Reflections: That Green DeSoto.
Seven excited people, our stuff in the trunk, four squeezed in the back seat and three in the front. Dad at the wheel with a cigarette in hand sat next to my Mom and my sister Margret Ann.
We were off to see uncles and cousins and such, but the most important of all was my Aunt Jo...the head of the bunch. So off in the DeSoto to Mercer we’d go, a hundred miles or more, in sun, rain or snow. And then when we got there a buzz was in the air, it was all over town that the Weirauch’s were there. We’d see Audrey and Lefty, Kathleen and Tom too, and Aunt Jo and George and some dog that no one knew.
Sometimes our cousin Mary Annette would appear from some city named Saulkville just south of DePere. And then in the evening, the grownups all went out. Usually to Billy & Harry’s, their friends were all about.
There were Gin-joints like Johnny’s Long Branch Saloon and Beaver Lodge and the old Spotted Loon. There was Jimmy’s Hotel Bar, and what seemed like a hundred more, I’m sure that this crowd knew a face behind every door.
And when they went carousing with a drink at every place, the kids would all go crazy exploring each and every space. There was a cavernous kitchen, with a porch off the back, where the wood for the wood stove sat in a stack.
It had and a front porch out the living room door that had an old phonograph that we listened to as we sat on the floor. Out back behind the house amongst the towering pines was the creepiest old place that sent shivers up our spines.
It might have been a garage or machine shed type space. But none of us kids ventured into the place. And in front of the house was the perfect sled hill and we raced up and down with a tingling thrill.
And later that evening when our parents got back we were scattered about tucked tight in the sack. They knew nothing of our of adventures snuck behind their back.
And then in morning when we woke for the day it was another Thanksgiving or some Holiday. It was busy and noisy with laughter and cheer and stories were told about some prior year.
And then the next morning off in the DeSoto we’d go, a hundred miles or more in sun, rain or snow. Back to house with our Mom and our Dad, sleeping and dreaming of all the fun that we had.
Editor's Note: This reflection from Contributing Editor, Bob Weirauch, was submitted with this note attached.
I’ve been in a melancholy mood of late. Saturday was Becky’s birthday and today is my mother’s. Becky would have been 77 on 9/21/24 and my mother 110 today.
So, I’ve been thinking about Becky and my Mom and Dad a lot of late. Both my parents grew up in the Milwaukee area, but my grandparents had a summer business in Mercer, WI. My dad spent many years in the Northwoods, and his sister Josephine married a guy from Mercer and lived there a lot of her life.
When we were growing up, almost every holiday was spent with my aunt, uncle and cousins in Mercer, and in the early 50’s our family car was a green DeSoto. Hence this reflection.
