December 1977
"POINTS TO PONDER"
BY:
SHELDON L. HELLE
Dear Families, Employees and Friends,
As we get a little older we cannot help but look back to the past. However, I am still looking toward the future.
Down through the years I have saved many interesting articles that I have read. I wish I had saved more. In the following pages you will find some of them. Plus some of my own writings.
"THE TRUE SYMBOL OF AMERICA"
Men came from every part of the world to found this great country of ours. They came with hope in their minds and religion in their souls. Every community in America was founded around a church. Where men were free to worship as they pleased-as they tilled the soil of this virgin land.
"Permission by Harold Warp,
Warp Bros., Chicago, IL."
Most of this writing was done in the early part of 1977, intended for December, 1977.
I will put one page on the end of this story or writings. It will be a brief history of 1977, as I have remembered. It has been one year of disaster for our Industry and some of its people.
The Past Gets In My Eyes
My hair is getting' light again:
I think of time that flies-
The time that's linked with dreams-
And then the past gets in my eyes.
It seems like it was yesterday
And I was young again-
A boy who had the world t' beat,
just goin' on t' ten.
I see the old familiar haunts-
the orchard by the lane,
The barnyard where I used t' play
and fields of golden grain.
Across my vision passes too
the things my age denies,
As time flies by it seems that more
the past gets in my eyes.
Those yesterdays of happy youth,
those days so full of fun
Were but the stepping stones I've used for things I have done.
And as they keep recurring in
the scenes that I recall.
But something yet that saddens when
The past gets in my eyes.
By Fred Toothaker
"Permission Harold Warp,
Warp Bros., Chicago."
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Perhaps a brief history is in order. We have such a large family that we will omit most of their names. The same with our employees but will mention two (2) of our employees, Loyal Brunner and W.R. (Slim) Weirather. These two men deserve more credit than I know how to give. We can only say, "Thanks to the both of you for over thirty years of your life that you have been at Wood Products, lnc" I am sure the wives, Janice and Gloria, deserve much credit also.
And thanks to each and everyone of the rest of our employees, including Harrison Osborn, who not only tolerated us as employers but also tolerated our sister, Charlotte, who just happens to be his wife. I'm sure this has taken some doing on his part.
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I heard the story of a highschool basketball player who scored the winning basket to put his team in the state tournament. He became an instant hero. But the game affected his attitude. He began to think of himself as a one-man team.
One day his coach, in an effort to salvage a good player, asked him a question that brought him to reality: "Who passed the ball to you?"
All of us have our moments of success, when the tendency would be to feel that we achieved them alone. But when we allow ourselves a closer look, we know, as do others, that someone passed the ball to us.
Behind every accomplishment, every "winning basket," there is someone who has passed the ball to us. They are often unrecognized and seldom acknowledged. But they are there. And they are tributaries, just as little streams are tributaries to the greatness of the Mississippi River.
This story perhaps, can help us express our gratitude to all past and present employees of Wood Products, Inc. and Helle Hardwoods.
"Who Passed the Ball to You?"
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Now more about our family. Walter was born in 1912, the seventh of thirteen (13) children and I was born in 1913, the eighth (8) child. There were ten (10) boys and three (3) girls. Space does not permit too much more than basic details of the family history at this time.
We were a close family and still are. Our dad, George lived to be seventy (70) years of age, born in 1872, and our mother, Ida Kaler Helle, born in 1877 lived to be ninety-three (93) years old. My brother, Don, was killed in an accident at the age of fifty two (52), and my little sister, June, left us at the age of eight (8). Some of us are not as well as we would like to be but each one has been unique in their own different way and many have excelled in their own special interest.
Our early years were spent on a small farm in the now famous Spoon River Country near Cuba, IL., between Canton and Macomb. We were poor folks but did not realize it at the time. I was about fifteen (15) and Walter sixteen (16) when we moved to Mineral, IL. on a 480 acre farm. It was flood land so we only stayed a year.
We had a very interesting young life, small country school. Walt and I. both quit high school.
Just a few high-lights of our early days besides farming. Dad operated a sawmill as a side line. We took slabs from the sawmill, built a cabin in the woods, It was about eight (8) feet square. First cold day we took an old oil barrel and built a stove for our cabin. Too much oil and our cabin burned down. Some Fire!! It seems we have been having fires ever since.
Later when we were sixteen (16) and seventeen (17) years of age we did the farming while dad spent the days away from home running the sawmill.
I remember a mule we had called Gun Powder, and alot of you know how stubborn a mule is-Well, Walt, who never could swear, and can't seem to swear yet today, and I, being a swearer myself under certain conditions, have always sympathized with Walt, especially when he drove this mule.
One day we heard Walt loud and clear, "Believe me, I couldn't hit that mule if I was standing on top of him." And he still did not swear.
Now being both ,a swearer and having driven mules, I knew by the tone of Walt's voice he was at the breaking point. But, he still did not swear. That took some doing!!! No wonder he has high blood pressure today.
After Dad quit farming at Mineral, IL., we farmed one year at Geneseo, IL., then we helped in the sawmill at Bradford, IL. Mother had a neighbor girl, Alice Williams, to help can tomatoes. Walt helped Alice carry tomatoes from the garden. He just could not forget her. In 1932, they were married. Results of this union came little Burnett, whom they lost at the age of 17 months. Then came Janice, Vernon, Stanley, and Joe. All married and have families.
One night in 1933, 1 went to a program at a country church south of Wyoming, IL. A small freckled faced girl named Hazel Hendrick. She tried to sell me tickets to a high school play. I refused to buy one. But, she had a certain smile, then I saw her eyes and I was doomed. Two years later we were married. Results of this union came Lyle Raymond, whom we lost through an accident at the age of 20 years. Then came Louise, Harley V., and Lorraine. They are married and have families.
Lyle had married before his accident and his wife, June (Grimm) gave birth to a baby girl, Donna Lee, after his death. She is a young lady now, 21 years of age now.
When our son Lyle was in High School he gave his Mother the following poem. She has treasured it ever since.
"ME MUDDER"
When, each night me prayers were said
Who tucked me in me widdle bed??
Who spanked my seat-till it was red???
MEMUDDER
Who took me from me cozy cot
And set me on the ice cold pot. ...
And made me pee when I could not???
ME MUDDER
And when the morning light had come
And in my bed I dribbled some
Who wiped me tiny widdle buns???
MEMUDDER
Who did me hair so neatly part
And press me gently to her heart
And sometimes squeezed me till I fart???
ME MUDDER
Author Unknown
