INSTALLMENT NINE - MEJ's Bio (Conclusion)

Conclusion

                You remember I said that my parents decided I was to be a preacher. I am convinced now, after all that has happened that the Lord had a very pronounced hand in the things that came about. During those three years that I spent in school in Dubuque, I spent much time singing with different organizations. Even though I was enrolled in the Academy or High School part of the school, I was a member of the college Glee Club.

               Also the head of the vocal music department organized a mixed double quartet to sing every Sunday morning in the downtown church. It was my good fortune to be a part of that. Also, I was given many pointers in the art of directing a choir by this same lady. So now I am firmly convinced that all this was in preparation for the time when we were to move back to South Dakota just one fourth mile east of the Germantown Church.

                This happened in 1934. In 1936 a Men’s Octet was organized and I was chosen as its leader. From 1936 until 1954 I was always connected with the music program of our church. Several times during those years we presented Easter and Christmas Cantatas with as many as 50 voices.

1946 Men's Chorus.
Dorothy DeVries, pianist; Wiert Eekhoff, Pastor

1955 Contata Choir
MEJ Plucker, Director

               The Octet that was organized in 1936 is still in existence in 1966, but is now known as the “Men’s Chorus” with a membership of about 15 or 16, instead of the original eight men.

        
               This seems to be the end of my ramblings about things that happened to me. Of course, there are many more events that I could have mentioned but they are of small importance to anyone but me.

                I hope that the effort I have put forth

is of enough interest so the person reading it

can stand reading all of it.

If not, so what?

Paper is cheap and so is my time.

Note: I wonder what MEJ would say if he could know that his writings would be posted on a page of the Internet. He would have been an avid user of the new technology, I know, although he might not have been so bold as to put his own story out there. But I am proud to be able to share his story and hope that it tells just a small bit of what his life was like from 1900 to 1968 when he died.

INSTALLMENT EIGHT - MEJ's Bio (Germantown Church)

Germantown Church

                Perhaps an account of the history of the Germantown church building would be if interest. As stated before, it was organized in 1886 and was built on land donated by my paternal grandfather. The first building was a wooden frame building, built mostly by the charter members of the church. It would seat about 100 people. The first heating system was a large coal and wood stove, standing in the very center of the auditorium, and the stove pipe hung from the ceiling all the way to the end of the church, directly over the pulpit.

               Some time after this a sort of basement was dug under the church and a coal furnace installed. This was a great improvement since the stove was taken out and pews put in its place. The lighting system, of course, was kerosene lamps until a very complicated system of gas was added. The gas was manufactured by adding water to carbide in a large pressure tank outside the church. This system was replaced by electricity. More room was needed in the so-called basement to accommodate the gasoline powered generator and twelve large glass storage batteries. This system of lighting served the church until 1948 when the power line finally came out this far.

                When the congregation was organized in 1886, the first building to be erected was the church. The foundation was rock laid on the ground, no concrete. The lumber had to be brought from Parker, ten miles away. When you consider that all this was accomplished with horse power, it looks like a big undertaking.

                After the church and the manse were built, some of the people thought that it was necessary for the horses that were used to come to church, to have shelter during the time services were being held. So another project was started. A barn that had room for fourteen teams of horses was built. Each stall was built for two horses and the name of the man whose horses were to be in that stall was nailed above that stall.

               This barn, although it was no longer used for horses, was still in existence until the late 1920’s or early 1930’s. During the time that it was in use by the people, it happened quite often that while the services were going on in church, one could hear horses squealing and the sound of kicking against the partitions. Then one of the men of the congregation would quietly get up and go straighten out the quarrel.

Germantown Church with the Sessionj
Early 1900's

INSTALLMENT SEVEN - MEJ's Bio (The Family)



Bobby and Dotty

The Family

Because we moved around a lot during our early married life, our three children were born in three different states. Dorothy June was born soon after we moved to Princeton, Illinois. She grew up to be a cute curly-headed little girl, the kind that made people turn around for a second look when she was old enough to go shopping with her mother. When she was still just a little girl, she showed signs of becoming a good house keeper because she helped her mother with the dusting and sweeping and other household chores. After going through grade school, high school and a short normal course, she taught a country school for two years. Then she decided to become a farmer’s wife, which is a fairly permanent job any way you look at it. (Pictured on the right is Menne (MEJ), Dorothy June and Grandpa John P. Plucker)

Bobby & Dotty at 9 & 11

Robert Elvin was born while we lived in Dubuque, Iowa. When he was small he would spend hours watching the wheels go around on his toy train and his many toy trucks, so we expected he would be a mechanic when he grew up. That changed soon after he got into high school and found out about music, especially the vocal kind. As soon as he graduated from high school he enlisted in the army – to keep from getting drafted. He was sent to State College at Brookings, South Dakota for a short while, then inducted into the paratroops. He had a teaching position at Faulkton, South Dakota, but since he was still in the reserves, he was called back into service and sent to Korea for a year. Since that time he has been music instructor in Winona, Minnesota and Green Bay, Wisconsin. He married a college schoolmate who is also a teacher. 

Bobby, Jeanie, Dotty - 1939



Dots, MEJ, Dena, Jean, Bob - 1945

Jean Ellen, our youngest, was born here in South Dakota where we now live. One reason she was named Jean was because for a year or so before she was born, there was a complicated musician’s strike going on that made it impossible for radio stations to play any kind of music except these numbers on which the copyright had run out. All of Stephen Foster’s songs were in this classification, so the song “I Dream of Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair” was usually heard several times a day. Also, the name, Jean, is the feminine counterpart of the name, John, which was her grandfather’s name. Besides all of that, we like the name. We had no idea that she would some day marry a man named Gene. It seems to me that even when she was real small she had an idea she wanted to marry a minister. If that was true, she succeeded famously.

Jean Ellen, Robert Elvin, Dorothy June - 2011