living history day
The first Living History Day was in 1999. 2018 saw the 20th Living History Day. The organizer is Kim Vrtiska, a science teacher at Falls City Public Schools and vice president of the Table Rock Historical Society.
2019
gleora covault at the maple grove country school museum
Gleora tells the story of little Avis Dopp's battle to survive a two-block trip home during the School Children's Blizzard of 1888, and of the ordeal of little Avis's father Seymour (photograph on the desk), who was a teacher at a country school west of Table Rock. Little Avis told the story as an elderly woman -- she was the grandmother of Glee's husband Lavon Covault.
joe stehlik at the czech museum |
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Students have a chance to see the Stepan family's postilla -- often referred to as a bible, but more of a prayer book. It was printed in 1542 and was carefully hid during times of persecution, on one occasion having been baked in a loaf of bread in order to hide it. Joe Stehlik brings the book each Living History Day and on other special occasions and tells its story as well as stories about many of the other things in the museum.
HOWARD BLECHA AT THE veterans museum
Howard Blecha -- as part of an extensive tour of the museum, Howard takes the burial flag of Arlen Kalina (gold star member, 2nd from the right in the photo above), to explain the ritual of the burial flag. He ends that explanation by getting down on his knees and saying in a very quiet voice, "and then the flag is presented to the mother, wife, daughter, son, some dear one of the soldier, with the words..." As he says the words the children -- as here -- are usually spellbound.
CHRIS SALBERG AT THE argus newspaper museum
Chris Salberg takes students from the invention of the printing press to how type was set by hand. Later in the tour, he explains how linotype machines work, and runs the presses.
humanities nebraska speaker dorothy rieke IN THE SQUARE
HumanitiesNebraska speaker Dorothy Rieke talks about the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.
glen carmen in the square - dutch oven BAKING
Glen Carmen talks about the life of a chuck wagon cook and shows how to make biscuits with a dutch oven and hot coals
lynn curtis IN THE SQUARE - corn shelling
Lynn Curtis shows how corn was shelled, using a corn sheller run by a hit & miss engine
blacksmith erik klaus in the square
roy mullin of the farm machinery crew IN THE SQUARE
Roy wasn't alone, but the pictures with the rest of his crew didn't turn out, oops! Here he talks about a plow but they had plenty more to see!
humanities nebraska performer chris sayer at the band stand
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a little story about the day
On Friday, September 6, the Table Rock Historical Society held its 21st annual Living History Day. As usual, Kim Vrtiska, a science teacher in Falls City, planned and managed the event. He is vice president of the Historical Society.
About 250 to 300 fourth and fifth graders attended from six schools: HTRS, Pawnee City, Syracuse, Falls City, Falls City Sacred Heart, and Lincoln Christian. The students were organized in small groups for the day. The groups reported to assigned stations, manned by various presenters. George Tomek rang the bell in the park when it was time to rotate to the next station.
The students watched a hay baler operated by a hit & miss engine. Roy Mullin, Dianna and Ron Frerichs, and Mr. and Mrs. Bob Wolfe ran that show. On the other side of the park, Lynn Curtis had a corn sheller hooked up to another hit & miss engine. Glen Carmen, assisted by Gregg Clement, showed how to make biscuits over hot coals. Blacksmith Erik Klaus was a popular regular and so was the newspaper printing expert Chris Salberg. At the Stehlik Czech Museum, Joe Stehlik of Pawnee City brought the historic and precious Stepan family postilla (prayer book) to show and talked about religious persecution as students gazed at the book, which was under protective glass. It was printed in 1542. Joe also talked about many items in the museum, which holds items going back to when his grandparents immigrated from the Czech lands.
Outside the Stehlik Czech museum were Mrs. Henry Ford (Historical Society member Sherry Winkinhofer) and “The Old Lady,” her Model A. The Old Lady provided a photo op for the kids, who got to sit in it to take selfies. They also got to honk the ooh-gah horn as they exited the vehicle. “Just once!” Mrs. Ford said, unsuccessfully. She had to start the car a number of times to get the battery charged back up. Mrs. Ford talked about her husband Henry’s early days of invention. For example, one year right in the middle of Christmas baking, a very excited Henry invaded her kitchen; his first motor was running! He clamped it to the drainboard of the sink, and Mrs. Ford – her name was Clara – was delighted. They were always each other’s cheerleaders. One student had a questions: “Can I drive the car?” Response: “Do you have a driver’s license?” Answer: No, but I know how to drive a golf cart. Call a boy who climbs in to ride shotgun: "Come on, let's go get some kolaches!"
At the Maple Grove School House, built in 1874, Gleora Covault told the story of the 1888 School Childrens' Blizzard, as told to her by her husband’s grandmother, Avis Dopp Taylor, who as a little girl survived the blizzard, although she lost all her fingernails. The telling is an annual tradition. Glee recorded the story when “Grandmother Covault” was elderly, and told the story to her great granddaughter Glevon as they all were working in the kitchen and Glee recorded it. Little Avis had gone from the town school to her home and barely made it home because the freezing wind knocked her down every few steps. Her mother put her hands in cold water. “I still remember the pain, “she said. She didn’t lose her fingers but all her fingernails fell off. But fingernails grow back. Her father, a country schoolteacher, Seymour Dopp, stayed overnight with his students at his school between Pawnee City and Table Rock. “Grandma Taylor said that her father told her there was a whole lot of crying through the night,” Glee said. “The wind was tremendous.” In the morning, just as day was breaking, the parents were able to reach the school. “They didn’t know what they would find,” Grandma Taylor said, “And there was much rejoicing to find them alive.”
Two people were from the HumanitiesNebraska program. HumanitiesNebraska pays the bulk of fees for people on their registry. One was Dorothy Rieke; she had taught at Table Rock for a couple of years in the 1950s, and then taught at Auburn for 44 years. She talked about the Dust Bowl and the depression. Sitting in the audience for three sessions were some former students who had found out she would be there, including George Tomek, Elsie Tomek, and Ruth Duder Fink.
At the Veterans Museum, which contains many other exhibits, Howard Blecha led students on a lively tour that began in the What-the-heck-is-it corner, moved to the model of The Rocks at Goat Hill, and progressed to the mortuary exhibit, the ZCBJ exhibit and others. There were questions. Howard identified the location of The Table Rock as Goat Hill, and said confidentially, “And yet there was never a single goat there.” A little girl said in a stunned voice (I kid you not), “Whaaaaat?!” In the veterans’ area, Blecha talked about the wars and sacrifices and got down on bended to present a flag as at a burial ceremony, which he explained was the last honor we do for a veteran. There were questions from the students: “Were there dogs in WW1?” A WW1 display had a gas mask, and the question was whether there were gas masks for dogs. “Why aren’t there any goats at Goat Hill?” That was a question as a group finished the tour.
This was the 21st Living History Day. Kim Vrtiska was again the organizer. He brought into play a large group of volunteers. All but the two HumanitiesNebraska speakers were volunteers and that included not only the presenters named above but also R. J. Hickey of Pawnee City, who added historical color by appearing in the uniform of a Union soldier of the Civil War. And it included George Tomek, who rang the bell in the Square to mark the end of each session, and a battery of people to serve up lunch – Barb and Dave Harris, Cheryl Clement, Karen and Larry and Karen Gilbert, Jan Buchholz, Jackie Uhri, Elsie Tomek, and Elma Lee Buchholz. As they say, “It takes a village.”
About 250 to 300 fourth and fifth graders attended from six schools: HTRS, Pawnee City, Syracuse, Falls City, Falls City Sacred Heart, and Lincoln Christian. The students were organized in small groups for the day. The groups reported to assigned stations, manned by various presenters. George Tomek rang the bell in the park when it was time to rotate to the next station.
The students watched a hay baler operated by a hit & miss engine. Roy Mullin, Dianna and Ron Frerichs, and Mr. and Mrs. Bob Wolfe ran that show. On the other side of the park, Lynn Curtis had a corn sheller hooked up to another hit & miss engine. Glen Carmen, assisted by Gregg Clement, showed how to make biscuits over hot coals. Blacksmith Erik Klaus was a popular regular and so was the newspaper printing expert Chris Salberg. At the Stehlik Czech Museum, Joe Stehlik of Pawnee City brought the historic and precious Stepan family postilla (prayer book) to show and talked about religious persecution as students gazed at the book, which was under protective glass. It was printed in 1542. Joe also talked about many items in the museum, which holds items going back to when his grandparents immigrated from the Czech lands.
Outside the Stehlik Czech museum were Mrs. Henry Ford (Historical Society member Sherry Winkinhofer) and “The Old Lady,” her Model A. The Old Lady provided a photo op for the kids, who got to sit in it to take selfies. They also got to honk the ooh-gah horn as they exited the vehicle. “Just once!” Mrs. Ford said, unsuccessfully. She had to start the car a number of times to get the battery charged back up. Mrs. Ford talked about her husband Henry’s early days of invention. For example, one year right in the middle of Christmas baking, a very excited Henry invaded her kitchen; his first motor was running! He clamped it to the drainboard of the sink, and Mrs. Ford – her name was Clara – was delighted. They were always each other’s cheerleaders. One student had a questions: “Can I drive the car?” Response: “Do you have a driver’s license?” Answer: No, but I know how to drive a golf cart. Call a boy who climbs in to ride shotgun: "Come on, let's go get some kolaches!"
At the Maple Grove School House, built in 1874, Gleora Covault told the story of the 1888 School Childrens' Blizzard, as told to her by her husband’s grandmother, Avis Dopp Taylor, who as a little girl survived the blizzard, although she lost all her fingernails. The telling is an annual tradition. Glee recorded the story when “Grandmother Covault” was elderly, and told the story to her great granddaughter Glevon as they all were working in the kitchen and Glee recorded it. Little Avis had gone from the town school to her home and barely made it home because the freezing wind knocked her down every few steps. Her mother put her hands in cold water. “I still remember the pain, “she said. She didn’t lose her fingers but all her fingernails fell off. But fingernails grow back. Her father, a country schoolteacher, Seymour Dopp, stayed overnight with his students at his school between Pawnee City and Table Rock. “Grandma Taylor said that her father told her there was a whole lot of crying through the night,” Glee said. “The wind was tremendous.” In the morning, just as day was breaking, the parents were able to reach the school. “They didn’t know what they would find,” Grandma Taylor said, “And there was much rejoicing to find them alive.”
Two people were from the HumanitiesNebraska program. HumanitiesNebraska pays the bulk of fees for people on their registry. One was Dorothy Rieke; she had taught at Table Rock for a couple of years in the 1950s, and then taught at Auburn for 44 years. She talked about the Dust Bowl and the depression. Sitting in the audience for three sessions were some former students who had found out she would be there, including George Tomek, Elsie Tomek, and Ruth Duder Fink.
At the Veterans Museum, which contains many other exhibits, Howard Blecha led students on a lively tour that began in the What-the-heck-is-it corner, moved to the model of The Rocks at Goat Hill, and progressed to the mortuary exhibit, the ZCBJ exhibit and others. There were questions. Howard identified the location of The Table Rock as Goat Hill, and said confidentially, “And yet there was never a single goat there.” A little girl said in a stunned voice (I kid you not), “Whaaaaat?!” In the veterans’ area, Blecha talked about the wars and sacrifices and got down on bended to present a flag as at a burial ceremony, which he explained was the last honor we do for a veteran. There were questions from the students: “Were there dogs in WW1?” A WW1 display had a gas mask, and the question was whether there were gas masks for dogs. “Why aren’t there any goats at Goat Hill?” That was a question as a group finished the tour.
This was the 21st Living History Day. Kim Vrtiska was again the organizer. He brought into play a large group of volunteers. All but the two HumanitiesNebraska speakers were volunteers and that included not only the presenters named above but also R. J. Hickey of Pawnee City, who added historical color by appearing in the uniform of a Union soldier of the Civil War. And it included George Tomek, who rang the bell in the Square to mark the end of each session, and a battery of people to serve up lunch – Barb and Dave Harris, Cheryl Clement, Karen and Larry and Karen Gilbert, Jan Buchholz, Jackie Uhri, Elsie Tomek, and Elma Lee Buchholz. As they say, “It takes a village.”
more pictures of the 2019 living history day
slide show of the model a
Mrs. Henry Ford (Sherry Winkinhofer of the Table Rock Historical Society) brought her 1929 Model A, "The Old Lady." She talked about how cars shaped modern America and -- especially important -- allowed plenty of time for close-up engagement with history, i.e., photo ops.
slide show at the argus newspaper museum
back at the vets & etc. museum - howard blecha shares the story of when joe karas buzzed the family farm in his bomber
Howard tells a family story told him by Nettie Karas Stehlik long ago. Nettie's brother Joe enlisted and was given the job of piloting a B-17 bomber. He trained in the Midwest. One day while Nettie and the family were at home on the farm, working in the garden, an airplane appeared on the horizon and kept getting bigger and bigger until finally a bomber buzzed them. It was Joe. They were delighted. Joe died when his plane was shot down while on a bombing mission over Italy. You can see his picture, mostly obscured the first visible on the bottom right.
a few more nice pictures of nice kids
some of the food brigade -- lunch about to be served!
Some of the food is pre-packaged ahead of time, and part of the food brigade picks it up while the rest are at the picnic shelter making hot dogs.
thank you to the 2019 sponsors!
2018
September 6, 2018 Pawnee Republican
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September 6, 2018 Pawnee Republican
September 13, 2018 Pawnee Republican
2017
Pawnee Republican, September 2017
2016
Professor Farquar
2015
