The 1940s

Anna Marie and Frank Willems outside Steed's Tavern on a snowy day

It was in the late 1930s or very early 1940s when Phillip and Irene decided a new house was in order.  The old one had to be torn down as the new one would be situated on the same ground.  So, for a few weeks at least Phillip and family lived in a corn crib until their new home was ready.  The corn crib was dirty, drafty, and had it's share of rodents making the family extra thankful for a nice home to call their own.

The following interview was conducted during the week of July 4, 1991, by Danny and Kathy Hodnett on video at the longtime home of Anne and Aloys "Ollie" Willems at 1509 N 57^th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53208, and later transcribed to print.

Anne Wagner Willems tells how she came to work in Milwaukee and her life back in Arkansas afterward:  "I grew up in Subiaco on a farm.  Aunt Hedwig (Anne’s older sister) was here in Milwaukee.  She was married.  This was just before Bud was born.  I wasn’t very strong they tell me.  I was small--very thin.  

Hedwig said ‘Send her up here and she can take care of the children.’  

This was before I was married.  I went to grade school—St. Benedict’s at Subiaco.  Then after that I came here to Milwaukee.  My mother put me on the train at Fort Smith and they told her to get traveler’s aid.  A lady took my name and description and would wire all this to the next station, at the next stop where I had to change (trains).  Someone would be there to meet me and see that I got on the right train.  

I was 16 going on 17.  In the country in those days you weren’t afraid as the children of that age would be now.  It was my first time away from home.  

I got to Milwaukee and the lady sat down beside me and she said, ‘Are you going to take a cab, or is someone going to meet you?’  I said, ‘I’m gonna take a cab’.  She said, ‘Have you got any money?’  I wouldn’t answer her because I’d been warned.  You don’t tell anyone you have money and you don’t talk to anyone. 

So I didn’t talk to her much.  A lady got a cab and put me in it, gave the cabbie the address and paid him because I wouldn’t admit I had money or not.  I didn’t know who these people were because I’d never heard of traveler’s aid, or I never heard of people helping you and doing these things for you.  

I got to Hedwig’s and a little while after that I got a job taking care of children.  I was earning $3.75 a week plus room and board.  Later I got $4.  I was getting $4.50 a week when I got married and that was 1940. 

I went home every other year for the summer, and that was where I met Ollie at a dance.  I was 23 and Ollie was 24.  We got married at the Abbey at Subiaco.  I had a lovely dress that I had gotten before I left here.  

Hedwig gave me a nice bridal shower, so I had my silverware, some china, pots & pans, a coffeepot—all the necessary things.  She also took me to the store and said, ‘I don’t want you to be as dumb as I was when I got married’.

I didn’t have a thing so we went shopping and bought 2 sets of sheets, 2 wool blankets, and nice bath towels that were 7/ $1 at J.C. Penney.  I got $3 worth!  Everybody thought I had so many things—but it’s just because Hedwig had said, ‘These are your basic things. This is what you need’. 

Ollie and I both went to Fort Smith with his father and we bought a bedroom set.  Seventy-four dollars, I think, for a bed, dresser, chest of drawers, and a nightstand.  We’ve still got it.  I had all the linens that I needed.  We just had everything we needed.  I thought we had a very good start.  That was 1940, November 12. 

At that time my mother said to me—she’d never mentioned her wedding day or anything about her own life—‘Why didn’t you get married on the 9^th instead of the 12^th?’  I said, ‘What difference would that make?’  She said that she and my dad got married on the 9^th.  That was the first time I knew that she had a wedding day!"

(End of interview.)

Aloys Willems was preparing for his wedding day Tuesday, November 12, 1940. The date was chosen because the Catholic Church at the time didn't perform marriages on Sunday and frowned on Saturday weddings since after a night's celebration the church wouldn't be full on Sunday. 

John M. Willems had encouraged his son Aloys to have  a church wedding and offered to pay some of the expense of the celebration after the wedding.  The weather had been very warm, not an unusual occurrence in Arkansas, so Aloys got some lumber on Monday and nailed together a dance floor near the homeplace for the reception. He also went down to Frank Lux tavern and rented a nickelodeon to supply the music.  The wedding at St. Benedict's in Subiaco was lovely with Anne decked out in a beautiful white gown and veil, and Aloys in his dark suit. The reception, unfortunately didn't go as planned, as the balmy temperatures plummeted down to 12 degrees.  Not many brave souls tried out the dance floor that night!

Aloys "Ollie" and Anne Willems

Best man Frank Willems, Aloys & Anne,
and  Anne's sister Rose Wagner as maid of honor

Initially the young couple lived with Anne's widowed mother, Amelia Wagner, for about 10 months while their house was being built.  Then with the house ready, the couple moved into their new home near the Willems homeplace and began their own life together.

Aloys' older sister Elizabeth's son Bob Werner wrote the following concerning Ollie and Anne's wedding night:

John S. Willems outside the homeplace

"You see, November 12, 1940, when Ollie & Anne got married, I was 4 years old.  For some strange reason (I forget the exact circumstances), I ended up going home with them after the wedding (they had a house just west of Matt & Tince).  I do recall that it was a strange house to me, so that night, I went into their room, saying that I was scared.  Anne had me crawl in bed beside her, comforting me (I suppose she thought I'd eventually go back into the other room), but that didn't work.  I ended up between them, where I finally went to sleep.  Guess you might call it 'my first wedding night'."

The Willems brothers were proficient at working the mules and later driving a tractor.  The hard work as teenagers paid off making them accustomed to the hard work necessary to be a good provider once they had dependents of their own.  They found ingenious ways of making farm life easier. To shell English peas the peas were first scalded, then shelled using a wringer washer that was adjusted just right for shelling--not for pea soup!  The steam would allow the pod to slip off easily as they passed through the wringers.  (Anna Marie and Ophelia tried this once when they were about 13, but things didn't work out so well, and it only caused them more work!)  Sausage was ground using a pulley and the family tractor.  Where there's a will there's a way!

November 16, 1940 John M. Willems gives wife Zola Mae a lift in one of his lighter moments
-when feeling very relaxed John M. Willems would stand on his head!

As is usual, each joy is tempered by a sorrow.  Phillip and Irene's baby boy James Robert who was born April 29, 1941 died on August 25 of that same year.  Their little son who'd never thrived was laid to rest at St. Benedict's Cemetery in Subiaco.

WWII began in Europe and once the United States became involved life changed even for those few who had no one in military service or of age to be drafted.  The country was mobilized to plant victory gardens, have recycling drives for rubber, metals, and other items of value.  Most of the Willems men were farmers and didn't get drafted, considered soldiers without uniforms. Justin joined the SeaBees and certainly did his part.  Had the war lasted any longer Aloys and Frank would have been called to serve as well.  Frank had a heart defect that kept him home tending his farm.  Thurman Owen Manus entered the Navy in 1939 and served through out its' duration as did his older brother  Stanley Wilson Manus who served the Navy as a chief gunner's mate. Later, their brother Leon Haskell Manus joined the Navy, too. 
Nearby the town of Paris was the Army camp of Fort Chaffee.  It was so near in fact that it was common for the Willems family to invite servicemen to visit the farm and stay for dinner after Sunday Mass. 

1942 Seventeen year old Margaret Willems

The war had to be funded so citizens were encouraged to buy war bonds.  Rationing began in 1942 with a wide variety of commodities on the list.  Rubber was among the first to be rationed, also rationed were shoes, farm equipment and fencing, cars, bicycles, fuels, and stoves.  Among some of the food items rationed were sugar, coffee, meats, fats, and canned milk, vegetables, and fruits.  Citizens were issued ration coupons, and often, even with the coupons they couldn't afford the cost of the goods anyway so the coupons would go unused. Always sympathetic to those less fortunate, John M. Willems collected unused shoe ration stamps from his daughters and sons families and purchased children's shoes to send to needy relatives in Europe.  

On Sundays or special occasions when friends or family visited John Martin Willems would play the violin while Anna Marie accompanied him on the piano.  Anna and her Papa played  "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again" when Justin left to join the Navy during WWII where he'd signed up to be a Seabee. That tune was always a sad one as it was played for someone who would be gone for an extended period.  Justin Willems was a young man of 21 when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy on October 5, 1942.  He was released from service on January 5, 1946.

1942- The eighth grade graduates of St. Joseph school in Paris, AR- John S. Willems is 3rd boy from left.  
John did not attend school the following year as he was badly needed on the farm.  He took off a year, 
then resumed his studies beginning high school at St. Benedict's in Subiaco.

1942, 19 year old Anna Marie Willems

Anna Marie graduated from high school in Paris, Arkansas and then went to business school in Fort Smith where she got a job as an auditor at a lumber company.  This was new found freedom compared to living on the farm.  During her time off work she hostessed at the USO dances held in Fort Smith. That is how Anna Marie caught the eye of Henry Bub, a young soldier from New York  then stationed at Fort Chaffee.
Henry "Hank" Bub was an accomplished boxer and Golden Gloves Champion of New York. The problem with Henry as far as John M. Willems was concerned were  twofold. #1-he wasn't Catholic, and #2 -he was "a Damn Yankee".  Nevertheless, they dated 6 months during which time Anna Marie had Hank out to her Papa's house numerous times.  Papa never warmed up to the idea of his little girl marrying him, nor gave his blessing when Hank asked him for her hand, and refused to go the the wedding. After getting special permission from the Church, they married February 26, 1944 in Fort Smith (actually in nearby Fort Chaffee) with much of the rest of the family in attendance.  It was a military wedding.  Anna Marie's brother Frank was the best man, and future sister-in-law Geneva Koch the maid of honor.  Anna Marie had a dowery of $40. Their wedding night was spent in Fort Smith and their honeymoon in Paris.  (Paris, Arkansas that is!)  

Leaving the Fort Chaffee wedding

Corporal Henry and Anna Bub

Anna Marie stayed in Fort Smith and gave birth to their first son, Charles Henry Bub ten and a half months later.  Immediately following Chuck's birth, Hank was sent overseas.  Finally when Hank received orders to return home, he sent Anna Marie a telegram asking her to meet him in Albany, NY.  Anna Marie and her baby took a bus to the seemingly foreign Albany.  Another telegram arrived.  Hank's orders had been rescinded so Anna Marie and Chuck moved in with Hank's Aunt Nettie (who had raised him) and Uncle Bob in Amsterdam, NY awaiting her husband's arrival.  Once Hank was back in the states he and his little family moved into a 4th floor apartment in Albany where Hank worked as a truck driver.  
Back in Arkansas, John M. Willems, perhaps regretting his treatment of Anna Marie, began constructing a cedar chest for her as a peace offering.  While running the boards in his wood shop, he cut off part of a finger.  Bleeding profusely, he called out to his son eldest son Phillip who was working nearby.  Phillip arrived at the horrific scene and promptly fainted at the sight of all the blood!  The cedar chest was finished and shipped to New York without further incident.  It was treasured by Anna Marie, but was the last one that Papa ever made.

Geneva Koch and her cousin Regina Lensing
pose in this undated photo.

Youngest son John S. Willems recalled that when he began his first year of high school he took quite a ribbing for riding a mule to school.  Frank, feeling his younger brother's embarrassment and pain at being teased, no doubt for being a hick country boy, bought him a 1 1/4 hp motorbike.  It was a treasured gift, and won him a special place in the heart of his little brother. As Johnny grew up Frank took the time with his brother to teach him important things, too, like the importance of being honest.  These lessons served young John well into his adulthood.

1938 Clara, Margaret, Theresa, and Clara
on the occasion of Tobias' funeral

John M. Willems sister-in-law, Margaret Guenther Post, died on May 21, 1944 in Mobile, Alabama.  She was buried in St. Michaels Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida.  
Preceded in death by her husband Tobias, Margaret was survived by all of their five children and eleven grandchildren: Anna Post Thygesen and her husband Andrew; Frederick William Post, his wife Dorothy and their children Nancy and Tobias; Louise Post Bowman and her son Bill; Theresa Post Barfield, her husband David, and children Theresa, Frances, David, Jesse, Albert, and Genevieve; and Clara Post White, her husband William, and children James and Susan.

Betty Roselyn Willems, circa 1940

Sad news arrived from New Mexico. Fred and Cecilia's nine year old daughter, Betty Roselyn, succumbed to leukemia. She was laid to rest at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Albuquerque.  Young Betty's marker reads:

Betty R. Willems 

June 15, 1935

Sept. 27, 1944

She was the Sunshine of our Home

John Martin Willems circa 1944

1945 Stanley and Imogene Manus

Frank and Regina pose amid family and friends

The day was November 21, 1944. It was a happy day when Frank Willems married his sweetheart Regina Lensing.  Both bride and groom were 25 years of age. They gathered with family and friends at Regina's home church of St. Scholatica in nearby Shoal Creek.

April 12, 1945 was a sad day for our country. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt  died of a cerebral hemorrhage while at Warm Springs, Georgia.  That very same day brought trouble for some of the area residents that didn't get too much press due to the president's death. The Willems family had guests for the evening, including Zola Mae's son, Thurman Manus who was home on leave from the Navy, 
Thurman's fiancée Bonnie Teton, and Father Bede Mitchell from Subiaco Abbey.  Sometime after dinner seventeen year old Johnny Willems went to drive Father Bede back to the abbey, with Thurman and Bonnie in the back seat of the '39 Chevy.  A few miles from the farm they noticed a storm approaching. Father Bede saw the approaching funnel cloud and yelled for Johnny to stop the car. Johnny began praying and noticed Father Bede, too, was making promises to God, praying that their lives be spared .  The Chevy was first pushed sideways from the road by the velocity of the wind, then rolled over and over spewing out its occupants as it progressed.  By the time the tornado moved on the car was some 240 feet from the road with its roof smashed in, resting on its wheels.  Johnny recalled hanging on to a persimmon sprout to anchor himself and then going off in search of the others.  He found Bonnie first.  The tornado had stripped her of much of her clothing, but Johnny picked her up and carried her to where Thurman lie complaining of a broken neck. He discovered it wasn't broken and managed to get up to help his stepbrother, Johnny, find Father Bede.  They found him caught up in a barbed wire fence, still praying and promising, obviously addled by the shock.  The priest's new raincoat was torn, a fact that didn't sit well with him. The four survivors walked to the house of Joe Schluterman that had moved some 50 feet from its foundation.  They saw another house with no roof, a horse whose shoulder was pierced by a pitchfork, and other fearsome oddities making them count their blessings.   
The tornado was one of a group that tore through Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri leaving 124 dead including 19 deaths in Arkansas. 

This car was driven out the next day by John S. "Johnny" Willems. 

It was the summer of 1945 when Elizabeth and Herman Werner and family moved to Fort Smith.  It worked out well, as Paris wasn't really too far to drive for family functions and there were more jobs available for those, like Herman, who were ready to try an occupation other than farming.  So with the last of their six children still in diapers, the Werner family moved west where Herman got a job at a smelter.  They were still close to Paris but had many more opportunities both for jobs and the children.  

December 26, 1946 The photo of Herman and Elizabeth Werner and family was taken almost a year and a half after their move to Fort Smith.  
Front row: Gene, Betty, Bob, and John.
Back row: Mary Agnes, Herman, Elizabeth, and Hermena

Evan Manus, his wife Marie, and stepbrother John Willems

Item: Paris Express, Paris Arkansas 1946

Paris, Ark. -- (Special) The marriage of Miss Hilda Marie Otten, daughter of Mrs Lena Otten and Evan S Manus, son of Mrs John Willems, all of Paris, was Solemnized Jan 3 at 5 p.m in the Rectory of St. Joseph's Church, Rev Mark Berger, pastor of the church officiated in the double ring ceremony, Miss Verna Otten, sister of the bride, was bridesmaid and Thurman Manus was brothers best man. following the ceremony, a reception and dinner was held at the bride's home. after a wedding trip to Memphis, the couple will live in Fort Smith.

Geneva Koch and Justin Willems during their courtship

After returning from his work in WWII, twenty four year old Justin John Willems and Geneva Koch were married in  St. Scholastica Catholic Church in the community of Shoal Creek where Geneva was born. Geneva, age 21, was the daughter of Logan County natives Eberhart and Gertrude Koch (and was first cousin of Frank's wife Regine). The wedding took place on December 6, 1945 and was cause for much celebration as the two lovebirds kept apart by the war were finally able to marry.
Justin and his brother Frank would eventually live side by side on adjacent farms down the road from the homeplace.

Justin and Geneva on their wedding day

In the mid 1940s Margaret Willems took her final vows at the Benedictine convent of St. Scholastica in Fort Smith taking the name Sister Mary Edith. She went on to teach in Catholic schools in Arkansas and Missouri during her career as a nun.  

Sister Mary Edith and her papa John M. Willems

Elizabeth Willems Werner and her little sister,
Sister Mary Edith at St. Scholastica convent in 
Fort Smith, Arkansas-mid 1940s

Circa 1947-Willems siblings Elizabeth, Fred, and Sister Edith (Margaret)

The final part of the Aloys and Anne Willems interview:

ANNE:

Life was pretty rough for me—I was a city girl.  I was born and raised on the farm, but I went to the city when I was 17.  So after I got married I wasn’t used to these farm and country ways.

One evening we had a heavy rain and Ollie wanted to see the Willems’s –to see his parents.  He wanted to go past Catherine’s place on Hagwood Creek, and it always overflowed.  And here is the bridge and there aren’t any railings or anything. 

Hedy is a baby and I’m sitting there just as nervous as can be and he says ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get you across, I’ll get you across’.  I say, ‘No, let’s go around to Subiaco’. Ollie says,‘That’s too far. We’ll get over this. It’s just a little way over this bridge.’

We’re halfway across and I say ‘I want to go back!’ but he wouldn’t.  He kept going.  We were in the truck and the water was over the center of the wheel. He just kept going across. 

Who knew if the bridge was washed out?  But he took chances all the time, and I thought, ‘well we’ll all go together!’ because he didn’t want to turn around.

 ‘There was another time…He loved to break horses and mules to work. You have to break them in.  He had a horse and a mule when he started off to work at the bottom.  He had the wagon and he was going out of our driveway and just up the road came a motorcycle…and this scared the horses, so they took off!  Here I’m standing there with the children just watching and the wagon is bouncing up and down, up and down, down the road.  He (Ollie) stands up and waves his hat and says ‘Whoopee!!!’ And I’m going Ooohh!’

He went down to Schuweller’s gin and they finally tried to turn and tore through a fence. I guess a tree or something stopped the wagon.

OLLIE:

Ollie Willems-his last year on the farm

Oh no not until they run out—and I went down to the bottom and plowed with ‘em all afternoon.  They were tired that night!

ANNE:

I felt like I was in the Wild West--that’s all I can say--or Little House on the Prairie.
(End of interview.)
Anne's sister Hedwig lived in Milwaukee and when she and Paul came for a visit they encouraged the young family to move there also for a better, easier life.  He boarded the bus for Milwaukee at Thanksgiving, 1947, and upon arrival immediately got a job at Falk. Anne and six year old Hedy and four year old Bill joined him in Milwaukee just before Christmas. Mary was born in August, 1948. 
Ollie worked his job at Falk corporation's maintenance department for many years before his retirement.  His having moved to Milwaukee allowed some of his brothers opportunities also.  Phillip, John, and brother-in-law Herman Werner would live and find work there later as well. 

In 1948 Fred and Ceil moved to El Paso where they bought their own electric motor business.  By this time their oldest son Fred Lester was about nine years old while Edwin and Gregory were just toddlers. 
 

Circa 1948 John M. Willems at his home near Paris, Arkansas; Below is wife Zola Mae Willems

The following letter from John M. Willems to his son Aloys and family was thoughtfully preserved by Aloys family.  It gives us a window back in time as to what was happening in that era.

November 1948, John M. Willems at his home

Circa 1948, Irene and Phillip Willems, baby Ruth, son Phillip, and daughter Frannie, and John S, Willems

Most of John M. Willems sons spread their wings at one time or another and found work off the farm.  For instance, Frank Willems and Herman Werner went to North Dakota for the wheat harvest one year.  Now it was Johnny's turn.  He and his nephew Bill Schwartz went to Kansas for the wheat harvest.  They couldn't find jobs bringing in the crop, all the help had been hired, but found some work welding and laying gas lines.  Arkansas looked better and better after their adventure so the two made their way back home.  Johnny hadn't gotten over the need to leave the farm and went to Milwaukee to visit his brother Ollie, sister-in-law Anne and family in 1949.  He found the city to his liking and managed to get  a job welding at Falk Corporation (where Ollie worked) and staying in his brother's home.  The following year when a recession came and he was laid off he found jobs in sales, mostly selling Encyclopedia Britannica door to door, and later selling shoes at Wiles Shoe Store.  

November 1949, John Martin Willems with Lassie