LHS Band Memories

Fifty years ago mention was made that LHS band members Dean Steinmetz, Monte Muller, Jim Looker, and Phil Gudgeon had all won gold medals for their cornet and trombone playing at the 1968 state music festival.  That accomplishment, the first for brass instrument performances at LHS, brought back many memories for me of my time playing in the La Farge High school Band.

            Miss Jeanette (Jan) Stinzi ignited my interest to play an instrument in the school band.  Miss Stinzi, who hailed from Bangor, came to La Farge to teach music at the school during the 1959-60 school year.  It would be a rebuilding effort for the dynamic young teacher as the LHS band had fallen on hard times.  

            At the 1959 4^thof July parade in La Farge, the school band had not marched.  I remember that many adults were very upset with the LHS band’s no-show that day and complained to Al Oaklief, La Farge Superintendent of Schools about it.  Mr. Oaklief was in the process of hiring a new band teacher to replace Hubert Groves, who was leaving the district. During the 1958-59 school year, there were only 15 students in the LHS band.   Mr. Oaklief soon hired Miss Stinzi to resurrect the program.

            When school began that fall, Stinzi set out to create interest in the music program.  She brought a representative from a LaCrosse music company (I think it was Leithold’s) to demonstrate instruments to the students in grade school.  I was in 7^thgrade at the time and was thrilled to hear the instruments being played.  The students even got their turn at blowing the horns and I remember tooting on a trumpet and making a clarinet squeal.  I seem to remember that the music man stayed around that evening for a meeting with parents to arrange the purchase or rental of an instrument for their children.

            I was living with my grandmother, Isa Campbell, at the time and raced home to announce that I wanted to play in the school band.  My father wasn’t against the idea, but he did not attend the parent’s meeting to buy or lease me an instrument to play either.  When I went to school the next day, several of my classmates already had their rented instruments to begin practicing on.  Others had purchased new instruments that were on their way.  When I went home that afternoon, I let my grandmother know about my disappointment in not having an instrument.  But she had a big surprise for me.

            She had been up in the attic that day and brought down a fancy and beautiful instrument case.  Inside was a classic silver C cornet that had been my uncle’s – Berlie Campbell – which he played in the LHS school band back in the 1930’s.  He had graduated in 1937 and died in a farm accident less than two months later.  Apparently the cornet had not been played for over two decades.  It had some mechanical problems and one valve did not open properly. But I did have a horn to play!

            I took the cornet to school and Miss Stinzi marveled at the instrument.  She sent it up to LaCrosse to be repaired.  In a few weeks it came back ready to go – I remember the man from LaCrosse telling me what a beautiful instrument it was.  I was soon taking a weekly lesson from Miss Stinzi and learning to play my cornet.  

            Others in my class were learning to play as well. In her first year at La Farge, the band under Miss Stinzi’s guidance had grown to 36 members.  From my class, Ben Rastall was playing the trombone and Carlyle Stoleson was playing trumpet in the Senior Band that year.  Carlyle had started playing the cornet about the same time as me, but caught on much quicker than I did.  Both of Carlyle’s parents, Floyd and Charlotte Stoleson, were accomplished musicians and even had their own band – The Kickapoo Sweethearts. The Stoleson family’s musical talent had carried on well to Carlyle.  The LHS Band marched proudly in the hometown 4^thof July Parade that summer!

            By the next year, when I was in the 8^thgrade, I had made the LHS Senior Band!  (There were 34 in the Senior Band that year with another 22 students in the Junior Band.) I was the last chair in the cornet section that included Butch Donaldson, Roger Steinmetz, Carlyle Stoleson, Greg Ferries and Vera Beth Looker. The band expanded its marching performances by playing in the Horse & Colt Show Parade in Viola in September and marching in the La Farge Homecoming Parade in October.  Under the capable direction of Miss Stinzi, the La Farge High School Band was proudly returning to form.

            Alas, it was learned that Miss Stinzi would be leaving La Farge after her second year there.  She was getting married and returning to her hometown of Bangor to teach. Mr. Oaklief was busy looking for a capable replacement when he became aware of a man graduating from the music program at UW-Platteville, who also happened to be from Mr. Oaklief’s hometown of Lancaster, Wisconsin.  Marlin Pendleton was soon hired as the new bandleader at LHS.

            Mr. Pendleton began in that summer of 1961 by continuing the summer instrument lessons that Miss Stinzi had arranged. My first lesson with the new band teacher did not go well nor did my next.  My cornet playing underwhelmed Mr. Pendleton and I was soon demoted to a kind of standby position in the band.  I remember on one warm evening that summer when Butch Donaldson and Greg Ferries, who both lived about a block from my grandmother’s house, were practicing their cornets by playing outside.  Soon Butch and Greg were playing songs together from each of their houses and the neighborhood was filled with music.  So I decided to join them.  When I started to blatt out the song they were skillfully playing, the impromptu concert came to a grinding halt.  That should have been a hint as to Mr. Pendleton’s concern about my playing ability.

            When the school year began that fall, my cornet lessons with Mr. Pendleton were increased to several times a week, almost daily.  My playing improved and I was soon back playing my cornet in the Senior Band. The LHS band increased to 40 members during the year.  The cornet section increased to nine members that 1961-62 school year.  Butch Donaldson, Carlyle Stoleson and Greg Ferries occupied the first chairs.  Then Vera Beth Looker, Dennis Martin and Brent Waddell comprised the second chairs, with Roberta Putt, John Sullivan and myself playing in the third chairs.  Other members in my class in school who were in the band that year included Ann Steinmetz, Berthanna Betts, Judy Kirking, and Ben Rastall.

1968 - A YEAR TO REMEMBER

1968 was a tumultuous year in America’s history.  It is now the 50^thanniversary of that chaotic year and many of the events from that year are being retold in newspaper articles and television broadcasts. The Reverend Martin Luther King and Senator Robert Kennedy were both assassinated that year.  Reverend King’s death led to race riots in many American cities and Senator Kennedy’s loss profoundly affected the presidential election of that year.  

            The war in Vietnam continued to escalate in 1968 (the Tet Offensive was launched by North Vietnam at the end of January that year) and the resistance to the American involvement in that conflict also grew. Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy won the New Hampshire presidential primary election in March as an anti-war candidate and soon after and just days before the Wisconsin primary (also won by McCarthy) President Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not seek another term for the office.

            I thought it would be interesting to look at what was happening locally in La Farge during 1968.  In this installment and the next, we will look at some of the happenings of that year in this little Kickapoo Valley town.  Much of the information for this local history was gleaned from the 1968 copies of the La Farge Enterprise newspaper.  The La Farge Enterprise began its 70^thyear of continual publication in January of 1968 and Arnie Widstrand was the editor of the paper.

            As the year began, some major changes were occurring in the businesses along La Farge’s Main Street.  After 27 years in business, Jennie Adams sold her variety store to Muriel Burnard in December of 1967.  The first Enterprise issue of 1968 featured a farewell advertisement from Jennie Adams, thanking all of her customers for their patronage over the years.  Muriel’s Variety Store continued to sell the same popular lines of merchandise as the previous owner.  

            In the next week’s newspaper, there was an announcement that Carson Lawrence was leaving his Sinclair gas station on the corner across Mill Street from the cheese factory and relocating to the Texaco station on the other end of La Farge’s Main Street.  Carson had been operating a gas station at the “Nuzum’s Corner” since 1937 and for many years had also sold sporting goods and guns from the station. Virgil Nixon owned and had previously operated the Texaco gas station where Carson moved his business and also ran a bulk oil and gas truck for farm deliveries out of the same location.

            Two weeks after Carson Lawrence’s move, an ad ran in the Enterprise announcing the Grand Opening of “Glenn’s Pure Oil & Used Cars” at the former Sinclair gas station kitty-corner from Nuzum’s.  Glenn Alderman was the new owner of the business there.  In early March, Virgil Nixon completed his retirement moves when he sold his bulk oil/gas truck business to Teddy Olson.  By the end of the year, the Texaco brand had switched places in town and another grand opening ad appeared in the mid-December issue of the Enterprise for “Glenn’s Texaco & Used Cars”.  

            In July, Harvey’s Market & Locker Plant (one of four grocery stores in La Farge at the time) changed hands when Bill and Irma Gilman bought the south State Street business from Harvey and Evelyn Ernst, who had operated the locker plant business for nearly eighteen years.  “Harvey’s Bologna”, produced at the store, was a regional favorite and sold all over western Wisconsin.  Bill Gilman had worked at the Ernst locker plant/store for over seven years before buying the business and continued to make the famous “Harvey’s Bologna”.

            A longtime business in La Farge ceased operations in the fall of 1968 under tragic circumstances.  In October Orville Casey Sanford had a stroke while working in his men’s clothing store on a Saturday night and died a few days later at age 77. Casey Sanford had been selling men’s and boy’s clothing and shoes in LF for fifty years.  He had worked for Charles DeJean in his men’s clothing store at the location for years before buying the business in 1929.  With Casey’s passing, Sanford’s Clothing Store, which was the last men’s clothing store in La Farge, closed.  A dispersal sale of all merchandise and fixtures was held.  Delos Glick bought all of the shoes and boots from Casey’s store to sell in his shoe shop located on south State Street.  The store that had housed Casey’s Clothing Store was torn down in the fall of 1972 and the lot has sat empty to this day.

            Several other deaths affected the business community in La Farge in 1968.  In August, Ben Rastall, the manager of La Farge’s Nuzum’s Lumber Yard, died suddenly of a heart attack at his home of a heart attack.  The popular lumberyard manager was 56 years old.  Three weeks after the death, Orville Jensen was named the new manager of the La Farge Nuzum’s.

            In March, Ed Muller, former leader of the Muller Construction Company based in La Farge had died at the age of 81.  Ed Muller, a former La Farge village president, had been a formidable leader in making the family ‘s La Farge construction company one of the largest in western Wisconsin.  After he retired and turned over the company to other family members, Ed Muller tinkered around in the company shop on west Main Street and built a steam engine.  He would fire up the steam engine on occasions to give his grandchildren and other kids in the village a ride up and down Main Street.

            In September, Dick Ekern, another former businessman in La Farge and owner of a large mink ranch in the Town of Webster, passed away.  Ekern was a former tavern owner in La Farge, where three drinking establishments operated successfully in 1968.  The newest of the taverns, the Raven Bar was located in the old theater building and featured area bands on stage every Saturday night.  Otis Williams & Country Caravan was one of the area’s favorite musical groups to play the Raven.  Another local group was Mel Williams & The Stranger that played at Ray Merwin’s Bar in February.  La Farge’s other bar was Boot’s & Ina’s, also known as Kellogg’s Bar, owned and operated by John and Ina Kellogg.

            At the end of each year during the time of the 1960s, most La Farge businesses would place an ad in the Enterprise during the Christmas – New Year issues that wished everyone happy holidays and thanked people for their patronage during the year. Looking at a list of those ads gives one a sense of what the business community was like in 1968.

            There were late December ads for Mick’s IGA, the Cash Store, Dick’s Grocery and Gilman’s Harvey’s Market – La Farge’s four grocery stores at that time.  The La Farge Barber Shop featured the names of barbers Eston Major and Everett Parr. On the women’s side of hair care, there were holiday ads for Jan’s Beauty Salon and Lois’ Beauty Shop.

            Mac’s Pool Hall, which had been closed for part of 1968, had an ad placed by manager Theron Phillips.  Bob & Maxine Kennedy had an ad for the Band Box Café, while La Farge’s newest restaurant venture, Kathy’s Rec & Luncheon that had opened in November, also had a Yule time ad.

            Other end of year ads in the 1968 issues of the Enterprise included Johnson’s Funeral Home, Jeffers Truck Sales, Rockton Tavern, Glick’s Shoe Shop, Wheeler Feed Store, Muriel’s Variety, Glenn’s Texaco & Used Cars, Raven Bar, La Farge Creamery, C&S Motors, Carson Lawrence Station, Vosen Insurance, Sandmire’s Mobil Station, H&D Lumber Co., Caucutt Plumbing & Electric, Rose Hardware Store, Muller’s Radio & TV, La Farge State Bank, Nuzum’s, La Farge Co-op Oil, Lounsbury Drug Store, Miller’s Store, Ray’s Bar, Kellogg’s Bar, Major’s TV & Appliance, Qwik Sales & Service and Markee Soft Water.

            Next time, we will continue this “golden anniversary” look back at La Farge.  We will view the local impact of the war in Vietnam and on a happier note; look at the successes of the students attending La Farge’s school. If you would like to share some memories of this time in La Farge’s history, contact me at bcstein@mwt.netor send me a note at P.O. Box 202, La Farge, WI 54639.

            Working together, we can tell the stories of this little Kickapoo River town.