The following article was written by Helen Rice Nolden for The Valley Star, Velva March 18, 1998 I’ve been working on material for the Anamoose Centennial this coming July 3 through 5. I’ve gone through hundreds of old clippings from The Anamoose Progress, The Harvey Herald, The Velva Journal, and the Drake Register. The problem I’m having is that I become so absorbed in the reading that I forget to take notes or fail to delete or add on to a particular article. Then I have to reread everything. I will have it memorized someday at this speed. When I go to bed at night, most all of these early settlers float past in my reminiscing. I remember Martin Hublou real well. He was my godfather. I always liked him. His elevator was very close to the section house where we lived, so, I could go over to see him almost every day. Martin would let us kids scoop up any spilled grain near the elevator for our menagerie of critters we kids had gathered. One time Mary Eve and I stole some eggs from his chicken coop down by the elevator. We really needed the eggs for the mud pies we were making. My mother caught us. Mary Eve ran home. Mother made me take the eggs to Martin’s office. I was so embarrassed. I was about six-years-old. He made me put the eggs back in the nests. Some of the hens pecked my hands. I felt so dejected. Mr. Hublou made me promise to go to Mass every day for two weeks, and he gave me a long sermon on theft. I’ve never forgotten it. Frank Glotzbach ran the drug store when I was a child. He was a very friendly man. A lot of us kids spent many hours in the drug store sipping on root beer or on one of his delicious malted milks. I remember coming home from St. Paul, Minnesota, back in the ‘30s. I had a pass which let me ride the train free because my father worked for the Soo Line. The conductor told me that I would have to take the local out of Harvey. That little train stopped at all the stations along the line. As we neared Harvey, the conductor told me that the fast train was going to stop in Anamoose as Mr. Frank Glotzbach was aboard! He was on his way home from a trip to Washington, DC. So, we got off the train together. How proud I felt! I will never forget Mr. Fred Albrecht. I was doing a history of Anamoose for Miss Gilmore back in 1939. I really got into that and won an award in a contest in Rugby. When it came to interviewing Mr. Albrecht, I gave him a sheet of questions I had worked out. All he was to do was to answer them. I’ll never forget the talk he gave me. In Albrecht’s Store, at the time, there was a little office just about in the middle of the store. It had a few steps and there was a sort of railing all around the office. Well, Fred took me by the arm and let me to the office. He told me when you interview someone it’s much better to do it on a one to one basis. So, I asked him the questions, and he answered them while I took down notes. After awhile, I realized what he was talking about. The questionnaire was cold. Our talk was warm. John Chapek had the café and Annex Theater. I spent a lot of my childhood in both places. You could buy pop and candy bars for a nickel apiece. Hamburgers at one time were 15 cents. I went to all the movies. Finally, my father bought me a season ticket. I sometimes took a friend along too. In the early years, kids could get in for a dime if they were under twelve. I remember Bill Chapek with fond memories. In the ‘30s we were very poor. Dad would get his check from the Soo Line every two weeks. So, on “check” day we would buy a two week supply of groceries. Bill would put a bag of candy in our box of food stuff. We kids could barely wait until we got home to divide the candy. When my brother had a very bad accident in 1940,, it was Bill Chapek who came over to the house to help care for him so my parents could get some rest. For some reason, it almost seemed as if Bill was like an uncle to us Rice kids. You just don’t forget men like him. Just so many growing up memories of Anamoose and its people. Come join us in July to help celebrate our birthday. The Spirit of ’98, Still Going Great!! |
