Recipes for Living Guy and Mamie Reed

Mamie's family history is in a book A Century Before and Much More 1868-1991 Folkerts and Huls History; compiled by Norma R Fink. She is one of Mamie's cousins who lives in Illinois and had gone to Germany to research family history.

Both sets of Mamie’s great-grandparents came from Germany. Her paternal great grandfather, Johann Folkerts, and wife, Antke Janssen, came to America in 1868. Their son, Johann, settled in Basco, Illinois, and married Meta Huls, also from Illinois, in 1873. Mamie's mother, Anna Folkerts, was the first born of nine children from this union. She married Albert Henrichs in 1904. They settled in Murray, where they lived about four years and, in 1907, moved a mile north of Jamison, to land that is still owned by the family.

Meta Huls' father’s name was Meinert. He came to the United States in 1871 and settled in Basco, Illinois. He married Saarke Fecht. Ancestors of both the Folkerts and the Huls came from a farming background in Ostfriesland in the wetlands of northwestern Germany, which is near Holland and of similar terrain.

Mamie was the third of seven children born to Albert and Anna Folkerts Henrichs. There were Everett, Doris, Mamie, Harold, Elsie, Floyd and Ivan. Three are still living-Mamie and the two youngest. Floyd and Ivan both live north of Osceola, in the Jamison area.

Mamie was born October 27, 1908, and went to a country school about a mile north of their home, two miles north of Jamison. It was a thriving community in those days, a railroad town, with its own post office, stockyards and stores to accommodate the needs of those who lived in that vicinity. The school sometimes had as many as 20 students, all sitting two to a seat.
Mamie's teacher from the time she started, at age four, through 7th grade, was Mary Edgington, a spinster lady. "A cross old teacher, very strict," was Mamie's description. She particularly
picked on Harold because he was "kind of stubborn and didn't want to give in to her," so she had no patience with him.

By the time Mamie reached 8th grade, her father felt sorry about the situation and sent her to Jamison to school. There, again, was just one teacher; but she was good by comparison with the one she had until then. Jamison was a fairly large school-people had large families in those days. There were seven in Mamie’s class when they graduated from 8th grade. Jamison had no high school so, to continue, they had to go outside their district.

There were many factors involved in Mamie's continuing education in the New Virginia school. First, there was the matter of acceptance. There was a delay of two years because students could not go to another school unless they were accepted, and it was necessary for her father to petition for her admission. Of course, Mamie, having started so young, was at the reasonable age of 13 for entering high school. Her sister, Doris, was in her same grade. The second factor was transportation. Mamie's father converted a spring wagon to a horse-drawn school bus. Harold, one year younger than Mamie, was the bus driver.

When Mamie was in the second year of high school, her mother caught the flu that was going around. There were no antibiotics available at that time so it took her life. Mamie was 15, the youngest brother was only four years old and too young to go to school the first year; but turned five just before school started the next fall. That allowed all the children to go to New Virginia.

Materially, the family had nothing. They relied on their own resources. The older children had the responsibility for the younger ones. Every morning the girls got up about 5:00 and put out the washing; every night along with studying, they baked bread. Their mother, who was a good seamstress, had taught the girls to sew and they made all the family's clothes from feed sacks. They had huge gardens, raised chickens and crated eggs for sale.

"Doris and I had plenty of time to study while baking bread," Mamie said, and both girls graduated from high school at the top of their class. In the meantime, Mamie had met a young man named Guy Reed.

Not as much is known about Guy's background as about Mamie's. His grandfather, Charles Twyford, married Martha Conkle in 1842. Martha's father, Henry, is the only one of whom the family has a history. His family came from Germany in 1765, and he lived in the Murray area. His daughter, Martha, married Charles Twyford. These are Guy's maternal grandparents. They had 13 children, Guy's mother being the 13th. The sorrows of living in those days is revealed in the records that show only six of that family lived beyond 25-years-of-age, the deaths ranging from nine months, one year and 20 days, three-and-one-half years, 14 years and 25 years.

The surviving children settled in various states but in 1867, Charles Twyford settled "here", meaning on the very spot where this story is being told. The land was virgin soil, only the very tops of the hills were clear. The rest of it was forested and had to be cleared-by hand, of course. Everything was done by hand. The railroad previously owned the land so technically it wasn’t homesteaded. The family built a log cabin with a loft, just about 100 yards from the currently existing house. It was tom down sometime before 1928, but Guy remembers him and his sisters using it as a playhouse. By then a wooden ladder gave them access to the second story and, in Guy's words, "We had a lark!"

Both Charles and Martha lived into their 70's. They died at 73 and 74 and are buried in Union Chapel cemetery. The land was deeded to Samantha, Guy's mother, who married William Reed. Guy's paternal grandfather was James Madison Reed, nick-named "Mad". Mad’s father was John Reed and it is believed they came from Pennsylvania. Mad married Ann Blackledge in 1872, and they had five children, all of whom lived to adulthood. Two died in their 30's.

Guy's father, William, was the first born. They moved onto the deeded land and built the house that stood exactly where the present house stands. It was a two-story farm house, typical of that era. There was a wrap-around open porch, which was used. They found time to sit on it and they slept there on hot, sultry nights. Marion, Guy's and Mamie's son, who is assisting in
telling their story, remarked that the air-conditioning, so taken for granted these days, at that time depended on how far a window could be opened.

William and Samantha were married in 1896, and had three children: Edith (Gamer, who died at 80-some), Guy, and Ethel (Devol, who died in her 40's). Names of some of the relatives, close and distant, are Brim (Florence), Liggitt and McQueen (Daisy).

Guy and Mamie were married September 2, 1928. They celebrated their 70th anniversary last September, 1998, when nearly all the family gathered. The 30's will be recognizable to many readers as Depression years. All their children were born during those years: Darald, Marion, Marilyn, Ronald and Shirley. All were born at home, delivered by Dr. Stray.

Mamie clearly recalls what it was like to raise a family in those days. The need for her to learn to cook at an early age, supplemented by high school classes in home economics, was put to good use. The common means of food preparation at that time was frying but Mamie realized early on that was not the best. She served lots of fruits and vegetables and cut out fats. "Guy wasn’t accustomed to this and it was pretty hard for him to change over but in time he did." Marilyn believes that if her mother were to be asked for her recipe for a long life, it would be "eat right."

There wasn’t much water and it had to be carried from the pond to wash clothes. "It wasn’t the best water. It was runoff from the feed lot. But it got the clothes clean." Later they put in a pipe line from a well near the creek, digging the trench by hand with spades. The well was about a quarter of a mile from the house. There was a windmill at the well and a cistern not far from the house. ''When the wind blew, we had water." Contributing to the family's food, occasionally catfish were caught in the pond. Sometimes, Guy remembered, they were 14" long. Marion remembers that in the winter they ice skated on the pond.

Neighbors were helpful in many ways. All were in the same financial straits. It was proven that shared adversity brings people closer and they drew together, helping one another with work, when needed. They were there to help dig the trench for the pipeline, and, because no one could afford priced entertainment, they had fun together in neighborhood parties. The custom was to have weekly square dances in their homes. The neighbors took turns hosting them, each family bringing sandwiches for a late snack with coffee, and the entire families attending. The host family would completely clear one room, putting the furniture on the lawn, if necessary. Guests piled their coats on a bed and, when the children got sleepy, they snuggled in among the coats. Marion remembers that most people drove either a Model T or a Model A, and in the winter, before the days of anti-freeze, these drivers would open the radiator petcock and drain the water until they were ready to go home, when they refilled the radiators. The alternative was to leave the dance occasionally throughout the evening, start the car and let it run long
enough to heat it.

Guy and Mamie loved to dance and Guy enjoyed playing the banjo and fiddle. Occasionally he would get someone to substitute while he had a dance or two. He was not paid when he was in his neighborhood, but if he was invited into other neighborhoods, they usually took up a collection for his compensation. The end of that custom seemed to happen during W.W.II when the mood of the country changed. After the war, there was some continuation of dancing at Van Wert but that soon died out.

Guy remembers that it was pretty hard to get up and go to work the next day when he'd gotten home at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. He mentioned particularly picking corn, by hand. They had two white mules, Jack and Jake. They never owned horses. The mules pulled the wagon down the com rows and the pickers pulled off the ears and threw them into the wagon with a "bang board", which allowed pickers to be a little less accurate. The ears then had to be scooped into a com bin, a slatted com crib with spaces between the slats so that the com could dry. Guy sometimes picked 80, 90 or 100 bushels in a day, which represents about 7,000 to 10,000 ears of com.

Two of Mamie’s four brothers were in W.W. II. Floyd stayed on the farm; Everett did not pass the physical; Ivan, at age 21, served in the South Pacific; Harold, at age 30, was sent to Europe. Harold was injured in the Battle of the Bulge, which was Germany's last major effort. It was a very bloody battle in which Harold lost an eye. That caused his return to the U.S. in late 1944. For the duration of the war he was stationed in Washington, D.C.

December, 1941, was a tragic month. In addition to the Pearl Harbor attack and the start of W.W. II on December 7, Mamie's father died ten days later, and after six more days Guy's mother died. They were the last grandparents the children had.

In 1942 the old house was tom down and a basement dug for the new one on exactly the same spot. Guy had previously built a small house on the farm for his mother to live in during her final years. In 1942 that house was moved onto the basement and, in order to make room for the family of seven, additional rooms were built. In the interim, the entire family lived in that small house.

Families made many adjustments during the Depression and some ingrained characteristics were more deeply instilled. There was a sense of responsibility not very prominent in the present culture. Guy, by nature outspoken, was particularly so regarding money matters. His honesty included accountability. He wanted debts paid on time. If workers were hired, he wanted to pay them before they left the property, even before they had done their calculations and presented a bill

The children were always allowed to use their imagination and the need for toys called forth some creativity and to facilitate the game of “cops and robbers" they made their own guns. Guy reminded Marion, who was helping to tell the story, that they played in the old barn and those who were shot fell out of the windows, hung on the gates, etc.

The Reed farm seemed to be the gathering place for neighborhood children. Mamie recalls having a very productive apple tree in the yard from which she was never able to harvest apples. "The kids always got there first." It wasn't until the Lutz boys moved away that Mamie finally harvested apples from the tree. An interesting sequel to the apple story occurred shortly after their 70th anniversary celebration. Sonny Barnes (Lutz), who now lives in Chariton, brought a bag of apples to Guy and Mamie as a token return for all the apples they ate from the tree in earlier years.

The Lutz boys, Marlin, Gary, and Sonny, frequently came over during the summer months to join the Reed boys for a swim in the pond. Marion recalls that most of the time they "skinny dipped” and didn't realize until later that a neighbor girl nearly a half-mile away was watching with binoculars from her upstairs window.

The woods at the backside of the farm was a favorite place to play, especially for the boys. An especially thrilling activity was when three of the boys climbed all the way to the top of a small hickory tree and caused it to bend over nearly to the ground. Two boys dropped off leaving the third to get a ''B-ride" as the tree tried to "sling shot" him off the top. Who needs amusement parks for their thrill rides?

Guy recalls an occasion when Marion was irritated at Ronald and chased him up a small tree. Rather than climb the tree after him, Marion chopped the tree down with an axe. The outcome was not recalled.

Marilyn recalls that she was very thankful when the boys would go off to the woods and play so they would leave her alone. Apparently, the boys liked to pester her.

When Shirley was three-years-old, she had a near-fatal persistent bacterial infection, caught during the 1940 State Fair. It persisted for months during which she was hospitalized twice. This was a few years before the advent of antibiotics. She became very thin, lost most of her hair, and could not walk before finally starting to slowly recover. Mamie recalls that it was a very scary time.

All the children attended Fremont #8, a one-room school, through 8th grade. They walked about a mile to school cutting across pastures, disregarding the cows and bulls, and across the creeks. In the winters they walked on top of snow that occasionally was high enough that it was over the fences and packed hard enough that even horses could walk on top of it. "We don't have winters like that anymore." Although the children were younger than would now be thought advisable to let them walk alone, the timber was not so dense that it prevented Mamie from watching them along the way, they had only occasional fear of the livestock, and there was not such a threat as abduction.

There was one occasion when Marion was in kindergarten and Darald in first grade that they were very late coming home. It began to get dark and Mamie became worried. She decided she must go look for them. She found them down by the creek, playing along the way, and the only remark from the boys was, "Why didn't you bring the lantern?"

The post-war years were easier. The war had broken the back of the Depression and labor saving devices for the home and farm came into being. By then the family had electric power, running water and an indoor toilet. In the late 40's and early 50's the Reed children were getting through the teen years and high school. All graduated from high school in Osceola, and all but Darald were in 4-H. Mamie was the girls' leader for 18 years. The girls alternated between one year of sewing and one of cooking. The boys raised livestock and all of them except Darald prepared exhibits for the County and sometimes the State Fair. Darald was involved by working at the Fair.

In 1947 the Reed family was designated as the Iowa State Fair Farm Family of the Year. They have a picture of Guy, Mamie, and all the children from the youngest to the oldest. Walt Langfitt is also in the picture, conducting the interview for KMA radio station.

Marriages began in 1951, with Marion the first; Marilyn in 1952; Ronald in 1956; Shirley in 1958; Darald, finally, in 1979. Contributing to Darald’s delay was his government work in which he was transferred so often that he never had time to establish a home.

Marion was the only one of the children in the military. The others were too young and Darald did not pass the physical. Marion had rented a farm but was there only a year when he was drafted in 1952. He went to Fort Riley, Kansas, for basic training in light infantry. He was extremely fortunate because half the men were sent to Korea as "cannon fodder"; the other half of which he was a part, were sent to Germany as part of the occupying forces at the time of the reconstruction. Marion became part of the 7th Army Special Troops, stationed in Stuttgart and the 175th Military Police Battalion in Boblingen, Germany. The Berlin Wall is well known; but even before that, there was a wall across the German countryside, constructed in the late 40's, to keep people inside East Germany.

Given a choice, Marion resisted the infantry at the replacement depot. Living in a tent did not appeal to him and after some debate, he wound up in the Military Police. While at the replacement depot, he was approached by a recruiter looking for football players. Marion tried out for the team and was accepted, so he was put on temporary duty with the 7th Army Special Troops to play football for the remainder of the year. After that he was sent to the beautiful area of Oberammergau, to attend Military Police School. The remainder of his duty in Germany was split between police duty in Stuttgart and playing football.

Marion had previously married Betty Patterson who lived about two miles west of Osceola. The family home, just recently bulldozed, was the first house east of the Osceola water works. She followed Marion to Germany where she lived for about a year. Marion was there 1 1/2 years, returned to the states and went to Iowa State University for his B.S. and Ph.D. Degrees in Soil Chemistry. After nine years of schooling, the couple moved to California where Marion accepted a position with Chevron as a research scientist. He researched methods for improving the recovery of oil from reservoirs. After 30 years, he retired but they continue to live in that area, at Hacienda Heights.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers designated Marion as Distinguished Lecturer, one of about a dozen persons throughout the world who have that title. The Society sponsored his travel around the world giving lectures, throughout Southeast Asia, including Australia and New Zealand, nearly all of South America, and equatorial East and West Africa. Even though Marion owns his own plane and belongs to a social club of flyers, it has been used primarily for recreation and travel in North America. His overseas travel has been by commercial aircraft.

Marion and Betty have two children: Karen is a single parent for her three children. She is a licensed vocational nurse. They live in Walnut, California. Janet is Mrs. Anthony Cusimano. They live in Chino Hills, California, and have two children. Janet postponed a very successful professional career at Hughes Aircraft to be a full-time mother during the childrens' formative years.

Marilyn married Merrill Dorland, who had come from Missouri. For a couple of years, they lived in northern Iowa where Merrill worked as a farm laborer. They rented a farm in southern Iowa, south of Woodburn, for two years, then lived on Ivan Henrichs' farm west of New Virginia. In the mid-60's they bought a farm where they live at this time. Marilyn retired from her work at the Jimmy Dean plant as a Quality Assurance Inspector for the kill, boning and cooler departments during 17 of her 20 years of service. Their children are Cheryl, Ronda and Kevin. Cheryl is a practicing veterinarian at her own clinic in Fresno, California, married to Ralph Waterhouse, the director of the zoo in that city. They have two children. Ronda (Audelhelm) operates Flowers N' More in Osceola. She and Jim (a chiropractor in Osceola) have two children. Kevin worked at Jimmy Dean and, when that plant closed, Kevin began working at HyVee at Chariton. He married Lesley Baker and they have two children.

Ronald went to Mississippi State University for a year but decided college was not for him. He worked in Des Moines for several years, came back and bought the Lloyd Thurston farm. There was not a house on the property so he lived in town and then built a house on the home farm. He married Linda Smith and they have four children: Jody, Cindy, Gary and Susan. After their family was raised, they chose to move back to town. He owns and operates several farms in Clarke County.

Jody married Art Legler and they live in a town near Madison, Wisconsin. Jody has two children from a previous marriage. Cindy lived in Florida for several years, returned to Iowa and married Bud Jones; they also have two children. Gary is in partnership with his parents and farms additional acres. He is not married. Susan married John Gonseth of Murray. She had two children, Cole and Cass, from a previous marriage and she and John have a daughter, Madison.

Shirley married Larry Hart, who worked for Stan Stickler and then established his own plumbing business. Larry died of lung cancer in 1988. Shirley had worked for ASCS (Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service), Snowdon's, Langfitt's Auto, and Wilson Auto, before going into business as Hart's Fashions and Bridal Shoppe on the north side of the square. She moved the business later to the comer of East Jefferson and Main, which long-time residents may remember as the location of Jones' Cafe. They had two children Marsha (Edgington), who has two children and Michele who married Steve Querrey. They have no children.

Darald earned a B.S. Degree in Agronomy from Iowa State University. He spent most of his career working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at numerous locations and finally in Washington, D.C. Darald married a Virginia lady, Bettie Hileman, who has two children from a previous marriage. They have none together. After retirement, in addition to helping Bettie look after her woodlands, he has been doing volunteer work for the elderly and woodshop work as a hobby. They live in Winchester, Virginia.

In total, Mamie and Guy have 11 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and two step grandchildren. They are so grateful that they have not scattered widely but have settled mostly in Iowa, with some in Wisconsin, Virginia and California. The family gathers often, celebrating every birthday, the most recent being Madison’s first birthday on July 1, 1999. Mamie has a phenomenal memory for every single birth date and is grateful for opportunities to baby-sit.

Guy's recipe for living is based on his strong work ethic. While it is not necessarily right for others, it seems to work for him. Guy reserves the words, "He's a hard worker" as his greatest compliment to others. Having never learned to play during adult leisure time, he gets much pleasure from doing something productive. In his senior years, he worked with wood and made things for the family. Clocks seemed to be his specialty, and he saw that all family members bad samples of his work. Even in his 90's, when other forms of work are not within his physical reach, he enjoys mowing the lawn, even when it is not needed.

Mamie's recipe for living seems to be in making something from nothing. She has always had a large vegetable garden; and even in her 90's, each year, she has a large garden that is the envy of people one-third her age. She makes quilts during the winter months when gardening takes a rest. Mamie proudly states that she has made a quilt for each of her children, grand children and great-grandchildren. Many have become intended family heirlooms.

Guy and Mamie are proud that their children turned out to be good, successful, well adjusted citizens in their respective communities. Marilyn recalls that as youngsters, they always wanted to be good because their parents expected them to be good, to act right and to be the best they could be. Marion says that many times during his growing up years, when tempted to do something wrong, he resisted because he didn’t want to disappoint his parents. They all regard the examples set for them by their parents to be the finest and that they will do well to follow in their footsteps.