MOM’S MEMOIRS – IRENE LOUISE (NEE KUCKKAN) MUELLER
(Continued)

Mom’s Autobiography – Chapter 24 – In Book, Page 56

Lakeside Lutheran High School, Lake Mills, Wisconsin, Crystal Lake and Elgin, Illinois

LAKESIDE LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL, LAKE MILLS, WISCONSIN

During this time Dick, my husband, received a divine Call to Lakeside Lutheran High School in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, which he accepted. He taught United States Government and Religion. It was a very hard decision to make, but as time went on, God showed us in many other ways that it was His will that we stay in the States. He traveled by bus to the school. There were students from Watertown who attended Lakeside, so they also went on the bus.

When Ma’s cast came off her leg, we bought a four-level house at 1117 North Second Street, below the hill from 1419 North Prospect Street where Ma and Pa lived. It was near the Rock River bridge. Stevie would go down to a little grocery store across the bridge and buy candy. A kind lady in Lake Mills gave us a bag of ice skates, so in winter we went ice skating on the river. One time our kids dared us to race them. We did fine until Dick, my husband, fell flat on his face and slid. He was very quiet and we held our breath until he started laughing. It was fun. Can you imagine our family skating after not being on skates for many years and our kids never having ice skated?

Ma was a very spunky woman. She did not ride her horse in the parades anymore, but she, on her bicycle, led our children, on their bicycles, in the Watertown 4th of July parade. Steve was only a little five-year-old boy, but there he was on his tricycle pedaling all the way down Main Street to Riverside Park. What a sight it was!

Our son, Dick, graduated from Northwestern Prep in May of 1973. My husband’s Mom came from Jefferson for the graduation. Susie was confirmed at St. Mark’s also in May of 1973. Dick started as a Freshman of Northwestern College, but did not finish his first year. He said he did not think he wanted to be a pastor. So he went to Madison Area Technical College in Madison to study architecture. He was a wonderful artist. He had mentioned once that he might enlist in the service. We didn’t take it seriously until one morning in December, 1974, the telephone rang. I answered it and asked who was calling. The man said, “the Marines”. I said, “why are you calling?” He said, “Ma’am, your son has enlisted in the Marines.” I said, “WHAT!” He said. “what have you got against the Marines?” And I said, “nothing, but aren’t they the first to go to war?” He said, “yes, Ma’am”. The very next morning at 6:00 the Marines came and picked him up.

He was flown to Camp Pendleton near San Diego, California.. He graduated from there with high honors. Then he was sent to Twentynine Palms, California, for training in electronics, to Biloxi, Mississippi, where he learned more about electronics, and to Cherry Point, North Carolina. All this training served him well in the future.

It was not easy for any of us to get used to the United States again. We had what they now call “culture shock”. There were words they used on TV and some movies shocked us, the girls wore very short mini-skirts, and it seemed that everywhere we looked on Main Street, people were wearing jeans. Many people were wasteful. There were other appalling things, but we attended St. Mark’s church where I was baptized, attended Parochial School, sang in the choir, taught Sunday School, where we were married, and were (and are) thankful that the Pastors preach the Word of God in all of its truth and purity to the people – of Jesus dying on the cross for all of our sins so that we can live eternally with Him in heaven – just as they did many years before. We heard that when it had been mentioned, during Pastor Henry Paustian’s time, to modernize the church and take away the “old-fashioned things” that he exclaimed, “over my dead body!” God bless Pastor Paustian! The church was painted inside, and when it was painted, it was discovered that two beautiful stained glass windows behind the altar had been covered up. They uncovered them, and they add so much more to the beauty of the church.

We had neighbors close by which we had not had in Africa because the lots were big. Dick mowed the lawn and took out a stake so he wouldn’t have to mow around it. Early the next morning we heard “bang, bang, bang”. The neighbor was pounding the stake in with a sledgehammer!

My parents had neighbors who bred little Schipperkes, so we picked one out and named him “Lancie”. Dick was asked to preach at Crystal Lake, Illinois, so as it was Lent and the children were in school, I went with him. When we came home, I asked where Lancie was. They said he got out the door. He had tags on him, so we went to Juneau and asked about him. They said they picked up two dogs which had been hit by a car on the highway. They were in a pit where they threw them. Dick was the one who looked into the pit and saw Lancie. We asked about his tags and collar and they said one of the men had taken them home, but they would get them for us, which they did. At that time my parent’s neighbors had some more puppies, so we picked out another little Lancie. He was with us for 13 years.

During our time at 1117 North Second Street Debbie, Glen, and their children, Nicole (born January 4, 1973), and David (born April 6, 1974), came to visit us from California. Also Dick’s Mom drove from Jefferson to come and visit us. Dick, our son, who was stationed at Cherry Point, North Carolina, flew to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to visit us. When he got off a small plane, we expected him to be dressed in a Marine uniform, but he was casually dressed in a cowboy hat and casual clothes. Mrs. Redlin, (whose husband, Pastor Gerhard Redlin, who had married us at St. Mark’s, had gone to his eternal home) lived across the street from us. Ma and Pa Kuckkan lived up on the hill at 1419 North Prospect Street. My sister, Beatrice, her husband, Donald, and their children, Mike, and Patsy lived at 1538 North Second Street. Jannie and Terry Kent were married and lived in Muskego, Wisconsin. My sister, Lottie, had joined the WAVES, met, and married Dave Adkins.

In January of 1975 our son, Tim complained of pain in his chest, so we took him to the hospital. The doctor prescribed constipation medicine. So we took him home. But we had him sleep in the living room so we could check on him during the night. One night I came down from upstairs and there he was on his knees in the middle of the living room. I asked him why, and he said, “Mom, this is the most comfortable way”. I knew something was wrong, so we took him to the hospital and they took X-rays. They said they saw something, and said that we should take him to St. Mary’s in Madison. Tearfully I called Ma, and she said, “I’m coming”, and she came right over to be with us. Dick and I took Tim to Madison and they took X-rays also from the side, saw something (said it might be cancerous), and they would have to operate.

We waited for a long time during the operation. After the operation the doctor came and told us that they had found a cyst between Tim’s heart and esophagus. Thank God it was not cancerous. The doctor said that there was the start of a second esophagus; that the body has a tendency to duplicate itself, something had activated it so that it filled with blood causing the pain. He had snipped it off and it would heal. How thankful we were, and still are. Tim is now 50 years old and is fine. How our loving Lord works! We would have been in Africa and Tim in the States if we had gone back after our furlough.

CRYSTAL LAKE AND ELGIN, ILLINOIS

Again the Lord worked! Dick had preached (he is a “chip off the old block”, his father) at Crystal Lake, Illinois. The congregation, Lord And Savior, numbering about 15 people, worshiped in the Lake Manor Motel (no longer there) meeting room, and after hearing Dick preach called him to be their first resident pastor. He accepted the Call. There wasn’t a parsonage, so we went to Crystal Lake early Sunday mornings when he would preach, and during the afternoons went with some people in the congregation to look for a parsonage for us to live in. One Sunday morning during the winter it was 10 degrees below zero and the heater in the car went out. We had Stephanie and Stevie with us, and did have blankets with us for them to cover up. But it was cold. Thankfully, there was a hotel about halfway to Crystal Lake which was open at that time of the morning so that we could walk around in the lobby and warm up.

The congregation did find a parsonage for us to live in at 794 Dover Court. It was a very nice 4-level house. So we moved there, even though our house in Watertown was not yet sold. We had wonderful members of Lord And Savior. Dick advertised for an altar, pulpit, lectern, and communion rail in the Northwestern Lutheran which were not being used, and he was successful. He put the altar on wheels so that it could be pushed against the wall in the motel meeting room when not being used, and some of the things being used during our services could be stored there. We set up the chairs to be used for the congregation to sit on before the services.

Dick and I visited and visited many people, knocking on their doors. We hung “door hangers” inviting people to come to our services. Dick had cards which had been written out with names and addresses of people Lakeside Lutheran High School students had visited, so we followed up on that. One couple said we should not visit at that time. The husband was very sick with Multiple Sclerosis. Two years later they called for us to come. Dick gave both of them Instructions in their home, they were confirmed, and became faithful members of Lord And Savior. We continued to go there so Dick could conduct Bible Classes with them, and others, in their home. Our son, Steve, was invited to keep Mr. Hagen (Joseph) company while Mrs. Hagen (Jean) worked. They spent many enjoyable hours together watching baseball on TV and eating pizza. Mr. Hagen had been in bed for over twenty years. He went to live in his eternal home with Jesus October 28, 1992. Whenever one of us had a birthday, everyone who came to the Bible Class at the Hagens sang “Happy Birthday” to us and ate delicious cake. Mrs. Hagen would often on Saturday mornings show up at our door with fresh doughnuts for our family because she knew that on weekends we had a lot of company. Later on, Karen, their daughter, and Bob Swigart, her husband, also became faithful members of Lord And Savior.