Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Siebert, Shrank, Resong, Gerdes, Housley, Bertz, Davel, Catlin, Boe, Rayhorn
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 2/12/2020
Longtime Neillsville Resident Turns 100 (Siebert – 4 February 2020)
Neillsville resident Barbara Siebert recently turned 100 years old. Born Feb. 4, 1920, Barbara has spent the majority of her life in Clark County. Valerie Brecht/Clark County Press
By Valorie Brecht
She has experienced a lot, learned a lot and met a lot of people along the way. She has also accumulated many fun stores and memories from the course of her life.
Barbara Siebert of Neillsville celebrated her 100th birthday last Tuesday, Feb. 4. She and her daughter, Sue Ann (Shrank) Resong, shared a few of the stories and events of Barbara’s life with The Press.
Barbara was born in Clark County on Feb. 4, 1920, to Carl and Walbey Gerdes. It was an early evening and “the worst snowstorm ever,” Barbara said. Dr. H. W. Housley from Neillsville delivered Barbara, with the assistance of a midwife. Housley never registered Barbara’s birth at the county courthouse, so she did not have a birth certificate.
Barbara grew up in Spokeville, what used to be a thriving town about five miles southeast of Loyal, at the intersection of Meridian Avenue and Twenty Six Road. In its heyday, Spokeville had a spoke mill (from which the town got its name), blacksmith shop, tavern, creamery and cheese factory, church, dance hall, feed mill, lumberyard and more.
Barbara’s father was a building contractor. He also worked with his uncle at the feedmill and lumberyard. He and his wife also owned and operated the town’s general store and lived in the back of it. The store had a little bit of everything.
“It was different – a lot different than it is now. I think we enjoyed it. I remember I enjoyed the candy case, especially the Babe Ruth candy bars,” Barbara said with a smile.
Barbara had one brother, John Buckley, who went by the name of “Buck” and was almost five years younger than her.
Barbara attended a one-room country school for first, third and fourth grades. She skipped second grade. In fifth grade, Barbara began attending St. Anthony’s Catholic School in Loyal. When the weather was nice, she would walk the train tracks to Loyal. Sometimes she rode the train to school. In the wintertime, she either boarded at the school or stayed in people’s homes.
Barbara became terribly lonesome at school.
“I hated it and wanted to go home. I cried so hard that (the nuns) were going to put a washtub by my bed to catch my tears,” she said.
It got to the point where one winter day, Barbara decided to run away. There were no cars, but she caught a ride on a farm sled on the way. The school telephoned Barbara’s parents to let them know.
“My parents were so upset because they didn’t know which direction I went home, so there was no way to go find me,” said Barbara.
However, she made it home OK and “as luck would have it,” Barbara said, there was a blizzard that night, so she got to stay home from school a couple more days.
Barbara attended St. Anthony’s School through her first two years of high school. Of all the homes she stayed at, Ed and Florence Bertz’s was her favorite. Florence started a bridge club for Barbara and her friends, including Madeleine Davel, Elaine Catlin and Lillian Boe (maiden names). That group of friends continued playing bridge together until a few years ago. They also all attended college together to get teaching degrees.
Barbara graduated from Loyal High School in 1937. She studied at what was then known as the Central State Teachers College in Stevens Point. Barbara’s father went there when it was the Stevens Point Normal School. In studying to become a teacher, Barbara followed in her family members’ footsteps. Her mother and mother’s sister, Meta Rayhorn, both taught in one-room schools.
Barbara was very involved on campus, as part of the Omega Mu Chi social sorority and academic clubs for dramatics, science and math, and English. She also served as an office for the college theatre group. She met her future husband, Earl, in that group.
Barbara and Earl graduated from college in 1941. Barbara earned a degree in math with a minor in science. She spent the 1941-42 year teaching in Bowler. She taught many subjects, including biology, physics, chemistry, general math, algebra, algebra two and home economics.
“I didn’t even know I had a couple classes that they stuck me in, and one was chemistry, if you can imagine,” said Barbara. “I thought I had an hour off, you know. They came and got me and said, ‘Your chemistry class is waiting for you.’ I didn’t even know I was teaching chemistry. It was really a weird deal.”
Barbara had no lab equipment to teach her science classes and no stoves or refrigerators to each home economics. She directed two three-act plays and a one-act play. One play won at contest and had to be performed three times. She was also a junior class advisor and in charge of prom.
Due to all the stress, by the end of the year, Barbara weighed only 95 pounds and had developed an ulcer. That was when Earl proposed to her. At the time, Earl was stationed in San Antonio, TX, as he was part of the U.S. Army Air Corps for four years during World War II.
Barbara joined Earl and the two were married in San Antonio on May 23, 1942, in a simple ceremony.
“I didn’t even have flowers and Earl’s sisters and brothers said, ‘How come you didn’t have flowers?’ I said that I didn’t know when Earl was going to be coming because I didn’t know when he was going to get in from the field,” Barbara said.
Barbara and Earl lived on the Army base in San Antonio. Then, Earl was transferred to the Air Force base in Eglin Field, FL, which is close to Pensacola. The Sieberts had a son, Mike, in 1944 and a daughter, Sue Ann, 1945. When Sue was three months old, they moved to Gresham, WI. Barbara and the two kids stayed with Earl’s sister Erma while Earl was stationed in Hawaii.
After Earl returned, the family moved to Berlin, WI, where Earl taught at the Green Lake County Normal School. When that school closed, he worked for the Berlin Shopper. In 1950, the family moved to Neillsville and Earl started the Clark County Shopping News, now known as The Shopper, which he owned and operated for many years. Earl and Barbara had three more children – Sandy, Steve and Jon.
During the Berlin Crisis of 1961, Earl’s National Guard unit was activated, and he was sent to Washington for a year. During that time, Barbara ran The Shopper herself while raising five children.
After the kids wee grown, Barbara did some more teaching.
“The superintendent of Greenwood came to our shop one day and he was talking with Earl … and they were looking at me and then going back and forth with each other and I wondered what in the world they were cooking up. And they were trying to see if I would come to Greenwood and teach because they were short a math teacher. And so, I said I’d try it for a little while until they got somebody,” said Barbara.
She ended up teaching at Greenwood for nine years, She taught general math, algebra, algebra two, geometry, physics and some other subjects. She also studied at UW-Eau Claire at that time and got halfway to earning her master’s in math. Barbara was able to help many students along the way.
“Recently, one of my students came up to me and told me, ‘You did such a good job teaching me math,’ said Barbara. “He said that my self and another teacher were responsible for getting him to where he was today.”
After her teaching tenure, Barbara and Earl both retired. For 19 years, they traveled to Harlingen, TX, each year to spend time with their daughter, Sandy and her family. Earl passed away in 1991.
Barbara has kept busy into her later years. Even into her 70s, she tutored students in math. Her hobbies over the years have included dancing, playing bridge, and crocheting. She has made afghans for all her family members and Christmas outfits for her grandchildren. She enjoys spending time with her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Throughout the years, Barbara has been an avid reader. Sometimes she reads up to sox to seven books a week.
“Keep your mind active,” she said. “I read a lot. When I was little, as soon as I could read, I read the Bobbsey Twins, the whole series of them. I’ve read a lot. I read all the time.”
Barbara celebrated her 100th birthday with cake and a party for family and friends at Riverside Assisted Living last week.
