Recipes for Living Conversation with Emil Muller

Yes, as far as I know, our family was German, period. My grandfather was born and raised in Germany until he was about eight years old. My sister has done some family genealogy. I have it and hope to work on it more. I've gone with Rilma to court houses in Illinois and Indiana to look at their family records and perhaps some day I will do that with mine. I do know that my grandfather's family came to Iowa and settled in the Osage area.

That sounds very much like what happened in the lives of my grandparents. How do you suppose, without the knowledge, communication, and travel advantages of today that people in Germany knew about Iowa?

Do you know about the Amish people? They have none of the technology that we surround ourselves with and depend on, but still they have a way of knowing such things, too. I think it was our good fortune that they came here. Iowa is a good place to raise families.

I was the third child in a family of four. Dorothy was 12 years older than I and I don't actually remember her living at home. Dale was seven years older and my sister, Verna, was 16 months younger. She and I had the closest relationship, of course. As of this writing, in 2002, both Dale and Verna are deceased.

Our family lived in Worth County, which is so far north that even though we lived in Iowa, our address was Lyle, Minnesota. Try to explain that, particularly on some of the government forms. It was only when an official in the county ASCS office had the same situation, that we could substantiate that it was actually possible.

I came from north central Iowa, also, but even there the winters were much different than here.

Yes, it seems as though highway 20 is a dividing line for the weather. The coldest I remember was a morning when it was 44° below zero. That was wind still, not wind chill. I could tell you stories you wouldn't believe about the snows we had. In the winter of 1946-'47 we had two barns with driveways to get to the back barn. There was a straw stack between them. Everything was fenced and snow first covered the fence. Dad and a neighbor put a four-foot snow fence over it and it got over that. They put up another one and it went over that. They finally put up a fourth one, which means the snow was about 16 feet deep.

If that sounds like a fish story, I have evidence that it was true. Dad always kept a big amount of feed out back for the sheep but that winter he ran out He had to find a way to get feed back there. The only way was to take the tractor over the snow banks. They realized that if the tractor broke it would be there until spring, so to check it, with his neighbor's help, Dad drove a 16-foot 2x4 board into the snow and did not hit the ground. They decided they could make it. Luckily, the tractor didn't break through.

But we didn't think much about all that. We just lived with it. We might scoop off the porch but that was about it. Where we needed a path to take care of our chores, we used heavy equipment to shove it out of the way. One big advantage, there was no ice. The temperature didn't warm enough to melt the snow, so we dealt with packed snow that broke up when we drove over it but that was better than ice. ·

The summers were hot but we worked out in it with no relief from air conditioning. All this produced wonderful crops with the exception of 1934 and 1936 when the summers were hot and very dry. Those years farmers had almost no crops, but usually they were wonderful. Dad told some of Dorothy's friends from Texas that he could hear corn growing at night when everything else was quiet. They didn't believe that but he put a lath next to a plant in the cornfield, and marked the length of the longest leaf. When they checked the next morning, twelve hours later, it was 2 ½ inches taller.

Both of us being German, do we have some traits in common?

If you mean being bullheaded, you're right. And we were taught to be frugal. We had a simple lifestyle and a high regard for work. That was mainly what our family did. By the time I was eight years old I was doing such things as driving horses on the hayfork, with somebody supervising, of course. There are lots of grown people now who wouldn't know what a hayfork is. But I didn't then and don't now have any feeling of being abused. I couldn't wish for more for our young people these days than to know that they have an important role to play and a contribution to make to the family. Of course, we didn't analyze such things. We did what was expected of us.

We lived four miles outside Otranto, where I went to school into the fifth grade. It is easier to describe the location in relation to Minnesota than to Iowa. We were 12 miles straight south of Austin. We were bussed to school and there were many days when the oldest kids got out and pushed and scooped snow, which would not be allowed now.

My sister Verna and I were in the same grade. It came about because there were only two students in the kindergarten class. When the other moved away on the first of March, rather than the teacher having just one kindergartner, she advanced Verna to first grade. There came a time when I had my tonsils removed and was out of school for six weeks. The teacher said that if mother would teach me math during the summer, I could be promoted. Mother replied that I disliked school enough already and she was not going to put me through that, so I was held back.

When I was 10 years old, we moved to Austin, Texas because of Dad's asthma. He had never smoked a cigarette in his life, but he had always milked. If you have ever milked a cow, you know that you put your head against the animal, which means you breathe in that animal dust and we figure that is where he got it.

I was in fifth grade at that time, and it was a shock Changing climate, lifestyle, and school was difficult. I attended a Lutheran parochial school through seventh grade, then public school for eighth and ninth grades. At that point I announced to my parents that I was quitting school because I was not going to high school there. It was just too big! I had made the adjustment from our very small school in north Iowa to 150 kids to a class in junior high, but in a high school of 4500, there could be 1500 in the remaining three classes-tenth, eleventh and twelth. We moved back to northern Iowa and I graduated in 1955 from Carpenter in a class of 13, not 1500.

Did you have any teachers or adults that you feel influenced your life?

There are two that come to mind. One was my Ag teacher who was a strict disciplinarian. There was only one incident when he made it abundantly clear to a kid who was cutting up in class that he would tolerate no such foolishness. In these days when the rule is strictly hands off, his response would not be permitted but it was effective. Not only that boy but the rest of the class needed only one reprimand and it took care of the situation for the rest of the year.

And our basketball coach was a great guy. I played basketball, mainly center, since I was the tallest fellow on the team. In fact, I was the tallest of any kid in the county. I played varsity for two years during which time we had a record of 43 and 9. One night I was not playing as hard as I should have been and the coach let me know that if didn't get myself going he would take a corkscrew to me.

With a lot of hard work! Usually I put in 18-hour days. I had a milking machine, which was invaluable. It helped me work the farm alone with Dad helping as he could. His health was not good. Then about four years after I had begun, I was in an auto accident in which I hurt my back. Back surgery was not reliable in those days so that was not an option. I couldn't drive the tractor any longer and had to give up farming. The folks still owned the farm and they sold at that time.

In 1959 I worked on construction for a year. I entered into an unsuccessful marriage, and in trying to make it work, we moved to Texas. I had a son Ed by that marriage whom Ronda (Wishon) mentioned in her story, which is in the 2001 (orange) edition of Recipes for Living. In her tell-it-like-it-is way, she very aptly described the time that he lived with us for two years of his high school education. He went into the service and we stay in touch.

For two years I sold insurance, which gave me training in sales work. I came to Iowa to spend a couple weeks vacation with my brother Dale, who was living in Indianola. While I was there I met a fellow who eventually was instrumental in my getting a job with an automatic poultry and hog equipment manufacturer, "Big Dutchman." I moved back to Iowa and went to work for that firm, living out of a suitcase as I traveled southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri.

In August, 1962, I met Rilma Jamison. She told about our meeting in her life story in the purple book of Recipes. It didn't take us long to decide that we would give marriage a try. We made an agreement that after 150 years, if either of us should choose to do so, she or I could walk away, no hard feelings. On November 9, 2002, we will complete our 40th year.

We lived for a short period in Des Moines, then in Cameron, Missouri, where Roberta was born in 1963. In 1966 Ronda was born while we were living in Liberty, Missouri. I went to work for National Fidelity Insurance and moved to Osceola, where Eric was born in 1968. The girls started to school at East Elementary.

In 1969, I recognized a better opportunity and began working with Arbie Feeds. They wanted me to travel as supervisor over seven states. I was gone from home from Sunday night until Friday night. In 1973, I was transferred to Marshalltown, where Eric started school in 1974. We lived there until school was out in 1975, then moved back to Osceola. I continued with Arbie Feeds as district manager with my territory narrowed to six counties and I could be home every night. That was worth a lot to all of us.

I retired from Arbie Feeds after 27 years and in 1996 went to work for Clarke Community School District. I was (and am) a school bus driver, a custodian, and a "messenger" carrying mail between the buildings. I have now retired from my work as custodian at East Elementary. There are five custodians in that building and their work far exceeds cleaning. It is necessary to understand the chemicals that are used in order to avoid combining those that conflict with other materials. There is always minor repair and maintenance work that needs to be done. I worked three hours a day during the school year and that time plus driving the bus made full eight-hour days. When budget cuts carne along, it was rewarding to have the superintendent say that they should not affect my hours. They had to replace me with someone who worked the hours I had worked.

From what I have been told, you could write a book about your experiences as a bus driver.

That's true. The strictness which Ronda attributes to me came under a new test. I have route five, which takes me northeast of Osceola and back through Jamison. Each trip is about 40 miles. I keep the bus at home and leave each morning at 6:40. Those on the beginning of the route get on about 7:00a.m. I arrive at school about 7:45 to 7:50. In the afternoon, I pick up at the elementary a little after 3:00 - they get out at 3:05 - and high school at 3:25. I don't have nearly as many going home because some of the kids are at the elementary in the morning and with babysitters in the afternoon. I get home about 4:30.

For most of this year I have had seven to nine high school students and 37 elementary students. There is a lot of talk about drivers having trouble with the students. On each bus there is a box in which a camera may be placed. Neither the driver nor students know if the camera is in there so its pictures pretty well indicate the usual behavior. If a driver has serious trouble, he or she is supposed to write up a report, which goes to the appropriate principal who takes whatever action seems to be required.

I have generally had a good relationship with students and parents, and this year I have a particularly good set of parents who respond immediately and favorably if there is a problem. The students understand from the beginning that I don't put up with their garbage, and if they don't understand from the beginning they get the message shortly after.

It is interesting, that in these days when administrators and/or staff are cautioned against touching of students, the children are the ones who want to give us a hug. The Columbine tragedy caused grave concern, and the school has taken precautions. Visitors can gain entry to the school buildings only through certain doors, must sign in, and must wear an identifying tag. We bus drivers have specific instructions about what we must do if we observe anything at all that looks suspicious. But by and large, I consider it a pleasant job and would recommend it. The school always needs more drivers.

Yes, I have had several surgeries through the years. In 1988 I had a recurrence of back problems when I twisted wrong as I was lifting a sack of feed from the trunk of the car. It resulted in back surgery. Then on May 3, 2001, I was having difficulty with shortness of breath and consulted a doctor. He had a chest x-ray and EKG done, and informed me I had already had full-blown heart attack. I visited with Peggy Dunbar, who is head of the heart rehab unit at Clarke County Hospital. My cholesterol was not high, my blood pressure was okay. There were only two risk factors - family history and my smoking.

I know how touch-and-go things became. I was in the hospital from May 4 until May 13. Most of what I know that took place during that time is what they have told me. Ronda said that in the period before my surgery, the family gathered around my bed holding hands and I led in prayer, not that God would spare my life but that we all might have strength to face whatever happened. I don't doubt it, but I don’t recall it. In the few minutes I remember, I had an impression of two people at my head and two at my feet, with a person on each side holding on to what I now know was the gurney, and they were running. Later I learned that my blood oxygen had dropped significantly and they were rushing me from intensive care to heart intensive care. They did triple by-pass surgery. ·

The first two weeks after I carne home I gave my family all kinds of stupid static but for the most part I recovered well. As far as the heart surgery is concerned, there were no problems. I had fluid on the lungs and even yet I am short of breath. Within the last two weeks, I had reason to have the doctor check, and in addition to the fluid he detected some pneumonia. He put me on some high powered new antibiotic ($84.00 for 10 pills) and they seem to have done the job. I feel the best now that I have felt in years!

That's right. Father died at age 73, not of asthma. He developed cancer. Mother died on her 81st birthday. I haven't mentioned that she was an RN and worked away from home a lot. In her later years she developed what I suppose we would now call Alzheimer’s. My sister Dorothy went to the nursing home to spend time with her on her birthday. They had a wonderful visit in which Mother was as lucid as she had been for a long time. About 5:00 Dorothy said they would soon be serving the evening meal so she would leave. She lived less than 10 miles away and by the time she reached home there was a call saying Mother had died.

It surely goes without saying that a huge joy in my life are our grandsons. It is hard to tell where six year old Drew's fascination with science will lead him. A few days ago his teacher reported that she explained to the students about the wooly mammoth living in the time of the dinosaurs. Drew said, "Excuse me. The wooly mammoth lived in the Ice Age, not the dinosaur age." The teacher told his mother about it, saying that she had checked it out and he was right. Grant will be four years old this year so it is also hard to tell which direction he will take. His father says he resembles him-"hard-headed, stubborn, and opinionated"-but maybe it is the German nature of his grandfather coming through.

I was very short of breath and kept telling the doctors. Finally they sent me back to the surgeon and he said they could do a lung decortification. On June 18, 2002, they took out a piece of rib on the left side, cut the sack open around my lung, and scraped off the lung and the sack, the residue of all the fluid I had since my heart surgery. The doctor told Rilma that it was just like shoe leather in there. I was in the hospital 17 days with three lung tubes in my side that had to stay there until the drainage quit. It has been a very slow recovery. I'll never get back to 100%, but when I get short of breath, I don't have to fight to regain it.

So once again, I faced possible death. I don't want to go because I want to be here for my family, to fend for them, and to see my grandkids grow up. However, I don't fear death. I know where I am going. I will be with the Lord. Ronda told in her story that at the time of my former surgery, when I led our family in prayer, I didn't ask to live, but for strength for all involved. I probably got my assurance from attending parochial school, where our teachings and memory work were based on scripture and we were taught by people who believed that.

Now I am back at my jobs as messenger and bus driver for the school. Some people think that driving a school bus is the most impossible job in the world, but I don't have any problem with it. I continue to have a good group of parents. If there is a problem I'm sure they will take care of it. Drew rides my bus and goes home with me until his parents pick him up. That's a joy.
Next year I'll probably have both boys and that will be better yet.