Memoirs of Otto Obenhaus, Jr. on the Daniel/Collier Homepage

Memoirs of Otto Obenhaus, Jr.

I was born April 30, 1916, in the house where I lived all my life until I married. I will always be thankful that I was born to loving parents and was reared with church and Christian training.

When I was in my early teens, I drove the Model-T Ford car to school. I took some of the neighbor girls, whom I was trying to impress, over to the little store that Mr. Tom Beasley operated. I ran into the gas pump and bent the tie rod on the car. Then as we were going back to school, I ran into the ditch and had a hard time getting out and back on the road. After school I drove home very slowly for I knew that Brother Walter had a date that night and I thought perhaps Walter wouldn't notice until later that there was something the matter with the car. In fact, I was sort of hoping that Walter might share the blame for the problem with the car, because I knew that I was in big trouble about that car. Well, that was the end of my driving the car to school. The next day when Dad was delivering meat to the grocery in the oil field he found a jenny (donkey) for me to ride to school. This was my transportation to school until the school buses were started. I, for one, was very glad for the bus, even though it was crowded and took a long time to get home.

When I was 17, I was unloading a wagon which was full of corn tops and I slipped off and fell across a board. I ruptured my spleen and Dr. King had to remove it. Dr. King told Mother and Dad that it was the first spleenectomy in this area. This affected my health drastically, and I didn't participate in things that most boys my age did for several years. I lost all interest in the girls and was not allowed to go much, as I had developed diabetes. Of course, I fell behind with my school work, and Sister Clara was very good to help me with homework.

Several years later my sister just older than me and her husband, Herbert Haseloff, took me to see my first movie. This was a new and happy experience for me, and they took me to different places that were fun for me and I began to think about girls again. I would look forward to the Sundays when the uncles and aunts would come to visit us and the boys would slip off to the barn and ride the bucking calves. One Sunday we decided to ride horses over to a tank nearby which was called Jordan Tank. On the way we came upon a still which was operated by a Mr. Bartow. We were all set to partake of his concoctions when he fired a shotgun over our heads. We broke all records getting away from there!

Our lifetime friends and neighbors were the George Streits. They would come over and we would play Krokinola until far into the night, and we had many fun times together.

My sister Millie, who is six years older that I, married Clarence Green. When they were dating, Clarence brought a sled to our house when there was snow on the ground. He pulled it behind his car and would drive out in the field, making wide circles. We would be hanging on for dear life and always looked forward to snow and those rides. We appreciated Clarence's doing this for us younger brothers and sisters.

In 1936 I had a new Chevrolet car and Mr. Reynolds, the county agent, asked me to take four women to A&M for a short course. Mrs. Claude Bildstein, Mrs. Jeet Lockett, Mrs. Freeling, and Mrs. Box went with me to Bryan. They were a lot of fun and while I was there I met a girl and developed a very bad crush. It made me very sad to leave her. Later, Ernest and Homer Streit introduced me to my future wife, Dorothy Crawford. I will always be grateful to them. I well remember my 21st birthday and the party Rachel and Tillie gave me. That night I gave Dorothy her engagement ring and on the 26th of December, 1937, we were married. If it were not for my devoted wife and the good care she has given me, I probably would not be writing these memories.

In 1936, at the Texas Centennial my brother Edward, five years younger than I, and Louis Kieschnick showed calves. We slept in bunks near the calves and roamed the fair grounds for five days. We had about $30 to spend, but we decided to try our luck at the slot machines. The $30 disappeared very quickly, and we were without money even to eat. We soon learned that you could eat pretty well on samples that were given away at food display booths on the fair grounds. There was not too much variety, but we didn't get too hungry. While we were there, there was a boy that began to pick a fight with Brother Edward. As I was older, I tried to get him to leave Edward alone. He slapped me and soon we were scrapping pretty good. I never was much of a fighter, and my little finger on my right hand was broken. I went to the Red Cross and they put a splint on and taped it up. I have a bent finger as a reminder of that trip to "Big D."

I remember well getting ready for Sunday School a little early and going into the parlor and playing Little Church in the Wildwood on the player piano. There are many happy memories of all our family when we were at home with our parents.

Reprinted from The Otto and Alvene Obenhaus Family History compiled by their children April, 1977 pages 37 and 38.

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