Holsteins and Rattlesnakes and Geckos, Oh My!

MY LIFE STARTED AT THE VERY BEGINNING

I’m told it was a cold trip to St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin which is approximately 25 miles from Chilton.  I thought it was rather nice where I was, but I needed to get out of there because I had places to go and things to do.  Even though my dad (in the military) was nowhere around for the trip to the hospital, that was no reason for me to stay where I was.  If I remember right, I told mom, “I’m getting out of here” and just like that, there I was at 6:53 pm on Friday, November 16^th 1945.  Of course, a guy by the name of, Doctor J.J. Minahan was there as a spectator.  I figured it was a miracle that I made it this far but, there was much further to go.  I kept asking mom, “Is it time to go home yet?”  She insisted “Be a little patient.”  Well, I was ‘little’ but I never did understand that other word.  My trip home was delayed an extra day because Grandpa Bill couldn’t get through the deep snow that had fallen.  Sure enough, that’s the way my life started.  I had lots of things planned already.

Anyhow, mom wasn’t taking any chances, so I was baptized barely two weeks after I came into this world.  She figured, better now when I can’t fight back yet, because there was no way I was going to let them pour that cold water over my head later.  And besides, the crucial game wasn’t even started yet.  Mom and dad appointed my Uncle Joseph and Aunt Apolonia to take over if they couldn’t handle me any more.  They called them baptismal sponsors, but I knew better what the purpose was.  It would take four grownups to watch over me.  I spent my first 7 months with mom at my maternal grandparent’s house and then relocated to the homestead farm two miles south when dad arrived back from WWII.