My grandparents were Germans from Russia, and my mom, Elizabeth Klug, was born in Russia and was about three years old when her parents came to America. My father, Michael, was born in Topeka, KS, and his parents were also Germans from Russia.

I was 3rd oldest of 13 children, and lost two baby sisters when they were only 6 months old. I was one of four girls, and we had seven brothers.

We lived on a farm south of Ovid, CO, and attended a country school where the teacher had eight classes. In my 1st grade class, there were two of us. My classmate’s mother was a teacher, so she knew the alphabet, and I didn’t.

I started 5th grade in Ovid because we moved five and one-half miles NW of Ovid. The house was on a hill, and nobody had lived there for many years. It had such a beautiful view, but we were so scared of the snakes. Every time we went outside, we took a hoe.

Then our house burned down the day before Christmas when I was in the 7th grade.

After the fire, my dad built a basement house. We never had running water. We had to carry water up a hill, and it seemed like a mile, but it probably wasn’t. We never had an indoor privy. I couldn’t wait to leave home.

Around 14 or 15, I swore if I ever got married, I wanted to live in a town with sidewalks and indoor facilities.

Growing up, we had a baseball team. I’d be out there with the boys playing baseball. I really wanted to be a pitcher or catcher, but I wound up out in the field.

Before I went to school, I had to milk two cows, do chores, and do the same at night. We missed two weeks of school each fall because we had to stay home and work in the beet and corn fields. We had a big garden, and when we got off the bus and walked toward the house, we stopped by it and picked what we wanted to eat. My mother was a sweetheart, and all she did was work. Twice a week, she washed clothes and baked bread. Oh, the smell of the German bread and her delicious Rival Kuga (coffee cake).

For Rival Kuga, she had this large pan and would first put down a layer of bread dough, then a layer of custard of some sort, and finally a crumble of butter and sugar on top.

She did have a washing machine with a motor, and my four-year-old brother got his arm caught in the rollers. He had scars on his arm til the day he died.

On Saturday, I’d shampoo my mother’s hair and paint her nails. She loved that. She was a tiny little woman, and just a sweetheart.

We had our own butter, milk, and cream. On Sunday, we went to Julesburg for church. On the way home, we stopped in Sedgwick and bought ice from a farmer. He had it in a cave, with straw around the ice. We would get one block, put it in the icebox, and it would last all week. Sometimes we would get extra ice, and mom would make ice cream—the boys took turns churning.

Baths (except for the babies, who were bathed every day) would be once a week. Whoever carried the water up the hill got to take the first bath. That person was usually me. We had a round wash tub, and four people would bathe in the same water; then it was thrown out, and a fresh tub filled for the next four.

The teacher probably plugged her nose when the Weinbenders showed up. But I would take a sponge bath every morning.

After graduation, I moved to Chappell, NE, and got a job—two jobs. I wanted to go to Sterling Community College (now Northeastern Junior College, NJC). I got a job in a restaurant and had to be there around 5:00 a.m. We wore uniforms, so I changed my clothes before going to my other job at the electrical shop. I worked at the restaurant, so I got free breakfast and dinner. After working eight hours at the electrical company, I went back to the restaurant and worked until they closed.

I had a sleeping room in this woman’s house. I saved money for Junior College, and then my dreams were crashed. My dad came to me and asked me for money to get a new car, and I gave it to him—that was my tuition.

My family moved to Julesburg after I graduated, and my mother got a job at the hospital. She was finally able to have a better life living in town.

I met my future husband, Dean, in Ovid, when he was in the 8th grade, and I was in the 7th. In high school, we dated some, and then he joined the Navy and served in the Korean conflict. After he was discharged, he came back to Sterling, where his parents had moved. Dean and I reconnected and married in 1954.

I should have gone to school before we were married, or at least after my boys graduated college, but I didn’t, and I regret not getting a college education.  Education was important, and I was determined my boys, Barry and Kurt, would go to school.

After we got married, we lived in San Francisco for a year, and oh, I had the most wonderful job there. Real Estate insurance and home loans—they financed all the homes after the Korean War. I was in charge of the bookkeeping department, but Dean wanted to come back to Sterling.

Back in Sterling, I went into the Security State Bank to open an account. When I got home, the bank president, R.A. Towne, called and offered me a job. When I became pregnant, I told the president, expecting him to say I would have to quit, but he said I didn’t have to quit. I was the first married woman and the first employee to work while pregnant. I worked until I had Barry.

We moved to Charmony—we had $3,000 for a down payment to buy a house. Unlike today, we didn’t borrow anything. Dean and I worked. After Dean got home from work, I would go to a printing company and run envelopes through a Address-o-graph machine for a fertilizer company advertising mailing.

I worked home jobs; I was the very first Saint Anthony parish secretary, where I set up the books; and I was Connie O’Neil’s bookkeeper for Connie’s Datsun. In all the jobs, I said I’d work on one condition: I’d be off at 3:00 because I had young boys and I wanted to be home for them. Later, when the boys were older, I worked full-time.

After that, I worked part-time for a Travel Agency as a bookkeeper, and then at Christopher & Banks.

I’ve had a lot of different jobs. I think it’s wonderful, because I enjoyed them and got to do a lot of different things.

I sewed all my clothes (learned from one class in high school), including suits—I even lined them and made bound buttonholes. I also made quilts for my kids and grand children.

I also worked off and on for the bank, organizing all the information so books could be put on computers, working on insurance, serving as a loan teller, and setting up the open house when the bank moved to 3rd Street.

I don’t think my life is very pretty. I’ve accomplished more than most of my family, and I have one regret. After the boys graduated, I really wish I had gotten a college degree. My boys have degrees, and I’m so proud of them, and they’re very appreciative. I really wanted to go to college, and I should have.

Mary Ann Hiler

Told when 94 years and 105 days