Parishioner Profile Continued... Darrell and Linda Greubel

written by Pat Thompson

Darrell's mother Aretta was the disciplinarian of the family and a hard worker.  She was always washing, cleaning, cooking, baking, making the children's clothes... and all without the conveniences we have now.  Darrell says he still can't imagine how she could do it all.  In addition Aretta enjoyed needlework and was active in the Catholic Church at Bauer.

Darrell had two brothers, Bob and Ray, and two sisters, Darlene and Ruth.  He also had a half brother and three half sisters.  Bob and Darrell always went to ballgames together, but they and the neighbor boys did one thing that was really special.  On their own initiative, they got together and built the Newbern Ball Park.  Like responsible businessmen, they first went to the Marian County Courthouse to see who owned the land on which they wanted to build the ball park.  They discovered that the square block had been originally set aside for the building of a courthouse.  Obviously that plan had fallen through, so the young men were able to build their ball park--with light--and people played softball there for years.

Before he was old enough to be part of something this great for the community, Darrell recalls he played cops and robbers and cowboys.  There's even a photo somewhere of little Darrell dressed up in his big Hopalong Cassidy hat and gun and holster.  When he was around eight years old, Darrell was given a BB gun.  That was a "really big deal."  By age  ten he was hunting squirrels and rabbits with a real gun.  He bought a single-shot 410 shotgun from a neighbor kid for $5.00m and he still has it.  Now that he has no fear of prosecution, Darrell admits that, like most kids, he did some risky things.  Once a neighbor guy and Bob and Darrell went hunting in their car.  There was one boy on each fender looking for rabbits to shoot.  Bob, who was driving, stopped short, and the neighbor boy fell off.  Before Bob realized what had happened, he started driving again and ran over the boy's foot.  Fortunately it wasn't broken.

Darrell attended Fairview School about one block.from his home.  When he got home from his first day in kindergarten, he was really surprised to hear that he had a new baby sister, Ruth.  Darrell never did like school.  In the beginning, he used to tell his teacher that he was sick.  She would send him home, but his mother, who soon caught on, would send him back to school again.  When he attended Chariton High School, Darrell still didn't care much for school, and because he lived so far from it, he didn't participate in extracurricular activities.  He did go out for baseball, but after practice he had to walk twelve miles home, so "that didn't last long."

After high school Darrell go a job as a bookkeeper and scale man at Hess's Rock Quarry.  Soon, though, Linda's dad talked him into taking the postal service exam.  Starting in February, 1962, Darrell worked 31 years for the post office in Chariton and then 6 years as postmaster of Russell.

When he was working at Hess's Darrel would go to Cedar Rapids just about every weekend so he could visit Linda.  Darrell says he really liked Linda's energy.  He laughs now and says, "That went somewhere."  Over the years he has really appreciated how Linda took care of the house and the kids.  He often had to go to work at four or five in the morning, and Linda herself worked nearly forty years on and off fixing hair, yet she tried to make sure the kids behaved themselves, even though, he add, as most parent might, "sometimes it didn't work."  Linda also was kindhearted in caring for Darrell's mother and father when they were sick.

Linda and Darrell's six children include Jeri Reeve, a photographer, who husband Kevin is comptroller for Hy-Vee.  They live in Chariton and have two sons: Christopher and Matthew.  Linda and Darrell's son Marty is employed by Seimen's.  He sometimes climbs 300 feet straight up to work on the big wind turbines.  He and his wife Peggy live in Griswold and have four children:  Brandon, Jamie Corey, and Cody.  Karen, a dental assistant, is married to Derwin Dorpinghaus, who installs garage door for Adams Door Company.  They have two children, Emilee and Allison, and live in Ankeny.  Joe owns Quality Plumbing and Heating and his wife Cindy works for the business.  Thet live in Indianola and have three children:  Taylor, Bailey, and Dylan.  Shelli married Jason Neus, a plant researcher at Pioneer.  He specializes in soy beans.  They live in Champagne, Illinois, and have three children:  Austin, Noah, and Ethan,  Linda and Darrell's daughter Erin Marie Sammler is a contract negotiator for AVIVA and has three children:  Alexa, Caden and Jermaine.

Linda first became interested in the Catholic Church because it was Darrell's Church, but she says that the Church has been a big part of their lives and that they have tried to be faithful in attending regularly.  She says that in times of illness and in dealing with their parents' suffering and death, it has been comforting to know that God has always been there for them.  Linda, too, has been active in various church ministries, most notably helping to create the beautiful quilts that are so much of our Fall Festival fund raising efforts.

Darrell only knew one grandparent, his Grandpa Frueh, who lived with his family when Darrell was jus a small boy.  Grandpa Frueh was a "big guy" and Darrell remembers sitting on his lap and also riding to church with him on some weekday mornings, not every day but perhaps for First Fridays.  Darrell remembers, too, that his grandpa's wake was held in Darrell's family's house.  Thus, Darrell say, "The Church has always been part of my life since my very first memories.  Life has lots of ups and downs, but the Church is always there to help us get through them."

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...

Do unto others... Part 3

It was while she was in high school that Gloria and a friend went to Swarthout's roller skating rink and Gloria saw Ken skate. He was not only a good skater, but "he could dance on skates," and so her friend asked Ken if he would teach Gloria. Ken say, "I thought she was cute and a really nice gal, so I agreed, but she never learned to skate. I'd pick her up, and we'd go down to the skating rink, but it didn't work out." Eventually instead they would go out to a friend's house on Saturday night, eat popcorn, and watch "Hit Parade," "Lawrence Welk," and wrestling "because we didn't have any money." Gloria adds, "It wasn't me that wanted to watch wrestling!"

Ken had attended the Christian Church when he was younger, but it wasn't until he met Gloria that he entered a Catholic Church. The first Easter they went together Ken bought corsages for Gloria and Gloria's mother and Gloria's best friend and went to church with them. That gesture won Myrtle's heart. Gloria, too, thought that was especially kind because at that time Ken didn't have much money.

As a junior Ken worked as a hired hand for Amos White and then he worked for Ralph and Florence Dean until he went into the Army. (Ken always wanted to be a farmer and still wishes he lived on a farm, but Gloria is happy right where she is.) Ken served from 1953 to 1955. The U.S. and Korea signed a cease fire agreement just before Ken got out of basic training, so he spent eighteen months in France "living in tents and mud" and working with heavy equipment. After returning home Ken ran a hatchery in Clio and a CAT for Keith Kent in Lucas. He was working at Soar Aircraft when he had an opportunity to work for the postal service. It was his Uncle Oren who strongly urged Ken to take the postal job. Ken is grateful for that advice as he enjoyed working there for 35 years and left with one and one half years of unused sick leave.

In July 1990, just before he retired in September, Ken was named National Postmaster of the Year in Anaheim, California. He was elected National President of Retired Postmasters in 1992, and in 1995 he was elected to the National Executive Board of United Commercial Travelers. Gloria was truly Ken's helpmate through out his career. She hosted several large parties and served as president of the State Auxiliary of Postmasters and on the National Executive Board. Gloria was especially thrilled to enjoy dinner with Mary Ellen Winthrow, the Treasurer of the United States, at a Postal Forum. Also, around the early 1970's, Ken and Gloria attended the State Knights of Columbus Convention in Cedar Rapids. The main speaker was Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. When he walked into the auditorium filled with 2400 people, Gloria recalls "You could have heard a pin drop!" Oh, how Gloria's mother and father wished they could have been with them to hear him.

It was while Ken was home on leave from the Army at Thanksgiving time that he and Gloria became engaged. They were married at Sacred Heart on December 10, 1995 after Father O'Connor had baptised Ken and given him his First Holy Communion. Ken was confirmed in Melrose.

When Gloria dated Ken, she found him to be "very kind, generous, and good-hearted," and she says he still is. Over the years she has really appreciated what a wonderful person he was to her folks and what a good father he has been. He was "easygoing but strict in the right ways. He knew how to talk to the boys and they respected him. They still do."

Ken says that he likes that Gloria is "always friendly, always has a smile on her face, and has been really tolerant of me, and that's asking something!" He also appreciates that she is a good cook and good housekeeper.

Ken and Gloria prayed a long time for children, and finally along came Randy Joseph. After five days in the hospital, Gloria gave birth to him on November 23,1961. His brother, Timmie Joseph, joined the family on November 20, 1967. Why Joseph for a middle name? It was Gloria's grandpa's name and "a good saint's name."

Randy and his wife Boni have three children: Jeremy, Skyler, and Jessica. Randy is the Director of Human Services for Gardner Denver in Sedalia, Missouri. Boni is Director of the Advising and Resource Center at the Sedalia College.

Timmie and his wife Stacey, who live in O'Fallon, Missouri, have two children: Shelby and Peyton. Timmie is the Manager of Distribution Services for The Arthur Wells Group. Stacy works as a client support analyst for Ceridian.

Ken and Gloria have long thought that it is important to do unto others as you would have them do to you. Over the years, while busily working and raising their family, they also cared for Gloria's parents, two sets of aunts and uncles, and Ken's grandmother. In addition both have been actively involved in church activities such as religious education, Sacred Heart's women's groups, the Knights of Columbus, the Buildings and Grounds Committee, and Bible studies. In other ways too numerous to mention they have served our church. As the years have passed, their faith has become more and more important to them. Gloria says, "I couldn't live without it. Every time I have a problem, I have to go to church to see God. I don't know how people who don't have faith could make it through life!"

There was at least one time when Ken and Gloria felt that God was really trying to help them. After Gloria's father died, her mother "went to bed for nearly four years, grieving for Dad. I'll never forget," Gloria says, "that it was a Sunday morning, and she was dressed and standing in her bedroom shaking her finger at me." She said, "Gloria Ann, your father came to me last night and told me to get up out of this bed and straighten up because I was driving you and Ken crazy."

From a young man unfamiliar with the Catholic Church, Ken has become a faithful parishioner here at Sacred Heart. He says that belonging to the Catholic Church has "given me another perspective on my life... made me feel like I was doing some good... The people here are like part of my family... The Church has given me a greater understanding of life and how I should be living it."

Ken says that his fellow parishioners are like part of his family, and we certainly are glad that Ken and Gloria Lee are members of our Sacred Heart family!

Do Unto Others... Part 2

Gloria Ann Hoffman (named after her grandma Anne Hoffman who lived until she was 99 and whose dishes Gloria still uses) was born in Yocum Hospital on a blistering hot July 18, 1935. Her parents were Edgar (Ted) Henry Hoffman from Bauer and Myrtle Mary Kathryn (West) Hoffman from Oskaloosa. Gloria was joined by twin brothers-- Jerry Joseph and Larry Henry-- on July 26, 1939 and by Rodney Edwin on February 24, 1943. They all lived on a farm north of what is now the Hy-Vee ice house.

Gloria was here daddy's girl. She followed him around the farm and tried to be his helper. Once little Gloria took water to him in the field, but found two interesting robin eggs while she was on her way and dropped them into his water to keep them. She had to go back for more water after her dad saw her floating treasures. Another time-- when she was about eleven-- Gloria got up early so that she could milk all of the cows and surprised her busy father. Her dad was more upset than pleased, however, because he was worried that his little daughter might have been kicked by one of those cows. When he wasn't farming. Ted was quite a good pool and softball player. In fact, he hit two home runs the day his twin boys were born. Ted also enjoyed fishing and hunting. Gloria recalls going hunting with him and moving around the trees to get the squirrels into places where her dad could get clear shots at them.

When she wasn't tagging around after her father, Gloria lay on blankets and looked up at the stars, made mud pies in jar lids, and played with her pet pigeons and her dog named Lassie. She also tried to do stunts on her pony, Trigger.

When she was 12 or 13, the family had gone to town to shop and go to a show, but they received word that their farmhouse had caught fire. Ted hurried back to the farm to try to save the house. He was slightly injured from being hit on the head with a brick, but he and others were unable to save the house. Gloria remembers her grandpa Henry Hoffman, a big man who seem "eight feet tall," putting his arm around her saying, "Now, Gloria Ann, you need to be strong for your mother." After the fire they moved to Curtis Avenue.

Myrtle's own mother, RoseMary (Kilfoil) West died at age 36, and so Myrtle had to quit school to care for her three brothers. Myrtle loved to cook and was sweet and loving. Her family was her life. She was also "the most particular woman in the world." When-- in later years-- Ted and Myrtle move in with Ken and Gloria, Gloria recalls having to wash and set her mother's hair in the morning before Myrtle went to the beauty shop to have her hair done in the afternoon. Every spring and fall every dish, every cupboard, everything was cleaned. Once Gloria found her mother cleaning her console television with a toothpick so that she could get rid of every bit of dust.

Gloria's parents were good Catholics who saw that she was baptised within one week after her birth and who faithfully attended Mass and took part in church functions. Gloria remembers how at Christmastime they baked a birthday cake for Baby Jesus and how one Christmas she portrayed and angel in a parish program. She and the other angels wore white dresses and wings and stood near the altar while holding their hands up. she recall looking up at little cherub heads on the ceiling and at Fr. O'Connor, who gave a stern look to any angel who forgot and lowered her hands.

Gloria walked two miles to Corey Country School, just west of West Lake. (Her dad said two miles wasn't that far; he had had to walk five miles to school.) Once while at recess three older boys put little Gloria up in a tree, and she couldn't get down until the teacher missed her and went looking for her and helped her down.

Gloria went on to attend Alma Clay and then Chariton High School. Unlike her friends, who enjoyed going to Roush's or Ligget's drug stores for Cokes and visit after school, Gloria had to go home to do the ironing and other household chores and to start supper because her mother worked at the cake decorations factory above Steinbach's meat locker. That was when Gloria really learned to cook. (And aren't we at Sacred Heart glad she did!)

Eventually Gloria got herself a job. At sixteen she worked as a waitress at the Corner Cafe on the southeast corner of the square. She earned 25 cents an hour, and so she especially remembers her customer Raymond Johnson, who left 25 cent tips for his malts. Gloria went on to work thirteen years off and on as a night operator at the telephone company, for Suzi James at a tanning and exercise salon, and then for seven years at Brown Shoe Fit Company, which she and Ken bought in partnership with Joe and Mary Paulsen.

To be continued...

Do Unto Others... Part 1

When Ken walked into a Catholic church for the first time, the first thing he noticed was "they all curtsied when the got to their seat. I sat and they knelt, the priest waked in and turned his back to us and started talking in a language I couldn't understand." He added that there was a lot of "up/down/kneel/stand" and he "couldn't understand any of it."

Gloria, though wouldn't marry a man unless he was a Catholic, so Ken decided to take instructions from Father Charles O'Connor and see what the Catholic Church had to offer.

Now Ken and Gloria Lee are both strongly committed Catholics who have done much to support our faith community. But... let's start at their beginnings.

Kenneth Eugene Lee was born on a farm about one mile north of Cambria, Iowa on April 23, 1933. The doctor charged $50.00 for his delivery fee. Ken's folks gave him $5.00 a month until the bill was paid. Ken's little sister, Maxine Arleta, was born two years later.

Ken's father was Audrie Kenneth Lee. He was one of the best shots with a rifle when shooting squirrels that Ken has ever seen. Audrie served in a tank division in WWII with General Patton. When Audrie went off to war, he had thick black hair. When he returned, after having seen some of his friends killed and other horrible things, he was bald headed and "never quite the same." Audrie was a farmer, but later he and Ken's mother moved to California where he got a job as a machinist for Bell Construction. He loved his grandchildren and often got right down on the floor to play with them. Audrie died of a heart attack at age 57 while he was at work.

Ken's mother was Gladys Esther (Harvard) Lee. She taught school for two or three years, but married women were not allowed to teach then, so she had to quit when she married Audrie. They never had much money, but Gladys "made things do." She always worked hard. Once, Ken recalls, when she had put on a pair of pants to work out in the yard at her father's place, several neighbors were shocked to see a woman wearing slacks instead of a dress and made sure to tell her father he shouldn't allow such behavior. It was Gladys who, when she heard Ken had become engaged to a Catholic, sat him down at her kitchen table and tried for two hours to convince him that he was making a big mistake.

Growing up, Ken went to several schools. His teacher at Doyle Center School, south of Murray, eventually became his aunt. She married Ken's uncle after he came home from the service. He remembers that it was Aunt Marge who took a scrub brush and "about took the hide off" of him and his cousin when they got into his Uncle Oren's cement tank that had just been tarred to seal it. The tar hadn't hardened yet, and so the boys were soon covered in tar--until Marge got hold of them!

Ken finished eighth grade at Dickervile School, east of Chariton. He and his classmates had to take their eighth grade exam at the Chariton Legion Hall. If they didn't pass that exam, they couldn't enroll in high school. Ken passed and left childhood activities of rolling a hoop with a stick and games of "Steal Stick," "Red Light/Green Light," and softball behind him. He still remembers those pleasant times in the school yard as well as the time he heard sleigh bells ringing and suddenly Santa, all dressed up, appeared in the doorway of his grandpa and grandma's farmhouse. Usually Santa gave him apples and oranges and other little inexpensive gifts, but when he was twelve years old, Ken was thrilled to get a rifle for Christmas. He still has it.

Christmas wasn't the only time his family gathered. Ken remembers them all getting together to take care of work on the farms, work like butchering hogs. His grandpa would shoot three or four hogs with his rifle, and then Audrie and Ken's uncles would tie each hog to a single tree by its hind legs, hoist it over and into a big barrel or cast iron tub of hot water, scrape the hair off, and hang it up to be opened and cut up. He also remembers thrashing time. A big steam engine ran the thrashing machine. If there was no dew in the morning the guys would steam up the engine early and then blow the whistle three or four times, letting all of the neighbors know to come early so they could get started.

Like many farm kids, Ken moved to town while in high school. His first two years he lived with three other guys in the basement of a house and then upstairs in Hatties Moseby's house. His junior year some other students' folks and his hired a taxi to take them to town. Finally, when Ken was a senior, Chariton began to offer school bus transportation.

In high school Ken participated in FFA and Glee Club and enjoyed typing and chemistry. He also liked going to Flatt's Drug Store after school and eating their delicious grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Somewhere along the way Ken became and excellent skater, and that talent led to his becoming acquainted with Gloria.

To be continued...