You can see from the picture that we got a pretty tough start in life; no bathtubs and only once a week bathing in cold water out of doors. Toughens you up some. Growing up having an older brother like Rudy to look after you was pretty important. I wasn’t always as well reasoned as he was. I remember him trying to persuade me not to fight this kid in elementary school because clearly he was going to clean my clock. It wasn’t that clear to me. I was probably forgetting that the other boy was 30 pounds heavier and likely raised on a farm compared to my skinny, rib showing body barely holding up my pants and a town boy’s body at that. Needless to say I fought him anyway and that clock got cleaned and I may have learned something as well. Rudy was there after the fight too.
Though our father was already baking bread at 13 and he never made a big point of encouraging one of us to follow him in the bakery, though I think he might have been very proud if one of us had done that. But he certainly had a passion for Christian education and if he wasn’t serving on church council he was either chair of the board or chair of the education committee and he loved that volunteer work and I believe he was loved and respected for it. When he worked he 4 am to noon shift, he would nap for a few hours and then show up at school around 2.30 to connect with the principal or chat with staff before taking us home at the end of the school day. If he were alive today he would be there to celebrate with Rudy, 40 good years of Christian education.