was assigned to the Chemical Warfare Service and trained as a vehicle operator. Army pay then, as was commonly reported, was $21 a month. After training he was assigned to Ft. Lewis, WA with duty at a remote site near Pasco, WA which would be known years later as one of three sites where the atom bomb was made. Just short of one year he returned to Ft. Lewis and on to New Jersey for overseas shipment. He sailed from New York on the ship Andes, an unfinished British luxury liner, on 28 Feb 1943. Leaving the harbor he watched the Statue of Liberty fade into the background as they sailed, unescorted, for Casablanca, Morocco, arriving there on 9 Mar. There he hauled incoming supplies to depots in and near Casablanca. From there his small unit went to Bizerte in Algeria and as the war progressed they moved to Sicily, then Naples, Italy and he delivered supplies to Anzio as that major battle was taking place. He continued into southern France and Germany. After the surrender in Germany he sailed from Marseille, France on 16 Sep 1945, arriving at Patrick Henry Army Base in VA on 27 Sep, He was discharged from the Army with rank of T-5, technical rating, on 2 Oct 1945.

Returning to his home in Winneshiek Co. Leonard did farm work, worked for a tree service in the Jorden/ Waterville, MN area and as an auto mechanic for Roy Broghammer at the Phillips station in Burr Oak. He worked the home farm in Bluffton Twp. for a period where he experienced a near fatal accident in Dec of 1953 when he was dragged and pinned by a tractor. He was trapped for 16 hours with light rain falling in the PM. and with the over-night temperature dropping to 16 degrees. A neighbor a quarter of a mile away happened to hear his call for help the following day. In 1956 he began working for the Winneshiek Co. Highway Department and worked maintaining and clearing county roads and operating other heavy equipment in road work.

Leonard married Joan Stejskal 12 Sep 1964 at Assumption Catholic Church, Canton, MN. Joan was born in Howard Center Twp., Howard Co. to William and Clara (Urban) Stejskal. Her siblings are: Loras William (m. Rita Schuman); Clara Rita; Thomas Joseph; John Raymond (m. Leslie Whiting); and Mary Anne. Leonard and Joan’s children are: John Gerard; Ruth Marie; Paul Milton (29 Nov 1969-stillborn); Kaye Jolena; Tony William; Anne Leah; and Dean Edmund.

Leonard had worked for the County Highway Department 3 months short of 25 years when he retired in 1980. Joan continues to work and is Administrative Assistant at Opportunity Homes, Inc. in Decorah. Joan and Leonard live approximately 1/2 mile north of Kendallville, IA.

Wicks, Marion and Glorianne (Narveson)

(Marvin Wicks)

Marion Keith Wicks was born in Bluffton Twp. to Claude and Olive (Olson) Wicks. His siblings were: Harley Edmund (1915-1917); Leonard Milton (b. 1918) married Joan Stejskal; Marie Eleanor (b. 1920) married

Paul Snyder; and Marvin Arthur married Virginia Quandahl. Marion’s first 8 years of school were in a one-room school, McCaffery School, District #3 located in Section 12, Bluffton Twp. Total attendance in all grades was about 10 students with one teacher for all grades. State and County funding agreements directed that he cross state lines and attend high school at Canton, MN where he graduated in 1942. After completing school he worked 2 or 3 years on the home farm. He also worked one season near Iowa City, IA for a farm tile company. He drove taxi for Bill Noecker and Eber Fry and was a school bus driver in Decorah. In the summer of 1950 he started driving bus for Waterloo Stages of Decorah.

 

Marion and Glorianne Wicks 25th Anniversary, November 1975
Left to right, back row: Marion, Loren, Darrel, Janet and Glorianne,
Front row: Richard and Scott.

Marion married Glorianne Lucille Narveson 10 Nov 1950 at the Decorah Lutheran Church. Glorianne was born in Canoe Twp. to Glen and Lillie (Erickson) Pierce, their only child. Lillie died 13 Sep 1929 of tuberculosis and congestive heart failure. Glorianne was adopted by her mother’s sister and her husband Theodore and Ellen (Erickson) Narveson. Her siblings in this family were: Gladys (m. Bernard Aarhus); Harold, died at age 19 of tuberculosis; Eunice (m. Truman Kirkeby); and Joyce, died at age 22 of tuberculosis and polio. Glorianne attended elementary school at Canoe #8 located in Section 26. She graduated from Decorah High School in 1947. That same year she entered nurse’s training at the Kahler School of Nursing in Rochester, MN. Six months of the three-year course were spent in Chicago for pediatric and obstetrics training and 3 months at the Rochester State Hospital for psychiatric training. She graduated as a Registered Nurse on 1 Sep 1950 and then for just over 4 years she worked as a surgical nurse in the Decorah Hospital.

Children of Marion and Glorianne are: Janet Lynn married Daniel McMillan; Darrel Mark married Rosanne Lenth; Loren James married Brenda Rothmeyer; Richard Dale married Ruth Ann Scheelk; and Scott Allan married Ronda Mesecher.