I.

Foundation of
Family and Faith

Pliny’s Remedies for Erysipelas,

23 B.C.–79A.D.

“For erysipelas a liniment

of bears’ grease is used, that from the kidneys in
particular; fresh calves’ dung also, or cow-dung; dried goats’ milk cheese,
with leeks; or else the fine scrapings of a deer’s skin, brought off with
pumice-stone and beaten up in vinegar. Where there is redness of the
skin attended with itching, the foam from a horse’s mouth is used,
or the hoof, reduced to ashes.”

Medicine had not progressed much

beyond this by 1901.

To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

Character Forged in the Family and Community

Emma Elizabeth Kopf— By her teen years, Emma Elizabeth Kopf had
grown to her full adult height of 5'½"—she insisted that everyone ac-
knowledge that extra half inch. Throughout her life this compact-sized
woman endowed with a huge heart won the love and respect of others not
because of her demands, but from her self-sacrifice, hard work and devo-
tion to her family.

Katherine [Lollman] Kopf gave birth to Emma on November 3, 1901, in

Darrow, a tiny prairie town in the Oklahoma territory. More than 88
years later, after Emma had decided to travel overseas and needed a pass-
port, her family discovered that Darrow, which no longer exists, had no
record of her birth. The family knew well the facts of her quite extraordi-
nary life, so set out to prove her identity to the government.
Officials in Darrow, if there were officials at the time of her birth,
never bothered to issue birth certificates for their newborns. Fortunately,
Emma’s family found one older-aged cousin, Fred Kopf, still living nearby
who could vouch for her, otherwise she may not have gained a passport.
He died a year later.
Emma’s father David had moved to the desolate Oklahoma area
along with his brother Joe when the federal government opened it up for
homesteading. David married Katherine Lollman in Falls City, Nebraska.
The Kopf name is still well known in Oklahoma and nearby Nebraska
settlements.
By the time of Emma’s birth, Katherine Kopf had borne nine chil-
dren, although the first one had already died. Emma’s life was challenged
too, as she weighed just four pounds at birth.
She and her eight siblings lived with their parents in a simple one-
room house. A chimney led from a stove on the first floor up through the
center of the gable-roofed attic and out the roof. Each night, the chil-
dren climbed a ladder up to their bedroom in the attic and lay down to
sleep, the boys on one side and the girls on the other, their feet nearly
touching.
Katherine cooked and prepared meals on a wood stove and table
that sat in a sod house next to the family’s tiny wood-framed house.
Though they lived isolated from other territorial families, the Kopfs em-
braced religious faith as a regular part of their meager life. They practiced
their faith without great cathedrals or luxurious trappings in their church,
but this fundamental faith served as a foundation for the rest of their lives.
Left: Katherine Kopf gave birth to Emma in November, 1901, in Darrow, Oklahoma.
Right: Emma – 18 years old.
The Kopf family lived a simple life, fiercely self-reliant as they had to
be to survive the rigors of the frontier. Even the most common things to
folks in larger towns and cities were unknown to them.
Emma’s 15-year old brother John, once took a load of goods to near-
by Kingfisher. The boy did a stellar job delivering his bundles on time and
in good condition. He so impressed the recipients that they gave him a
reward, a concoction of some sort unlike anything he’d ever seen before.
They told him to eat it, that it would be a special treat. John felt suspicious
and so, carried it back home with him. He trusted his dad to have an
answer.
“Papa, they gave me this in Kingfisher. Said I should eat it.”
Taking the substance in his hand, David gave it a quick look and
smiled broadly, handing it back to John saying, “Enjoy it, son. It’s called
candy.”
The Next Pregnancy
Two years after Emma’s birth, Katherine went into labor to deliver yet an-
other child. Her doctor, who was in a hurry to get somewhere, gave Kath-
erine an overdose of ergot, a fungus used in those days to stimulate con-
tractions. Emma’s sister, Lillian, described Katherine’s labor as a groaning
agony, with yelling and crying from the severe pain of the forceful and
hurried contractions. To keep her as comfortable as possible, they moved

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To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

her from bed to chair and back to bed again. As the contractions contin-
ued to worsen, they brought incredible pressure to bear on her uterus,
but Katherine’s cervix had not yet dilated enough to release the baby. Fi-
nally, her uterus and abdomen ruptured in excruciating pain and she,
along with the baby, died.
The practice of medicine in those days too often yielded cruel results.
David learned that the doctor had done this to another woman and so,
had his license to practice medicine pulled, but that brought little solace
to the bereaved family.
David saw caring for nine children as an insurmountable task. Even-
tually, he sent his five sons off to farms to work and earn their own keep.
Before he left, her brother Gustave devoted part of his busy day to care for
many of Emma’s personal needs, with great tenderness and devotion;
though as was his brothers, a great part of his day was consumed with
farm chores. David sent Theresia and Otillia, the two older girls, to con-
vents, but Emma and Lillian stayed with him. Even dispersed as they were,
David and his children worked to stay connected to each other, bonded
and as supportive as circumstances allowed. Without a government safety
net to save them, they saved each other—no one expected it to be any dif-
ferent.
The Kopf family: Sitting, left to right: Theresia, father David, William, Otillia. Standing,
Five years after Katherine’s death, David married Emma Seitz. She left to right: Lillian, John, Gustave, Anton, David, Henry, and Emma.
and little Emma got along famously. In 1909, she gave birth to her son
William (“Bill”), but the pregnancy resulted in critical complications.
Emma, the stepmother, probably suffered from “milk-leg,” a throm- David had grown close to Nebraska Governor John Morehead. Da-
bophlebitis condition common during pregnancies of that day. After Bill’s vid and Emma occasionally visited the governor, even riding in his lim-
birth, she laid in bed for ten days, delirious and hallucinating, in and out ousine. She saw the governor as a good man, a man of the people and
of consciousness. She reported seeing a vision of angels and of heaven without pretension. It meant a lot to a little girl born in a frontier house
and realized she was dying and called out asking to take little Emma and to meet great men of prominence, such as Gov. Morehead and Lincoln’s
Theresia with her to heaven. Then she died. Childbirth once again deliv- Judge England.
ered a cruel result. David buried Emma Seitz Kopf on little Emma’s eighth England had told Emma he would pay her ten cents for each gopher
birthday. head she brought him from his farm and she took him at his word. She
Without a wife again, David sent his little Emma off to live with Aunt set out to capture, as many gophers as possible, but allowed their dead
Sophie in Nebraska, though he saw her occasionally. Later, she moved in bodies to sit for a few days before bringing them to the judge. The stench
with the Werner family in Lincoln and cared for their son, Martin. The kept growing stronger. Satisfied she had enough to make the trip worth-
Werners were devout Catholics and under their care, Emma took her first while, she went to town and presented her catch to the distinguished
communion. Martin Werner eventually became a Roman Catholic priest judge in his chambers who, as befit his humble character, paid her with-
and then Vicar General of the Diocese of Great Falls, Montana. out complaint.
David came to see or sent for Emma as often as possible, fulfilling Emma loved these kinds of people who were able to accomplish ex-
his fatherly responsibilities as best he could. He eventually took a job as a traordinary things but still stayed humble, seeing their accomplishments
warden in the Lincoln prison and she got to visit him there, a curious as nothing more than their rightful service to God, family and country.
odyssey for a young girl. One night he let her sleep in his room in the prison. She would soon have a family filled with such people.

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To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

Emma Goes to Work

David brought Emma, now 16, to New Mexico where she took a job as a
cook on the Billings Ranch just outside of Roswell. Billings also operated
a ranch about 70 miles north of Roswell from which cowboys drove cattle
across the central plains and on into Montana. Emma cooked for as many
as 23 ranch-hands, baking 13 loaves of bread at a time in a big wood stove.
She relished her job as master of the kitchen, though the days were long
and temperatures hot.
Leaving Billings Ranch, Emma took a job as a waitress at Roswell’s
Bankhead Hotel. Here, one day, she looked out the window and noticed a
young man standing outside on the sidewalk talking to someone. He
caught her eye and she confidently told one of the waitresses that some-
day she would marry that man. That man, Herbert Kletschka, began
regularly eating his meals in the dining room, making a point of sitting at
Emma’s table.

Herbert Leland “Lee” Kletschka Emma met her future husband Herb while working at the Bankhead Hotel in Roswell,
New Mexico. This 1915 photo shows the lobby. David Kopf, Emma’s father, is standing in
Alzada Reed Kletschka gave birth to Herbert Leland Kletschka at mid- the back, wearing a hat and mustache.

night on February 10, 1898. As an adult, almost everyone called him Lee,
except Emma. To her, he was always Herb.
The family lived in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin at the time of Herb’s birth
and later, moved back to Waterville, Minnesota, in LeSeuer County, the
area in which the Kletschka clan settled during the 1850s. Citizens there
had elected Herb’s grandfather Vincent Kletschka as their Minnesota
State Representative in 1874.
Alzada and Emmanuel Kletschka had three other sons; Emil, Earl
and Vern. Eventually the family settled in a working class neighborhood
in Northeast Minneapolis.
Alzada and Emmanuel’s marriage ended in divorce. In 1912, she met
and married Jacob Ressler. Jacob had three children by his first wife—
Rueben, Walter and Mertella. Later, Alzada’s son, Vern, changed his last
name to Ressler while the other three boys kept the Kletschka name.
Emil and Earl eventually married but had no children. Vern and his
wife had two daughters, Vernice and Joan.
The Ressler’s had an urge to move north to live near Alzada’s brother,
Charlie Reed and her sister Mae, the wife of Casper Mills. Reed and Mills
lived in the Brainerd lakes area of central Minnesota. Here Jacob found Family, to the Kletschkas, meant all the family, including uncles, aunts, grandparents, and
cousins. In the back row stands Uncle Vern, Emma, Uncle Earl, Grandma Ressler, friends
Pukwana Lodge, located on the east side of Lake Hubert, one of the Dick and Edith Kerr, and Aunt Carrie. In the front row stands Joan and Vernice Ressler,
smaller lakes lying about 12 miles north of Brainerd. Margie, Harold, and Virginia.

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To Change the Heart of Man
Top left: As a child, Herb Kletschka never did like the idea of wearing long hair. Much to his
mother’s chagrin, one day he chose to go to the barber and have his locks shorn, without her
knowledge. Top right: Jacob Ressler built these steps himself, from the natural stone he har-
vested from the area surrounding the lodge. The steps lead from the Lake Hubert shoreline up
to the lodge.
From the early 1900s, Pukwana Lodge became the destination of travelers from across the Unit-
ed States. Years later, former U.S. Olympic team hockey coach, Herb Brooks, made sure to visit
during the times he operated his hockey schools in the Lake Hubert area.
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Foundation of Family and Faith
Walter Curtis had built Pukwana Lodge in 1898, the first of its kind on
the lake. Here he launched the first power boat on the lake—the “Ro-No-
More.” Lake Hubert rated as a number one bass lake, and crappies and
northern pike were plentiful. Indians also knew the area, coming in great
numbers to harvest baskets of blueberries that grew wild in its forests or
the wild rice on the shallow lakes nearby.
Jacob poured himself into developing Pukwana Lodge, adding sev-
eral cabins that sat on the hills just overlooking the crystal-clear lake. His
stonework inside and outside of the lodge were works of beauty.
Alzada cared for a huge vegetable garden that provided food for their
guests and her own family. She cooked and cleaned for her lodge guests
and the family members who often dropped in.
No roads had yet been built on the east side of Lake Hubert. Each
day during the summer season, from their great porch they monitored
the activity at the Lake Hubert store that sat a half-mile across the lake on
the north side. Their guests often arrived by train and waited at the store
while Jacob made his way across the lake on his motor launch to pick
them up.
Alzada’s son, Herb, often stayed at Uncle Charlie’s house on Clark
Lake, and grew to love the area, especially given its abundance of wild
game and plentiful fishing lakes. He found work at Grandview Lodge on
nearby Gull Lake, where one summer he befriended Mr. J.P. Cook, one of
the lodge guests—a banker from Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Cook saw great
potential in Herb and invited him to move to Okmulgee to work in his
bank. As much as Herb loved northern Minnesota, his constant bouts
with asthma and hay fever made the dryer Oklahoma air attractive and
he moved south to take advantage of this employment opportunity.
Herb saw the importance of self-improvement and enrolled in a La-
Salle Extension University course that gave him a foundational under-
standing of finances, economics and sales. It prepared him well for the
difficult days that lay ahead.
Herb enlisted in the army when America entered World War I. Dur-
ing his early days, medics gave him a routine series of immunizations
that seriously aggravated his hay fever and asthma; with almost deadly
results. His tour of duty cut short by the end of the war, the army honor-
ably discharged him with a $10.00 a month lifetime disability pension.
One of the army doctors suggested that New Mexico would provide a cli-
mate helpful in overcoming his medical problems. He found ranch work
in the Roswell area, but the dust and grime from his work made his asth-
ma suffering intolerable.
To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

A Lifetime Meal

While in Roswell, Herb learned that the Bankhead Hotel had a good din-
ing room. Here he discovered something far better than a good bowl of
soup. Emma Kopf, the pretty 18-year old waitress quickly became his
favorite.
Courtship between two penniless people like Emma and Herb was
simple. Long walks and longer talks followed boat excursions at Bottom-
less Lake. A new phenomenon, silent movies, became a dating draw for
many, but Herb had little money for this. And there was no Disneyland,
Mall of America or dot.com to distract them. Thus, they began forging a
relationship of love and devotion that lasted a lifetime; two people get-
ting to know each other and knowing they wanted to marry.
Herb’s asthma problems worsened. He heard that the air in Denver
might be more amenable to his condition and, with no resistance, con-
vinced Emma to join him there once he got settled. They married on Sep-
tember 1, 1921. Emma gave birth to Virginia Fern, their first child, on Bottomless Lake provided just the right setting for Emma Kopf and Herb Kletschka to fall in
October 7, 1922. love. Emma dressed in her finest dress and high heels, while Herb pulled on his Sunday suit
While in Denver, Herb decided to learn how to fix internal combus- and tie.
tion engines. Automobiles were fast becoming America’s passion, and the
unreliable motors needed constant attention. Herb knew that a skilled
mechanic would never be out of a job. Communities held men responsi-
ble to provide for their own, and he was determined to always make sure
he met his family’s needs. It did no good to expect the government to
help if things got tough since no such programs existed, and if they did,
Herb would not avail himself of them anyway.
Herb went to Johnson’s Automotive Electrical School to learn his
trade and he learned it well. The hand skills and logic of maintaining these
engines transferred to other skills as well, and Herb began to develop a
reputation as a perfectionist, and as a man of integrity and character.
Denver provided the Kletschkas with a place to get a good start on
their family, but opportunities for the future seemed limited. The young
family decided to move to Minneapolis where he had spent some of his
childhood years.
At their home at 3310 Blaisdell Avenue, on August 26, 1924, a day
when temperatures hovered near 100 degrees, Emma gave birth to her
only son, Harold Dale Kletschka. Looking back at that day, Emma won-
ders if Harold came out asking questions rather than crying as most
babies do. On Harold’s third day while lying on his back next to Emma Alzada and Jacob Ressler, Harold’s grandparents, take a moment of rest from tending their
on her bed, the milkman spied him and commented, “Would you look at large vegetable garden. Much of its produce ended up as meals for the residents of Pukwana
that. The little guy’s already raising up his head and lookin’ around. You’d Lodge, and Jacob sold the rest.

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To Change the Heart of Man
Left: Even visitors noticed when, as an infant, Harold raised his head to look around, as
though studying his surroundings. Right: Infant Harold enjoyed watching his big sister Vir-
ginia as she rode her tricycle past the high chair. Maybe Harold was trying to figure out the
physical forces that impelled a wheel forward.
think he was inspecting his surroundings.”
Emma got used to it quickly because “lookin’ around” and “inspect-
ing his surroundings” became Harold’s way of life.
Herb put his terrific people skills to work as a salesman, selling bread
off of a bread wagon and family portraits, a job that often took him away
from the family. He etched out a meager but satisfying livelihood, but he
had an itch to be closer to his family up north. With his mother and her
husband Jacob Ressler firmly planted on Lake Hubert, Herb decided he
could just as well sell portraits from there as in Minneapolis, so began the
search for a suitable family home near their relatives.
A Piece of Paradise Attracted Many
Loggers had arrived in the Central Minnesota lakes area in 1848 and be-
gan clearing the land of its valuable commodity. Dozens of clear, pristine
lakes guarded the wild forests of white and Norway pine, poplar and oak
trees. To get to the trees required traveling by water. Then getting inland
meant clearing trees, building roads for ox carts and laying railroad tracks.
The waterways provided a cheap way to transport logs to the new
sawmills in Brainerd, the small city that sprang up in the geographical
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Foundation of Family and Faith
center of Minnesota. Some of the lakes were too shallow, causing logjams.
The loggers built dams to raise the level of the lakes. The dams, loggers’
roads and railroad tracks made it possible for homesteaders to follow.
Trains carried away logs and brought freight and mail to the isolated
settlers.
Hubert is a small spring-fed lake just north of Brainerd. Carl Zapffe,
an historian who penned hundreds of thousands of words about Crow
Wing County, wrote about Lake Hubert. Describing the early surveys
done in that part of the new State of Minnesota, he focused on one team
headed by George Hubert Belden. U.S. Army Topographic Engineers had
drawn a rough sketch of several county lakes, one of them:
“…a particularly beautiful sheet of water with mysterious blue
depths and its own secret water supply—an outlet but no discover-
able inlet. Belden climbed into a canoe, paddled out some distance
from shore where water seemed bluest and the depth greatest, then
threw in a weighted line to check for bottom. Nothing happened. He
let out the whole 75 feet, and still no bottom! Fascinating! It is still
more so in the light of modern knowledge, since only one small spot
in the whole lake will swallow a 75-foot line.
“Because such an attractive lake, whose natural beauties were
now enhanced by the mystery of being bottomless, seemed literally
begging for a name yet had none, and because nobody was around
to object, Belden decided to name it for his Mother’s family—Hu-
bert—from whence also his own middle name.
“So Lake Hubert it became, in 1857, and was so inscribed on the
original notes of that survey.”1
Colonel Freeman Thorp, born in June, 1844, built the first perma-
nent house in the Lake Hubert area in 1894. During the Civil War, Thorp
served in the Ohio National Guard and was a confidant of Gen. Ulysses
Grant, carrying secret messages to the general across war-ravaged battle-
fields. At age 27, he had moved into an artist’s studio on the roof of the
United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Here he painted por-
traits of many notables, including presidents Grant, Garfield, McKinley,
Cleveland and Lincoln. He stood with sketchpad in hand just 15 feet from
Abraham Lincoln while the president gave his Gettysburg address. The
sketch resulted in the now-famous Lincoln portrait that hangs in the
1
Oldtimers II, Stories of our Pioneers in the Cass and Crow Wing Lake Region, Vol. 2, Carl A.
Zapffe, Echo Publishing and Printing, Inc, Pequot Lakes, MN, 1998, 32.
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To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

main corridor in the senate wing of the U.S. Capitol. Thorp’s son Clark
became violently ill with a ruptured appendix. Doctors performed an ap-
pendectomy on the boy, reportedly only the second such surgery on re-
cord. Though successful, the anesthetic caused him great harm, resulting
in what doctors labeled galloping consumption. Today, doctors might
call it tuberculosis, and the Colonel sought a place where Clark could re-
cuperate. Thorp had heard many stories about the clear air and pristine
lakes of northern Minnesota and carefully laid out a strategy to win the
homestead rights to a large tract of land near both Hubert and Clark
Lakes.
The family moved to the area in 1895. In 1907 he constructed a Scot-
tish Castle on a hill that overlooked both lakes. But despite the healthy
environment, Clark died soon after. Thorp named Clark Lake, which lies
just north of Lake Hubert, after his son.
Thorp’s aggressive entrepreneurism and agricultural experiments
brought much attention to the area. His extensive use of the railroad to Herb brought his family to live in this wood framed home that sat on the shoreline of Lake
haul building materials and modern conveniences for his own projects Hubert, just north of Brainerd, Minnesota. During most winters, the family moved to Brain-
made the same materials available to the others that began building near- erd, but as soon as possible in the spring, returned to their little piece of heaven on earth.
by. Thorp also won mail delivery by train to the little depot built near the
Hubert Store. healthy place to vacation. Entrepreneurs along the lakes built cabins and
Log cabins began to spring up on the lakes and near the logging lodges to attract the rich and famous who came and spent their money.
roads. Loggers built tarpaper shacks with rough board floors and walls, Some of these rich and famous people built homes in the secluded forests
using lath from the Brainerd lumber mills to cover the joints. The shacks of these beautiful lakes, many today worth hundreds of thousands of
had one or two small windows and tarpaper doors held on by leather dollars.
hinges and string latches. The shacks served as temporary homes for the Pukwana Lodge had greatly benefited from the work of the early pi-
loggers who moved on once they finished clear-cutting an area. oneers and made a perfect home and business for the Resslers. With
The homesteaders that followed had less interest than the loggers Charlie Reed living on Clark Lake, just north of them, Herb narrowed his
did in using the water for transportation. Instead, the lakes provided a search for a homestead. He wanted to live close to his relatives, close
background for their idyllic life, or recreation for the burgeoning vaca- enough to have their companionship for his many hunting and fishing
tioning industry. The logging roads gave them access to the still-remote excursions. His love of hunting and fishing became more important dur-
lake sites and log cabins they had begun building. Once automobiles be- ing the difficult days that lay just ahead.
came more plentiful, homesteaders began converting their cabins into
year round residences. Kletschka’s Family Home
The clear-watered lakes served as a source of both food and fun.
Skies unaffected by city lights laid a blanket of clear blue during the day, Herb found a piece of property on the north side of Lake Hubert that al-
and pitch black, dotted with sparkling stars, by night. Loggers had rav- ready featured a two-story wood-framed home. It proved perfect for his
aged ancient forests, but still, plentiful woods surrounded their home- family, and he negotiated a purchase price of $2,000. The family moved in
steads and gave them unexcelled beauty and a buffer against the cold on May 15, 1926. The monthly mortgage payments of about $12.00 really
winter winds. Wild rice and blueberries, and an abundance of wild game stretched the family budget for many years, until they paid it in full. Da-
provided plentiful sustenance for their daily needs. vid Kopf, Emma’s father who visited the family at Lake Hubert, said the
By 1915, the Brainerd Lakes area had attracted national attention as a annual property taxes of $10.00 were outrageous. He paid no such taxes

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To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

Grandpa David Kopf visited the Kletschkas at Lake Hubert, where Herb and Harold treated
him to some of Minnesota’s best fishing.
The city cousins, Joan and Vernice Ressler loved Lake Hubert where here, they cavort on the
sandy shoreline with Harold, Virginia and Margie.
on his Oklahoma home. Paradise carried a high price; one that Herb was
willing to pay—he never missed a payment.
Isolated from the world, this little house sat on the bottom of a hill
separated from the lake by a sandy beach 160 feet from the water’s edge. A
remnant of the aging woods still stood nearby. It proved to be a perfect
vacation place for their relatives still living in the Twin Cities, especially
Vernice and Joan Ressler who spent many summer days at the Kletschka
home.
A large screen porch faced the lake and provided protection from
Minnesota’s mosquitoes—some consider them to be Minnesota’s real
State Bird. The porch served as Harold’s summer bedroom. He’d lay still
and listen to the sounds of birds settling in for the night, the wailing of a
fox calling for its mate, or an assortment of bugs and crickets buzzing in
their busy activity. Frogs croaked out their own symphony. Occasionally
he’d hear a fish hit the surface of the water where it would snap off a big
dragonfly that got too close, and then splat, fall back into the water. He
heard the loons calling to each other just before they would dive, swim-
ming underwater to catch themselves a fat fish. He heard the train whistle
as it crossed Highway 13 just a quarter-mile away on its journey to and
from Brainerd, and on to the entire world that lay outside Lake Hubert.
In the mornings, he’d wake to birds chirping as they began their busy day,
or his dog Herbie barking as he chased a squirrel up a tree. Harold felt
totally at peace—almost religious.
This same porch served as the site of his first Bible lesson. During
their early days of marriage, Emma and Herb lived their faith without
formal church affiliation. One day, Emma sat down on the porch swing
and lifted little Harold onto her lap to tell him the story of Adam and Eve;
of creation, sin and God. She explained Adam and Eve’s disobedience
and how God’s anger imposed a severe penalty on their sin. She told him
Hell awaited those who weren’t good, but Heaven awaited those who were
good. Harold purposed to never let God get angry with him and he told
her, “I’m going to be good, really good.”
She told him how God fashioned Eve out of Adam’s rib. And about
Michael the Archangel guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden to pre-
vent Adam and Eve from ever returning following their sin of disobedience.
Harold formed an image of this Genesis story in his mind. He looked
off to the east and saw the gate that opened into the woods next door. A
woven wire fence blanketed by a grapevine ran between the two proper-
ties. He pictured the Archangel Michael standing in the gate holding his
flaming sword, protecting the Garden of Eden from the forces of evil try-
ing to break through from the woods. He looked down into the Garden

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To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

of Eden, toward the lake on the lawn where he pictured Adam lying in a
deep sleep as God removed his rib and made Eve. It all seemed very real
to the little boy, and the image never lost its mystic effect on his active
imagination.

Living Without Amenities

Harold’s calm demeanor and gentle touch allowed him to tame a chipmunk. Here he feeds
Blokey, his fury friend.
No one thought it unusual to live in a house that had no electricity or
running water, that relied on a coal stove and fireplace for heat in the
winter and a wood stove for all the cooking. Emma had mastered the
wood stove back in Roswell, and now had one of her own that formed the
center of her realm. Her cooking and baking, all done without heat sen-
sors, electricity and computer chips, became legendary to her children,
extended family and guests.
She kept the wood stove going year round. Besides cooking their
meals, it warmed water for Herb’s morning shave. It heated two huge
round tubs and the big oval copper boiler that served as her “washing
machine,” and the round tubs that doubled as the children’s bathtub on
Saturday night.
Washing clothes meant drowning them in the hot water and agitat-
ing them with a long wooden pole, lifting them out carefully so as not to
burn herself. She vigorously rubbed them up and down on a washboard
using bar soap for detergent, and then dropped them into the steamy hot
water of the rinsing tub. She boiled white clothes in the big oval copper
boiler. Eventually she had a hand-operated wringer to aid her in the rinse
and drying cycles. She carried the freshly washed clothes outside and
hung them on a clothesline to dry, a task she reveled in, whether in the
heat of summer or the freezing cold of winter when the clothes would
quickly freeze.
A coal stove sat in the living room and provided almost all the heat
for the rest of the house. Herb stoked the stove at night with fresh black
chunks taken from the bucket used to carry the coal into the house. The
glowing embers struggled to offset the bone-chilling cold of a Minnesota
winter that tried to penetrate the walls, insulated only by layers of news-
paper. Herb rose early each morning, long before the family aroused, to
stoke it again, reducing the morning bite of sub-zero temperatures outside.
The Kletschka children slept upstairs in one large bedroom accessi-
ble by a narrow staircase that made a 90-degree turn as it headed toward
the room. Heat from the coal stove had to waft up unaided by blowers and
fans and follow that staircase to break into their bedroom. Winter morn-
ings spread a deep chill on the little children who lay under layers of

18 19
To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

warm blankets. Cold air blew through the openings in the floorboards
and leaked in through the single pane windows. Herb eventually built a
second floor on top of the first to reduce cold drafts.
Emma did what she could to reduce the shock of a cold bed on her
little brood. Each night before they went to bed, she warmed flat irons on
the kitchen stove and used them to warm the bed sheets. She did this by
covering the flat irons in flannel and leaving them in the bed, radiating
heat under the covers, at least until the children fell asleep. In the morn-
ing, the children grabbed their clothes and ran as fast as possible to the
warmth of the coal stove downstairs, pulling off their nightclothes and
pulling on their day clothes.
As a young girl, Emma had been told that Santa did not know where
they lived. It was her father’s way of reducing the children’s disappoint-
ment for his inability to afford Christmas presents. As a mother, Emma
decided that Santa would always know where her family lived, and that
there would be something for the children, no matter how little money
she and Herb had for gifts.
On Christmas Eve, after the children went to bed, Herb went into
the woods and cut down a tree suitable for their celebration. That night
he and Emma stayed up until the tree had been decorated and a few pres-
ents lay out underneath. The children woke the next morning, startled by
the beauty of Santa’s creation. It set off an explosion of fantasy in their
young minds. They never had seen a Santa Claus, and so, never ques-
tioned that the jolly old elf really did set up and decorate their tree, laying
out the gifts before flying away.
One year, just before Christmas, Herb took the family into Brainerd.
They heard that Santa would actually appear that day and didn’t want to
miss seeing him in person. Harold stood along the street scanning the
sky for a glimpse of Santa’s sleigh when he heard jingling bells coming
from up the street. Then he saw it: twelve reindeer pulling a big sleigh
with Santa at the reigns—an incredible sight, and even if the sleigh never
flew out of sight, Harold let his imagination fill in the blanks.
Such was Christmas, a fantasy land filled with giving, love and joy,
and though they had previously spied the Christmas decorations in the
attic just off their bedroom, it never occurred to them to question the
magic Santa brought to Christmas. Gifts were meager, but accepted with
great joy. As children, none of them knew of the labor of a loving father
and mother that had lasted until two or three in the morning preparing
their Christmas Day surprise. Theirs was a magic borne out of love.
Harold enjoyed countless imaginary journeys on the back of this rocking horse, built by
Emma rose early Christmas morning to prepare the Christmas meal. his Grandpa Jacob Ressler. Simple pleasures grew into great adventures for the children of
Her previously prepared bounty consisted of dozens of various kinds of his day.

20 21
To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

Christmas cookies, plentiful amounts of divinity, fudge, peanut brittle,
and popcorn balls. The house and tree were bedecked with abundant and
gorgeous holiday decorations. She hosted the day’s festivities for the
Resslers, Reeds and other family members in the area. Her old wood
stove produced a joyous cacophony of sights and smells, and she never
complained about the added burdens Christmas laid on her—she rel-
ished them!
thought nothing of it. In the summer they ran barefoot to preserve the
one pair of shoes they each owned (at least until they got to high school
where they wore tennis shoes only for gym class).
Ruth Remington Shipley found the following poem among the ef-
fects of her parents, Wally and Marge Remington, identified as longtime
and obviously early residents of Clark Lake. The anonymous poem de-
scribes the resourcefulness of families like the Kletschkas during those
difficult days.

Simple Needs Met Simply

No running water in the house meant running to an outhouse for toilet “DO YOU REMEMBER?
needs, bad enough in the summer, but infinitely worse during the cold
winters. They kept a bucket for overnight emergencies, but they tried “When I was a maiden fair,
hard to avoid having to use it. The pages from old Montgomery Wards or Mama made our underwear;
Sears catalogs or sometimes leaves became toilet paper. Harold said, “I With five tots and Pa’s poor pay,
loved country living but never enjoyed the outhouse.” A trip to Minne- How could she buy lingerie?
apolis meant visiting Uncle Emil’s house, which had interior plumbing
and a flush toilet. To a small rural boy, a flush toilet was a big deal, as “Monograms and fancy stitches
were Grandpa Ressler’s chemical toilets at Pukwana Lodge. Were not on our flour sack britches;
Traveling to Minneapolis itself held out great excitement to the Panty waists that stood the test—
Kletschka children. Herb showed up one day at the Lake Hubert School With Gold Medal all across the chest.
and asked the teacher for permission to talk with Virginia outside the
classroom. With the teacher respectfully acquiescing to the request, Herb “Little pants the best of all
took Virginia aside and told her, “Virginia, I just wanted to let you know With a scene I still recall,
that tomorrow we are going to drive to Minneapolis.” Harvesters were gleaning wheat
“Wow! That’s great,” the little girl said. After school, it was all the Right across the little seat.
Kletschka children talked about. Seldom did they leave the Brainerd lakes
area and a trip to Minneapolis held more intrigue and excitement for them “Tougher than a grizzly bear
than modern-day teens looking forward to a study semester in Europe. Was our flour sack underwear!
Harold had one pair of bib-overalls to wear during the week and Plain or fancy three feet wide—
Emma warned him to stay off his knees so as not to wear a hole in them. Stronger than a hippo’s hide.
She darned his socks and patched those pants’ knees when necessary, but
warned him to take care of his things so that they might last longer. Emma “Through the years each Jill and Jack
made shirts for Harold and dresses for the girls from material that had Wore this sturdy garb of sack.
often served other purposes—sheets, flour sacks or someone’s larger, dis- Waste not, want not, we soon learned—
carded clothes. Penny saved, a penny earned.
Flour sacks could be made into bloomers. Emma soaked them in lye
to remove the words boldly printed on the outside: “Occident, Eventually, “Bedspreads, curtain, tea towels too,
Why Not Now?” Sometimes the words still showed through. And flour Tablecloths, to name a few.
sacks made great dishtowels as well. But the best beyond compare
The younger girls always inherited their sister’s hand-me-downs and Was our flour sack underwear.”

22 23
To Change the Heart of Man
Preparing to trudge through the snow during the winter, Harold
pulled on big canvas boots with rubber soles that had metal buckles to
keep them closed. One Christmas, his parents surprised him with leather
boots that pulled high up on his calves and had a slot for a jackknife—
quite a prize! To protect his head from temperatures often 20 degrees or
more below zero, he slipped on his leather aviator’s cap, grabbing the
straps to pull down the earflaps, and buttoning it under his chin. A wool
muffler covered his face, and wool mittens his hands. A wool jacket cov-
ered his sweater that served to keep his body heat in and the cold out.
There were no down-filled or nylon parkas, insulated boots or hot-finger
gloves, and if there had been, Kletschkas had no money with which to
purchase them. And the cotton long johns stayed on all winter. Changing
to BVDs in the spring became a ritual of deliverance from the long winter
months.
Abundant Food
An icebox sat on the back porch. Lake Hubert usually froze over by
Thanksgiving. Shortly after that, men came with their huge ice-block cut-
ting tools and hauled away block after block of pure clean ice out of the
lake. They shipped tons of ice away to nearby towns and distant locations
across the nation. Once finished for the day, they left pits in the icy sur-
face that served as ideal play places for the little Kletschkas unless the
men had poked holes in them to let the water rise again. The family stored
a supply of the 50-pound ice chunks in sawdust, which served as an insu-
lator against the heat, in the shed that stood in the back yard. Before they
could be used, the ice blocks were washed clean of the sawdust and then
chipped into smaller chunks that Harold and his siblings carried into the
house to put into the icebox. If they had earned favor that day, Emma let
them take one of the small ice chunks and drop it into a glass, adding in-
gredients to make delicious lemonade or nectar.
The house had a hand-operated water pump built into a sink in the
kitchen. Another one sat on the back porch where Emma washed clothes
in the summer time. Underneath the kitchen sink sat a slop pail to catch
the water overflow and garbage from the day’s preparations. Emma’s
kitchen chores were not complete until that slop bucket had been dumped
outside, on the other side of a little hill behind the shed. That hill provid-
ed a special slippery challenge for the diminutive woman during the win-
ter, but she learned that by strewing ashes from the coal stove on a path
up the hill, she got the traction she needed to keep her from falling. Ev-
erything had a use, even ashes.
24
Foundation of Family and Faith
Emma tended a large vegetable garden that provided a staple diet to
supplement the wild game and fish Herb regularly brought home. Emma
loved working in the garden almost as much as working in the kitchen.
Like other women and girls of her day, she always wore a dress. Sitting in
the garden pulling table onions or beans, Emma made a basket out of her
dress to hold her bounty while she picked and cleaned another handful,
often sampling the fresh produce right from the garden. She stored pro-
duce in the root cellar that sat just under the kitchen, accessible through
a trap door on the back porch, and she canned as much as she could, pro-
viding a good supply of healthy food for her family during the long win-
ter months.
Every autumn, Emma headed to the shed to retrieve the yard rake.
She loved raking the colorful dead leaves into neat rows where she would
set afire one end of the piled leaves. As she raked each row the fire crept
along the burning leaves and sent pungent smoke hurtling toward the
skies, a smell that excited the children, and a sign that winter lurked
nearby.
Herb enjoyed hunting and trapping, both for sport and to provide a
regular and varied diet for his family. He often ordered his life around the
various hunting seasons, even scheduling his sales trips to coincide with
concentrations of wild game. Nothing interfered with hunting season.
Deer, rabbit, and the fat gray squirrels common to Minnesota provided
many meals. For a time, the Kletschkas raised white rabbits as a food
source in a cage behind the garage. There were several species of ducks
that congregated on the lakes, ponds and swamps in the area and star-
lings were plentiful—Blackbird pie was one of Harold’s favorites. They
harvested wild rice from the rice beds that lay nearby. And of course
there were always fish to be caught from the clear, clean waters of Lake
Hubert. Emma knew how to prepare all of these to the delight of her family.
Still, Harold’s favorite was chicken. Though the family seldom if ever
kept chickens on hand, they could buy live chickens and bring them
home in gunnysacks. Later, Emma beheaded and plucked the chickens,
preparing a tasty fresh meal of fried chicken, and often soup.
Harold especially loved chicken feet soup, a task that required Emma
to strip the skin off the feet, exposing the tasty, though scant flesh attached
to the tiny bones. Harold savored the soup on his tongue, and Emma’s
sacrifice of time in making it burned into his spirit.
Emma rose early each day to prepare a hearty breakfast for her
family. Harold loved her oatmeal, eggs and bacon or ham; her toast made
on the wire rack on the wood stove. His favorite was hot cocoa with a
marshmallow in it. They spread oleo on their bread, though it came un-
25
To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

Uncle Emil and Herb stand in front of the duck boat, the day’s shoot hanging between them.
In the back stand friend Jim Brown, Harold, and Virgil Ross.

colored. Minnesota’s farmers refused to allow colored margarine to com-

Fishing, even though a great family sport, also brought delicious meals to Emma’s table. She
and Herb loved spending time on Lake Hubert, a lake that often yielded trophy-sized catches
like this 24 pound northern.
pete with butter, but no one liked eating white oleo. This meant someone
had to break the little color perle in the oleo package and knead the veg-
etable spread until it turned yellow, like butter.
Early on, milk became Harold’s favorite drink. It sold for five cents a
quart but before long, spiked to seven cents, requiring the family to dras-
tically adjust its budget to ensure a continuous flow of the good tasting
drink. The milkman left the milk on the back stoop, and on cold winter
days, the cream that had separated from the milk and sat at the neck of
the bottle would freeze, pushing its way up through the cardboard stop-
per, forming an icy white crown.
Following breakfast each day, Emma began her baking. Her bread
gained its own notoriety. As the odor from its baking wafted out the back
door it filled the outside air with an aroma that enticed passersby and
neighbors to stop to beg a piece or a loaf of their own. There were more
than loaves of bread, though. Everyone remembers her scrumptious deep
fried bread dough and delicious homemade pies. On Sundays and for
special occasions, Emma made ice cream. The children took turns churn-
ing the ice cream maker, and when it was done, each took a lick off the
mixing paddle; it was a much-anticipated treat.

26 27
To Change the Heart of Man
Since Herb’s sales work often took him away from the family for days
at a time, Emma and the children were left doing the heavy work. Since
Emma loved splitting wood, the physical nature of the work was no bother,
but the added chores had to be squeezed into an already full day.
When it came to physical labor, Harold offered only minimal help,
but even in log-splitting, showed ingenuity. He simply split the log where
it lay rather than carry it to the splitting block. The pieces fell away onto
the ground. “Think about it,” he said. “It takes less steps to split them
where they lay, rather than carry them to the block and then carry the
pieces to the pile.”
Not yet finished with high school science, much less medical school,
13-year old Harold found that his dream of doctoring had already served
a useful purpose. During one afternoon his cousin Joan Ressler visited
the Kletschkas. Margie and Joan busied themselves with splitting and
stacking wood.
“Where’s Harold?” Joan asked, wondering how he got out of this tire-
some chore.
“Oh, he’s probably back in the woods with the birds and animals,
whistling, because he likes nature,” Margie answered.
“Whistling?” Joan remembered Harold as an excellent whistler, “but
shouldn’t he be helping us split wood?” the frustrated cousin asked.
“No, because he’s going to be a doctor and has to protect his hands,”
Margie explained.
“Oh, okay,” Joan said shrugging her shoulders, now enlightened.
Joan’s sister, Vernice, actually benefited from Harold’s love of medi-
cine. Vernice had set her eyes on a nursing career, but there were no
school counselors to steer her in the right direction. Harold took special
interest in her, advising her on the right courses to take and making
proper preparation for her career. In later years, finances kept Vernice
from achieving her dream, but she never forgot how Harold willingly
helped her in this way.
Two-Rut Road
Dirt roads consisting of two worn ruts with grass growing down the mid-
dle carried most of the traffic of that day. One such two-rut road, U.S. 19,
now Minnesota Highway 371, came out the 12 miles from Brainerd and
served as the homesteaders’ access to the “big city.” Another, now County
Road 13, ran just north of the Kletschka house and the two roads con-
nected on the west, about two miles from their home.
Traveling to Brainerd was an adventure filled with perils and frustra-
28
Foundation of Family and Faith
tions. Portions of the road sat at lake level and during high water or heavy
rain became muddy snares for the old cars, trucks and trailers. Resort
owners made the journey to buy supplies for their businesses, and resi-
dents stocked up every so often. As they headed back from Brainerd,
trailers heavy-laden with supplies, they frequently broke their trailer
tongues on the rough, wet and treacherous roads. Even when dry, cars
meeting on the narrow road had to pull well out of the ruts and ran the
risk of sliding off into the rough shoulders.
Lakefront and resort development demanded that the single-lane
road be widened, then graveled and soon, paved. Herb fought for and
won paving for County Road 13 as well.
In the late 1800s, railroaders had laid track just north of the two-rut
road near the Kletschka home, and the M&I Railroad’s Lake Hubert Sta-
tion sat about a quarter-mile east of there. The Lake Hubert Store sat
nearby. (M&I stood for Minnesota and International, though residents
called it the “Mosquito and Insect” line.) Tony Bohlke, Lake Hubert
Store’s first operator, earned an extra $5.00 a month hauling the mail from
the M&I Depot to his store where residents came to pick up their share.
Helen and Ernest Cate eventually bought the store and ran it for
many years. The store became a center of lake activity, as residents, resort
and camp operators retrieved their mail and a few necessities, and guests
swam at its beach or launched boats from its dock. (Today, the M&I De-
pot, which later became Northern Pacific’s, sits on land donated by Emma
Kletschka, several hundred feet west of its original location. The Cote
family established an endowment to maintain it.)
The train depot provided city dwellers and vacationers easier access
to Pukwana Lodge, the boys’ and girls’ camps and later, to Minnewawa
Lodge on Clark Lake. Minnewawa Lodge became the home of a hockey
school owned and operated for a time by Herb Brooks, the 1980 and 2002
U.S. Olympic Hockey Team coach. To supplement their income, Virginia
Kletschka Ross worked for Brooks as a waitress and he occasionally vis-
ited at Pukwana, at one time inquiring about buying it from Virginia and
Virgil Ross. Pukwana’s grand porch offered Brooks privacy, peace and a
grand scenic view.
During the mid-1930s, Lake Hubert’s water level dropped precipi-
tously, perhaps from the drought that ravaged much of America. It be-
came a great concern to the homesteaders and resorters. Herb spear-
headed a plan that resulted in the opening of a ditch between Clark Lake
and Lake Hubert. He pushed for the installation of a screen to keep the
rough fish from Clark out of Hubert, but lost to government agents who
declared it a natural waterway.
29
To Change the Heart of Man
The Lake Hubert Store lay several hundred feet east of the Kletschka house. It served as a
central gathering place for tourists and residents.
At the centennial celebration of the Lake Hubert Train Depot in 1996 the plaque, donated by
the Kletschkas was unveiled. Emma donated the land allowing the depot to be saved. From
left to right, Barbara, Margie, Virginia, Emma, and Harold.
30
Foundation of Family and Faith
Once the ditch had been built, Lake Hubert’s water levels rose, but
its water became muddied from the Clark Lake runoff. The rising lake
level cost the Kletschkas a good deal of their sandy beach as the water
crept closer to the house. Yet the house still sat atop a grassy knoll over-
looking the water. The loss of their beach cost them some play area, but
they preserved the beautiful scenic setting of their house.
Herb built a long dock to stretch out into the lake, giving his chil-
dren a place from which to fish, swim or launch a rowboat. He installed a
diving raft that he towed out quite a distance from the dock. The heavy
raft anchored itself in the water as the four massive legs sunk into the
sandy lake bottom. The children spent countless hours on the dock and
diving raft each summer. Virginia, a graceful diver and excellent swim-
mer, could swim from the raft to the Lake Hubert Store, a quarter-mile
away, and even across the lake to Pukwana, a half-mile away. Harold
earned both his junior and senior life-saving badges, but could never
compete with Virginia. Every fall, Herb laboriously pulled the raft from
the water and towed it and the dock back to shore, protecting them from
the ice that threatened to break them into pieces.
What Depression?
America and the world suffered mightily during the Great Depression
that began on a dark October day in 1929. Wall Street brokers who had
gone broke jumped from windows to their death. Bankers lost everything,
leaving themselves and their clients penniless. Farmers struggled to sell
their crops and livestock, and a searing drought added to their misery.
The whole world seemed enveloped in distress. But the folks up on Lake
Hubert really noticed nothing much different. They had been poor. They
were poor. Everybody was poor, and it wasn’t the poor people who lost
everything. They still could hunt, trap, fish and grow their vegetables and
beyond food, they had few other earthly needs.
Family portraits being a luxury easily done without, Herb had to
make an occupational change. Emma had given birth to Marjorie Lea at
home on July 22, 1928, increasing the family’s material needs.
Henry Mills, Herb’s cousin, owned Mills Motor Inc., a Ford-Lincoln-
Mercury dealership in Brainerd. Mills offered him a job as a commis-
sioned auto salesman, a position he readily accepted.
Henry’s brother Stewart owned Lively Auto, another Brainerd deal-
ership that primarily sold General Motors products, though they also
sold Rockne, Terraplane, Studebaker, Plymouth, Dodge and DeSoto.
Lively also serviced autos and sold gasoline to area service stations.
31
To Change the Heart of Man
The Mills family were cousins to the Kletschkas. In 1936, they pose with Herb and others who
worked for them selling autos. Herb Kletschka found employment there during the Great
Depression. From left to right: Claude Holden, Ed Hicks, Henry Mills, Bob Hunt, Art Ander-
son, Herb Kletschka, and Stewart Mills.
From this modest auto sales location in the 1930s, grew the modern Mills Motor now located
in Baxter, Minnesota, just on the edge of Brainerd. The new facility is among the world’s larg-
est, serving customers from across Minnesota and the country.
32
Foundation of Family and Faith
Rural service stations often sat along remote roads and highways, far
from towns and delivery meant long drives in gasoline tanker trucks over
rough roads. Occasionally, Herb delivered gasoline for Lively, and at least
once took Harold with him. The long drive created a diversion of great
interest for Harold. It was a huge treat for the boy and father, giving them
much quality time together, a too-rare commodity given the long hours
Herb worked to care for his family. As they drove, the father pointed out
wild game and scenic phenomena to the inquisitive lad.
Herb’s job at Mills allowed him to purchase cars, that he used as
demonstrators, at a special price, much to the delight of neighbors who
worked in town but couldn’t afford to drive. As many as eight of them
walked to the Kletschka home and rode to town with him, waiting until
he finished work to ride home again. Sometimes he drove used cars home
so that he could show them to prospective buyers. If those cars had run-
ning boards, and if the inside was filled with riders, some of the hitchhik-
ers had to stand on the running boards, hanging on to the door posts.
To survive as a commissioned salesman during the depression re-
quired creativity. Herb became a horse trader—literally. He made side
deals, bartering goods for other goods that became cash for a farmer or
businessman so they could buy a car. Herb traded a pig for hay; traded
hay for a horse; sold the horse for cash and took the cash to the first farm-
er to pay for his car. Mills Motor eventually put a statue of a horse in their
used car lot and proudly advertised that they were horse-traders.
The Kletschkas did well despite the depression. Herb was overjoyed
one year that he had made $2,000 and so, had to pay income tax. He felt
proud and thankful for belonging to a family that cared for their own,
and invested back into their community.
The Mills Down the Road
The Mills family was, as were most families of that time, very patriotic.
Henry eventually became a Major General in the Minnesota National
Guard. Stewart’s twin sons, Henry and Stewart Jr., both joined the army
reserves after high school, serving in the 194th Tank Battalion out of
Brainerd. At the outbreak of the Korean War, Henry and Stewart Jr. were
assigned together on active duty at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Later, the
army sent them to Germany for two years. After the war, they both re-
turned to central Minnesota.
Stewart Sr. took advantage of an innovative marketing idea, offering
discounts on automotive and other merchandise to area businesses and
farmers. A federal “fair trade” law restricted retail price merchandise dis-
33
To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

counts only to fleet operators of gasoline fueled equipment such as trac-

tors and trucks. Farmers could qualify by adding together their family
auto, pick-up truck, combines and other farm equipment to make up the
minimum of five vehicles required to be designated a fleet. Fleet sales
also meant selling merchandise at discount prices to service stations, im-
plement stores and retail stores. Stewart adopted the name “Fleet Whole-
sale Supply” for his new business and opened a store in Wadena, Minne-
sota in 1955. (Wadena sits about 45 miles west of Brainerd, the Mills’
family’s hometown.)
Stewart’s two sons continued the business just like their father, and
opened their own Mills Fleet Farm Store in Marshfield, an agricultural
city in central Wisconsin. Once federal laws that prohibited retail price
discounting were repealed in 1964, they began expanding their business
and today, operate nearly 30 Mills Fleet Farm stores in Minnesota, Wis-
consin and North Dakota. Most of their stores sit close to agricultural or
rural markets, though they have begun to build suburban stores in recent
years. Mills Fleet Farm sells a wide range of quality merchandise to
everyone. Barbara and Margie met up with their cousins, Henry and Stewart Mills II, at a Brainerd
Eventually, the boys also bought Mills Motor Inc. and Lively Auto. High School reunion in 2005. Margie and the Mills graduated from Brainerd High School
together in 1946.
Today, Mills Motor’s huge auto showroom and cavernous maintenance
building, larger than many major city facilities, stands at the end of a
string of Mills’ businesses including a Mills Fleet Farm on Highway 371 hard to provide for his family and Emma. She was also a hard worker and
in Baxter, the first town just west of Brainerd. Their state-of-the-art high terrific cook.” (“We lived in heaven,” Harold said, reflecting on this years
tech specialty auto body repair shop, Mills Body Works, rivals interna- later.)
tional competitors. Helen Mills, mother of the twin Mills brothers, and Emma became
The Mills’ family business success is built on the values learned grow- good friends. At her 100th birthday in 2000, Helen continued as the presi-
ing up in Brainerd and on the lakeshores in Nisswa, just north of Lake dent of the Mills’ family business. During the Mills’ family 100th birthday
Hubert. The Mills family remains fiercely loyal to the lakes area, locating party for Helen, 99-year old Emma presented her a gift of cookies she had
their world headquarters in the nondescript former Lively Auto sales baked for the occasion.
building in downtown Brainerd. And they continue to help preserve the
unique heritage of the Brainerd community by buying and restoring area
Caring for Others and for Life Itself
property and creating jobs. Harold said that the Mills family is a great
example of the citizens of that day. Through the depression they remained Herb always felt compelled to help those in need.
self-reliant, and despite adversities, they maintained the high principles Much to the chagrin of Emma, he would occasionally pick up hitch-
that characterized people of that time and place. hikers, some of whom, as he said, were “down on their luck.” Herb stood
Stewart Mills Jr. remembers well Alzada Ressler, and Pukwana. Za- 5' 9", and weighed about 130 pounds and for his size, was a strong man.
die, as he called her, was his grandmother Mae’s sister; the Mills children Yet, given his physique, he won battles with his wits, not his fists, and giv-
spent countless hours at Pukwana and visiting the Kletschkas at their ing rides to hitchhikers made Emma nervous. One time he brought the
Lake Hubert home. “They were ‘Jack Pine Savages’,” Stewart kidded about hitchhiker home and insisted that he spend the night with the family. The
the Kletschkas—those noble and industrious people who lived deep in next morning Emma fed him a good breakfast and Herb carted him off
the woods and survived by ingenuity and hard work. “Herb worked very down the road.

34 35
To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

On one of his sales trips during the aftermath of a heavy snowfall,

Herb spotted a human hand sticking up from behind a snow bank in the
ditch alongside the road. Stopping his car, he got out and went down to
the ditch, finding a man nearly covered with snow with just his arm and
hand sticking up out of the snow bank. Herb pulled the man from the
snow bank and took him to a neighbor’s house where they summoned
help. Soon after, a snowplow passed by the man’s stalled car and covered
it with snow. The man could have been buried for days and no one would
have known it. Herb saw this Samaritan’s act not as something noble, but
as the type of duty any man owed to another.
Community members had to pull together too, just to provide bare
necessities. Even doctors were often poor. The Kletschkas all suffered
from allergies and to help Dr. Carl Anderson, their family M.D., Herb
chose to buy him the allergy testing equipment needed to care for his
own family. He gave the equipment to the doctor, instructing him to pro-
vide free allergy testing to any that needed it.
Though he hunted often and was an excellent shot, Herb never be-
lieved in senseless killing of animals, even for sport. Anything he shot
became food for the family.
The children saw evidence of Herb’s care for vulnerable life one day
after he and Emma returned from Minneapolis. While driving in Min-
neapolis, they had spotted an injured pigeon lying by the road.
This so bothered Herb that he drove around the block and returned
to the distressed pigeon. He got out and carefully lifted its broken body
off the street, taking it into the car. He and Emma brought the pigeon
home to Lake Hubert where he nursed it back to health and it became a
family pet. Herb built it a home on the side of the shed but it insisted on
living in the garage. Each day that pigeon flew to the highway to greet
Herb, then flew alongside his car all the way home.
The pigeon met a tragic death, though, at the hands of its healer. One
day, unknown to him, the pigeon had roosted atop one of the tires on his
car. Herb started the car and backed out of the garage, crushing the poor
pigeon under the tire. He felt heartsick.
The apparent conflict between the hunter father and the tender-
hearted father seemed perfectly understandable to the children. God
gave animals and fish to man to sustain life, but he gave man the respon-
sibility to exercise good stewardship of those animals. Though human
life always took first place in God’s creation, still all life meant something
and even the life of a pigeon had great value.
One day, Herb retrieved a pigeon that had been injured. Herb cared for that bird, and for
months there-after, it followed him around as if he had become the bird’s best friend.

36 37
To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

Modernization on its Way

Around 1934, electric wires had begun to be strung out near Lake Hubert.
Most families used kerosene or Aladdin lamps for light.
Kletschka’s house became one of the first in the area to have electric-
ity. Their simple system consisted of one power line that had been strung
from the pole out on the road to the house, and an electric wire strung
into the living room. That wire hung down from the center of the living
room ceiling and Herb attached a light socket to its end. This provided
the house with one electric light source. The family marveled at the sight,
and so did the neighbors who came from all around to see it; besides,
Emma gave them homemade cookies and other refreshments. Herb
thrilled them all by screwing in a 500-watt bulb that shed more light in
one place than any of them had seen before, save the sunlight itself.
Telephones remained rare. To use the phone meant walking, or run-
ning in an emergency, to the Lake Hubert store a quarter-mile away.
There they could use the pay phone and pick up a few groceries at the
same time. Telegrams were delivered to the store and then to the area
homes.
Harold remembered the time Herb Anderson’s wife Florice had gone
into labor. The Andersons lived on Gull Lake, west of Lake Hubert, and
he became near legendary as a pioneer during that lake’s development as
a tourist mecca. People knew Herb Anderson as “Mr. Gull Lake,” the ar-
ea’s premier fishing guide, a hard drinker and bear of a man. Despite be-
ing exact opposites, Herb Anderson and Herb Kletschka became fast
friends as did their wives, Florice and Emma. The smallish and gentle
Kletschka man became the only one who could safely retrieve Anderson
during one of his drinking episodes. To rouse Dr. Rosenfield to assist in
Jeannette’s birth, Anderson ran more than three miles to a store to make
the phone call. Many times the babies came before the doctor did. Such
were communications and medical care of the day.

Herb’s Retirement Plan

In 1935, Herb began what would become a significant part of his retire-
ment plan—profiting from the vacationing industry. He decided to build
rental cabins on adjoining property.
He met with Brownlee “Brownie” Cote, the man who owned large
tracts of land on Lake Hubert and the two haggled over price and prop-
Herb Anderson, left, poses with his best friend Herb Kletschka beside their trophy. Brainerd
erty boundaries. Harold watched them squatting down up near the area lakes residents saw Anderson as near legendary as an outdoorsman, guide, and a giant of
where the ditch would eventually be dug, drawing lines in the dirt and a man.

38 39
To Change the Heart of Man
Herb bought lakeshore lots on Lake Hubert, next to the Kletschka house. On them, over sev-
eral years, he built “ultra-modern lake homes” as a way of building an estate for retirement.
finally, agreeing to a deal. Herb bought the adjoining lakefront property
in 1939, with more than 350 feet of shoreline, for $50, a princely sum in
those days. The same lakefront property today sells for more than $2,000
a lakefront foot (more than $700,000 at today’s sales price).
Herb planned to build a modernized cabin. Rustic would sell to city
dwellers, but not backwoods living. He needed a loan to build the cabin,
and tried several places and individuals with little luck. His persistence
paid off when the Lumbermen’s Finance Corporation agreed to the deal.
Herb began to build. To save money and as time allowed, he did
much of the finishing work himself. He provided many modern ameni-
ties to his guests including electricity and indoor plumbing. The Kletsch-
kas installed an electric pump in the basement of their house to send the
“running water” to the cabin. Guests cooked meals on a Skelgas stove.
The family cared little that the new cabin came equipped with ame-
nities lacking in their own house. Emma still preferred her wood stove.
Guests saw her ability to bake on that old stove as a mystery.
“How can you tell when the temperature is right to bake your bread?”
one woman asked.
“Oh that’s easy. I just open the oven door and feel the heat on my
face. If it’s hot enough, the oven is ready,” she explained.
Herb believed the best way to build a successful rental business was
40
Foundation of Family and Faith
to bend over backwards to serve his guests. He refused to take advantage of
them, offering both a fair rental price and a quality vacation experience.
Within a few years, Herb had the first cabin paid off and built two
more. Emma and the girls added to their regular chores the cleaning and
maintenance of those buildings, but did it cheerfully, understanding the
long term needs of the family. Especially appreciated, though, was the
Conroy family from Kansas City. Mr. Conroy had a successful coffee
company and, more importantly, a live-in maid who took care of the
Conroys’ personal needs. Herb remodeled the cabin, making a bedroom
out of the garage to house the visiting maid.
Herb eventually tried remodeling and modernizing their old frame
house at Lake Hubert, but every effort uncovered a new problem. He
managed to add Skelgas for some of the cooking in the mid-1940s (Emma
kept using her wood stove, too) and a telephone in the early 1950s, com-
plete with eight party lines. In 1953, Herb built a modern three-bedroom
rambler on the property and tore down the old house. Emma, reluctantly,
but finally, gave up the old wood stove for a modern electric appliance.
Herb continued selling cars until World War II, when he won a war-
time job at Northern Pump in Minneapolis. The family moved to the cit-
ies, though Emma stayed at the Lake Hubert home during the summer.
Following the war Herb began selling stainless steel cookware for
Steelco, and eventually became their national sales leader. He had long
suffered with stomach disorders, and a doctor advised him to quit cook-
ing with aluminum cookware, changing to safer stainless steel. He did,
and his stomach felt much better, making him a committed believer. His
personal experience combined with his high level of integrity drove him
to advise his customers about the physical perils associated with alumi-
num cookware, even if they could not afford to buy from him. He told
them to buy glass, enamel, anything but aluminum. In all his business
dealings, the truth always came before a sale.
Herb’s concerns about health, however, went beyond cookware. He
had learned about the grave health risks that result from water fluorida-
tion. Herb became very active in the anti-fluoridation movement, want-
ing fluoride kept out of water treatment systems, and especially out of
drinking water. In later years, when Harold learned more of the truth
about the health risks of fluoride, he joined Herb and many others in the
anti-fluoride cause.
The horse-trader auto salesman, who now sold pots and pans often
created a way to help those who lacked the money to make a down pay-
ment, required to gain the greatest discount. Herb often paid it himself.
His natural trust of people resulted in zero defaults.
41
To Change the Heart of Man
So successful was he in selling stainless steel cookware, that he and
three other men started their own cookware business. They sold the Seal-
O-Matic brand and did very well with it.
Finally able to relax a bit, Herb and Emma took their first extended
vacation in 1952, and that resulted from a gift Harold was able to provide
once he entered medical practice. Herb had himself yearned to become a
doctor, but his troubled health and paucity of financial resources made
that impossible. The thought of Harold being a doctor thrilled the man.
He instilled many values in his son, always emphasizing that man’s call-
ing was to make things better for others through hard work, honest deal-
ings and taking care of one’s self and family. “We don’t work for money,
Harold. We work to help people.”
Now fairly successful, with the cabins regularly rented out, Herb re-
tired on April 26, 1960, but not in the way that he had imagined. That day,
following a retirement celebration in the Twin Cities, he and Emma drove
to Brainerd. They stopped for a few minutes at Margie’s home and then
headed out to the lake. They drove a back route through Merrifield, head-
ing west on County Road 13.
As they neared home, Herb noticed that some men had gathered at
the ditch that connected Clark Lake to Lake Hubert. They may have been
poaching or doing something else questionable, but whatever it was,
Herb decided to investigate and got out of the car. Still dressed in his best
suit, he went down to the ditch to talk to the four men. Emma worriedly
watched as her diplomatic husband approached them.
An argument ensued and one of the men grabbed him by the tie and
threw him hard to the ground. Emma jumped from the car, ran scream-
ing toward the men and heard one of them say to Herb, “If you get up, I’ll
knock you down again.”
Upon seeing the distraught, frantic woman coming toward them, the
men fled from the ditch. Lifting himself up, and without having retaliated,
Herb and Emma returned to the car and headed for home.
Herb called the sheriff and then went toward the bedroom to change
into his work clothes. He told Emma he wanted to go back up to the ditch.
“I don’t think you should do that, they might come back and hurt
you again. Wait for the sheriff.”
“Oh, Emma, you take everything so to heart,” Herb answered, the
last words he spoke. She heard him fall minutes later and found him in
the bedroom. He had died from a heart attack.
The family knew the identity of the men who had assaulted Herb, an
attack that resulted in his death. Herb Anderson grew so angry he threat-
ened to chase them down and avenge his friend’s death. The family did
42
Foundation of Family and Faith
not hold revenge in their heart, and so, refused to retaliate or reveal their
names; neither did they press charges.
Father Harry Larkin conducted the funeral for Herbert Leland
Kletschka at St. Christopher’s Catholic Church in Nisswa. Though Emma
and her children felt deep sorrow from their loss, they knew that ulti-
mately God would render whatever proper judgment was due.
Emma, Herb’s Queen
Emma couldn’t possibly keep up the cabins and the rest of the property
by herself. Barbara and the two older girls had worked alongside her for
years, but they had their own lives now. Emma sold the cabins, but kept
the family house on Lake Hubert.
The sudden loss of a loved spouse leaves both the home and heart
empty. Emma missed Herb. The memories of their life together at Lake
Hubert often moved her to tears, especially knowing he had died in their
bedroom. Emma wanted to continue living at the lake during the sum-
mer, but not alone. The first summer, her daughter Margie, along with
Margie’s children Ken, Deborah, and Tamara, stayed with her.
As the next summer approached, Emma returned to Lake Hubert
from living out east with Harold. Margie picked her up one evening to
take her to town. As they drove, Emma asked, “Do you think Kenny
would care to stay with me at the lake?” “That’s an answer to his prayer,”
Margie said.
“But don’t tell him that he has to do it,” Emma said.
“I won’t say a word,” she answered.
After hearing Emma’s request, Kenny begged excitedly, “Can I ma?
Can I?”
While Margie and Emma discussed it, Ken ran to his room, packed
his bag and headed to and got in the car, waiting to go, worried that his
Mother might say, “No.”
Ken, who was named James Kenneth Peterson Jr., spent eight sum-
mers until high school graduation at the lake with Grandma K. His great-
est trauma was the day each fall, when Emma moved back to live with
Harold and he had to go back to school in Brainerd.
His second greatest trauma came as a result of Emma’s driving habits.
Driving made Emma nervous. On one trip back from Pukwana, Ken sat
frightened as he noticed Emma driving 30 mph. As she “sped” down the
road, she kept pointing to various sites along the way. “Kenny, look at
that!” she would say, excitedly gesturing at something in a field, or near a
lake. She just wanted to share her joy with the young boy. The nervous
43
To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

boy said, “Grandma, you scare me half to death.” Jim “Ken” Peterson Jr.
went on to become a Crow Wing County Deputy Sheriff who, in the
course of his normal duties, sometimes chases down cars that fly down
the highway at speeds in excess of 100 mph.
All those years together, Herb treated Emma as his queen, and the
children learned those lessons well. They all placed her on a pedestal,
considering her household and mothering duties as the highest calling of
womanhood. Washing, ironing, cleaning, cooking, canning, teaching,
mending, tilling and tending the garden, splitting wood, mowing lawns,
raking leaves, and providing preventive medicine were her regular duties.
She delighted in them. At her ninetieth birthday party, Harold said the
best present they could give her that she would appreciate would be a
load of laundry to wash. The children had preserved the “laundry stick”
Emma had used as she washed clothes in the old copper boiler. They
mounted that stick on a plaque, and added an engraving that read, “A
Memorialization of this Wand of Love of Our Mother who has been the
Heart and Soul of Our Kletschka Family.”
She never lost her love of work. Upon recovering from a serious Even at age 81, Emma helped remove more than 17 inches of snow, still doing her share of
medical condition at Mayo Clinic late in 2000, the 98-year old woman the chores. After a physical, at age 98, Emma asked the doctor if she was still allowed to rake
asked the doctors if she would now be able to rake leaves. leaves. She lived the adage that “a little work never hurt anyone.”
Emma had many of her own medical problems. She’d get “three-day”
migraine headaches that caused her to vomit. But she had to keep on pro- items for the elderly sisters or those who are ill. The sisters will keep
viding for her family. Years later she discovered that dietary changes you in their daily prayers, knowing how important you have been in
stopped the headaches—onions were the villain. all of our lives.
She developed an abscess on her tonsils that required a painful ton- We wish you much happiness this Christmas season and want
sillectomy, all done under local anesthesia. The doctor suggested the ton- to thank you for all the joy you bring to us all. You have lived a re-
sillectomy because she had been desperately ill with quinsy all summer markable life with your strong faith and ideals, always putting the
long, and he feared it might happen again. Since the doctors lacked mod- needs of others before your own. You bring a richness of family love
ern antibiotics to stop infection, quinsy often proved fatal. (Quinsy is a by showing us what is truly important; you hold all of us together.
condition in which pus forms behind the tonsils, causing them to swell. Because of your kind and generous heart, you are so easy to love.
This is a result of streptococcal infection and if not cured, the pus sacs You, like the sisters of the Poor Clares, have always reached out
could burst and cause infection to spread throughout the body.) But to help people expecting nothing in return. For this reason we all felt
Emma had much more life to give and so, recovered from this surgery, this Christmas gift is a reflection of your goodness. You will always
continued on to bring stability, love and service to her family. be close to us in our hearts.
During her 99th Christmas celebration, Emma’s grandchildren gave
her a gift that brought tears to her eyes, but spoke volumes about this
Emma’s one-hundredth birthday party was a huge celebration at the
great little woman. She read:
Boathouse, a restaurant at the Quarterdeck Resort on Gull Lake. More
Dear Grandma K: than 125 people gathered to celebrate her life. Emma wore a long satin
Our gift to you this year is the gift of prayer from the Sisters of burgundy dress, and Harold crowned her with a beautiful tiara. She sat in
the Poor Clares. We have all made contributions to the Saint Clare a special chair decorated by her family – her “throne,” from which she
Monastery in your name. They are using these gifts to help purchase “reigned.” A video, with a music bed that played “The Most Beautiful Girl

44 45
To Change the Heart of Man Foundation of Family and Faith

Herb and Emma Kletschka, with Barbara, sit in front of Virginia, Harold and Marjorie, in
this 1940 family photo, taken in Brainerd, Minnesota.

in the World,” highlighted Emma’s ninety-ninth year and continuously

played on a TV set in the corner. Father George Zeck, of St. Christopher’s
Catholic Church in Nisswa, offered the Saturday evening Mass for her,
and he composed his homily around her life, relating it to the Gospel of
the day. Father Zeck had Harold bring Emma to the front of the congre-
gation, where he gave her a special blessing.
At a dinner in her honor following the Mass, this author read a poem,
Emma’s First Century of Love, commissioned by Harold. The poem told
her life’s story. On behalf of the family, Harold made remarks reviewing
her life.
Barbara picked out a rose from among those Emma had received for Emma and Herb are surrounded by their children, as toddlers. From the top right,
her birthday. She placed it next to Emma at the dinner table. Barbara said Virginia, Harold, Marjorie, and Barbara.
the rose represented Herb. Father Zeck, sitting across from Emma, said,
“If that’s Herb, then I’ll bless it.” Emma had the family spray the rose to pre- for all with whom they come in contact, build character into their children.
serve it as a permanent reminder of Herb’s, and the family’s love for her. God, through distress and delight, triumph and tragedy, gave Emma
and Herb Kletschka the building blocks from which they created four
Harold’s Character strong children. For Harold, that meant constantly searching for answers
to human frailties, both physical and spiritual, to change the heart of man.
A creative and intelligent man whose character is deeply rooted in and
channeled by love and faith is driven to achieve great things. A father and
mother dedicated to their children, to integrity, and to making life better

46 47