Memories of Republic, Michigan

When we planned a family visit to Republic, MI, Grandmother and Aunt Ellen would ask us in letters what we would like to eat.  Pasties, cabbage rolls, homemade buns and oatmeal date-filled cookies were favorites.

I remember the house floor plan, furniture placement, and the various odors very well.  As we entered the house by the back door and went into the kitchen, I remember the kerosene odor from the small stove in the back entry.  The kitchen had a different odor because of the wood-burning stove.  A small under-the-stairs closet in the dining room had an odor similar to stored apples.  The upstairs bathroom smelled faintly of Lysol.

My memories include that of my mother walking in her sleep during one of our visits to Republic.  Marcella and I woke from a sound sleep in time to see a ghostly figure walking into our bedroom.  It was my mother .  She ran her fingers over Marcella's face, then turned around and returned to her bedroom.

When we approached Republic for a visit, my father stopped the car on the road shoulder about five miles away.  Mother would check out her appearance, hair, makeup, etc., then check out the rest of us.  Usually I needed my hair combed and anklets pulled up.  As we pulled the car to a stop in front of the house, Grandmother and Aunt Ellen would come out the of the backdoor, walk down the sidewalk and through the gate to greet us.  Just imagine how my mother would have felt when her mother said "Hulda, you’re getting “fleshy”.

As we prepared to leave at the end of the always too short visit, my grandmother always gave us a little money.  That was how I got my first 15 cents so that I could go into my fathers' drug store and order a chocolate malted milk.

The Utberg general store was large, or so it seemed to my child's eyes.  On the right side were bolts of fabric and sewing supplies.  In the center was a wonderfully aromatic coffee grinder.  On the left side were groceries.  In the rear of the store itself were boots and shoes, also the store office.  On the far right wall a door went through to a walk-in cooler.  Behind the store was large warehouse space.

Groceries were delivered by a teamster driving horses hitched to a wooden wagon.  The horses were kept in a stable across the alley and a bit to the east of the store building.

When Barby was five months old, we drove to Republic for a short visit.  Every four hours we stopped the car, lit the Sterno stove and heated Barby’s formula bottle, then fed her.  While in Republic, I made formula in Grandmothers' kitchen.  That included sterilizing the bottles nipples and caps and mixing the formula.  I well remember by grandmother sitting there watching me and wondering what she was thinking.

 After my grandmother died, Aunt Ellen decided that she was going to move to St. Petersburg, FL, near Russell.  I showed an interest in having some of the Utberg furniture.  Ellen invited me to come up and select whatever I wanted.  Bob, Carol and I drove there on Nov.1, 1952. 

We picked out 27 pieces of furniture including three wash stands, two beds, one dresser, wardrobe, the dining room buffet, kitchen table, nine kitchen chairs, a chest of drawers, a small table, the cedar chest, a sofa bed, the hall stand, a small reclining chair, the loveseat from the parlor, a velvet covered chair with a foot rest and the desk secretary.  Aunt Ellen filled every drawer with towels, rugs, dishes, etc.  Nothing arrived empty.  We put what we could into the car such as dishes, linens, etc.  The rest arrived by moving van about three weeks later. 

While there, Aunt Ellen wanted to go to Marquette to see a banker and a milliner.  We drove there and waited in the car while she took care of her business.  Carol, all bundled up against the cold weather in her snowsuit, was alone in the back seat of the car.  When Aunt Ellen returned to the car, Bob started out slowly and turned a corner.  At that point the car door nearest Carol flew open.  She tumbled to the paved street, scratching her face on the street.  We all learned a lesson from that frightening experience. 

As a child I remember the warm, hand knitted mittens my grandmother sent us for Christmas.  When I learned to knit I made my grandmother a pair of mittens.  I'm sure they in no way compared with those she had made for me, but they pleased her.

When Bob and I (and the children when they came along) went to Republic, we always took Grandmother and Aunt Ellen to Marquette and out to Presque Isle.  We also used to buy strawberry soda and vanilla ice cream, then made ice cream sodas at the house.  They seemed to really enjoy the treat.

Because gas was rationed during WWII, we couldn't drive our car to Republic.  In Sept., 1944, my mother, Bob, Bobby and I went by train to Republic.  It was quite an experience traveling on a dirty, crowded, coal-fired train.

Whenever we went to Republic to visit, Marcella and I always wanted to go up to the attic of the large two-story house to look around.  Aunt Ellen never could understand why we wanted to go there but always took us up there. 

We also are most fortunate to have had two clocks from the Utberg home.  One was the pendulum wall clock from my grandparent’s bedroom.  Bob and Mary now have that clock.  The second clock hung above the sink in the kitchen.  It is a seven-day pendulum clock that we now have.  Both these clocks came to us through my parents.

The buffet, wardrobe, one bed and sofa bed were sold or given away to outsiders.  Bob and Mary have the love seat, the rocking chair, and the clock.  Barb has the bed and matching dresser and washstand.  Barb also has a dark, drop-handled chest of drawers.  Carol has the hall stand, the secretary, the cedar chest and the chair with the footrest. Rick and Carolyn have a small table that came from the bedroom my sister and I always slept in.  Each of the four children has a refinished kitchen chair with a needlepoint seat on it. 

One of the nine kitchen chairs was used for parts to make eight useful chairs.  All of the chairs, the oak kitchen table, and the wash stands have been refinished and are in use today.