My Two Grandpas Part II

Grandpa Rich and His Influence on My Life . . . . .

Well this blog is going to be all about my Grandpa Rich, my maternal grandfather. My mother told me that at the age of just a little over one I was not able to say "Grandpa" but I had my own version....I called him "Bumpie"

Grandpa Rich was a very unique man. His full name was Theodore Richard Niemand. His roots were from Denmark. His mother, Bertha, was still alive when I was about 4 or 5 I had my picture taken (I am on the far right) with two other cousins on the Niemand side as you may be able to see me. Sorry these pictures are so small, but I reduced them so they wouldn't take up so much space on my older computer and I don't have the originals to rescan.

Anyway hope you can see them a little bit. My Grandpa Rich had two brothers that I remember, Charlie and August. He had 3 or 4 sisters. Aunt Matildia, Aunt Sophie and I forgot the others. ( when I remember I will edit)

Grandpa Rich was originally a blacksmith by trade. He met my Grandmother through a mutual friend. They lived a long ways a part. Grandpa lived south of Spencer and Grandma lived close to Lincoln, Iowa on a farm. That was about a distance of over 200 miles. In those days many of the roads were dirt and gravel so the trip was long and bumpy to visit Margaret, my Grandmother to be! Grandpa finally was able to take her away from her family of 16 brothers and sisters and she married and moved to Spencer where Grandpa had opened an auto repair shop.

Grandpa was a very creative and talented man. He could repair almost anything. He even invented a number of things that he never patented but I know they could have be if he had wanted to. He was good at welding and machine shop activities as well as auto repair. He "Garage" as I called it was a fun place for me to visit as a young boy of 7 and 8.

Grandpa had so many good qualities that I will just ramble on here to share with you the ones that stand out in my mind. He was basically a quiet man, I never ever heard him raise his voice to anyone family or friend. He was a patient man. He would sit and wait for my Grandmother for long periods of time when they were getting ready to go somewhere. He would be ready and just sit in the car and wait. He didn't honk the horn of race the motor....he just waited for her.

Grandpa had two passions, hunting and fishing. I was fortunately a part of both. My dad worked in the "Garage" for Grandpa. Dad started working as a mechanic right after mom and dad were married. In fact, mom and dad lived with Grandma and Grandpa Rich before I was born. Dad work for Grandpa and later when I was about 2 also got a job as a full-time city fireman but was able to keep both jobs going with the understanding that when there was a fire he would have to drop everything at the Garage and go to the fire station where he drove one of the city fire trucks.

There were many times when I rode my tricycle from the fire station to Grandpa's Garage to visit Dad and Grandpa while they worked on cars. I got to clean spark plugs with the spark plug cleaner machine , I swept the Garage floor and sometimes got to use gasoline and clean auto parts that they were working on. I remember I always like sitting at Grandpa's old roll-top desk in a small office area in the front of the Garage. That is where he kept all of his fish poles, rifles and stuff like that

The first few times I rode my tricycle from the fire station to Grandpa's Garage Mom came with me to help me find my way. I would have to cross first, second and third streets where there were no stop lights. Fourth street had a stop light and so did fifth street. As soon as I crossed fifth street I would turn right and go one block East to first Avenue East where I would make a left turn. I then proceeded North on that street until I almost came to the corner of first avenue East and sixth street.Grampa's Garage was directly across the street East from the end of the street. There was a large trucking company where I would turn to cross the street to the Garage. It was owned by a friend of Grandpas, his name was Donnie Mauer. I had been told by Grandpa that if I had trouble crossing the street I could go in to Mr. Mauer's office and ask for help.

These trips to the Garage were very frequent in the summer months when I wasn't going to school. One very interesting thing that stands out in my memory are the times that I would be playing there in the Garage and about 4:00PM Grandpa would say, Dave, I have to go to Arnold's and pick up a part for the car. The interesting thing is that this happen almost every time I was there in the Garage. We would get in his "fishing car" a 1937 Plymouth and head down the street to Arnold's, an auto parts store where Grandpa bought most of his auto parts.

I would usually go into the store with him and the men at the counter would always comment that "Oh! Rich, I see you have your helper with you today!" Grandpa would respond and say "Yes, he keeps me going in the right direction!" When we returned to the car, Grandpa would look at his watch and comment, "Well, Dave, it's almost quiting time (5PM) you want to go with me up to the lake and do some fishing?" I can never recall that I ever said "no". Interestingly enough, Grandpa never had to go back to the Garage to load his fishing gear and outboard motor, he had loaded all of that stuff earlier before I got to the Garage. Now the really strange thing was that this same pattern happened sometimes three times a week in the summer.

We would head north out of town on highway 71 toward Lake Okaboji. We would go the same route every time. We passed through a small town called Fostoria, about half way then into a town just before we got to our turn. The town was Milford. Just on the north edge of Milford was a bait shop we always stop to buy bait for fishing. It was called Bill's Bait and Tackle Shop. We usually always got the same thing. A dozen minnows, and a dozen crawdads and some candy bars and maybe some potato chips. Grandpa would have his thermos jug filled with coffee and he would buy me a bottle of soda, usually orange.

We were now ready to head for the boat livery where Grandpa stored his 14 foot wooden fishing boat. We turn into a place that lead us to Danbom's in Terris Park. This Terris Park area was a popular swimming beach and the home of a large complex owned by Boy's Town of Omaha, Nebraska.

The fishing gear, bait and other things were loaded into the boat. Grandpa would take his 15 horse outboard motor and attach it to the back of the boat where he would sit guiding the boat as we headed out into East Lake Okaboji. We usually headed for an area called Emerson Bay. Grandpa had done so much fishing he was very familiar where the fish would go at different times between 5:00PM and dark.(Usually 8 or 8:30PM).

Grandpa's fishing method was "still fishing" we would go to a spot. He would tell me to start with a piece of crawdad that he would break off for me until I got brave and did it myself. I would attach it very carefully to the sharp hook on my fish pole then he told me to let out the line until it became limp. That meant it had hit the bottom of the lake. Then he told me to wind my reel up 1 and 1/2 turns to bring it up off the bottom. Then came the lesson, patience. He would sit and fish the same way for what seem like hours. He would sometimes use two fish poles and attach an artificial lure to the casting rod and cast out and slowly reel the lure back. It many times would bring fish to out lines.

This lesson was one I have never forgotten and think it is responsible for the patience I have for many things. We would then move from one place to another in that same general part of the lake. We always caught fish. Usually we caught perch and blue gills or crapes. Once in a while Grandpa would catch a northern pike on his artificial lure or a walleye on his sill fishing pole. Very seldom did we home home without our "limit" of perch (15 each). Oh another thing, when we would catch a very small perch, we would cut it up and use the white meat as bait. It worked very well and saved money when buying bait.

When the sun was almost set, we would put up a light that Grandpa always brought along and we would head back to Danbom's to unload the boat and put it away for that day. Grandpa usually always gage Mr. Danbom some of the fish we had caught. I think that might have been the payment for letting Grandpa leave his boat there. After loading the car with the fishing gear and the fish in a bucket. We headed back home.

We would get to Milford and Grandpa would say, "Dave, would you like a hamburger?" And, of course I always said "Yes!" We would then always stop at the same little hamburger shop along the West side of the street in Milford. I always got a hamburger and orange soda. The time was always about 9 to 9:30PM. then we would travel the 30 miles back to Spencer. When we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's house Grandpa and I (watching) would clean the fish, Grandpa would fillet the fish some there were little or no bones in the pieces of fish. He would then put them in the freezer for Grandma to fry the next time we had fish. Sometimes he would place a few in a bowl of water and salt and place in the ice box to fry the next day.

The basic lessons I learned were patience, how to still fish, how to clean fish and the loving care I received from Grandpa.