Stories From My Life

Our Senior Class play was Annie Get Your Gun but not the musical version. I played Frank Butler and Sheila Brady played Annie. She had acted in community theater for years and boy did it show. She was on a completely different level than her counterpart - me. Whereas I was focusing on lines and hitting my marks, she was adding in all of the little things that an experienced actress would - nonverbal things like smiles, smirks, and other body language types of things. Newspaper article announcing the play. My brother Joe was an Indian as there were not enough seniors who wanted to participate. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is touring the country. One of the featured acts is sharpshooter Frank Butler, who at each stop challenges the town's best sharpshooter to a shooting competition. In Cincinnati, he goes up against his equal, in the form of - a woman, Annie Oakley, an uneducated, unsophisticated, naive, country girl who has never ventured far from her home in rural...

When I was 14 years old my parents paid for me to go to Philmont Scout Ranch. Philmont Scout Ranch is a large, rugged, mountainous ranch located near the town of Cimarron, New Mexico, covering 140,177 acres of wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico. Sangre de Christo Mountains It was a great trip. It started with a train trip from south central Pennsylvania to Cimarron via Chicago. We had to transfer trains in Chicago and there were several hours of layover there. Being 14 years old, full of energy, and not really knowing better several of us started walking around town. Nothing happened but it probably wasn't the smartest thing for a country boy to do - walk around a major metropolitan downtown area with no adult supervision. Upon arriving in Cimarron we took a bus to the Scout Ranch which seemed like it was maybe an hour away. We put our gear in base camp, a bunch of permanent tents with beds and mattresses although we relied on our sleepi...

My junior year in high school we put on a play appropriately named the Junior Class Play. The cast was supposed to be made up of only juniors. Some years that was possible and some years performers were borrowed from other classes. That year we put on Pillow Talk a stage play previously turned into a classic movie starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day. The story is a of a playboy composer and a single neighbor who share a party line. In 1959 when this film was made party lines were quite common. The home I grew up in had a party line until my teens. When your phone is on a party line multiple neighbors share the same line and you have to learn how to make sure someone isn't already on a call before starting to dial. In this play the 2 main characters don't like each other face-to-face but when Brad Allen, the Rock Hudson character, catches her on the party line he disguises his voice and has some fun romancing her. For reasons that are probably a mystery to you, I was ca...

After 13 weeks in the MTC (Missionary Training Center), towards the end of May in 1979 all of my visas came through and I was off to Belgium to begin serving my mission in earnest. We landed in Brussels and as we were walking through the airport an announcer said something in French and I remember thinking 'Uh oh, I'm in trouble. That's not what it sounded like in the MTC'. We were met at the airport by President James Arrigona and his assistants who welcomed us and immediately took us to a hotel to sleep. Our flight had left New York in the evening and arrived in the morning Belgium time which was around midnight Utah time and we were exhausted. After letting us sleep for around 6 hours we were awoken and went to the mission home have dinner,  meet Sister Arrigona, and receive our assignments. Mine was Charleroi, Belgium and my "greenie-buster" was Doug Chronquist of Washington DC. I spent 2 months there with Elder Cronkquist and 2 months with Len Schro...

My father always said Rauma men don't live long. Here is the lifespan of as many Rauma male ancestors (with my grandmother thrown in) as I can find: 1st Generation John Arthur Rauma Father, John Arthur Rauma - 59 years  2nd Generation Grandfather, Arthur Victor Rauma - 65 years Grandmother, Miriam Ino Kustave Wahtola - 67 years Great-Uncle, Kalle William Rauma - 0 years Great-Uncle, Matts Adrian Rauma - 0 years Great-Uncle, John Richard Rauma - 58 years 3rd Generation Great-Grandfather, John Victor Rauma - 63 years Great-Grandfather, Andrew Wahtola - 69 years 4th Generation 2nd Great-Grandfather, Karl Kattilokoski - 57 years 2nd Great-Grandfather, unknown Grandparents' Wedding Announcement 2nd Great-Grandfather, Zakri Kivihaka - 58 years (estimate) 2nd Great-Grandfather, Mikko Jakola - 88 years 5th Generation 3rd Great-Grandfather, Hans Johan Kattilakoski - 76 years 3rd Great-Grandfather, Matts Patana - 30 year...

Matt Suhey Matt Suhey, later of the Chicago Bears was the 2nd future NFL player I competed against. Despite a career at Penn State and Chicago as a fullback, he threw the shot in high school. At an invitational my sophomore year I competed against him and another 60+ guys. He was easily the class of the event. His speed across the circle and explosion at the end was different than all the rest of us. I believe he threw over 60' at that event while most of us were struggling to break 50'. As it was my sophomore year I probably only threw 46' or 47' at best losing by at least 10' to a guy much shorter and smaller. Matt Suhey blocking for Walter Payton, one of the great backfield duos of that generation. Scott Fitzkee Scott Fitzkee played on the same baseball, track, and football teams as me. The reason I list him as someone I competed against is because in Little League baseball I competed against him for a starting position - I lost. Scott was 2 years olde...

Andrew Wahtola married Johanna Kustava Jakola in 1899 in his hometown of Sievi, Finland. They had 11 children in 20 years. He died on January 5, 1945, in West Barnstable, Massachusetts, at the age of 69, and was buried in Centerville, Massachusetts. Andrew Wahtola When Johanna Kustava Jakola was born on November 21, 1876, in Sievi, Oulun Laani, Finland, her father, Mikko, was 26, and her mother, Maria, was 23. She died on November 30, 1955, in Bourne, Massachusetts, at the age of 79, and was buried in Centerville, Massachusetts. Johanna Kustava Jakola  I believe that is Johanna in the middle. Aunt Martha is on the right and I believe the baby is Mary Anne. Johanna died a few months after Mary Anne was born so the time is right. Unfortunately I'm speculating about everyone but my great grandmother and Aunt Martha, her daughter Aunt Martha had a restaurant on her property in Centerville. She would arise every morning, except Sunday, to make pies for her restaurant. ...

The only ancestor I've found so far that hails from Rauma, is my 2nd great-grandfather on the Rauma side - Matti Oikemus was born there around 1860. Old Town Finland, a World Heritage Site. Are we ever going to go there? Rauma is the 2nd largest seaport in Finland

Our Junior High Track coaches believed in weeding out those who wouldn't work so the first day of practice every year was a 5 mile cross country run. It was very effective as people who were casual about it never even went out, and those who were lukewarm only lasted a day. Not sure which one of these guys looks most like me. Even though I was a weight man (aka thrower) I had to run it too. Not surprisingly we didn't do very well, but by my freshman year I came in 2nd to our best long distance runner. It's a good thing we only did it the first day because by that night my legs were in knots. I'm pretty sure I'd never have made it 2 days in a row.

In June of 1978 Joe graduated from Red Lion Area Senior High School (yes standards were low in our day too). At the time I was attending school and living in Hammond, Louisiana. At the last minute I decided to surprise him by showing up at the graduation. I believe that was the last night I ever spent in my parents' home in Red Lion. Horn Field - site of football games, baseball games and high school graduations There is 1100 miles between Hammond and Red Lion which I covered in 19 hours in a 1967 Chevy Bel-Air. Snazzy huh?