River City Stories

RIVER CITY STORIES

By Don Kross

Copyright 2017 Don Kross

Text Copyright Don Kross

All Rights Reserved

Smashwords Edition

To my wife for love and support

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR

PART 1 - I’M FROM RIVER CITY

PART 2 - THE SHORT TRAGIC LIFE OF WALLY (RED) BRUNO

PART 3 - THE KARL LUNGEER STORY

PART 4 - SISTER MARY ANGELICA'S STORY (DENISE WETHERBEE)

OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR

Paul Zukowski’s story is loosely based on my life. I was born on September 27, 1928, the oldest of ten children. Many of Paul’s experiences, especially during the early years are based on experiences of mine.

The parents of Paul are loosely based on my parents. Except my mother, while a devout Catholic, was not of Irish descent.

Paul went to high school and graduated in 1946; the same year that I graduated from high school. After high school, we both joined the Army for two years. When Paul was discharged from the Army, he spent most of the remainder of his life in River City, while I eventually migrated to Southern California where I married and raised my family.

The small city, River City, is based on the small city of Watertown, Wisconsin.

Finally in this story, Paul’s wife is not based on my wife. Neither are Paul’s children based on my children. While we both had three children, Paul had two girls and a boy. I had two boys and a girl.

***

PART 1 - I’M FROM RIVER CITY

FROM CHILDHOOD THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL

My name is Paul Zukowski or Zuke as many people have called me for a long time. However, to my parents I'll always be Paul. This is my story and also stories about my family, relatives, friends and peers.

I’m seventy years old; where did the time go? Life has just about passed for me. There aren’t any goals left to fulfill. Maybe my life hasn’t been that interesting, but as I listen to my peers most of us led mundane lives.

My children certainly led different lives than mine. They’ve had their share of ups and downs during their lifetime. I’ll also share with you about their lives and how they handled adversity.

I was born September 27, 1928, the oldest of ten children. Next is a sister, Mary, who’s a nun teaching at a small school in North Dakota followed by another sister, Gertrude, who is married with six children and living in River City. After Gertrude, there are two more sisters, Stella and Helen. Both are married and living in Southern California. The rest of the family are boys. In order there is a brother, Herbert, who is married and lives in Dallas. My brothers, Albert and Henry, are both married and live in River City. The next brother is Eugene, who is single and living in Milton. The youngest in the family is a brother, Kenneth, who’s twenty two years younger than me. He’s married and lives in Spokane, Washington. The Zukowski name is Polish. My father, John, was the third oldest of six Zukowski boys and five sisters. He lived in the River City area all of his life and spent most of it working on various farms. He eventually worked for Mom's father and after he married Mom, he took over her father’s farm.

My mother, Katherine, was an O'Doyle, which is Irish. Mom had four sisters and four brothers. Unfortunately, a brother died as a result of the Influenza Epidemic while serving in the Army during World War I.

Both of my parents only completed an eighth grade education. They were good Catholics and belonged to St. Fredericks Parish in River City. Mom was a very devout Catholic. I suppose you could call me a Catholic. I still go to church, although on occasion I don't go. I don't have the faith my parents possessed.

***

It seems that I’m related to most of River City and the surrounding area, because of the many relatives in the area. All of Dad’s five brothers and five sisters married and raised large families. It is the same with Mom’s family, except for a sister who’s a nun. Another sister, Patsy Bruno, only had one child. Some of these relatives have been successful and some not so successful. Most of them are Catholic, but a small number no longer practice the faith or have changed their religious affiliations. My paternal Grandmother, Bertha Zukowski, was a Skinner and was not Catholic. Grandmother became a Catholic when she married my Grandfather.

There are three relatives who were my age and who graduated from River City High School in 1946, the same year I graduated. All three of these people met tragic violent deaths. Walter(Wally)Bruno who was a first cousin; Karl Lungeer who was a distant relative because his great-grandmother, Pauline Skinner Metz, was a sister of my great-grandfather, Fred Skinner; and Denise Wetherbee or Sister Angelica, whose Grandmother, Mary Zukowski Wetherbee, was a sister of my Grandfather, Albert Zukowski.

There’s another distant relative, Joe Slovic, who lived in Milton. I never met Joe. One of his great-grandfathers was Fred Skinner who was also my great-grandfather. Joe became the leader of the Aryan Pioneers, a neo-Nazi group in Milton. His views were disgusting as advocated by the Aryan Pioneers. Joe died in a freak accident while attending an Aryan Pioneers rally. Joe had one daughter, Linda, who was about the same age as my oldest daughter, Joan. Moreover, Linda didn’t share her father’s views.

***

River City is a small Midwestern city with a population of about 20,000 people, approximately forty five miles west of Milton and thirty five miles northeast of Jeffersonville, which is the state capitol. The area surrounding River City consists mostly of dairy farms, one of which was my father’s farm. The farmers of these farms were generally prosperous. When a farmer retired, he and his wife moved to River City. Usually, the oldest son took over the farm, but none of the my brothers and me took over the farm after my father retired.

About the year, 1836, the first settlers arrived from upstate New York and gave the settlement the name River City because the North River looped through the settlement. Before and after the Civil War, German and the Irish settlers (my ancestors were part of this group) arrived in River City and defined its characteristic.

***

My education started with the first grade in a country school about three miles from the farm. I don't remember much about the school, except all eight grades were in one room and taught by one teacher. A girl, Mary Tueller, who lived about two miles from my parent’s farm, and I were the two first graders. About ten years later, rural schools like the one I attended were closed, and the children bussed to larger schools in River City. Today, most of the old country schools have been converted into a residence.

In the second grade, I entered St. Fredericks parochial school, taught by nuns, in River City. I was an average student.

While attending St. Fredericks parochial school, I learned that I didn't possess a great deal of athletic ability. Because I had a talent for striking out and dropping easy fly balls, I usually was the last kid picked for the recess softball games.

I’d tried to avoid fights with other kids because I usually came out second best. Karl Lungeer a distant relative was in the same grade as me. I had only one fight with him and lost. Karl was a big strong kid. By the fourth grade, I avoided Karl as much as possible. Frankly, I feared him.

In fifth grade, I struggled in school for several reasons. We had an old nun, about seventy years old or older. As our teacher; she was too old to teach a bunch of young kids. Furthermore, when the seating assignment was made, I was placed in front of Karl. I worried about crossing him or saying the wrong thing.

One day in the spring, the old nun had a difficult time explaining something about History. She asked me a question that I couldn't answer. I heard Karl whisper the answer and I repeated it to her. Fortunately, she was hard of hearing and accepted the answer. I learned that not only was Karl extremely strong but he was also intelligent.

After the class, I went timidly over to Karl and thanked him. He wasn't that bad a kid and started talking to me. I learned that he didn't have many friends. Like me, he was a farm boy. While most kids in our class lived in the city and played games after school, we had to go home to do farm chores for our fathers. Karl and I became friends. Summer soon came and we didn't see each other during that time.

In the fall, we entered the sixth grade with the same old Nun for a teacher. I renewed my friendship with Karl. Other kids left me alone when they learned that Karl was my friend. I remember how he easily leveled a big eighth grade bully who made fun of his big awkward sister, Cathleen, also in the eighth grade. After that episode, nobody bothered her.

In the seventh and eighth grade, we had a new nun, Sister Dorothea, as a teacher. Sister Dorothea was a good teacher and made her classes interesting and lively. My grades improved and I did better. By June 1942, we graduated from St. Fredericks and were ready in the fall to enter River City High School.

***

HIGH SCHOOL

In the summer of 1942, during the time I graduated from St. Fredericks and entered high school, I helped my father on the farm. A few times, I finally got the chance to drive the tractor.

I occasionally saw Karl during Friday night shopping in River City when the stores on Main Street stayed open until 9:00PM, or at the church picnic and once at the free show in the village about three miles from father’s farm.

Meanwhile, World War II raged on. This was in the days before television. We learned about the war from what we heard on the radio or read in the newspapers. The war didn't affect us much on the farm. Mom planted a large garden during the summer months. Dad butchered several pigs and a cow or two for our meat. Mom also raised chickens, so we had plenty of eggs to eat.

***

In the fall of 1942, I entered the ninth grade at River City High School, which became another experience I had to cope with. I was surprised to see Karl. Somehow, I expected he wouldn't be going to high school. I knew his father wasn't too enthused about Karl going to high school. As a young man, his father immigrated to this country from Germany. His father reasoned that an eighth grade education should be sufficient to be a farmer. I believe Karl's mother had the last say about him attending High School.

I adjusted to the high school environment and received good grades in most classes. I did well in mathematics, most of the sciences and history. I received fair grades in English and did fair in the shop courses. This occurred during that time when boys took shop courses and girls took home economics courses.

I did poorly in the physical education classes. I happened to be in the same physical education class as Karl, and watched him with envy. Karl could go through calisthenics, climb ropes and hardly break a sweat.

Of course, I never went out for football, baseball, basketball or the track team. By the time, I reached my junior year in High School, I was about 6 foot 3 inches in height and weighted about 170 pounds. Most people assumed that if I was tall, I would be good at basketball. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me. Besides not having any athletic ability, my father needed me at home for chores after school. Despite his strength and sports ability, Karl didn't go out for sports either. His father never would have understood.

Most teen age boys think about girls and sex. I was no exception. However, I never had a steady girlfriend while in high school. I just didn't have the self-confidence with girls and like my athletic ability, I had two left feet when it came to dancing. In my senior year, I went to the Junior Prom with a O’Doyle Cousin, which had been arranged by our mothers.

Still, I managed to get through high school without any big hang-ups. In the freshman year, Karl was my best friend. I associated with other freshman boys, especially those whom I knew from St. Fredericks.

In our junior year, Karl shared a mathematics class with a fellow student, Steve Baker, who could be classified as a genius. Steve was a skinny kid who wore thick rimmed glasses, who today would be considered a nerd. Steve was not a relative of mine. Steve's intellectual ability impressed Karl and they became friends. Naturally I became a friend of Steve. One winter day, Karl left a message in a not so gentle way with the football team quarterback and his buddies when they tormented and razzed Steve.

My grades improved in my junior and senior years, partly because of the help I received from Steve. There wasn't a mathematics or physics problem that Steve couldn't solve. He also excelled in English, Economics, and History. Steve, however was about as athletically gifted as I was.

During our senior year, a couple of days after class, Karl, Steve and I met in a local drugstore on Main Street. We’d have a soda or whatever and talk about our future plans.

Our class became the first class to graduate after World War II. Most of the male classmates I knew planned on joining one of the armed forces. I thought about joining the Marine Corps. However, Steve had applications and scholarships lined up with several universities. Karl was definitely going to farm it with his older brother and father.

Another classmate from the River City High School class of 1946, a distant relative, Denise Weatherbee, may someday be a saint in the Catholic Church. I didn't know Denise until high school. While I went to St. Fredericks grammar school, Denise went to a public grammar school. In high school, I had some mutual classes with her. I never really knew her and seldom talked to her, despite her being a distant relative.

On a hot humid June evening during 1946, we graduated from River City High School. About 150 young people received their diplomas that night. We were ready to face the world and make our mark. Mom and dad were proud of me, since neither of them had gone to high school. Dad insisted that I work with him on the farm that summer. In the fall, I could go in one of the armed forces.

***

AFTER HIGH SCHOOL, THE ARMY AND CIVILIAN LIFE

The summer after graduating from high school wasn't too bad. My parents occasionally let me use the family car. Karl, Steve and I would meet at one of the local beer bars, Swansoles Beer Joint, a popular meeting place for people of my generation. At the time in our state, eighteen was the legal age for drinking beer in beer bars.

After Steve learned of his acceptance by a large eastern university, the three of us decided to celebrate one night. Fortunately, Karl didn't drink much and drove. It probably was the only time in Steve's life that he got smashed. He had a sense of humor that I never knew existed. But, I didn't get to enjoy it that much. If Steve was smashed then I was really bombed. I passed out sometime after ten that evening. However, besides passing out, I got sick. Karl managed to get us home and left me on the old sofa on the front porch where I slept the rest of the night.

The next morning, I suffered an incredible hangover. Dad had no pity on me. There was work in the fields to do.

If you want to celebrate all night, you'll have to suffer the consequences the next day.

The summer of 1946 passed and Steve entered the large eastern university in the fall. Karl worked with his father and brother on the farm. At this time, it appeared that Karl would stay on the farm. He didn't mind the hard work and the physical aspect of farming.

I was ready to give up farming and try something else. So, that fall a former St. Fredericks and High School schoolmate, Raymond Burger, and I went to Milton to enlist in the Marine Corps. Raymond passed the physical. I didn't pass the physical. I'm color blind, which also meant that the Navy wouldn't accept me. I tried the Army and they accepted me. That fall,