Fresenborg Memories

Carolyn (Carmen Fresenborg) Rickert

My dad, Rev. Bernhard M. Fresenborg, was pastor of Zion and Immanuel Evangelical Reformed Churches in Greewood, Wisconsin, for ten years.  He began his work in the fall of 1941.

My memories of Greenwood are minimal because I was so young when we lived there, but I do remember Duane Horn.  He was privileged to witness the only serious "temper tantrum" I remember ever having.

It was in March of 1947. My grandfather had died in the parsonage. Our family was all dressed up ready to go out the front door when I discovered we were going to the furniture store/funeral parlor to view my grandfather. (Some of us kids had previously snuck in the back door of the furniture store, so I knew what was there). In the middle of the living room, I threw my "temper tantrum" while Duane witnessed it from the adjoining dining room table where he was doing homework. There was no way I was going to the furniture store to look at my dead grandfather in a box. I was 7. Finally, since Duane was there, they let me stay home with him.

There were also a couple of sisters who each stayed at our house for whole winters when they were in high school. They worked for their room and board doing at least the supper dishes and ironing. It's a wonder they ever got their homework done because I loved hanging around them.

This concept was very familiar to my mother. In her generation, not everyone got a high school education. The railroad track into Portland, Oregon was only a mile from their farm, so she and her siblings all got a high school education at Grant High School by working for room and board for rich families in Portland.

In Wisconsin, I think it was more a matter of not being able to get into town because of the snow.