Love - The Odessa Record

Odessa Record subscriber Larry Fisher of Spokane continues

his series of articles on the

history of the Batum/Lauer area where his wife, the fo

rmer Joyce Kiesz, grew up.

Hi, here I am again.

Louise Weishaar Hemmerling has many memories of the fa

rm, which was in the Lauer area (TS20N,

R33E, in sections 20 & 30). It was here that her family was

raised. The house was enlarged. Travel

wasn’t easy, for the dirt roads were graded but once a y

ear. Highway 21 was then a graveled county road.

In 1924, the Hemmerling’s built a new house. But there was no elec

tricity in the country. They installed

an acetylene generator, which supplied light and heat, even for t

he cooking stove and a flatiron. Before

motorized or electric washing machines were common, the H

emmerlings adapted a hand-operated

machine with a belt driven by a gasoline engine.

In 1936 the Hemmerlings bought a farm five miles south of Odes

sa, which they farmed in conjunction

with their Tokio Road property. The Tokio Road house late

r burned to the ground.

Looking back, Louise remembers her pre-school days in Russia,

recalling the older children went off to

the village school while her mother led the two horses as Lo

uise sat in the field keeping an eye on her

sleeping infant brother.

Louise has three sons, Clarence and Ivan, of Odessa, an

d Robert, of Spokane, and a daughter, Viola

Lightbody, also of Spokane. She has 14 grandchildren, 20 great gr

andchildren and four great, great

grandchildren. (Note: Louise Weishaar Hemmerling lived

to be 100-1/2 years old.)

The articles for the last 12 weeks have been focusing on

L-B-D women. Next week we will learn about a

woman who experience an unexpected calamity that no one would

ever want to experience. At the time of

the calamity, she with her husband and children were livin

g on the north edge of the L-B-D in Lincoln

Co., TS21N, R32E sec. 8. The woman is Pauline Catharina Paul

sen Rodeck who after a brief illness,

passed away Oct. 28, 1971. Pauline was born 7/24/1891 in Bohmstedt,

Germany. She came to America

from Germany in 1913. Until next time.