PERSONAL PAGES

 

   The Personal Pages section includes brief personal statements and/or personal histories for Rottmann family members.  Please feel free to share your own statement or paragraph--or a short history of your life for this part of the Rottmann family story.  Your participation will be appreciated.    
Harry Fred Rottman                     
   Harrison was born on August 01, 1920 to John Henry Fred Rottmann and Minnie Sophia Anna Huntemann Rottmann at the farm home located 3 miles east of Elk Creek, Nebraska.  He was baptized on September 19, 1920 in St. Jacobus Lutheran Church, Long Branch, Nemaha County, Nebraska by the Reverend E. F. Geyer, Pastor.  His baptismal name of Heinrich Friedrich represents the names of the sponsors, his grandfather, Heinrich Huntemann and his uncle, Friedrich Rottmann.  Heinrich Friedrich is part of the name of his father, grandfather, two great uncles and seven great grandparents.  As was the German custom, the name of Harry was given to sons of fathers with the name of Heinrich.
   In 1925, the family moved from the farm into Elk Creek, Nebraska for ten months and then to Table Rock, Nebraska where they operated a cream station.  Harry began first grade in the Table Rock Public Schools in 1926; in late 1927, the family moved to a farmstead northeast of Table Rock where Harry attended District 49 and was graduated from 8th grade in 1933.  A brother, Leon,  was born in 1927.  
   Harry attended high school at Table Rock.  He took out a semester plus a part of a second year to assist the family in the years of 1935 and 1936.  His father had a broken leg, had an infection and related complications and was unable to work.  Harry worked with neighbors to put up wood and worked at various farm-related jobs to help support the family.  He returned to school part-time in 1936 and completed coursework in 1938.  His graduation from high school was with the class of 1939.  
   Following high school, Harry worked at the Rudy Karas Blacksmith Shop for a year and then transferred to the Rudy Karas Ford Garage as an auto mechanic.  After another year, he transferred to Roberts Construction Company.  On June 12, 1942, Harry entered the armed service through Pawnee County, Nebraska and went to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma for basic training in the army.  Following training, he joined the 35th Division at Arlington Park, California where he was enlisted in the Motor Pool Headquarters Battery Field Artillery for an additional four months of training which moved him to the rank of Staff Sergeant.  His unit was then assigned to a troop train which moved across the U.S. to New York City.  At Narrow Point Harbor his outfit boarded the troop ship USS Anderson for Liverpool, England. 

   After rest and on the receipt of rations and supplies in England, the 35th Division moved to Omaha Beach in France and into the command of General George S. Patton.   In the European Theater, Harry's unit moved from Omaha Beach to the German border and on into Germany to within 30 miles of Berlin and the area which had been defined for the Russian Armies assigned to the city.  His unit then moved on to south Germany and down the Rhine River.  The men of Harry's unit received five battle stars.   
   At the end of the war, the men of his division came back to the U.S. by way of England and the USS Queen Mary to New York and then by way of troop train to Leavenworth, Kansas.  Harry was discharged at Leavenworth on October 17, 1945 and returned to his parent's home at Pawnee City, Nebraska.  
   After a weekend at home, he was back at work at the Ford Garage in Table Rock; following eight months with his old friends, he again transferred to the Roberts Construction Company and a road construction crew.  
   Harry was confirmed at St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Elk Creek, Nebraska on July 14, 1946 after instruction with Pastor W. G. Nau.  He was married to Willa Jean Peters on August 29, 1946 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church by Pastor Nau.  In the next months, Harry began to have problems with eyesight changes, gait and walking.  On August 6, 1948, he had developed problems in lifting his right arm and later that day developed a paralysis for the right side of his body.  After evaluations at Crofton, Nebraska, Omaha and at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota,  there was a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.  
   Early in the first weeks, Harry developed use of his right arm; several months later came use of his right leg and finally use of his right foot.  With mobility, he was able to re-enter the job market.  He began as a car salesman at Hutt Motor Company at Elk Creek early in 1950.  In 1951, he began work in the field of insurance which proved to be a good fit.  On March 1, 1953, he and Willa Jean purchased the Hugh McGinnis Insurance Agency at Humboldt, Nebraska.  Later in the spring they purchased a home and moved to Humboldt in June, 1953.  In June of 1975 they retired from the insurance agency at a time when the multiple sclerosis condition had  again become active.  
   H. F.  has continued to develop and use mechanical skills in retirement.  He works on small engines and continues with engine tune-up jobs.  His gun collection is reminiscent of the trap lines he ran as a boy and the hunting he did as a young man.   He is a 50-year member of the Harvey Mann Post # 269 of the American Legion.  He is a lifelong member of the Lutheran Church--St. James from 1920 to 1948; St. Peter from 1948 to the present.  
Willa Jean Peters Rottman
  Willa Jean was born to William Henry Peters and Elda Gottula Peters on August 12, 1923 at the farm home near Elk Creek, Nebraska.  She has three sisters: Donna Belle Jeffrey,  Betty Lou Lippold and Diane Kay Grabow; and two brothers: LeRoy and Royce Peters..  
   Willa Jean was baptized into the Christian faith on September 2, 1923 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church by Pastor H. F. Grupe.  Sponsors were her grandmothers, Wilhelmine Trute Louise Peter and Emma Gottula.  At that time her last name did not have the addition of the letter "s".  The baptismal certificate and the record for the baptism as well as the service were in the German language.   Willa Jean was confirmed on March 21, 1937 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church by Pastor Enno Schuelke.  
   The neighborhood rural school, District 59, was home base for Willa Jean's first eight years of education.  She attended the Elk Creek Public Schools and graduated in 1942.  Following graduation, Willa Jean worked in bomber plants in Torrence, California, Omaha, Nebraska and St. Louis, Missouri.  At the close of the war, she worked in a sewing factory at Peru, Nebraska.     
   Willa Jean was married to Harry F. Rottman on August 29, 1946 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in a divine service conducted by the Reverend W. G. Nau.  It was a double wedding in which her sister, Donna Belle was married to Paul Jeffrey.  Following her marriage, she moved with her husband to a series of job assignments for the Roberts Construction Company at Tecumseh, Stella, Syracuse and Crofton, Nebraska.  After her husband's diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, she moved to Pawnee City.  When he was again employed she first lived at Elk Creek and later moved to Humboldt in June of 1953 where she joined Harry in the work of the insurance agency which they owned through June of 1975.
   The family ancestors for Willa Jean all came to Nebraska from Germany.  On her mother's side, her grandfather, Christian Gottula came as a small boy to Johnson County from Elpersheim, East Germany in 1867.  On her father's side, her grandfather, Wilhelm Geweke of Hessen, Germany came to Johnson County in 1835.  
   Willa Jean is a member of the Legion Auxiliary, the VFW Auxiliary Post #1765, LWML of Faith Lutheran Church and is a lifelong member of St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Elk Creek.  She is a faithful participant in daily meditation, prayer and Bible readings.  She has developed a high interest in wellness programs involving exercise, diet and nutrition.  
Leon Harry Rottmann
   Leon was born to John Henry Fred Rottmann and Minnie Sophia Anna Huntemann Rottmann at the family home [the Luksik house] in Table Rock, Nebraska on February 14, 1927.  The birth certificate lists only the name, Leon with the attending physician being Dr. Fred Kuhlmann.  The name Leon was suggested by his grandmother, Maria Heine Huntemann.  The name Harry was added at baptism with two uncles as sponsors:  Harry Hauschild, present and Harry Huntemann, in absentia.  The Taufe was performed on June 26, 1927 at  St. James Lutheran Church with the Reverend Frehling conducting the divine service and the rite of baptism. 
   Late in 1927, the family moved to the Ed Hanna farm northeast of Table Rock and then to a series of farmsteads within the community.  On Valentine Day in 1931, the date of his fourth birthday, Leon was invited to be a part of the celebration at District 49 as a guest of his brother.  That date became his entrance to the school system and the beginning of first grade.  Bolenius readers, a syrup pail lunch bucket and learning to speak more clearly brought major changes to his life.  Being the fattest kid in school brought the nickname of "Wimpy;" always playing in the dirt earned the title of "der Landsmann."  Catching up with other first graders [Mabelle Miller, Leona Kuhlmann, Dwain Gilbert] was the challenge.  Living and learning in a rural school was the perfect setting for a new kid who was starting from scratch.  Every student helped out; everyone was a big brother/big sister and mentor.  Every night after the dishes were dried, it was study time at the dining room table with the kerosene lamp, a special time with family and learning together.  
   The teachers of District 49, Blanch Vrtiska Wolters, Lois Norris and Mae Plihal Schaefer, were excellent wisdom makers for the school and the community.  Their programs, extra-curricular activities and lending library resources under the direction of the county superintendent, Alberta Ballance, were a boon for both students and their parents.  
   On March 1 of 1936, the family moved to a farmstead two and a quarter miles from Table Rock.  Leon's father's salary increased to $45 per month as the hired man for an area farmer, Hermann Heuke.   Leon entered 6th grade in the Table Rock Public Schools and graduated there as Salutatorian in 1943 with a class of 12 students.  Wood shop, playing the E-flat tuba in band and doing substitute teaching in the grades were highlights.  
   In high school, Leon took  the college preparatory and normal training curriculums.  On completion of 17 examinations, he was then issued a 3rd grade rural elementary teaching certificate.  After seven years of teaching, he entered the University of Nebraska at Lincoln where he was awarded bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. [1955, 1957, 1960].  He was fortunate to have support from part-time work, Regents' scholarships, graduate assistant stipends and for the doctorate, a Ford Foundation grant.  His parent's sharing of a 1941 Chevrolet and his mother's return of the laundry box every week with notes, clippings and homemade goodies was a tremendous support system for the nine years and nine summers spent at the university.   
   On August 7, 1959, Leon was married to Clara Pauline Thoren; the marriage was terminated by divorce on October 16, 1967.  Leon worked one year following graduation as the Assistant Director of Guidance Services for the Albuquerque Public Schools. Next, he worked as Coordinator of New Student Registration at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul Campuses.  In 1967, he returned to Omaha, Nebraska where he did consulting and teaching until 1975 when he moved to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for an Extension assignment in Human Development and the Family.  He retired from UN-L as Professor Emeritus on June 30, 1994. 
   Leon has had a lifetime of low-key infections, low energy, active and inactive phases of diarrhea and related health problems.  He was in and out of evaluations for 40 years--from age 16 to 56.  In 1982-83, after hospitalization at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, there were diagnoses of celiac disease and hypothyroidism which are reasonably treated with diet and medication.  Celiac disease [gluten intolerance], a malabsorption syndrome,  is an inherited immune deficiency syndrome.  It is likely that this syndrome comes into the family blood line through the Brümmer side since two brothers of our grandmother also had similar problems and a related auto-immune condition, multiple sclerosis. 
   A network of physicians and his own physician, Dr. Friedrick F. Paustian, have worked with Leon in the development of information and literature related to celiac disease.  Leon is the author of two recent publications:  On the Celiac Condition: a Handbook for Celiacs and Their Families and A Case for the Gluten-Free Diet.  He has developed an extensive web site for celiacs and was editor of the Lifeline newsletter for celiacs for 16 years.   
   Ten German students have lived with Leon to study English, to do an internship or to complete advanced degrees.  These  associations and friendships have developed a network of exchange and travel.  And most of all, these special friends have added an extended family.  
   Leon's mother and grandparents fostered interests in plants, gardening and animals.  He always had "his own" part of the garden, "his own"  chickens, ducks and geese or a hog to feed and water and care for.  Sixteen geese, when sold, provided monies for school clothes and spending money for the year.  Mowing lawns for 25 cents a lawn provided tickets for movies.  Errands for a teacher provided a couple of dimes or the 5 cents for a Snickers.  Cleaning jobs at the hotel and a local church brought the first paycheck of $2.50 per week.  
   Leon is a member of Pacific Hills Lutheran Church-Omaha, The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod.  He retired October, 2000  from a 60- to 70-hour per week job as Executive Director for the Celiac Sprue Association.  Gardening, dachshunds and the development of the gluten-free diet remain major interests along with reading and study and additional coursework. 
Minnie Sophia Anna Huntemann Rottmann
   Minnie was born to Johann Heinrich Friedrich Huntemann and Maria Rebekke Heine Huntemann on March 16, 1901 at the farm home in Otoe County.   Her middle names came from her sponsors:  Anna Heine Sudmann, a sister of her mother; and, Sophia Huntemann Hauschild, a sister of her father.  She was baptized at the Evangelical Lutheran Church, North Branch, Nebraska on May 12, 1901 by Pastor Georg Gundel.  Her first name had the spelling of Minne [pronounced Minna], but was recorded in English as Minnie.  One era of church records under a new pastor shows her name as Wilhelmine, but that was later corrected.
   In 1904, the Huntemann family moved to a farm in Cass County and in 1910 to a new house on that farm.  Minnie attended Cottage Hill rural school for eight years with one teacher, Etta James.  Her siblings were Friedrich [Fritz, Fred or Freddie] who died in 1918 with the flu; Millitta Rebekka Henrietta [Lydia] who died in 1988; Heinrich [Harry] who died in 1961.  Klara [Clara] and Harvey twins; Clara died in 1977 and Harvey at 7 months and 18 days in 1909; Mayme [Marie] who died in 1998.  
   Minnie Sophia Anna Huntemann was confirmed in 1915 by Pastor Luecke with the following classmates:  Lena Oelkers,  Hermann Kamann,  Klara Stubbendieck,  Frieda Windels,  Hattie Luecke, Frtz Langenberg, Oscar Geschke, Mary Leefers, Harry Brockoff, Heinrich Koehler, Wilhelm Behling, Mamie Hagermann, Anna Mueller, Emma Mueller, Agnes Puvogel, Johann Sudmann, Helwink Sech.       
  On June 12, 1919, Minnie was married to John Henry Fred Rottmann at the Johnson County Court House, Tecumseh, Nebraska by Judge James Livingston.  Their first son, Harry was born August 1, 1920; their second son, Leon was born February 14, 1927.  During their married life, they lived at Elk Creek, Table Rock, Pawnee City and Beatrice, Nebraska.  Minnie's husband died on August 6, 1955; they had been married for 36 years;  Minnie was a widow for 39 years.
   Mother was Minnie is the title of a book about another Minnie, but is  representative of the strong will of our Minnie's forthright independence and stamina in many parts of her life.  In her family, her parents wished to offer considerable direction concerning who their children could date and marry.  So it was that when Minnie decided to marry at the age of 18; she left home to be married without the permission of her father and the knowledge of her family.  

   In the mid-twenties, after the cattle market crashed and Minnie and her husband lost their farm, there were tough times.  Her father offered a farm near the home place with implements and a team of horses and a start with hogs, cattle and chickens.  But Minnie felt that independence and "digging out on her own" might be the best "road to hoe."  

   The depression and the decade which followed were rough times for hundreds of families.  And it was also tough for the Hank Rottmanns.  Minnie had a garden, canned and dried fruits and vegetables, kept chickens, often had a runt pig or a rejected calf and with her husband managed on his 30-dollar a month paycheck.  She cleaned the school, took in laundry, sewed and crocheted items for sale and helped neighbors with cooking for threshers and cornhuskers.  She wore 99-cent shoes from Bellas Hess; made and made over dresses and coats; fashioned print flour sacks into bloomers, underskirts, aprons and bonnets.  She made quilts from whatever was in the scrap bag with a few additions from a rummage sale and 10-cent per yard outing flannel.  
  Minnie was adept at sewing, crocheting, tatting, and knitting.  She could easily copy patterns and developed many of her own.  She loved plants and flowers and much preferred cats and cows over dogs.  She loved kitchen gadgets and cooking.  Her best treats were pies and coffee breads [Kaffe Küchen].  If she knew guests were coming, she always made her sour cream chocolate cake.  She did best without recipes and cooked with dabs of this and a bit of that.  Her homemade kniep [knip], sauer kraut, sweet pickles and dills, canned fruits and vegetables and canned beef were staples and always a part of  her "canning season." 
   In the first half of her 20s, Minnie developed fainting spells and problems that were diagnosed as "gas on the stomach."  After three years of "doctoring" she took the train from Table Rock to Rochester, Minnesota for evaluation at the Mayo Clinic.  There she had gall bladder surgery and an appendectomy.  She had reasonably good health until her late 60s when she developed high blood pressure and the beginning of a series of TIAs [Temporary Ischemic Attacks].  With medication, this pattern dissipated until her late 80s and became chronic at age 92.  In 1990, while working in her yard, she slipped on a wet water hose, fell backward and developed two cracks in the pelvis, a fracture in the right hip and some permanent back injury  After hospitalization, some weeks at a care center and at her son's home, she returned to her home at Beatrice.   
  Following several months of home health care, Minnie moved to the Beatrice Care Center on July 19, 1992.  While she did well at the center, she always asked, "when are you going to get me outta here?"  At first there was considerable memory loss; but after changes in medication, she again knew her whereabouts and knew her family members.  Minnie was able to be with her younger son for a week at Christmas of 93 and had a visit from her older son and his wife as well.  Three days after returning to the center, she had a TIA while reaching for the telephone to talk with her son.  With that complication and the accompanying fall, she died on January 3, 1994.  Minnie is buried beside her husband in Evergreen Home Cemetery, Beatrice, Nebraska.                                                                                                        
    Minnie lived her faith in service to others; she was diligent in prayer and meditation.  She was deeply dedicated and connected to her family members.  She loved life, but in her last weeks often stated that she was ready to go to her heavenly home.   
John Henry Fred Rottmann

   Henry was born to Albert Hinrich Rottmann and Sophie Anna Margarethe Marie Brümmer Rottmann on January 8, 1895 at the farm home, North Branch, Nebraska [now rural Avoca].  He was their first child born in the U.S. and the fourth in the family of five children: Friedrich who died in 1957; Marie, who died at the age of 13 in 1901; Meta Margaret Grant who died in 1971; and Emma Hauschild [Schmidt] who died in 1978.      

     Johann Heinrich Friedrich Rottmann was baptized on March 10, 1895 at the Evangelical Lutheran Church, North Branch, Nebraska, Otoe County, Nebraska by the Reverend Georg Gundel, Evangelical Lutheran Pastor.  Sponsors were two uncles [brothers of his mother] and his brother:  Johann Brümmer, Heinrich Brümmer and Friedrich Rottmann.  He was confirmed by Pastor Gundel in the class of 1909 with Fritz Huntemann, Harry Hauschild, Louis Grafe, Wilhelm Schmidt, Fritz Siemers, Anna Havermann, Sophie Ehlers, Sophie Bredehoft, Maria Dankleff, Dora Kastens, Nora Lange, Alma Windels, Mary Wohlers, Lena Sudmann, and Minnie Knickmann.
   During his lifetime, he lived at North Branch, Elk Creek, Table Rock, Pawnee City and Beatrice, Nebraska.  He farmed the land of his parents to 1919 and then owned a farm from 1919 to 1925; next, and up to 1927, he operated a cream station and did contract work; from 1927 to 1942 he worked for three farmers: Joe Reuter, Albert Miller and Hermann Heuke; in 1942, he took a job as patrol operator for the state department of roads at Pawnee City; he retired from that position in 1954 and moved to Beatrice where he worked as a caretaker for the Milburn-Scott Building. 
   Henry died on August 6, 1955 in an accident at the Milburn-Scott Building.  He had replaced a fuse for the operating motor in a maintenance elevator, but had forgotten to disengage the switch for the starting motor.  When the power was engaged with the new fuse, the turning rotary arm of the motor caught his hand and caused a situation to develop in which his hand was drawn into the motor and he was electrocuted.  He is buried with his wife, Minnie, at Evergreen Home Cemetery, Beatrice. 
   During his lifetime, Henry was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, North Branch; St. Jacobus of rural Elk Creek; and St. Paul Lutheran Church, Beatrice.  He loved the farm, farm animals--especially work horses--and his family.  He learned early in life to do with little and without.  He was the original "fixer-upper."  He was always puttering, re-doing and fixing something.  While the use of baling wire for repair was not original with Henry, he may have deserved the honor for its extended use--to fix almost anything.  He typically whistled while he worked or sang or hummed an old German song.  His Platt-Deutsch nickname was Pfeifen Hinrich.  [this nickname has a joke story behind it that one can do only one thing at a time if you are to do it well; the moral: either whistle or work, never try to do both at the same time].     
   The days spent as a hired man began at a dollar a day and then were raised to a salary of $30 a month with a place to live provided.  Most years there was a hog or a quarter of beef shared in the fall.  Work days were from 6:00 to 6:00 for a 6-day work week and with morning and evening chores to do on Sunday.  Henry walked to and from work.  For two or three days each week, he also carried a small sack on his back--a sack with feed for the chickens or corn to be ground into meal for corn bread.  Evenings, supper was always waiting in the warming oven or on the back of the Quick Meal cook stove.  The evening meal was a special family time together.  It began with the younger son's prayer of Abba, Lieber Vater, Amen.  Then, the second son with Komm Herr Jesus, Sei Unser Gast. Und Segne Was Du uns bescheret hast.  And then the family together with Amen.  
   Henry's musical skill was in the harmonica.  He had a concert harmonica from his youth that he enjoyed playing for his family.  When that instrument was no longer in use, he did just as well on a 39-cent instrument from the dime store.  He enjoyed dancing, card games, plug chewing tobacco, pipe and cigarette smoking and homemade beer.  He loved short stories and continued stories and had a high involvement in novels with mystery plots.  He often expressed a philosophy--that one came into the world with nothing and left with nothing--von nichts zum nichts.  That each one of us is created from dust and will return to dust.  That the miracle lies in our creation; that the promise is in the Word spoken at our baptism. 

 
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