Tuesday, March 16, 2010; bensonfamilyalbum.com; crazymoose350@msn.

com
MY MEMORIES OF MY FATHER, CARL HERMAN BENSON (1892-1963),
& OF GROWING UP IN ZION
by: Al Benson, written 04-12-1998 & 12-08-2004
Herman is used rather than Dad, Father or Grandpa. Esther is used rather than Mom,
Mother or Grandma. This is to help readers of the future to keep track of generations.
Additional information by Als brother, Leo Benson, is shown in bold italic. At the time of
writing this working draft (January, 2010), no formal, official genealogical information has
been obtained by Leo & Rosemary Benson. We will start soon, but theres no point in
reinventing the wheel. Does anyone have corrections? Indicate paragraph by its number.
Do you have information or memories to add? Please indicate where by paragraph #. If we
get responses, well incorporate them into a future, more complete report.

1. Carl Herman Benson was born Karl Herman Bengtsson on June 20, 1892 on the family
farm (or on which his father worked?) in Ysane Parish, Blekinge County, near Solvesborg,
which was near Stockholm, Sweden. He was the twelfth of twelve children. Hermans
childhood home was near the Baltic Sea where he said he swam and ice-skated as a youth.
He also told of sliding down a large, smooth rock shelf while sitting on a rock. Herman
told Leo that he was hired out to work on several local potato farms as a boy. He died at
the age of seventy in Zion, Illinois, of an enlarged heart, on April 15, 1963. Herman was
buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Zion, Illinois, alongside his wife, Esther, and Esthers
mother, Mary A. Foster.
2. Hermans eleven siblings were:
I
I. Bengta (b.Nov. 22, 1869 d.?); she received her certificate on March, 31, 1888
in preparation for departing for America, according to a hobby-geneologist;
II. Ingrid (b.May 14, 1871 d.July 21, 1883);
III. Johan (b.April 7, 1873 d.Feb. 15, 1884);
II IV. Pella (b.April 14, 1875 d.?);
V. Olaf (b.Aug 16, 1877 d.Jan 2, 1899);
III VI. Matilda (b.Oct. 21, 1879 d.?), also known as Tillie, who immigrated to the
United States in 1907, married a man named Frank Benson, and resided in Lake Hamilton,
Florida, at the time of Hermans death; Tillie had several children, two of whom were Nils
and Kenneth (b.1920 d.1957); Kenneth married Cornelia Pittman;
VII. Nils (b.Feb. 12, 1882 d.1962), who immigrated to the U.S. in 1905 and
eventually lived in Orlando, Florida; he is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Lake County, FL;
VIII. John (b.March 31, 1884 d.?), who was mentioned in Hermans obituary as still
living in Sweden at the time of Hermans death;
IX. August (b.August 22, 1886 d.August 31, 1886);
X. Ida (b.Aug. 20, 1887 d.?), who immigrated to the U.S. in 1904, married an Edwin
Olsen (or Olson?) and was living in Chicago at the time of Hermans death; She had several
children, one of whom was Edwin Roland (b.1921 -- who died (when?) in Woodruff, WI;

XI. Alfred (b.Dec.12, 1889 d.Dec. 10, 1975), who immigrated to the U.S. with Herman,
and resided in Groveland, Florida, at the time of Hermans death; he is buried in Greenwood
Cemetery, Lake County, FL; He married Hildur (B.July 7, 1891 d.Nov. 9, 1976), (also buried
in Greenwood Cemetery) Alfred had three daughters and one son who did not live long.
3. Although Hermans given name was Carl (Karl), he was always called by his middle name,
Herman. I was never told why, but it may have been a Swedish custom, as I worked with a
number of Swedes who were also called by their middle name. When Alfred and Herman
arrived at Ellis Island in 1911, I think they Americanized their surname as did their brother and
sisters that had immigrated before them.
4. The father of Herman Bengtsson was Bengt Jeppsson (b.Nov. 8, 1840 d.?). The father of
Bengt was Jeppe Jeppsson (b.Nov. 4, 1794 d.?).You see, it was the custom in Sweden for the
male children to take as a surname their fathers first name and add son after it. Bengt was 52
when Herman was born. Bengt was a large man, over six feet tall, with a fiery red beard. Bengts
mother was Inga Bengtsdotter (b.Dec. 13, 1798 d.?). (See dotter in paragraph below; Ingas
father as well as her husband had the given name of Bengt). It is my understanding that when
the male children entered the military service, if they had a very common name such as
Johnsson, they were given an alternate name, such as Bergman, Bergquist, Odquist, etc.
When they left the service, they were given the option of retaining the name conferred upon
them by the crown, or of reverting to their original surname. This is why some Swedes dont
have -son at the ends of their surnames. Herman left Sweden before he had to enter military
service.
4. Female Swedish children took their fathers first name and added dotter to it for their
surname. Hermans mothers maiden name was Elsa Johnsdotter (b.Sept.29, 1849 d.?) because
her fathers given name was John. She married Bengt on Dec.27, 1868. She would have been 42
when Herman was born.
6. As I recall, Herman said that he had polio when he was a small child and could not walk.
He had to be carried all of the time. He said that his parents took him to a woman who was
a faith healer, and he was able to walk. All of his life he had a problem with stuttering,
especially when he became nervous or excited, and his adult height was only about 55, both
of which he attributed to the childhood polio.
7. At the age of 18, Herman immigrated to the U.S., having sailed on the Maurettania from
Liverpool, England to Ellis Island, landing there on March 31, 1911. His brother, Alfred was
on the same ship. Both brothers listed their U.S. address as 1134 N. Waller, Chicago, which must
have been Idas address. On May 31 Herman formally declared his intention to become a citizen.
Alfred declared on Dec. 27, 1913. Herman could not speak any English when he arrived. When I
asked him how he was able to shop and live in the city, he told me, Well, I would go to the stores
and watch until someone wanted to buy the same thing that I wanted. I would listen to what they
said and would point to the article and use the words they used to buy some for myself. He did
a lot of listening. He got a job with the Chicago Parks District and learned much more English at
that job.

8. He also made use of a Swedish/English translation dictionary. He did not teach his wife,
Esther, or his sons Swedish, but he was able to speak in Swedish with his sister, Ida, on rare
visits. He did get some mail from Sweden over the years, but never, to our knowledge, talked
to anyone back there by phone and never traveled back to Sweden for any visits. He did get
in a visit with his brothers and sister in Florida in 1956 or 1957.
9. Herman went to a stuttering remedial school while he was in Chicago, which helped a little.
He said that one of the exercises was to have the class trot out on the citys streets. When they
came to a small store that sold soft drinks, they would stop and make their arms parallel with
the ground. Then they would move their arms back and forth quickly while saying forcefully,
We-Want-Co-Co-Co-La! This helped them talk without stuttering. I dont ever remember
being aware that he stuttered while I was at home. It only happened when he was under stress.
10. Herman later worked as a farm laborer for a family named Ward who lived outside of
Crystal Lake.
11. He was drafted for the 1st World War but was deferred because of his speech impediment.
12. I believe Herman moved to Zion, Illinois, because he had heard about the Christian
Catholic Apostolic Church (C.C.A.C.) there. He lived in a sort of C.C.A.C.- administered
boarding house called The Bethel on 27th St. east of Sheridan Rd. He became a member
of the church and attended it with his family and supported it faithfully for the remainder of
his life. He served as a Zion Guard in the church.
13. Starting about 1917 Herman began working for the Zion Dairy, which was one of the Zion
Industries. He remained in that employ until June of 1942 25 years. He performed various
tasks such as pasteurizing milk, making cottage cheese, bottling the milk, making ice cream bars,
etc. They had a water well just off the bottling floor that they called Old Methuselah. It got
its name because it was 969 feet deep. He worked five days a week and half-days on Saturday.
But, because they couldnt leave work until all of the machines and pipes that had delivered or
processed milk were cleaned and sterilized with steam, it was often late in the afternoon that he
got home.
14. Leo thinks he remembers that Herman was even, on occasion, called out of church on
some Sundays to tend to one emergency or another at the Dairy. There was no union, so
there was no overtime or double-time pay. There was no health insurance, either. The Dairy
environment was chilly and humid; floors were slippery. Leo remembers that, as a result of
several accidents, Herman broke both elbows and ribs on both sides.
15. Four years after securing a job at the Dairy, Herman married Esther Foster (19011966)
on July 21, 1921. He was 29 years old and she was almost 20. Witnesses were Robert Peters
and Genevieve Valkenaar, who were later married to each other and remained lifelong friends
of Herman & Esther.

ESTHER FOSTERS (August 6, 1901 October 2, 1966) BACKGROUND:

This is a working draft of a report combining captions on old photos with
information from a taped July 16, 1968 interview of two of Esthers sisters,
Martha Klemin and Lillian Klebanow, by their nephew, Leo Benson. George
Klebanow, Lillians husband, was also present. Additional information and
anecdotes are added by Leo.
(The information for the following three paragraphs came from information
on the backs of photos.)
16. William Elisha Patterson was born on October 10, 1836, in Erie Co., PA. He died
on February 21, 1901, in Cooper, Green County, IA. He is buried in Franklin
Township Cemetery, Cooper, IA.
17. On October 29, 1857, at age 21, he married Margaret Whitaker, age 24, in
Muscatine, Montpelier Co., IA.
18. Margaret was born on May 6, 1833 (where?). She died on August 15, 1868, only
twelve days after the birth of her sixth child, Mary Alveretta (sp?) Patterson, on Aug.
3, 1868.
19. According to a recent atlas, Muscatine, IA, is actually located in Muscatine
County. It is on the eastern edge of IA, across the Mississippi R. from IL. Cooper, in
Greene County, is northwest of Des Moines, in central Iowa; Jefferson is the county
seat of Greene County.
20. William and Margaret lived on a good farm probably near Cooper, IA. Mary
Alveretta was raised by Aunt Martha Davis and her husband, Mr. Davis. (Does this
mean she lived with them instead of with her father and siblings?) This information
comes from a caption on the back of a photo of a couple who appear to be in their
60s. Perhaps Marys father felt he could not care for a baby in addition to five older
children as well as run the farm? (Was Aunt Martha Davis a sister of William or
Margaret?)
21. Martha Klemin spoke of an Aunt Esther who once lived in St. Joseph, MO, and
of Rachael, a sister of Mary Alveretta. It seems Rachael must have married and had,
at least, two daughters, Laura and Nellie (Chapin), the latter still living in Jefferson,
IA, as of 1968. Martha Klemin mentioned other family names James, Frank, Otto,
Henry, Mike - that might have been a mix of siblings and cousins, of Mary Alveretta.
(We could learn more from census reports and a probated will.)
22. Mary Alvetta married a Mr. Brenneman (Where? When?). They had two
daughters, Nellie (birth & death dates?) & Lillian (born 1892? died 1982). At some
point, Mary & Mr. Brenneman divorced. (Where? When?)

23. Next, Mary married J.B. (Joseph Bushnell) Foster. (Where? When? What do we
know about J.B.?) Their first child, Martha (1900 - 1982) was born in the little
house down by the stream. This was near the town of Avoca, in Pottawattamie
County, which has Council Bluffs as county seat. It was not far from Omaha, on the
eastern border of Nebraska. By the time Esther Foster was born, on August 6, 1901,
the family was living nearby, in the house up on the hill of the farm that had been
bought with Marys $3,000 inheritance, received in 1901.
24. Later (What year?) the family sold that farm and moved west with mules and
wagon to Funk, Nebraska. Funk is located in Phelps County, with the county seat of
Holdredge. There they acquired a truck farm, which they then sold to have a house
in town near where J.B. ran a slaughter facility and meat market. Lillian Klebanow
remembered helping her stepfather with cutting up meat and selling it in the market.
25. By the time the family left Funk, two more Foster children had been born: Milton
and Isabelle. Martha mentioned that another son, George, had been stillborn. Leo
doesnt remember ever hearing about George. There is a memorial baby picture of a
Margurette Foster in the family album. (When and where was she born?) Leo remembers hearing of a baby Maude, sister of Esther, who died from pulling boiling
water off a stove. Was Maude the same as Margurette?
26. In 1909, J. B. got the wonderlust, according to Martha, and wanted to, or had
some reason to, move on west from Funk. (Does anyone know why?) He sold their
property and converted a hayrack into a covered wagon for travel. Just then, Esther
came down with the measles, but J. B. pushed ahead. He seems to have wanted to go
to Oregon, some 60 years after the famous Oregon Trail was established. By this
time most of the West had been carved into states and there were trains that crossed
the western plains & mountains, but he set out with his family in a wagon.
27. Martha remembered the bedding arrangement inside the wagon. On each side
was a spring base with a straw mattress. In the middle was a board floor, beneath
which was storage space. Martha remembered potatoes and live chicken there. She
said they had an oil stove for cooking. Martha also remembered that some of the
kids rode on the tongue of the light wagon that was towed behind the large wagon.
The small wagon carried more supplies. Sometimes the children got out and walked
ahead of the wagons. The wagons may have been pulled by two teams of horses
which did not fare well. She also remembered terrible storms along the way. One
can imagine being the lone humans out on the open prairie where you could see only
emptiness in all directions and no shelter from wind and rain.
28. Nellie & Lillian stayed behind in Funk. Lillian would have been about 17 at the
time. She said she worked on various farms. At some point (When? Where?), Nellie
married Bill Cobb, a Funk resident. (Where did they live? Death dates & burial
locations? Details of their personalities? Did Nellie have two marriages?) Jim
Klemin remembers these names for Nellies children: Vivian, Laurene, Lillian
Dorcas, Hyland, Eldon David, Jurdeen & (perhaps?) Robert.

29. The Fosters westward journey went rather slowly. At some juncture, they met a
family of 6 the McCords - heading for Colorado to homestead some land. This
would have been late in the history of homesteading for the purpose of farming, and
the best places had long since been claimed. J. B. was persuaded to change his plans
and follow the McCords to the eastern plains of CO. At some point all of the children
got the measles.
30. Martha thought the trip took about 2 months. Finally they stopped at some
unclaimed spot and parked the wagon up on a hill where it was very exposed to the
weather. J.B. propped up the wagon against the wind and added a lean-to to provide
more room. They were 1 mile from water. Their location was about 15 miles from
the town of Laird. By counting up mileage on the most direct route shown on a
recent atlas, the family had covered about 170 miles. Laird, CO, is in Yuma County.
Wray is the county seat. The area is not far from the Nebraska and Kansas borders.
31. The next year they built a sod house. J.B. plowed parallel lines in the prairie, cut
rectangles and lifted the sod chunks to dry in the sun. Plant roots held the chunks in
shape. He laid up the sod pieces like bricks to form an 18 x 24 structure. With the
last of the proceeds of the sale of property in Funk, they bought some cattle and
boards to span the walls of the house and tarpaper to lay down beneath a sod roof.
Glass windows were put in the walls. They also got wire for fence. Next, J.B. built a
chicken house and barn, which leaked because there was no tarpaper on the roofs.
32. The children went to school, but also had time to collect dry cow chips, which
served as fuel for heating and cooking. Dried sagebrush was used for kindling.
Apparently turtles were occasionally seen on the CO plains at that time. The children
might see a cow chip at a distance and head to collect it, only to find that it was a
turtle. One day, J.B. was visiting with a neighbor in the Fosters house and mentioned
the turtle abundance. Little Esther piped up and told her father that they werent
turtles, but were walking cow chips, which seemed to embarrass her father.
33. Esther & Milton would take the cows and calves out to whatever pasture there
was. One evening when the children had been sent out to bring the herd back to the
barn, Mary looked out and saw the livestock running pell-mell back to the barn.
When the dust cleared, Esther crawled out from the huddle. She had hopped aboard a
calf, wrapped her legs around its neck, and had ridden back in the stampede, excited
and happy.
34. J. B. had to find some way to earn more money than farming brought in. Martha
said, He went to drilling wells. She summed up that, J. B. was just a man who
couldnt manage. He was a hard worker, and he was hard on animals, but he was also
a jolly man. He used to play games like Hide & Seek with us.
35. Nevertheless, Martha remembered frequent friction between J. B. and Mary.
Summers were dry and winters cold. Money was in short supply. But there were
more neighbors than in the earlier pioneer days. One neighbor received copies of

The Leaves of Healing from a relative in Zion. These publications gave news about
the activities of the C.C.A.C. and the Zion Industries and also printed sermons, etc.
Mary Foster read them. The harsh weather & financial hardships in CO, combined
with Marys fear that her daughters would grow up & marry cowboys, led her to
decide to move herself & her children to Zion.
36. At Christmastime of 1911 (?), Mary declared that she would sign over her share
of the land claim to J.B., take the cattle and sell them for travel funds, and go. J. B.
built some moving crates and drove Mary and the children to the train station. Mary
said he could keep the team and wagon.
37. Instead of going straight to Zion, Mary stopped briefly in St. Joseph, MO, to visit
Aunt Esther, according to Martha. (Was this Marys aunt or Marthas aunt?) This
same aunt paid their way to Zion, and sent some funds to Mary & her family after
they reached Zion. So, by 1912, Marys family settled in a rented two-room house on
Gilboa, near 31st Street, in Zion. They had no furnishings excepting the shipping
crates they had brought. Martha remembered that, The people (presumably church
members) found out we had nothing and gave us furniture and a stove and food.
38. By 1915, Lillian sent her mother $500, and the money was used to buy the small
house at 3003 Gilead. Marys name was on the deed. They took in washing to earn
some money. Leo still (in 2010) has the old childs pull wagon that they used to get
and return the laundry. It is possible that the children did not attend school past 6th
grade. At the age of 14 (1914) Martha started working at the Zion Candy Factory,
earning 83 cents a day ($5.00 a week) at first. Esther worked at the Zion Bakery, and
then the Zion Curtain Factory.
39. Martha recalled that at one point, J. B. visited the family at the Gilead home. He
stopped chewing tobacco (required by Zion church rules) and told Mary that if he
stayed, he wanted his name to show on the deed to the house. Mary refused, saying it
was really Lillians property. J. B. walked out - headed toward the North Shore train
station - and was never seen again by Mary or any of her family. (When did he die?
Where?)
40. Both Martha & Lillian agreed that Marys 6 children were very fond of her and
were happy to be in her company. Most of the time the children got along well with
each other, too. Mary was the only grandparent Leo ever met. He was about 10 years
old when she died, and she seemed pretty old to him. He didnt come to know her
very well as an individual, doesnt remember hearing family stories from her, etc. In
fact, he learned more family history during the interview with Lillian and Martha in
1968 than hed ever heard before, and Lillian seemed reluctant to talk about certain
topics. Leo remembers meeting Isabelle and Nellie only a few times, and he didnt
know what to make of Milton.
41. Lillian said that she married Sam Sorensen in 1915, when she was 23. (Where?)
She said that Sam really liked Mother Foster, but spent lots of money and wasnt

from Zion. They were divorced. (Where? When? Does anyone know more about
Sam?) Lillian reported that she continued to send money to her mother. She stated
that the reason she never had her own children was that she helped to raise her
siblings.
42. Before Martha married Charlie Klemin, he lived at Bethel House, where
Herman Benson also lived. Charlie and Herman were buddies. When Charlie met &
married Martha (what was the date of their wedding?), Herman met Esther. Herman
wondered if Esther would go out with him. Presumably, he worried that his stuttering
would disqualify him. But Martha said that Herman & Esther got acquainted at
New Years and married in July. Mary & her whole family liked Herman.
43. Charlie and Martha had two sons, Jimmy (b.1923) and Albert (b.1926?). (Details
about them?) Charlie left Martha when Jimmy was 3 years old (about 1926) and
Albert was about to be born. At some point, Martha and her two boys lived with
Mary in her house on Gilead. Al remembers that Martha, Jim and Albert lived in the
Zion Home (a residential hotel) during Als grade school years. He remembers that
there were many times when he would take a big can of tomato soup to school (or
stop to get one at the store) and at noontime walk with Jimmy over to the Zion Home
where they would heat up the soup on a kerosene stove for lunch. At one or more
times Martha and boys also lived temporarily with Herman and Esther. (Details of
Marthas employment, characteristics? Details about Jimmy and Albert, including
families and military service?) Martha died August 17, 1982. Jimmy eventually
learned that his father had died in Texas. Jimmy also eventually visited some of his
fathers people in N. Dakota.
44. Isabelle met and married Alan McDougal. He had come from Canada. He had a
sister, Lena, in the States, and she sponsored him for entry into the country. But Alan
couldnt read or write, and Martha couldnt explain why. He had employment
difficulties in Zion, and returned with Isabelle to Canada, where he worked as a hired
hand on a farm. (Jimmy Klemin remembers spending one summer in Canada,
helping Alan and Isabelle with farm work.) They had no children of their own, and
adopted a girl, Shirley. As Leo remembers it, he met Alan only once, and Isabelle
only a few times. (Birth & death dates & burial locations for Isabelle and Alan?)
(Details of their personalities and lives?) (Details on Shirley and family?)
45. Al states that he really didnt get to know Uncle Milton (b.? d.?). Al believes
he started working at the Zion Candy factory. That is where Eva (his eventual wife)
worked. Later he had a job as a welder, which probably caused his near-blindness.
Milton walked with a white cane and could only see a little over the tops of his eyes.
Milton and Eva had three children: David (b. August 8, 1924 d.?) who moved to
Long Beach, California, encouraged by his cousin, Jimmy (details on Davids family
and military history?); Orville who settled in Gurnee, IL (details?); and Ethel who
married Mr. Haws and settled in Killeen, TX (details?). Milton and Eva divorced,
and Milton married twice more (?) but did not have more children. Leo remembers
that Milton was a frequent visitor during Leos early years. Milton was white-haired,

tall and somewhat heavy. He often had a stubble beard, which Leo remembers
scratched his face. When Leo was a little older, Milton developed clear symptoms of
mental illness and Esther let him stay in the Bensons home off and on. Leo believes
Milton died in Iowa.
46. Lillian met George Klebanow, her second husband, on a Sunday at a dance in
Milwaukee. They met for a date on the following Wednesday and were married the
following Monday (what year?). George was 30 years old. After a 2-day
honeymoon, Lil asked George where they would live. He said theyd stay with his
mother. Well, just before the two had met, Lillian had received $15 in the mail from a
friend in Oklahoma who had urged Lil to use it to come to OK. When Lil heard her
new home would be with a mother-in-law, Lil nearly used the $15 to flee to OK. (In
her youth, Lillian had a reputation of being very impulsive or headstrong.) But Lil
got along very well with Georges mother Lil & George lived there for 7 months and came to feel Georges mother to be her own 2nd mother.
47. George was a steam pipe fitter, and not quite two years after their marriage,
George suffered a very serious accident at work on July 20, (what year?). A piece of
metal from an exploding oxygen tank hit him in the middle of his forehead with
terrific force. He did recover and return to work, but had a big dent in his forehead
from then on. George and Bill Cobb were more like brothers than brothers-in-law to
Esther and Herman. Al remembers that Uncle George was a whiz at cards. It seemed
that George could remember every card that had been played. George was fun to be
with. Aunt Lil seemed to be stern on the outside, but she had a big heart. While
George and Lil still lived in Milwaukee, Al remembers that Lil and George invited
him and David Foster to their home to watch a 6-day bicycle race when the boys were
about 12. That would have been 1936. Leo wonders if that would be about when he
was born. Perhaps Lil was helping Esther who had a new baby in the house. Later,
George and Lil moved to Zion. That meant George had to commute daily to
Milwaukee for work. After WW II, George did some work in Alaska and Greenland,
which took him away from Zion for some periods of time. He made good money on
those jobs. Lillian was known for remodeling and/or building houses. Lillian died
January 13, 1982; George died March 7, 1982.

(RETURNING TO Als & LEOS MEMORIES)

48. Herman and Esther bought a house at 3210 Ezra Avenue for $1500. The City of Zion
later changed the street number from 3210 to 3232. It was on a 50 x 150 lot. There was
an old one-car garage facing the alley behind the house. At first, the house had no electricity
or indoor plumbing.
49. Herman and Esther had five children. The first was a girl, Wilma. The next four children
were all boys, born at home with the aid of a midwife, Miss Ellen Lloyd, who was a member
of the C.C.A.C. Wilma Smyrna was stillborn (breech) on August 28, Carl Alfred was born
on August 6, 1924. Arthur Herman was born on August 12, 1929 (died April 27, 2001). Gene
Le Roy was born on August 25, 1932 (died April 26, 1988). Leo Everett was born on June 3,
1936. Herman once recounted that he had been on hand to help Miss Lloyd assist Esther
with the breech birth of Wilma. That was a very difficult experience. Perhaps Herman was
there at the birth of his four sons also?
50. I remember Herman bringing home from working at Zion Dairy gallons of skim milk that
had not sold on the delivery routes of the Milk Delivery wagons. He paid five cents each for
them. That helped, considering his hungry, growing family. Leo remembers his dad also
bringing home buttermilk and cottage cheese, and to this day, Leo wont eat either. At the
same time I remember that the familys milk was delivered by a milk-man. I remember that the
milk in bottles that were left on front porches in the wintertime would often freeze, pushing
up the bottles caps an inch or two above the tops of the bottles. The milk wagons were
first drawn by horses and later changed to regular milk trucks. Before people got refrigerators,
it was nice to have milk delivered daily. It is Leos memory that, later, the family also bought
whole milk from a Mr. Smith, a nearby farmer. That milk was not pasteurized nor
homogenized, and contained lots of cream, which rose to the top and was used for whipping
cream and churning butter. Herman sometimes made ice cream from it.
51. I do remember that when I was 10 or 12 years old, I worked for Mr. Smith. I pulled weeds for
15 cents an hour. I do remember the old tall water pump in the middle of the sidewalk by Mr.
Smiths house. I dont remember Mr. Smith having any cows at that time. However, a decade or
so later, Leo remembers that Mr. Smith had 2 cows, and that he (Leo) saw two men, each with a
long rope, deliver a breeding bull (with a ring in its nose to which the ropes were attached) to
Mr. Smiths barn. After calves were born and weaned, Leo took a few turns at milking the cows.
52. Sometimes I would stop in at the Dairy on my way home from school so I could watch
Herman doing his various jobs. I liked it when they cut ice cream bars and dipped them into
the chocolate coating. Sometimes I would get a sample. Leo remembers sometimes visiting
his dad at the Dairy and receiving ends of Newly-weds thin, flat sheets of chocolate
cake spread with vanilla ice cream and rolled up like a jelly-roll, then cut into separate
sections.
53. The Dairy was a very interesting place. All of the machines there were driven by belts
from a line shaft, which was mounted near the ceiling. When all of the belts were running,
they made quite a sound! When a belt wore out, Herman would bring it home and use it to

10

resole our shoes. With four growing boys, there were a lot of shoes to mend. Herman was
offered the job as manager of the Dairy several times, but he turned the offers down because
of his stuttering problem.
54. When I got a little older and had a bike, I would get a cooler filled with dry ice and ice
cream bars and peddle them down to the public beach on Lake Michigan where I would sell
the bars for a nickel. I think I cleared one or two cents apiece for selling them. Back then,
some sticks had FREE printed on them, and they could be exchanged for another ice cream
bar.
55. Over time, the house on 3232 Ezra was modernized. Esthers brother-in-law, Bill
Cobb, built a few kitchen cabinets. The main storage space in the kitchen was the
Hoosier, a one-piece unit that had several cabinets above, a bit of metal covered
counter space, and cabinet space below. The kitchen table could also double as
counter space when there was company and the meal was served in the dining room.
It must have taken real planning for her to serve so many Holiday meals.
56. Bill also put in Knob and Tube wiring. The house had a fuse box with Fuse
Wire instead of conventional fuses. The wiring stayed that way until 1954 when Leo
and I rewired the house with BX and put in a new 220 volt service with a proper fuse
box.
57. Before we got a refrigerator, an old shed at the back of the house once held an ice
box that kept the food cold. There was a card that was placed in the front window of
our house when more ice was needed. It stated the size of the chunk of ice desired, such
as 25, 50 or 75 pounds. Early on, the ice was delivered by a horse-drawn wagon that
also delivered coal in the winter. Later, a truck was used to deliver these. In the summer,
we kids would follow the ice wagon to get the ice chips that were made as the varioussized chunks were chiseled out. Leo supposes that his family didnt get an electric
refrigerator until after his dad started working at Fansteel.
58. As far as waste disposal in the early years, there was a garage back by the alley that
had a one-holer in one part of it. Every week there was a collection by men with a
horse-drawn honey wagon, as we used to call the collection wagon. Each bedroom
had its own white rabbit, as the covered white enameled pots were sometimes called,
and they had to be emptied each morning into the garage one-holer.
59. In the early years, household water was gotten from a hand pump in the kitchen, drawing
water from a cistern in the back yard. We also got some water for washing from a rain barrel
that caught rainwater off the roof. But indoor plumbing was put in about 1935. Herman dug
the ditch for the pipes between the house and alley with a shovel so that water could be brought
in and waste be carried away from the house. The only bathroom was on the second floor, with
the three bedrooms.
60. The only telephone was on the main floor. Leo remembers racing from bed toward the 13
uncarpeted stairs in the middle of the night and falling all the way down to the bottom in order

11

to answer the phone before it stopped ringing. His brother, Al, was in WW II at the time, as
were several cousins. and unexpected phone calls, especially at unusual times, caused anxiety.
Later, in the early 50s, Gene served in the Korean War, and telephone rings were again
worrisome.
61. And then there was the worry about any one of the boys who might be out with the family
car late at night. Esther would wait in the platform rocker, near the mantle clock that chimed
off the hours. Leo remembers that, when Art came home late, Esther would be ready to play
a game of checkers with him before they both finally retired for what was left of the night.
62. The house was not insulated until the late 40s (?), and the second floor was therefore
chilly in the winter and hot in the summer. Our home was originally heated by a pot-belly
stove that was located between the living and dining rooms. It was coal fired and the only
heat that got upstairs was from registers that linked the downstairs ceiling with the upstairs
floor and from the stove pipe that came up into the front bedroom and then out to the chimney
outside the house. I remember sitting in the living room watching the fire dance behind the
isinglass (mica) window on the stove door.
63. The kitchen had a stove-pipe running up from the kerosene cook-stove through the bedroom over it. When that stove was replaced with a gas cook-stove, the hole in the ceiling was
left open so that the heat from the kitchen would still go up. I remember that as a child I was
frightened every time the gas stove was lighted as it burst into flames with a noise. I guess I
finally got used to it.
64. One day the old coal-fired pot-belly stove was taken out and the opening between the
living and dining room was enlarged. A coal-burning furnace was put in the basement, and
a large grate was put in the floor right over the furnace. This gave a whole lot more heat than
the pot belly stove. There was a register in the floor of the bathroom upstairs to heat it, and
that register could be closed for privacy if needed. Of course, if you were in the bathroom,
you could hear everything being said in the dining room. Our hot water came from a 30 gallon
water tank in the basement. It was heated by piping water over the firebox of the furnace.
Needless to say, the supply of hot water varied from time to time, and it could be dangerously hot.
65. When Leo was young, coal was delivered by truck. It was shoveled into a coal chute
that was positioned through a basement window. The coal piled up near the furnace,
ready to be shoveled into the furnace as needed. Anthracite (hard) coal burned with the
most heat and was the cleanest for the house.
66. I remember that Herman shook down the furnace each winter morning, separating out
clinkers that could be re-burned. When the fire needed to be re-started, wood kindling or
sawdust and kerosene helped. The ashes (fines) were spread over the alley in back of the
garage to help control the mud when it rained. After Herman started working at Fansteel, the
family got an oil furnace.

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67. On washdays, before the house got electricity, Herman would place a water-filled copper
tub on a small wood-burning stove to cook the white clothes. Esther would take the clothes
out of the boiler with a stick and would have had to scrub the laundry on a wash board and
wring each piece as dry as possible. After the house was wired, Esther would put the clothes
to be washed into the old square-tub electric Maytag agitator washing machine with wringer
rolls on top. You had to be careful not to get you fingers caught in the ringer when running
clothes through the rollers. The heavy, wet, clean clothes and linens were then carried up from
the basement and were hung outside on the clothesline that was strung from the shed in back
of the house to a tree back near the alley. There must have been a drying line in the basement in the wintertime, though Al remembers some clothes were hung outside to freeze
dry. Esther never got a more modern washing machine or gas or electric dryer.
68. Thinking about the back yard, I remember that there was a sand pile with lilac bushes on
both sides. Really thin suckers grew up from the basses of the bushes. Whenever one of the
boys needed correcting they would hear, Get me a switch from the lilac bush. I remember
that when it was my turn to get a switch for my folly, I would get the largest one I could find.
The thin ones stung the legs and you wouldnt get swatted so hard with the larger switch.
69. Herman loved making a garden. When the lot next door to his property came up for
sale, he purchased it. It had an empty, ramshackle house on it that we all had a hand in
tearing down. When it was gone, he turned the lot into a garden where he raised a lot of
food. During spring and summer, he would return home from work and change into
clothes suitable for gardening, as weather permitted. Leo remembers using a spading
fork to turn over the soil. Compost was mixed in, and the soil was smoothed with a rake.
Herman enjoyed taking up hands-full of soil and smelling its richness. A hand-pushed
cultivator was moved through the soil to make rows, and seeds were sown. The boys removed weeds as the garden progressed. Herman tied up beans and tomatoes to poles.
70. We raised rhubarb, asparagus, salad greens, radishes, and peas at the start of the
season. Later came carrots, beets, beans, cucumbers (for pickles), green peppers,
eggplant and sweet corn. We also had strawberries and raspberries. We gathered
apples from our apple trees. This produce was eaten as it ripened, and any excess was
home canned if possible, or made into jam. Esther got Concord grapes from Mr. Smith
and made jelly. The preserved food was kept in a special room in the basement. During
Als high school years, he became interested in photography. The old special room was
converted into a photo darkroom. Al developed his own 35 mm film and had an enlarger to
print pictures.
71. Uncle Bill Cobb built a new garage on the new lot, with a drive to it from the front
street. After gathering the carrots and other root veggies each fall, Herman placed them
in a rather large hole that had been dug in the back of the new garage. We lined the hole
with straw, placed in the root veggies for winter storage, and covered them up with more
straw and dirt. Then we'd lay on top an old door from the torn down house.
72. The old garage on the alley was converted into a chicken coop where Herman raised
some chickens for a time. The chickens and their eggs made a contribution to our familys

13

menu. But the chickens attracted wild and undesirable chicken-eaters, and the chicken
yard was eventually spaded up, and strawberries were planted. Some of those berries got
really big. One summer, Art won a baby duckling as a prize when playing one of the
games of skill at the annual Fourth of July celebration. The duck enjoyed free range
and terrorized our cat, but it produced large eggs that had double-yolks that were added
to some great cakes. Alas, later that year the duck became dinner. At one time we kept
rabbits in the old garage, probably as pets, because Zion Church rules forbade eating
rabbits. Herman and the boys sometimes caught fish from Lake Michigan and brought
them home for dinner.
73. Neighbors often helped each other by trading food items such as a cup of sugar or a
couple of eggs. There was a Mom & Pop store (Marshalls) nearby on 33rd St. Esther
had a running account there for baking and cleaning supplies, etc. There were no credit
cards then, and the Bensons didnt have a checking account or even savings account.
74. Leo remembers that food disappeared quickly at mealtime. Those who hesitated,
regretted. One chicken, combined with lots of noodles, served six. Other favorite meals
were Sunday pot roast, chili, fried green tomatoes or eggplant, stuffed green peppers,
meatloaf, tomato and bread soup and, of course, Esthers pies. Sometimes Herman
made homemade root beer to go with his homemade ice cream. Leo doesnt remember
having turkey for Thanksgiving until he was nearly full grown. If there was oatmeal
left over from breakfast, it could be fried for the next meal. When Herman had shredded
wheat for breakfast, he poured boiling water on it. The boys copied the habit. Not until
he was visiting Gene in California in 1987 did Leo learn that Herman needed to soften
the cereal because of wearing dentures. A mealtime ritual, when the parents werent
looking, was that Art would punch Gene, who would punch Leo, who had nobody left
safe to punch, unless it was the cat.
75. As kids we spent a lot of time outside. After breakfast, we would go down to the creek
by Hollingsheads and watch the crayfish. We would climb the trees and sail leaf boats in
the creek. There were wild raspberries to pick in the summer, and hills to slide down in the
winter. Somehow Leo obtained a pair of old, wooden skis with rudimentary leather
bindings, and he couldnt wait to try them out in the ravine. But there was no one to
show him the proper techniques for turning or stopping other than to fall or run into
something. Besides that, there was no flat, run-out space at the bottom only the steep
and wooded uphill on the opposite side of the creek. Somehow, he avoided serious injury.
76. One time we followed the creek all the way to Lake Michigan, which was a long way
there and back. Sometimes we would go and watch the New Road being built. It was
Wadsworth Road, but we always referred to it as the New Road. At one time there were no
roads or houses along the creek; then, little by little, the roads and houses came.
77. Leo went everywhere especially to school or to Lake Michigan - by bicycle. Sometimes as many as 6 kid would try to fit on one bike: the rider, one on his shoulders, one
on the sissy bar, one on the handlebars, one on the front fender and one on the back
fender. (This really doesnt seem possible! Is it memory or legend?) When Leo wasnt

14

riding his bike, he might have been running in order to get into shape.
78. Sometimes several of the neighborhood kids would hitch-hike into Waukegan and get
off at the top of the hill by Grand Avenue or the next street and walk down to Lake Michigan
to go swimming. At that time we could swim off the short pier where the small boats were
kept. As I remember, it was great fun, but Im not sure if our mother knew where I was.
We would go fishing off the lighthouse pier when we were all taken by Herman. All I remember catching were perch and shiners nothing really big. Do you remember the catwalk
above the pier that was used when the waves got really high?
79. Leo had several scares while swimming at the lake. Down at the Zion Beach there
were no lifeguards, and rip tides running parallel to the beach nearly exhausted him. Lake
Michigan was to be respected! Also, Leo lost his high school class in the water, after owning
it for only a month ! There used to be some locally owned cottages down by the beach. One
was owned by some friends of Herman & Esther. The Benson family visited there for several
short vacations. It was always cooler there in the summertime. But, even after houses in town
were modernized, these cottages lacked electricity, indoor plumbing and telephones. People
cooked on kerosene stoves and lit kerosene lanterns. Water had to be hand-pumped. Visitors had
to climb a ladder to sleep in the loft. Floors were left bare because of all the sand that was
tracked in every day. There were campfires on the beach every evening during good weather.
Eventually,
winter storms washed away the cottages, and later the location was included in the now defunct
nuclear power plant.
80. Leo remembers the family sitting around the table to divide up Hermans pay check on
payday. There was usually nothing left for savings or emergencies . Often we would go to
Waukegan to buy something with the quarters each of us got weekly. There were three Dime
Stores along Genesee Street that were our favorites: Woolworth, Neisners and Kreskes. One
of them had a basement that had a lot of toys for kids. It was a very hard job to find just the right
thing to buy, but we always seemed to come home with something we liked. Sometimes, after
shopping, we would see a movie at the Academy, Rialto or Valencia theaters the Genesee was too
expensive for us. I remember seeing a lot of The Lone Ranger, Hop-along Cassidy and other serials
that played at the Rialto. Tarzan of the Apes was a favorite, too. When Esther bought clothes for the
family, she made use of lay-away plans offered by Zion Department Stores, J. C Pennys,
Sears, etc.
81. When he was the only son still willing to go to the movies with his parents, Leo
remembers that on many Fridays he and Esther would walk the many blocks to Sheridan
Road, where they would catch a bus and ride to Waukegan. Then they would walk more
blocks to one of the movie theaters to wait for Herman, who walked there from work in North
Chicago. They would get deli sandwiches and see a movie. Then they would take the bus
back to Zion and walk home. This was because some older brother would be using the family
car.
82. Esther started me on piano lessons when I (Al) was about 8 or 9 years old. I took lessons
from Miriam Hollingshead, who lived with her mother on the next block. This was during the

15

Great Depression, so to pay for the lessons, I took two loaves of fresh-baked bread. Miriam
was a teacher in the Zion Parochial School, so she was glad to get the bread. In fact, she
taught my eighth grade class. She was paid by the C.C.A.C., sometimes partly in Script,
due to the shortage of cash. Script were vouchers that could be used in any of the Zion Industry
businesses, such as: Zion Department Store, Zion Bakery, Zion Candy Factory, Zion Cookie
Factory, Zion Lace Factory, Zion Building Industry, Zion White Front Garage, Zion Gas Station,
etc. Since Herman worked at the Zion Dairy at that time, he was also paid partly in Script. He
was also paid some cash for bills such as electricity, etc.
83. Our cousin Dorcas Cobb was a great piano player, even though she never took a lesson.
When asked how she did it, she said, Oh, I just play on the white keys and use the black ones
when I need them. If you could sing or hum a tune, she could play it.
84. There were few books other than the Bible, an English dictionary and a Swedish/
English dictionary in our house, and there were few magazines. We did get the Zion and
Waukegan newspapers.
85. Uncle Bill Cobb used to give us our haircuts. I remember his strong breath blowing
the cut hair off us when he was finished. One day he brought over a crystal set that he had
made. It was a simple assembly of a wooden cylinder wound with wire, a crystal holder, a
crystal and a cats whisker that was used to detect a radio station. That was the first time I
ever heard a radio. By putting on the headset and moving the cats whisker around on the
crystal, you could select and listen to a radio station. At first we could only receive WCBD,
the C.C.A.C. Radio Station that was right next to the church. The C.C.A.C. had a large and
well-practiced White-Robed Choir. At a time when there was little radio programming,
it was popular with early radio listeners.
86. As more radio programs and stations and better radios became available, Esther
listened to soap operas, and the whole family listened to one or the other of the following:
Amos & Andy, Charlie McCarthy, Fibber McGee and Molly, Red Skelton, Jack Benny,
Jack Armstrong, The Shadow, The Green Hornet.
87. When I was in grade school, our class put on a little radio program. They tell me that I
sang a song. Esther was so excited that she called Herman at the Dairy and held the phone to
the headset so he could hear it. The Church Tabernacle and Radio Station burned down in 1936. My
class at school was dismissed, and we walked over to the Temple Site to watch the fire.
The buildings were big and built entirely of wood, so it was a very intense fire. We felt sad
about the loss.
88. After the tabernacle burned down, a large auditorium was built onto the west side of the
parochial school (College Building). The new addition was to serve as the location for
church services. A stage was constructed where the two parts of the building met. Jabez
Taylor (brother of Sam Taylor who lived next door to us at 3232 Ezra) went to the Holy Land
and made sketches of the scenery he would paint for the Zion Passion Play. He wrote the
script and directed it. There were many separate scenes perhaps 20 or so. A small
orchestra, composed of church members who were surprisingly good amateurs, played at

16

the start, end and between scenes. The music was abridgements of classical pieces.
Performances were given on Sundays during early spring months. People came from
near and far; sometimes large church groups would come in chartered buses. I remember
being a member of the crowds in such scenes as the Sermon on the Mount, Palm Sunday
Procession and Trial Before Pilate. Leo eventually had a speaking role as the Unrepentant
Thief on the Cross.
89. When I was probably about 11 or 12, we would go over to a large field that Mr. Shaw
(Rosemarys father) leased to grow some of the vegetables for his summertime fruit &
vegetable roadside stand on Sheridan Road. After the crops were harvested for the season,
a Mr. Pietch would tow a glider behind his car fast enough to get it airborne. Whoever was
in the cockpit would nose the glider over when it was high enough and pull the lever to
release the cable from the tow car. The pilot would then fly the glider around over the field
until he deemed it was time to land. Quite a few young local men took turns being the pilot
until one young man, whose last name was Hoskins (a brother of Beverly Hoskins who was
in my grade in school) went up in the glider. Instead of waiting until he had gained enough
height and safely nosed over, he pulled the release cord while he was still climbing. I can
still see the glider stall, then quickly whip back up, throwing young Hoskins out of the seat
and onto the ground. He never survived the fall. After that, there was not much interest in
flying at that field.
90. There was a time when I worked at Peters Dairy, both in the back and at the counter.
I would take large containers of dry-packed cottage cheese and mix it with coffee cream
and add a little salt to make it good. This was put up in small containers for sale in the
front of the store. When Esther came into the store for 5-cent ice cream cones, she would wait
for me to fix her cone. I always made sure her cones were firmly pressed down. I say this
because Mrs. Peters would show us how to hold the ice cream scoop in such a way as to roll
the ice cream into a ball to make it look big, when it really had a lot of air in it. We had to
practice making scoops that weighed just the right amount before she was satisfied. After
Herman left the Zion Dairy to work at Fansteel, Leo remembers riding his bike to get milk
from Peters Dairy, and coming home no-hands carrying a gallon in each hand.
91. Uncle Bill and Aunt Nellie Cobb moved to Bedford, Indiana for a while, and I remember visiting them down there several times. It was a long trip, and old cars were
lucky to reach a top speed of 45 mph. One time I went with Aunt Martha and Aunt
Isabelle. While driving through a suburb of Chicago a back tire blew, making the car swerve
all over the road. When we got over to the side of the road, to change the tire, the jack was
too tall to fit under the axle. No Problem. Aunt Isabelle backed up to the wheel well,
grabbed the fender and lifted the car up to sit on the jack. They then fixed the tire, and
Aunt Isabel helped with the removal of the jack. I dont remember much more about the
rest of the trip, but that part sure stuck in my memory.
92. One time our cousin, Vivian Cobb, went out to their old car and tried to start it. It
wouldnt start, so she took the cap off the gas tank and lit a match to see if there was
any gas in it. There was a big flash of fire, but she was lucky and wasnt badly burned.

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93. The very first car that I remember the folks had was an old (Willys Overland?) sedan
with a shelf in front of it that had a hole in it for a crank. I dont remember Herman cranking
this car, but I remember sitting on that shelf. I think this was the car that I was riding in
on the way home from Waukegan when, just as we passed Beach Road, the left rear wheel
with part of the axle came off. We bumped to a stop without any damage to the car.
94. That car had a radiator cap with a thermometer on it so you could see when the engine
was overheating. Every Fourth of July we had a flag holder around the cap with five or six
little flags stuck into the holder. We would all go to Shiloh Park. They had a permanent
merry-go-round in the park with wooden horses and a calliope that played as the horses
went around. There were games to play and a ball game, then a picnic lunch. We had a big
oak tree in back of our house. The tree had a large opening at its base. As I remember,
the wood in this opening was very soft, and we would pull out chunks and light it to use as
punk to light our firecrackers on the Fourth. Back then we could go down to Richardsons
gas station and get as many firecrackers as we could afford.
95. Herman and Esther bought a used 37 Ford because I told them that I would keep it up
and buy gas for it. I remember when I had my first accident. I was driving on Sheridan Road,
in front of the Zion Home (residence hotel). I heard someone on the sidewalk across the street
whistle. When I turned to look, Phil Cook, who was driving a Ford Model A coupe in front of
me, stopped too. Of course, I ran into him. My head went up and hit the windshield wiper
control, punching a hole in my forehead just above the hairline. When I got out to check the
car damage, I found a crunched right fender of our car. When I reached in to pull the fender
off the wheel so I could drive home, little drops of blood dropped on the blue paint, freezing to
a pretty pink as they landed. It was about ten or twenty below that day. Then I checked Phils
car. I had broken the little short bumper bracket that cost me $5.00 to have welded back. The
new Ford fender cost me $25.00. What do you suppose Herman said to me when he saw that
smashed fender? I guess we will have to have it fixed. Doesnt that sound like him?
96. My second accident with that 37 Ford was in front of the high school. I had just pulled
out from a diagonal parking place and had started to drive west when another car backed out
of another parking place right in front of me. Now I had smashed a second right front fender.
Hermans reaction was the same as for the first right fender. I do remember washing and Simonizing
that 37 Ford almost every Saturday. As I remember, you could look almost
through the shine right down to the metal.
97. I went through all eight grades and the first year of high school in the C.C.A.Cs
parochial school. We had to learn not only Bible verses, but whole chapters of the Bible for
our English class. The school had three floors and a chapel on top. Every morning we would
assemble in our classroom and march up the stairs for Chapel, where we would have a song,
Bible reading and a prayer by one of the deacons of the Church. The school was about a mile
from home, and we walked to and from it in all kinds of weather. I remember one winter day,
when I was quite young. I had been playing in the snow and had gotten my gloves wet. When
I got home. Esther wasnt there. I couldnt open our door, so I went next door to the Taylors
house where Gertrude (Mrs. Taylor) rubbed my hands in snow and cold water. Then she took

18

me home and opened the door for me. It hadnt been locked, but my hands had just been too
cold to turn the knob.
98. Upon its formation in the late 1800s, a distinctive feature of the C.C.A.C. was belief
in Divine Healing. Church members were not to use medical doctors. We were supposed
to call on our Elder to come and pray for our recovery when we were sick. None of us had
health insurance in those days, and in the earliest days of the C.C.A.C., medical doctors
and medicines didnt have a much better rate of success than prayer. Elders made House
Calls, and I remember Elder Robbins or Elder Donavan coming to our house on many
occasions to pray for me or for someone else in the family. We could, however, call on
Dr. Mischler (Osteopathic, not an M.D. He didnt prescribe medicines or perform surgery.)
for bone and joint problems. He came to our house once to put Esthers arm back into place
after she had dislocated it.
99. When I was 10 or 11 years old, I broke my left arm climbing a dead tree that I was not
supposed to be climbing. I was taken to the local mortician to set it. He was a large man,
dressed in black and had long gray hair and a gray mustache. We walked upstairs to his
office in the old Zion Department Store. He sat me down in a chair, put his left hand (which
I remember to have been a glove-covered metal prosthesis) on my shoulder, took my left
hand in his right hand, and started to pull. I passed out and regained consciousness when
something sharp-smelling was waved under my nose. I guess he put a splint on my arm,
and made a sling to hold it. Apparently it was a good set, as I never had any further problem
with that arm. On the other hand, my brother, Art fell from the Catalpa tree in the back yard,
and they took him to a doctor to set it. As I recall, it didnt heal correctly, so they had to rebreak and reset it.
100. We did go to Dr. Studebaker to get our teeth fixed, and we went to Dr. Sandee for
our eye tests and glasses. I remember the first pair I got there. His office was on Washington
Street in Waukegan. When I was on my way home, I went down Genesee Street and nearly
wrecked the car because I was looking at everything on both sides of the car. I had never
realized how much I was missing without glasses. I was probably a Sophomore in high school!
101. The C.C.A.C. required its members to follow the dietary rules in the Old Testament.
For instance, we were not to eat any pork products, including, ham, pork bacon, or even
lard. There was a meat market in town that made and sold different beef and lamb cuts and
poultry. They had some really good locally-made beef bacon and breakfast sausages, hot
dogs and bologna. We could eat most fish, but not shellfish. Tobacco and drinking alcohol
were forbidden, as were dancing and gambling. Cosmetics and suggestive apparel for
females were discouraged. We were mostly discouraged from going to movies, but movies
such as Abbott & Costello were shown in a C.C.A.C. wooden gym that was next to the
parochial school. Roller skating was also allowed there.
102. Children were Consecrated as babies. Adolescents and new members Received the
Right Hand of Fellowship, and were baptized (by immersion, in a water tank) in front of
the congregation. Young members could become Junior Guards (Al, Art, Gene and Leo
were Junior Guards) and Guardettes who wore uniforms and sat in a special side, front

19

area of the congregation. They could go on swimming field trips to some of the lakes in
Lake County, and to summer camp, first at the Lake Michigan beach and later to the C.C.A.C.
camp on Door County in Wisconsin.
103. During my high school years I would go over to my after-school job at the Zion Home
(residential hotel). Grandmother Mary Foster (1868 1946) lived at the Zion Home in her last
years. I would start at 4:00 PM working with the maintenance man, cleaning rooms after tenants
left. The rooms had to be fumigated to get rid of cockroaches and bedbugs. Then the calcimine
walls had to be washed down and new paint applied. Later on, I worked at the front desk taking
phone calls, giving out mail and wrapping the latest issues of The Theocrat and The Leaves of
Healing, periodicals that the C.C.A.C produced. Also at the desk I learned to operate a Western
Union terminal to send and receive wires. The young man who had worked the desk before
I arrived had moved on to the Western Union office in Waukegan. We got to be good friends,
and he would plug my terminal in the Zion Home into a spare terminal in Waukegan. That gave
me the opportunity to practice sending messages. The terminal was quite different than the touch
of a typewriter. You had to have a rhythm to get any speed out of it. I also took a typing course
at school, and this helped me to find the correct keys with the right fingering. Because I was at
the bottom of the work force, I had to work on weekends and holidays. That was how I made my
Spending Money.
104. In the summer of 1942, after graduating from high school, I went searching for a job,
and Herman asked to go with me. After 25 years at the Dairy, his health was failing because
of the environment of alternating damp chill and steam. During the summer heat, this was
very hard to endure. And he really needed a bigger paycheck!
105. At about this time, I tried to get life insurance with New York Life Insurance Company.
They sent me to Dr. Brown there in Zion for a physical exam. He said that I had a heart
murmur, which caused the company to refuse to insure me. I asked Dr. Mischler if I really
had a heart murmur. He listened and said I did. He said that if I led a rather quiet life and
didnt have too much excitement, I would probably live a long time.
106. I went to the American Can Company in North Chicago, Illinois, to apply for a job.
Herman applied there also. They did not have a job for him, and I wasnt 18 yet, so we left.
Herman asked me to drive to the new Fansteel Tantalum defense factory at 14th St. and
Sheridan Road, also in North Chicago. I took him there and waited for over an hour in the car
while he applied for a job. I began to worry about him. Finally he came out and said that
they wanted him to start immediately. Apparently his 25 years of service at the Zion Dairy
spoke well of him. He said that he would take the job, but needed two weeks to give his
notice of leaving to the Dairy, and they agreed. His job would be to provide maintenance
for the furnaces in which they tempered the Tantalum they were producing for the war
(WW II) effort. Herman was 50 years old when he made this career change.
107. I went back to the American Can Company when I reached my 18th birthday on Aug.
6, and they gave me a job in the Electrical/Maintenance Department at 72.5 cents an hour.
I originally wanted to get into the Drafting Department, but there were no openings there.

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108. After working there for six months, I received my draft notice in early 1943. When
I went in for my physical exam to be inducted into the Army, the doctor who checked my
heart took longer with me than he had with others. He made me do a stair climb, jumping
jacks, etc. and then listened carefully to my heart. Apparently he decided it was something
I would grow out of, and he passed me. For the next 30 months I was a member of the Air
Force, with six months in combat as a T/Sgt. Radio Operator/Gunner on a B-24 Heavy Bomber
over Europe. I was awarded the Air Medal with three Gold Leafs and eight Battle Stars on
my European Theater Ribbon Bar. These were for the 8 major battles that my squadron was involved in during my 6-month tour overseas
109. Apparently, Dr. Mischlers advice to lead a calm, quiet life included active combat
in military service. When the time came to be released from service, I went through a
physical evaluation. I asked the doctor to listen especially for a heart murmur. He said he
could not find any trace of one. I have since asked our son, Terry (a M.D), about the heart
murmur, and he said that it was not uncommon for a young person to outgrow this condition.
It was the custom of the American Can Company that all those who left for the military services
were to be given their jobs back. Because of the schooling that I received in the military, I was
given a raise to 90 cents an hour.
110. Leo remembers that Art was always interested in electronics and mechanical
items, and he got some electrical training from Dave Young at church. Art kept interesting
stuff in his bedroom, including a hand-cranked generator. Leo, 7 years younger, was
curious, and Art asked if Leo would like to see how the generator worked. Art proceeded
to hook Leos toe up to the generator and told Leo to turn the crank. That cured Leos
interest in Arts toys.
111. Art and Donnie Ketchum strung up an electric wire between their two houses. They
used it to talk with each other using a kind of improvised CB. Art also built a gas-powered
bicycle for himself. He assembled various odds and ends of bicycle parts, got a gasoline
engine, and adapted brakes, a clutch and throttle to work together. It was his main
transportation for a time.
112. When Al left home to serve in WW II, Art took over the use of the 37 Ford. He
loaded the trunk with sand bags so he could hot rod. Art was a passenger in a car that ran
into the back of a parked truck in front of the Zion Police station during a very foggy night.
He lost a lot of blood at the time, and he found himself picking bits of glass out of his forehead for years after. Brother Al took Louise to the Hospital in Waukegan to see him.
113. Art learned/taught himself to repair radios, and later, TVs. He gave Herman &
Esther their TV sets, first B & W, then color. Art & Leo climbed up on the steep roof to
install the antenna. Herman especially liked to watch wrestling, even though he knew it
was mostly acting. Art also gave Al and Gloria and Leo and Rosemary their first B & W TVs.
114. Gene learned sheet metal work while still in Zion. In the Korean War, he worked in
the motor pool. Later, in California, he built precision aerospace cabinetry.

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115. Before Gene went off to the Korean War, he bought an old 37 Ford. It was black
and had only three fenders. After Gene left, Leo learned to drive in that car. One day,
Leo revved the engine, popped the clutch, and stripped the transmission. Several
brothers and Herman spent most of one 4th of July undoing the damage. Another time,
Leo drove the car to Cedar Lake and crashed one of the fenders. Herman got out a
hammer and bent the fender out, still dented but functional. After that, Leo learned that
cars should be considered transportation only, not recreation.
116. Sometime in the 50s the family acquired a 42 Chevy. When Leo started college in
January of 1955, he talked his parents into buying a 53 Chevy. Herman was reluctant
because he had just put some repair money into the 42 Chevy, but he agreed. That 53
was the last car Herman and Esther had. The Chevies of the 50s had some really
attractive styling. Esther always did most of the driving. They drove it to Florida in 56
or 57 to visit with Hermans brothers and sister, and again in 1963.
117. In the summer of 1953, Herman and Esther, along with Leo, traveled to Los
Angeles, California, by way of the El Capitan (Santa Fe R.R.?) to have their first big
vacation. Of course, Esther had prepared several picnic meals to take on the train
for food. They visited Esthers half-sister, Nellie and family. Their friends, Robert and
Genevieve Peters, were also there at the time. Leo met up with Jackie Orr, who had been
a friend in Zion and had moved to CA. The two spent several days driving up into the
San Gabriel Mountains and surfing down at Huntington Beach. Leo had some close
calls surfing near the pier! On the train ride back to Illinois, the train was only partly
full, and a porter introduced Leo to a girl and let them eat in the diner car (for free) and
ride in the special observation car at the end of the train really First Class. Meanwhile
Esther and Herman were in a different car, eating picnic meals and looking out much
smaller windows..
118. Herman went on to work till 1961-- 18 years -- at Fansteel Metallurgical Corp. During
two college summers, Leo worked there with him and got to know his father even better.
It seems that Herman participated in paycheck poker. Numbers on the paychecks were
converted into poker hands that could be compared. Herman probably bet $1 a week. He
won more often than he lost. But he never spent his winnings. He felt that his winnings
werent really his, and they were what he drew from for his bet each week. He figured that
the co-workers who had lost that money deserved to eventually win it back. One day, Esther
discovered a large fold of currency in Hermans wallet. She asked if she could spend some
of it, and he said, No, it belongs to the boys at work. Hermans nickname at work was
Little Beaver because he always worked hard without being monitored.
119. Leo remembers that Herman worked in the powder room, a place where rare metals
such as molybdenum and titanium were placed in molds and heated in an electric furnace.
Herman maintained and cleaned the furnaces. The molded pieces had to be hammered
after being taken out of the furnace, and that was terribly noisy. Hermans hearing was
probably damaged at work, and he may have used dangerous substances such as carbon
tet when cleaning the equipment. The whole Fansteel plant was huge and just moving

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around in it took lots of energy.

120. When he retired, Herman had a pension, due to the union at the plant. He was
trusted and well regarded by his foreman and fellow-workers, and they gave him a beautiful
white Bible and a retirement party. In all those 18 years at Fansteel, the only time he took off,
other than vacations, was to see his youngest son, Leo, graduate from college in the summer
of 1958. Leo was his only son to go to college.
121. And I went on to stay with the American Can Company, working 43 years to retirement
and another 7 years as consultant. I married Gloria King of Zion after returning from WW II
combat overseas. We had five sons: Terry Lee, Barry Alan, Loren Edward, Donald Jay and
Corey Dale. Weve moved from Zion to Penn Yan, NY, to Barrington, IL, to Wyckoff, NJ,
back to Barrington, IL, and finally to Raleigh, NC. They even let me take Gloria with me when
I consulted for seven weeks and, later, another five weeks in England. During that long association,
the Packaging Group that I worked for was bought by The Triangle Company, by the French Peschne
Company and finally by the English REXAM Company, from whom Ive received my retirement
checks.
122. Art married Louise Thomas, and they had five children: Dennis Arthur, Robert James,
James Keith Cynthia Louise and Thomas Scott. He had a TV/Electronics business in Zion.
Gene was drafted into the Army during the Korean War. He married Judy Armstrong, a Zion
girl whose family had moved to California. They lived in California and had three children:
Gene, Mark and Natalie. In 1958, Leo married Rosemary Shaw. They taught in public schools,
Leo at the secondary level and Rosemary at the intermediate level for a combined total of 56
years. They had a son, Carl George. They lived for 28 years in Evanston, IL, and then retired
to Bondurant, WY.
123. In 1963, two years after Herman retired, he and Esther were vacationing in Florida
with friends when he said he wasnt feeling well. A visit to a clinic there and a chest x-ray
showed an enlarged heart. Friends there suggested we take steps to bring him home to Zion
as he did not look well. The sons got together and sent Leo to Florida on a plane. Leo remembers that his father was stoic and did not complain as he and Esther were put on a train
for Chicago. Leo drove their car back alone non-stop to Zion in 23 hours. Gloria and I met
Herman and Esther in Chicago and drove them to Zion in our station wagon in which we had
made a bed for Herman.
124. When we reached Zion, Herman pushed himself up on one arm, looked out and said,
Well, we made it home. We drove straight to Zion Hospital where he was admitted and
settled into a room. The nurses told Esther that she might as well go home. They would
make Herman comfortable and see that he got some rest. The next morning, Herman sat
up in bed, and the nurse brought him his breakfast and left him. When she returned, he was
face down in his tray. Herman died on April 15, 1963. He had lived to be nearly 71 years of
age. He and Esther had been married for nearly 42 years.

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125. Both Esther & Herman were sensitive and kind. They always demonstrated
unquestioned generosity to family and friends alike. Their house became a
sanctuary for various of Esthers relatives at different times. At one point, Esther
even cared for 2 daughters (Laura and Alta Mullins) of her brother Miltons first
wife, after she had divorced Milton and married again. Esther welcomed every
opportunity to baby-sit Arts and Louises children, her grandchildren. The house
was always full of laughter and friendship.
126. Her neighbor, Gertrude Taylor, came over to visit nearly every morning.
Esther treasured the friends she had in several clubs, especially sewing bee
members Molly Schumacher and Muriel Ketchum. Esther & Herman entertained
their children, grandchildren and many friends frequently, especially for holidays.
Esther loved to make birthday cakes, especially sunshine (yellow from egg yolks)
cakes, for birthday parties. Her cinnamon buns were famous throughout the town.
127. Esther sewed and altered clothes and made Halloween costumes for her
children, using a Singer foot treadle machine in the early years. Clothes were
patched and modified from older brother to younger, but they were always clean,
and, Clean is what matters, she would always say. Esther took pride in starching
and carefully ironing much of the family laundry She embroidered, crocheted and
knitted. She made quilts for gifts and to cover beds in the house and made braided
rugs and hooked rugs. She made stuffed toys from cloth and old fur coats and
socks for her grandchildren.
128. As a girl, she took art lessons from the church and there were several pictures
painted by her on the walls of the Ezra house. For a while there was an upright
piano in the house, which she played some. She traded homemade bread for piano
lesson for her oldest son, Al. Later Al learned to play the clarinet. Herman and the
boys had their hair cut by Esther. The family often played parlor games together,
including: checkers, Chinese checkers, Monopoly, the card game Rook, and
jigsaw puzzles. Christmas presents were quite modest and limited, but appreciated.
129. Our house was filled with flowers and plants - one was a 25-year Christmas
cactus. As Leo remembers, it bloomed only once, when he was in high school. She
also loved her outside flowers.
130. Dishes were always promptly washed and put in the cupboard. The floors
were linoleum and were kept washed and waxed. Leo often helped. At those times
when he painted himself into a corner, he would walk back across the kitchen
floors on his hands with his feet in the air so as not to mar the clean floor. Esther
made costumes for school plays and sent cakes to school for parties. Leo remembers riding his bicycle no hands, balancing a sunshine frosted cake in his
hands to deliver to some party. Herman and Esther attended as many as possible of
the school functions in which her children participated. Leo remembers them at
his high school varsity (home) football games. They usually sat with Leroy Cliffs

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parents. The four parents called themselves the Mugwumps. Esther sewed Leos
Jr. Varsity letters on an unofficial jacket and sweater to save money. In Leos
junior year, Esther made monthly payments on a lay-away official jacket and
proudly sewed Leos varsity letters on it. Just for fun, Herman would wear Leos
letterman jacket on and have Leo take his picture.
131. Esther let her boys roam outdoors, but often they were within her whistling
range in the nearby ravine or the block ballpark down the street. Leo would
whistle back and hurry home. There were no cell phones back then.
132. At some point Esther must have injured a shoulder, because Leo remembers
that it was rather easily dislocated, and someone nearby had to help realign the
joint. Leo remembers that it was very painful for her. Other than that, Leo doesnt
remember his parents admitting to illnesses.
133. Esther lived for 3 more years after Hermans death. She became very
lonely and worried about her finances. Apparently, she developed serious heart
trouble, though her family did not realize the full extent of her illness. She did get
in one more trip - to Canada to visit her youngest sister, Isabelle. She died after a
heart attack in Zion Hospital on October 2, 1966, at the age of 65. Surviving her were
four sons and four daughters-in-law and 14 grandchildren (12 boys and 2 girls).
134. Gene suffered from serious heart trouble beginning in the 1079s. In July of
1978, Al survived an abdominal aneurysm. In 1987, Leo and his son, Carl, flew to
CA for what they correctly feared would be a last visit with Gene. Al and a son
were there at the same time. The next year, 1988, Leo returned to L.A.forGenes
funeral. In 1989, Leo had his first heart attack and was unable to return to
teaching.
135. In 1993, Leo and Rosemary flew to CA to attend the wedding of Tommy (Art
Bensons youngest child) and Sonja. They met Jimmy Klemin, who also attended
the wedding. While in L.A., Leo and Rose had a good visit with Genes family.
136. Art had a first heart attack at the age of 39 (?) in 1968 (?). He lived another
32 (?) years. In 2001, Leo flew from WY to IL to attend Arts funeral. Leo met
and reminisced with older relatives and enjoyed meeting some younger relatives
for the first time. Al and Gloria also attended Arts funeral.
137. After the funeral, Tommy Benson drove Leo to see the 3232 Ezra Avenue
Benson family home. Leo was saddened by the deterioration of the house and
neighborhood. The house had a condemned sign on it. The apple trees on the
former garden lot had been cut down, and a substandard house had been built on
the garden. The old oak tree was gone from the back yard. But, with this family
report/website in which you are all encouraged to continue to participate, memories
of good times there will remain undimmed, frozen in time.

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