Parishioner Profile: Darrell and Linda Greubal

written by Pat Thompson

Pearl Harbor was bombed because she was born!  At least that's what Linda's teasing older brother said about her birth on December 5, 1941.  She was born at her home in Chariton to Leland Earl Shore and Matha Johanna Marie (Shinderling) Shore.  Hew Aunt Lettie helped her mother with the delivery, and seven-year-old Marvin Shore was waiting happily for the little sister he could love--and tease.

Linda's father was a rural mail carrier, and once in awhile Linda was able to ride along with him.  She remembers one of the highlights of those trips as being able to stop at the old Oakley store, where she was always given a special treat.

The family moved to a farm when Linda was in the first grade.  Matha, Linda's mother, worked really hard after that move.  She had los of exra outdoor chores because Leland had to carry the mail.  As the years passed, Matha wasn't able to walk very well and was more comfortable sitting on the floor, where she often played with her beloved grandchildren.  After Linda and Darrell Greubel were married, Matha would often babysit for them, saying, "You kids get out and do something!  Sitting around just makes you grow old faster!"

Linda has fond memories of her childhood.  She had a horse that she rode to school and to her friends' houses, where she played games like cops and robbers.  And she loved to go to visit her Grandma Shore, who lived on an acreage where the Hy-Vee daycare center is now.  Once in awhile a Hy-Vee truck would run over one of Grandma Shore's chickens.  She would then call Matha and say, "Tell Marvin to bring Linda out on the wheel (bicycle).  I'm cooking fried chicken."  On Sundays the whole family would gather at Grandma Shore's for big Sunday dinners.

Linda has a couple of not-so-pleasant memories from her childhood.  Linda was scared of the dark, and so she dreaded the trips she often had to make after dark out to the pump to get water.  Also, one Christmas one of Linda's twin aunts, Marvel, gave Linda's cousin and upholstered rocking chair, but gave Linda just a plain wooden one.  Linda felt so bad about the unfairness that she shamed her father by being naughty.  That experience has stayed with Linda her whole life and has caused her to try to be expecially careful to be fair when giving gifts to her children and grandchildren.

Linda attended Salem School on the Blue Grass Road for grades one through eight.  She recalls one of her teachers as being very religious but not very toleranst of children whose families did not attend church regularly or whose families were Catholic.  In high school, however, Linda really liked her teacher Hortense Guernsey, a "sweet lady" who taught Latin.  Linda took two years of Latin and, in additon to her other clasees, was a member of band and the business club.

After graduating from Chariton High School, Linda attended the Paris Beauty Academy in Cedar Rapids.  Although Linda had gone to the Methodist Church once in awhile, it was while she was in Cedar Rapids that she began to take instructions in the Catholic faith.  She and Darrell had been dating awhile, and she knew that his Church was very importantt to him, so she went to the priest there and asked him to instruct her.  She and one of her roommates, who was also interested in the Catholic faith. met with that priest after school in the evenings for a few times.  Darrell didn't know anything about her doing this, but was really pleased when she finally surprised him with this news.  Both Linda and Darrell have always felt that "It's beter if both the husband and wife go to church together."  It was while she was in Cedar Rapids that Linda was baptised and made her First Communion.  Linda and Darrell were married on August 26, 1961 at Sacred Heart Church in Chariton.

How did Linda and Darrell meet?  Darrell's sister Ruth Ryan, was Linda's best friend, and so Linda would often be at Ruth's home where, at first, Darrell was "just her brother". They started dating when Linda was in high school and Darrell ws 19, working at Hess's Rock Quarry.  They went to DesMoines a lot around this time and ate at Tally's.  "They had great onion rings!" Darrell recalls.  They also went to the drive-in in DesMoines.  Darrell teases that Linda probably liked him because, "I was quiet and she could talk all the time.  Then, too, I had a nice, shiny, red car."  (It was once while they were driving to DesMoines that the shiny, red, car was sideswiped by a passing car.  The accident happened around Scotch Ridge, and the car that sideswiped them didn't even stop.)

Linda also says that she has always appreciated Darrell's dependability.  "I could set my clock by him all through our marrige...he held a job...earned a living..fed our kids...".  Linda and Darrell had six kids and caring for them all wasn't always easy.  "When one needed shoes," she says, "they all needed shoes."

What about Darrell's life before he met Linda?  He was born at home on a farm between Newbern and Bauer on a scorching hot August 31, 1939.  (That year set records for heat.)  His father was Martin Henry Greubel and his mother was Aretta Anna (Frueh) Gruebel.

Darrel remembers that his father liked to fish when he wasn't working on the farm.  He also enjoyed wrestling arond with his boys until one time when he cracked some ribs.  That put and end to the wrestling!  After he retired and he and Arretta moved to town, Martin ran the laundromat that was where the U.S. Bank drive- through is now.  Martin smoked cigars and he used to enjoy a beer and blind robin (dried fish) for breakfast.  In fact, when the owner of Pat's and Bill's were going to be gone on vacation, Martin made sure to buy a few cards of blind robins so that he wouldn't have to go without them.

To be continued...