Greetings from Fort Dodge, Iowa...
Today we began the day by visiting the "Dairyette", a small ice cream and burger shack a block west of Grandma Rudolphs childhood home on S 2nd Ave. Legend has it that Grandpa Rudolph tried to buy the business when he was a young man but could not get anyone to go in with him on the deal... so his ice cream dynasty never came about. The shack closed yesterday for the season so we had to settle for McDonalds for lunch.
The highlight of the day was when Deb knocked on the door of her grandfather's home and was allowed to enter and see it again... she came out after a few minutes in tears and asked me to come in and take photos.
To our surprise and satisfaction, the home has been kept in near perfect condition by the catholic church that purchased it for a convent over twenty years ago.
I was especially impressed with the woodworking and hardwood floors... they were obviously built by a master craftman... 
Next we visited the Fort Dodge Museum. My grandfather served here in 1918 during World War I. He apparently thought it was a good idea to take a swing at an officer for calling him "shorty". He was assigned to KP for his offense. During his KP duty, he noticed that the horse that belonged to the commander's wife was lame. He told the officer that he could fix the horse... and he did. Thereafter, he apparently was a quite popular soldier in the fort. He served his time as a blacksmith.
Most of the afternoon we spent in the North Lawn Cemetery discovering the gravesites of many of Debra's ancesters... and there are many, many of them.
Joy, your mother got out of the car to begin her search and the first gravesite she found was Johanna (Becker) Rahmann... I could not believe it and neither could she! She was like a kid on Christmas morning.
This is the gravesite of her grandfather and both of her grandmothers...
This is the gravesite of a famous band director that lived and performed here in Fort Dodge.Tomorrow we are going to visit with Lois, Grandma Rudolph's cousin and are anticipating many great stories.
2 comments:
Hi, Scotty and Deb! You made it. I can just imagine how you felt entering your grandparents former home. Evidently the spirit was strong. I am happy for you, Deb, that you were able to do this. There were some excellent craftsmen in those days. Your grandpa Tradup was one of them. They took pride in their work. You know, Scott that my dad was born in Audubon, Iowa. I haven't looked at the map to see how far that is from Ft. Dodge. It is corn country. When we took our trip to the East coast and then to Nauvoo, etc., we stopped in Audubon. I have two cousins still living there, or did. I am assumimg they are still alive. I can appreciate your visit to the cemetery. I had the same feeling when I visited the grave yard in Montana where my grandparents and other relation are buried. It is located up on a hillside out of Moore, Montana. Moore is west of Lewistown.
Bro. Dahling, high council, spoke in sacrament today. He spoke briefly on the same subject he spoke on at stake conference last Sunday, missionary work for couples. Today he addressed the subject of family, divorce, etc. Good talk.
Where are you headed next on this quest of yours?
Drive careful. Love ya!
Dad & Mom
Audobon is only a couple of townships over from Fort Dodge. We will be here a couple more days... do you have the address of your cousins? I don't know if we will have time to look them up but you never know.
Next we will be heading to Mapelton, Illinois to visit Brandyn's family and then to Bellville, Illinois to visit Frank and Kathy Rudolph.
We are taking our time and setting an easy pace when we are driving... believe me, we are in no hurry!
Scott
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