More LHS Band Memories

Starting in the summer of 1962 and continuing through that fall, the La Farge High School band became road warriors as they marched in 17 different parades throughout western Wisconsin. Part of the abundance of marching was to show off the new LHS band uniforms that had been acquired at the end of the previous school year.  Purchased through a fund raising campaign by the LHS Band Parents, the new uniforms were gray in color, trimmed in purple with a white LF on the front coat panel. For marching in parades, the band members doffed gray hats adorned with a white plume reaching skyward.

            Mr. Marlin Pendleton, the LHS band teacher, wanted to show off the new uniforms and the band’s talents, so every marching invitation was accepted.  The LHS Band marched at the Horse & Colt Show Parade in Viola, the Labor Day Parade in Hillsboro and for Cashton’s Fall Festival.  Besides the schools own homecoming parade, the LHS Band traveled to Barneveld and Ithaca to march in those school’s Homecoming festivities.  

            In August, the band marched in the Rockton Homecoming Parade, or at least tried to.  The parade was part of the Rockton Centennial Celebration that year and lots of floats were entered – too many perhaps.  The band unloaded from the school buses and formed into their marching lines on Lisney Road on the northwest side of the little hamlet.  The LHS Band marched down to Highway 131 and headed south.  When the band was about in front of the old Rockton schoolhouse, it stopped.  And there it stayed, as nothing in the parade was moving.  While the band waited in that spot for some time, Mr. Pendleton decided to have the band play several of the marching musical numbers that it played as it marched.  After a half hour or so, the band began to inch ahead in the route until stopping again before reaching the Rockton Store.  The band played some more numbers as it waited there for some time in front of the store and then the band broke ranks and walked back to the bus.  We learned later that there were so many people in Rockton that day watching the parade that the parade units could not reach the end of the route.  (Wouldn’t you know it; only Rockton could put together a parade that was bigger than the town.)

            Besides the snazzy new uniforms, the LHS Band stood out in other ways as they marched in parades.  Most high school bands of that era played musical marches, many composed by John Phillip Sousa, as they performed in parades.  The LHS Band had played Sousa marches previously as well and continued to do so, but Mr. Pendleton introduced Broadway show tunes set to march music for the band to play.  Using the show tunes for the marching music was new and no other high school bands in the area were doing that.  When the LHS Band belted out “Give My Regards To Broadway” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” as they marched along the many parade routes, many a head and ear were turned by the modern show tunes.

            Mr. Pendleton also booked the LHS Band into college homecoming parades that fall.  The LHS Band played in the LaCrosse State Homecoming Parade that year, marching along some of the same route used for the Music Festival held later in the spring.  The band also played in the Platteville State Homecoming Parade, a real source of pride for Mr. Pendleton, as it was his college alma mater.  After we marched in the parade in the morning we went to the football game in the afternoon.  One of the captains of Platteville’s football team was Danny Rabata, a graduate of LHS. As a matter of fact, Dan Rabata led the Pioneers to victory that day with his punishing running from his fullback position.  Just like the old days when Danny played for La Farge!

            The LHS Band’s marching season culminated when they marched for the Music Festival held in LaCrosse in the spring.  The Wildcat band garnered a first-place in the marching competition as well as another first in the concert competition.

            During the 1963-64 school year, the LHS Band continued to expand in size and performances.  To get a sense of that school year, I am going to use the write-up for the 1964 “Memories” yearbook.  It went like this:

            The fifty-one members of the La Farge High School Band had a whirlwind year during 1963 and 64.  During the summer of 1963 the band marched at La Farge for the 4^thof July Parade and later that month at Farm Progress Days in Viroqua.

            In September the band marched in the annual Horse and Colt Show Parade at Viola. In Octoberthey again went to Viola to play during half of the Viola-La Farge football game.  Later in October they had the opportunity to march in the Homecoming Parade at Platteville and the Apple Festival in Gays Mills.

            Here at our own Homecoming, the band presented a show during the halftime of our game.  They used a variety of new drills and formations, which were devised by Mr. Pendleton.

            The first appearance on stage was the Mid-Winter Concert on February 13, which took place in our new gymnasium.

            In May the band will enter the Concert and Marching competitions at the Music Festival in LaCrosse

            They will conclude the school year by taking part in the Commencement and Memorial Day exercises.

            All in all this year has been quite an experience for the members of the band.

            It was quite a year for the LHS Band, but it did not end all that well at the Music Festival competitions held in LaCrosse. Mr. Pendleton was always looking to improve the band’s performance by playing in more demanding competitions. For that spring Music Festival held in LaCrosse, the band, for the first time, competed in the Sight-Reading Competition.  In that competition, the band was given two musical numbers to play that they had never seen before.

            Mr. Pendleton talked the band through the first number as we saw the music for the first time.  I remember the piece being some sort of minuet and when the band started playing the number, it was immediate confusion.  Finally after a minute or so of pure musical mayhem, Mr. Pendleton stopped the band and had us start over.  It went a little better after that.  

            The second selection for the Sight Reading Competition was a march and it looked easier than the first number.  The band quickly picked up the march’s tempo and was playing the number pretty well.  However, a certain cornet player sitting in the third section fell behind in the number and struggled to catch up.  When the band reached the final note, all finished together in glorious unison except the struggling cornet player.  Yours truly had one more note to blatt out of his silver cornet, putting a nice closing button onto the tune, when one wasn’t needed.  If looks could kill, Mr. Pendleton’s glare towards me regarding my concluding blunder would have been fatal. 

            Of course, we did not get a first in Sight Reading that morning.  To make matters worse, the judge for the LHS band’s dismal showing was one of Mr. Pendleton’s music professors from Platteville College.  He dutifully laid out our woes in the new musical field of competition and mercifully gave us a second place ranking.  To make matters worse, it wasn’t the last of the second places for the band that day.  To everyone’s shock, the band also received a second in the concert competition.

            The band played more challenging musical numbers than in years past for the Spring Festival Concert competition, but hard and constant practice throughout the year had left everyone in the band feeling that a first place could be achieved.  Perhaps it was the holdover from the earlier Sight Reading Competition that day, but the band did not perform well and had to settle for a second place in Concert competition.  Well, the LHS Band could always be counted on for a first place in the Marching Competition, but there was a little catch to that as well.

            Because Mr. Pendleton had concentrated all of the band’s practices on preparing for Sight Reading and Concert competitions, we had never marched once that spring – no practice whatsoever.  When we assembled on the LaCrosse streets on that May afternoon, it was the first time for some of the band’s newer members to march or play the music for marching.  We had to assemble quickly into our newly formed marching lines and then head down Main Street towards the LaCrosse downtown.  Our odds did not look good, but by the time we had gone a few blocks the percussion section had us strutting our stuff.  When we neared the judge’s stand the LHS Band belted out one of their new show tunes, which brought shouts and applause from the big crowd.  Some things are not easily forgotten and the Wildcat band could march and play anywhere at anytime.

            We did not know our rating when we left LaCrosse that day, but we were not surprised when the band received another first place for the Marching Competition.

            During my senior year at LHS, the band continued to grow with 60 students making up the concert and marching band.  I was elevated to the second chairs section of the cornets.  Dean Steinmetz, Carlyle Stoleson and Brent Waddell comprised the first chair cornets while I joined Nathan Larson and Kevin Alderson in the 2^ndchairs and Phil Muller, April Melvin and Rhonda Jacobson played in the third chairs. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the band and can’t seem to remember any major screw-ups that I committed that year. I remember that the 2^ndsection had a dynamite counter-melody part in one of our marching numbers that we really enjoyed belting out.  That is if we all had a horn to play.

            It seems that when we marched in the Horse & Colt Show Parade that year, I forgot my horn at home.  When I told Mr. Pendleton about it, I thought that I wouldn’t be allowed to march.  But he would have none of that since I was a row leader in the band formation.  So, I marched without a horn as the La Farge Band marched down Viola’s Main Street.  At one point, the band stopped and played a number.  As everyone in the LHS Band played the marching selection to its best ability, I stood mute at the end of my row.  I stood there in dumbness right next to the crowd on the sidewalk, and I seem to remember when the musical number ended someone in the crowd (with a voice that sounded very similar to my brother, Kent) yelled out, “Where’s your horn, Bradley?”

            I might not have been much of a musician, who was prone to occasional mistakes, but I really did enjoy my time in the La Farge High School Band.  My memories of the experience fondly live on to the present.

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.

Future Speaking Engagements

I did not make it over to Badger Ordnance on January 11th to give my dam talk – icy roads caused a cancellation of that endeavor.  We are going to try and reschedule.  

Speaking of rescheduling, the culmination of my “Last Dam Talk*” at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve has been set for Wednesday, March 21^st.  The talk is scheduled for 7 pm, with socializing and smoozing & refreshments at 6:30.  Check out the KVR webpage for more information on my Last Dam Talk*.

I am going to give a local history talk focusing on Volume II of my La Farge history at the Lawton Library on Tuesday, February 20th beginning at 6:30 pm.  Check out the library's webpage for more information on that talk.

            Don’t forget that copies of all three of my books are for sale at the KVR Gift Shop, the La Farge bank and the office of the Episcope.  If you would like me to send you a copy of the recently published Volume II of my La Farge history, please send me $25 along with your address to P.O. Box 202, La Farge, WI 54639.

            Recently via Face Book, I heard from Guillaume Caudebec, who lives near Paris, France.  Guillaume was a foreign exchange student at La Farge High School during the 1988-89 school year.  He was interested in purchasing a copy of Volume II and wanted to know what it would cost.  The cheapest mailing fee to “Gay Paree” is a tad over $36, so I’m not sure if he will be interested.  He wasn't!

            I recently mailed out a copy of Volume II to a former classmate (LHS Class of 1965 – a great class!) Carlyle Stoleson in Mazomanie.  In his letter, Carlyle mentioned that he had read my column on Badger Ordnance and that he drove a tram at the ammo plant in 1969.  Fellow classmate Rudy Hamilton also mentioned to me that he worked at Badger that year as well.

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

Badger Army Ammunition Plant

I was going to be giving a history talk in Baraboo on January 11^th at the Badger Ammo Plant Museum.  (Because of bad weather and wintry roads, my talk was postponed.  Hopefully it will be rescheduled in the spring of 2018.  I will be talking about the La Farge dam project history with an audience interested in comparisons of the Kickapoo Valley project with the current conversion of the old ammo plant grounds at Merrimac over to public lands.  The Badger History Group, an organization that is preserving the history of the former U.S. Army ordnance facility, is sponsoring my talk.

            As I prepare my presentation, I have been thinking about the connections between the Badger Ammo Plant and the community of La Farge.  Over the years, lots of people from the La Farge area worked at Badger Ordnance and the effects of those paychecks and jobs were significant.

            The Badger Army Ammunition Plant was built during World War II and became the largest munitions factory in the world at that time.  Besides the factory that was located on nearly 10,000 acres of prairie south of Baraboo at a place called Merrimac, the operation also included a village where workers and their families could live.  “Badger Village” included a school, recreation center, child-care facility, cafeterias, and a transportation system.  The village housed up to 8,000 workers and their families during the war.  By 1948, all munitions production had stopped at the plant and the Badger Ordnance Plant was deactivated.

            In 1951, when the war in Korea spread to include American troops, Badger Ordnance was reactivated and the Olin Corporation took over the operation of the plant.  During the Korean Conflict, the Badger plant produced ball powder, rocket propellants, smokeless powder, acid and oleum that were used in a variety of weapons.  Olin continued to create munitions at Badger on a limited basis after the war in Korea ended, finally going on stand-by status for the plant in 1957.

            When the United States became involved in the war in Vietnam in the 1960s, Badger Ordinance was once again put into full production.  Beginning in 1966, Olin operated Badger at full capacity again and continued producing munitions at the Wisconsin facility through the middle of 1975.  In 1997, the U.S. Defense Department declared that Badger Ordnance was “in excess of its needs” and plans were made to return the facility to state and local control.

            At the heights of production during the various war years, Badger Ordnance employed as many as 12,000 people.  The need for employees at the Badger plant reached out to all of the communities of southern Wisconsin, including those in the Kickapoo Valley.  Many workers and their families relocated to Badger during the various war years of peak production.  Here is what I wrote in Volume I of my history of La Farge when the Badger munitions plant began during World War II,

            The construction of the government powder plant at Merrimac, south of Baraboo, in 1942 and 1943 had an immediate impact on employment for La Farge men and women.  Bob Kennedy was one of the first from the village to work at the munitions plant, called Badger Ordnance.  His brother-in-law, Merton Calhoon soon joined him when he resigned his positions at the bank and as village clerk in La Farge and started work at Badger in April of 1943.  Merton moved his family to Pardeeville to be closer to his new job at the powder plant.  Others car-pooled to work at the new plant.  By the spring of 1944, there were seventeen from La Farge working at Badger Ordnance and Harry Lounsbury; village board member sought a bus to stop at La Farge to carry the workers.  A bus wasn’t available at that time, but the La Farge workers at the munitions plant were given extra gasoline rations to make the drive, while others caught the bus to Badger at Hillsboro.  Eventually the bus line to Badger Ordinance was extended to La Farge to carry the workers to and from work.  A village with temporary housing was set up across from the Merrimac munitions plant and some from La Farge moved there.  The “Badger Village” started its own school and Clarence Krumm, former school principal in La Farge, was the first principal at the new school.  Many women from La Farge worked at the Merrimac plant, some working away from home for the first time. (From page 136)

            I remember one lady from La Farge telling me that her first good-paying job was at the Badger Ammo plant during WWII.  After the war was over and her job at Badger was eliminated, she was determined to find another job.  She did not want to return to her home to become a “housewife” – a term she used with derision.

            Later in Volume I, I wrote this about the connection between La Farge and Badger Ordnance during the Korean War,

            Another impact that the Korean conflict had on the village was the revival of operations at the Badger Ordnance powder plant in Baraboo.  Once again thousands of people were needed to work at the munitions plant and many would come from the La Farge area.  Daily bus service was begun from the village to the war plant, carrying workers from La Farge and the surrounding area.  The good paying jobs at Badger
Ordnance further increased the bustling economy of the village. (From page 154 – there is also a photo of the Badger Ordnance Works in 1942)

            When Badger Ordnance was cranked back up to full production during the Vietnam War, many from La Farge once again worked at the munitions plant.  A daily bus line once again ran from La Farge to Merrimac to carry workers back and forth, stopping in Hillsboro and Union Center along the way.  In 1969, I occasionally rode on that bus as I worked at Badger that summer.  Bob Kennedy, who was back working at Badger Ordnance for a third time – this time as a production line foreman, got me the job.  Although I was still planning to return to LaCrosse that fall to finish up my college education, the ammo plant needed workers badly that summer.  Bob told me to not mention about returning to college in my Badger Ammo job interview – that way I would get a job.  It never came up and I was soon working on the “Air Dry Line” at Badger Ordnance along with David Mick, another college student from La Farge who had started work there a couple of weeks before me.

            We worked a “swing shift” that summer – one week we would work days, then the next week it was the 2^nd shift, followed by the graveyard shift the week after that.  Since the bus lines did not operate for the night shifts, we had to drive a lot of the time.  I think back now that some of my classmates from LHS – Rudy Hamilton, Ben Rastall, and Danny Thayer to name a few – had served in Vietnam before I even started working at Badger Ordnance.

            The summer of 1969 was also when the Army Corps of Engineers, in an entirely non-war related enterprise, began purchasing property north of La Farge for the dam & lake project.