PART SEVEN Oral Histories and Family Memoirs - Mountain Light ...

Psalm and could sing our people's folks songs and so relate in exquisite detail all kinds of information
about the Old Country. I still have recordings of her singing and I also encouraged her to write down her
impressions of growing up in Yagada. She only wrote English phonetically but did eventually get around
to putting pen to her ideas and wrote the most remarkable memoir that I included in my compendium of
sources about our ancestral village, "Return to Berry Meadow."
Her article is titled "The Garden of My Youth" and is far and away to my mind the best piece in
the collection. I sat down with her once and had her draw on a big white paper sack (all I had at the time!)
the names and locations of residences in the village. She was precise and comprehensive and I used this to
assemble the map that appeared some years ago in our Usu Leut newsletter so if you've been in touch
with Patrice Miller you've probably seen it. When I made my first trip back to the village about 1990 I
couldn't believe how accurate her recollections were. I walked right up to my great-grandfather's place but
of course our clan had long since relocated west--the lucky ones, and east to oblivion. We did find about
six of our people who had come back from Siberia, however, including one "Georg Scheuerman" so we
had quite a reunion. Here now I am looking at an old sickle in my bookcase I brought back as a souvenir.
How well I remember those basketball games in the Old Gym. Lois and I still joke about dreams
where we are leaning down along that railing only to find it disappear in places! Seems like there was
always a Morasch on those winning teams. And I remember Johnny Hardy performing like a sharpshooter
beyond the top of the key back in pre-3 point line days. You probably have me confused with my
brother, Don, for high school basketball as he was pretty good and with Kenny Smick and that crew
placed in state back around 1967. Our son, Karl, was truly gifted that way and went on from SJ-E to play
for the Air Force Academy his first year down there. Then his advisor told him that at the Academy you
can either be a fine athlete or a fine student but rarely both. So he went the academic route as that offered
better possibilities for the longterm future and he's glad he did. Just pray that he and nephew Jared return
safe and sound from overseas.
Your mom was so much fun to visit with and I do remember what a great fan of the games she
was. I can just see her calling the shots at that retirement home! I'm grateful that you mentioned the
card Mom sent you after her passing. I must tell her about that as she and Dad loved visiting with your
folks. I remember John Youngman and he was one of the first old timers I decided to "interview" when I
was kid. As I recall he was pretty well informed and had a great sense of humor. Somewhere I have
a collection of peculiar expressions our people had that Ruthie Benner put together that's just hilarious.
Not sure it's the kind of thing to go public with, however! Your welding story reminded me of neighbors,
the Blevinses, who lived out on Jimmy Smick's place just beyond ours. Paula was in my grade was a
tough as nails. She took all the ag classes and when the FFA awards were presented for best welder, she
bested all the guys!
I remember Clara's sister Amelia well. Clara was real nice to me growing up and always
interested in our heritage. She gave me a book of poetry by Kahil Gibran when I graduated. She was our
junior choir director and always encouraged my musical interests. We have tons of ancient sheet
music Ed Litz gave me after she passed away, mostly sacred music from the 1940s and the like. She also
gave me her Grandfather Scheuerman's black Feltschtievel and red peasant shirt from Russia which we
treasure. Did I tell you that Luke Benner gave me a Nazi flag he got in Germany during the war? I have
a interview I did with him about his time in Europe. He saw some of the liberated concentration camps
and said he never missed going to church after he came back. Can't imagine. I'm grateful he entrusted the
flag to me but it's not exactly the kind of thing you can display so it stays hidden in a file cabinet.
My Uncle Karl Lewis Scheuerman served in Asia in WW II and as a kid I found a suitcase in our
basement filled with medals and all kinds of stuff of his from the war. We returned them to him and after
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