Happy Halloween!

Everyone likes to dress up for Trick or Treat and the students at Zion Lutheran Schumm’s parochial school were no exception.

Shown below are parochial school students in 1943. Their teacher Gordon Mackenson was the only one not wearing a costume. It would be difficult to guess just who was behind those masks. Actually, one of them was my mom but she’s not telling which one she was.

Halloween, Zion Lutheran Schumm Parochial School.

Halloween, Zion Lutheran Schumm parochial school, 1943.

Roasting hot dogs has always been a favorite autumn activity, too. These children from Schumm have their roasting sticks all ready to go.

Getting ready to roast hotdogs, 1938 Schumm, with Rev. Moeller.

Schumm parochial school with Rev. Moeller, 1938.

In the above photo, left to right, front: Jr. Roehm, ? , Amy Schumm, ?, Henrietta Moeller, ?, William Allmandinger, Virginia Schumm; back: Florence Schumm, Ellen Schumm, Elmer Schumm, Louis Allmandinger, Hildegard Schumm, Lois Schumm, Helen Schumm, Betty Baker, and Roman Schumm.

Roasting hotdogs by the parochial school at Schumm with Rev. Moeller, 1939:

At Schumm Parochial School with Rev. Moeller. 1939.

At Schumm Parochial School with Rev. Moeller. 1939.

Roasting hotdogs in 1940:

Hotdog roast at Schumm Parochial School, with Rev. Moeller. Unknown date.

. Schumm parochial school with Rev. Moeller. 1940.

When I was a teenager our Luther League at Zion Chatt usually celebrated Halloween with a hayride followed by a bonfire and hotdog roast at the church. We rode in the back of a flatbed wagon filled with lots of itchy hay. The wagon was pulled by a tractor or truck and we meandered our way around the back roads of Ohio and Indiana near Chattanooga. We had a good time, but to paraphrase one of Joe’s favorite sayings, “it’s fun until someone pokes out a windshield.” [Some of you may remember the incident I am referring to.]

One year Fern and Kermit Stetler hosted the Luther League’s Halloween party in their barn. They had the usual games that included bobbing for apples and sticking your hands in cooked spaghetti that was supposed to feel like brains.

Last week we toured the Adams County Museum in Decatur, Indiana. We had never been in their museum and we enjoyed going through the mansion which was all decorated for the holiday.

Museum at Adams County, Indiana.

Museum at Adams County, Indiana.

IMG_20141024_175738_798This poor gal has been waiting a long time to get married.

IMG_20141024_182710_137I remember using a dental unit just like this one. It certainly looks dreadful today! Now that is scary!

Old dental equipment, Adams County, Indiana, Museum.

Old dental equipment, Adams County, Indiana, Museum.

Have a Spook-tacular Halloween!

 

6 comments

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    • kenny on October 31, 2014 at 7:56 am
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    Karen, is your mom in some of those 1938 or 39 pictures?

    1. Yes! In the 1938 photo she is the girl standing at the far left, behind the table. (Remember, her name would have been Florence Schumm back then.) In the 1939 photo she is the girl in the middle front, slanted toward the camera wearing a print dress. In the 1940 photo she is front and center, wearing the knit cap. We don’t know which one she was when dressed in costume.

    • Deb Reichard on October 31, 2014 at 9:44 am
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    Karen,
    The old face masks certainly used to be unique (and scary). Love them. Wonder if any of them are still around.
    I enjoy all your posts. Thanks,
    Deb

    1. I bet some survived somewhere but I don’t believe I have ever seen any in antique shops. Thanks for writing, Deb.

    • Mary Goodwin Haddad on October 31, 2014 at 1:25 pm
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    Thanks for sharing, as usual. I had no idea that kids really celebrated Halloween that long ago. I grew up in the 40’s and 50’s in Willshire and I remember a parade and contest of sorts downtown with prizes. My girlfriend Vicki Neuenschwander always won a prize because she dressed in a white sheet as a ghost with skeleton mask and had a doll that she dressed the same way. My mom would not let us go trick-or-treating because she thought it was begging.

    1. Didn’t some used to call it beggars night?

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