BioA: Schwenke, Mr./Mrs. Arthur (Gold - 1963)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Schwenke, Hanke, Rittenhouse

----Source: OWEN ENTERPRISE (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 06/27/1963

Schwenke, Mr./Mrs. Arthur (Gold - 19 JUN 1963)

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Schwenke celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary on June 16, 1963, at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Withee.  Church services at 10:30 a.m. with the Rev. Leroy Urman, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church, opened the day’s events.  Special music was part of the program with Mr. Robert Hanke, vocalist, accompanied by Mrs. Theodore Klabon on the organ.

A 12:30 dinner was served in the church basement to 30 invited guests.  Decorations were a four tier wedding cake ordered with yellow gladiolas and yellow roses.

Open house was held in the church basement from 2:00 until 4:00 in the afternoon.  That evening an open house was held in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Duane Rittenhouse where refreshments and entertainment of card playing was held.  Others participated in …(two lines were unreadable)..

Mrs. Schwenke wore a white and yellow corsage of roses, and Mrs. Schwenke a boutonniere of a yellow carnation.  They received golden anniversary flower vase, a creamer, sugar bowl and lamp as anniversary gifts.

Arthur Schwenke and Ida, the former Ida Marie Hanke, were married on June 19, 1913, at the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Wittenberg by the Rev. Otto List.  Mrs. Rose Esther Hanke of Frederick was the maid of honor and was able to be in attendance of this Golden Wedding celebration.

Arthur Schwenke was born on the 13^th of December, 1890, in the town of Larrabee in Waupaca Co.  His parents were Mr. and Mrs. Herman Schwenke of route 3, Clintonville.  He received his education in the district school in the town of Larrabee and at the Wittenberg Academy.  He worked in the building trade in Clintonville, Appleton and Stevens Point, and then as section hand for the Chicago and Northwester Railroad at Wittenberg.  On the 28^th of March in 1912 he was appointed as railway mail clerk and served continuously on the Soo Line Railway between Owen and Minneapolis until Feb. 14, 1953, when he retired.  His hobbies are hunting and fishing.

Mrs. Schwenke, the former Ida Marie Hanke, was born on May 30, 1892 to Mr. and Mrs. August Hanke of Wittenberg.  She received her education in the parochial and public school district in the town of Wittenberg.

Completing her education she did domestic work in Appleton and did dress making.  She is a present member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Withee and a member of the Ladies Aid Society.  Her hobbies are dress making and fancy work and she is an ardent bridge player who wins often in her Birthday Bridge Club.

The Schwenke’s have one daughter, Pearl Marie Schwenke Rittenhouse, who has been very devoted to her parents and lives in Owen next door to them.  Mr. and Mrs. Duane Rittenhouse have one son, John, now a student at Wis. State College at Stevens Point.

Out of town guests attending were Mr. and Mrs. Leroy Urman, Withee’ Mr. and Mrs. Robert Schmiedeke, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Schwenke, Clintonville’ Mr. and Mrs. Ruben Pribbenow, Marshfield; Mr. Herman Hanke, Eland; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Huebner, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Bloecher, Mr. and Mrs. Otto Frederick, Wittenberg; Mrs. Elsie Gould, Mr. and Mrs. Ted Joswisk, Clintonville; Mr. and Mrs. Roger Hanke, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Siebert, Mr. and Mrs. August Bykonen, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hoekstra, Wittenberg, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Hanke, Appleton; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hanke, Neenah; Mrs. Martha Hanke, Wittenberg; Mr. and Mrs. William Richardson Waupun; Mr. and Mrs. Charley Hammel, Eau Claire.