I was kept and worked in all departments of the Order Clerical offices for three years. By then, we had moved to a three room apartment just three blocks from Wards. Some mornings, I walked the three blocks to work in the dark for mail opening that began at 5:30 AM. One morning it was 24° below zero! That's the truth! The depression was still on when Calvin was promoted to Executive Payroll in Merchandising. Rules that were in effect because of the Depression said that wives of Executives could not be on payroll. I took leave and found employment with Weicker transfer and Storage Co. as a merchandise storage clerk.
During these years, we had bought our first home at 1030 So. Washington St. We had a two-story older house with an upstairs apartment. In spite of the depression, we were able to completely pay for this home. In 1938, my younger brother, Ed came to Denver to live with us and entered college at the University of Denver. He was taken into the army in January of 1942 after Pearl Harbor. He was over-seas for the duration of the war. Then he came home to Denver, graduated from D.U. and Married Helen Repp. They have two children, your cousins, David and Peggy Hauswald. David and Deb have two children, Tyler and Reagan. Ed retired from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Nebraska where he was Associate Director of Business Research and Economics.
In 1944, Calvin received his draft notice to report to Ft. Logan for induction into the army. I was pregnant at this time and Calvin was very concerned about my driving downtown to work on icy days so I left my job at Weicker’s. He failed the physical at Ft. Logan because of scar tissue on his lungs from health problems before we left Indiana. He came home and we sold our house soon after that. We bought a business on the western slope of Colorado. We had a general store, filling station, and eleven one room cabins (for field workers). We were in the village of Toponas, Colorado, forty two miles south of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Our store kept in stock anything a family might need from an oversized coat for a man to Copenhagen snuff. We enjoyed being a part of this community. Calvin had a government contract to meet the mail train each morning. Many mornings it was much below zero -- the record low was 63° below zero. He said, "Through rain and snow, the mail must come through." He never missed a day of delivery to the post-mistress. I took over there, sorting mail for our Post Office boxes and for the rural carrier. After Eddie was born, I often took his basket to the Post Office with me. We had a completely modern five room house with entrance to the store from our kitchen. Calvin often took his pickup to answer calls from our friends who needed help. He did all the buying from the salesmen who called on us and restocked our shelves. I kept the books and collected the bills. We both served customers when they came for their mail and supplies. I also operated a ten line telephone switchboard. I had to refuse some requests for help -- like haircutting, piano lessons, and teaching school in Routt County. There weren't enough hours in the day!
We had wanted to be in the country when our first baby was born after eleven years of marriage. We were in the country all right! We were at 8400 feet altitude and working all day and late into the night. Our friend Dr. Morrow from Denver was Superintendent of the hospital at Oak Creek — eighteen miles away. He came back to Denver before our baby was born -taking with him our sense of security. On May 1, 1945, Calvin brought me to Denver to be with the Pfrimmer sisters. We made the trip at night over Rabbit Ears Pass. I shall never forget our driving through snow drifts along both sides of the road that were higher than our car. The moon was shining brightly and we were indeed in a winter wonderland.
The three "Aunts" — Kitty, Edmonia, and Hattie, welcomed us with open arms and assured Calvin they would get me to the hospital on time. Calvin returned to Toponas that night. On the afternoon of May 9, we had the call and Aunt Edmonia took me to the hospital. Later that night, Calvin made the one hundred twenty five miles trip to Denver in record time of three hours. The baby was born on Calvin's Thirty-sixth birthday, so he became Calvin Edward Jr. -- Eddie to his friends and family. Two years later at the same hospital and with the same Dr. Plauger, John William was born February 4, 1947 -- Johnny Bill to friends and family. Dr. Plaugher had predicted that he would be a girl and offered to take him to his home. We never regretted our decision to bring him home, even if he did cry for six weeks! The high altitude and long working hours took their toll on us and we came back to Denver in 1946. Our time at Taponas was a profitable one and we were able to buy our home at 1646 So. Downing St. These were the happiest days of my life, being at home with our little boys. When they became school age, I became active in PTA, Cub Scouts, teaching Sunday School, taking them to piano lessons, and to the Rolling Hills riding stables. Eddie has always had a love of horses. When we went to ride, Calvin told Johnny to be careful of the tail of the horse because that was the part of the horse that would kick.
Eddie has several trophies from the University (Colorado State University) that he won, one being the Horseman of the Year. He has a three shelf trophy case across the end of his living room filled with trophies that his champion Dalmatian Dogs have won. He does not have dogs now but judges in shows. John chose to have a family, so you two and Carolyn are his trophies!
Calvin had gone to work for Farmer's Marketing Association when we came back to Denver from Toponas. He worked for them as Field-Man for thirty-five years. He worked with Managers of Co-op Mills and Elevators in Colorado and several neighboring western states. He wrote formulations for their special feeding needs, and drew plans for large farm buildings which he later sold to them. He considered them all his friends and took care of their many needs for years.
One of the special high-lights of our boys growing up was our yearly summer trip to visit their grandparents and other relatives in Indiana. There were several summers when Calvin took us and, then, the boys and I came home by train. Usually, he built a bed between the front and back seat so that the boys could either play or sleep. We usually stopped for a few hours at night at a motel in Topeka, Kansas. One summer the boys and I drove to Indiana alone and Calvin came by train later. I was driving through the outskirts of a small town in South Eastern Colorado when "the cop" pulled me over. He said I was driving fifty in a thirty-five mile per hour zone and that he had followed me into town at eighty four miles per hour. All the way from there to Indiana, I had one or two boys looking over my shoulder to monitor my speed.
Grandpa and Grandma Flock had sold their farm in the country and were living in a new home in Corydon. Johnny and Eddie spent many happy hours with them but they were eager to go to the Hauswald farm where they were with their cousins Darryl and Larry and all their activities. They never lacked ideas of entertaining themselves. One of those ideas was to "hypnotize" their Grandma's big roosters and geese. They would tuck the heads under their wings, put them on their backs, and hold them still until they went to sleep. Grandma's screams when she saw her "dead" poultry lying on the ground and the boys’ laughter woke them all up and everyone was safe again.
There are many happy times to remember during the years the boys were growing. I remember cooking wieners and hot dogs on our small brick fireplace in the backyard. We sometimes had extra friends of the boys over or our family of Uncle George and Aunt Marie, and Golda and Clarence Higginbotham.
When the boys were about six and eight, Calvin brought home a little black and white Fox Terrier puppy which they named Sonny. The boys immediately took him downstairs to the laundry room for a much needed bath. It was Mother's duty to sign for the vet to put him to sleep many years later because he was too sick. Later it was also my responsibility to tell the boys that he wasn't coming home. Eddie's interest in dogs and horses continued and now John has two dogs just like Sonny (and another little Poodle.)
John played in all three major sports through high school. In college, he became a serious student of Chemical Engineering and girls and he and Jo Ann were married in 1969.
Another happy time each year was when we could go to the ranch at Meeker, Colorado. For many years we went on October for a week of hunting and fishing. After Calvin retired, we had an Airstream R. V. trailer which we left there from May till November. Some summers we were there as much as six weeks. Your first time with us there was in 1974 when Jennifer was four and Andrew a baby. I have a pleasant memory of your Mother and the two of you playing on a blanket outside our cabin. Two times later you were able to be with us in Meeker. I remember Andrew and Grandpa fishing off the bridge and Andrew yelling" look Grandpa, I caught two at one time just like you did." Jennifer and I were fishing a little upstream and happy to catch one at a time.
Calvin enjoyed that country for fishing and big game hunting. When I was young, I had my own gun and went with him. I never shot an animal but helped him carry one home. I held the back end of the travois. The Fleshman family had two young boys who were my friends. They threw corn into the stream when I was fishing, then the fish took my bait! One day they were with me when I was carrying my 0.22 rifle. One of them asked me if I could hit the top branch on an Aspen tree. I fired and the top flew in all directions. I would not try again!!
I continued to work until both boys were through college and beginning their careers in the business and professional worlds. I retired from the Denver Public Schools in 1974, taking early retirement because of health problems. Most of your life, I have had these problems to live with. I was able to come to California when you were each born and until Jennifer was four years old. I cherish those times when I was able to be with you when you were very young.
Through your growing up years in New York and North Carolina, we have moved from the house that was our home for thirty two years, to a condominium in the retirement village of Windsor Gardens. You visited us there in 1984 for our fiftieth Wedding Anniversary. On June 24, 1991, your grandfather had a series of strokes and was hospitalized and then moved to Cherry Creek Nursing Center for a year. On June 24, 1992, we moved to Meridian Retirement Center in Englewood, Colorado. Calvin has complete nursing care in the Health Center on the third floor. I have a small apartment on the seventh floor, which I call "my little nest." It is very efficient and beautiful. I can get to Calvin's room by elevator in a very few minutes.
Today, as I am thinking of my life since we have lived in Denver, I am reminded of the changes we have seen and some of the important people and events of our sixty years here. Denver's census for 1940 showed 150,000 people; its figures for 1986 were 450,000 people. When we first lived here, the airport was very small and we often drove out on Sunday afternoons to watch the planes come in. Soon Denver will be opening its new Denver International Airport which will be the largest and most modern in the United States. Our main entertainment in those early years was to go to a movie for $2.50 and buy a $0.50 hamburger on the way home.
The two homes we owned in Denver are considered "Downtown" now. Beautiful modern cars have filled the streets with traffic that we never dreamed of. They have caused a pollution problem which the city tries very hard to control. Many beautiful homes and schools have been built.
In 1937, we bought our home at 1030 So. Washington St., next door to Bill and Gracia King, who were buying their home at the same time, they became our lifelong friends. They invited us to go to church with them to Washington Park United Methodist Church and invited us to join the "Mr. and Mrs. Social Club," which was composed of about sixty couples of young married people. Some of our best friends are in that group, although it has become much smaller. Ten of us in that group live here at Meridan and we still enjoy each other. During those years at the church, I have enjoyed teaching Sunday school, being a counselor at church Camp Rosalie, serving on the Education Committee, and working in all areas of the Women's groups. These caring friends we made through our years at the church have made my life much richer and we continue to help each other. (Calvin had many business friends and one of them recently moved down the hall from us.)
This brings me to today. I'm writing this because I was accepted in a writing class of fifteen who were chosen by our teacher, a retired professor of writing and music at the University of Wisconsin. She encourages us and wants us to be happy writing about our lives. I don't think she is going to grade us!!
I am also singing in a chorus that was organized in September. We named ourselves "The Merry Meridians." Our director was pleased with us when we gave our first concert at Thanksgiving for the residents on Calvin's floor. We have done three programs since and will be doing a "Love Song" program for Valentine's Day. We have given a concert to a full house in our small auditorium on the 2nd floor. We did "silly" songs that we have known since we were kids; like "Nobody likes me, Everybody hates me, I'm going to the garden to eat worms." We each had a "Gummy worm" to eat as we sang. We are working on our Christmas program now.
A few weeks ago, I was chosen, with others, by the Marketing Department of the Management office to be interviewed for television showing on "The Myths of Retirement Living in Meridian." The purpose is to advertise the interesting things that we do here and the diversity of the backgrounds of the residents. We have a beautiful eight story building, with nicely landscaped grounds and flowers. The halls, lobbies, and all floors are carpeted and well lighted. We feel like we live in a nice home - not an institution. The best part of it all is the staff, from general management to the nursing staff and care-givers, who really care about us. I realize I have given you only "glimpses" into a life that has been very good!
To end, let me give you my wishes for you, in some of the words to my favorite music:
May you walk with sunlight shinning and a blue-bird in every tree
May there be a silver lining back of every cloud you see!
You will not see the rainbow until you have felt the rain in your face.
Evelyn Elizabeth Flock
Englewood, Colorado
May 15, 1995
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1910 - 1997 (86 years)