Conversations with Grandparents Christa Biegler

In this episode, Mary talks about how she and Alfred lived on the Biegler family farm with a dropcord for electricity before moving north of Firesteel and then eventually buying her parent's home near Timber Lake. She talks about rust on the wheat in the 1950s and how Alfred helped make ends meet by being a hay buyer. Mary talked about her mother dying in 1964, the birth of her children and the cost of having children and groceries. 

She tells of the Russian doctor in Isabel that was afraid of communists and treatments of Vick's for burns and warm socks for a sore throat. 

She also tells the story about heating a lamb in the oven while out helping Alf and the unfortunate end to that story. 

+ The "Big House" as Mary calls it on 601 E Street in Timber Lake has had many owners since it was built in the early 1900s. 

In a humble western town, the Big House towers above most of the other homes in the area with a historic look. 

Mary recalls special stories from the Big House, like Christmas's hosted by her Uncle Sam and Aunt Mary Scherer (resided there 1937-1945 as second owners), the goldfish pond and lilies in the front yard, tea parties upstairs with koolaid/lemonade and frosted graham crackers and later how her own parents Nick and Mayme (Mary Lucille) Scherer moved there in 1957 until 1968.  

Mary talks about where her Uncle Sam and Aunt settled prior to buying the Big House from the Sudmeier family and mentions many area families, including Mahers, Carmichael/Duchenaux, Enrights, Scherers, Boldts, etc. 

In this episode of Mary Biegler's life history, we talked about some of the day to day operations of delivering milk to customers in town, how there was little refrigeration and how Mary started dating her husband Alfred. We also discussed Mary's one year of college and how she discerned out of religious vocation and Mary ended by talking about the trauma her mother experienced losing two daughter's and a father in the same year. 

In this episode, we cover the death of two of Mary's sisters before she was born in 1933 and how that affected her mother, Bus the dog having tea parties and dresses, Joanie's birthday party at the golf course Mary was supposed to be "supervising" and early years of Catholic school. We talk a little about WWII and the propaganda of the times and how her grandfather lived with their family for 8 years. 

In this episode originally recorded in 2017, Mary Biegler covers a little family history, the "scandal" of her parents elopement and homesteading and settling in Timber Lake, SD.