Note: This little essay was found in research papers collected for a history book about the "Synod of the West." The writer is my aunt (my father's sister).

Synod of the West Memories

By

Lydia Mihelic (Mrs. Joseph Mihelic)

Dubuque, Iowa

 

My grandfather was the first minister of the Germantown church in South Dakota. It was a little white, wood-sided church that had been raised from the prairie land. In that small community of farmers where everyone had come from Germany, the church and its German-language services took on great importance.

 In the late “teens,” it became unfashionable to speak German. In fact, if you had German friends it was thought to be – terrible. We had a telephone in the community, the old-time party line. My father had five brothers and two sisters living close by, and they would try to find times to talk when no one was likely to be listening in. Eventually they took the phones out – just look them away – because people were talking German on them.

 For a time, there was a debate over what to name the church. Once my father and another man were discussing it on a train when a woman across the aisle admonished them, “I thought you were not to talk German.” My father’s companion turned to her and answered, “I didn’t realize no one could speak French!” She responded, “Oh! Pardon me; I thought you were talking German.”

 In the wintertime we used big bob sleighs. My dad would take us to school and, if he had time, go further and pickup other children. In winter we had a bad time with groceries. There were few grocery stores and they didn’t always have everything. If they had oranges, that was truly a gift at Christmas.

 Christmas in the church is one of my favorite memories. The men and boys sat on one side of the aisle and the women and girls sat on the other. I was fascinated by the ladies’ hats. They were all beautiful. But most beautiful was the Christmas tree with its candles. The candles had to be big enough to produce a bright flame, and we were always afraid there would be a fire. The children would watch the tree and alert someone when they saw a candle that wasn’t doing just right.