Life History of
Paul Wilmer Ficken
Written by:
Paul Wilmer Ficken
I was born March 27, 1923 South West of Melbourne, Iowa. ?? 6 foot snow banks from a snow storm they had the day before.
When I was three years old we moved 4 miles North East of State Center,
Iowa and lived there until 1939 when we moved to a farm 4 miles North
East of Melbourne and lived there until 1942. Then moved to a farm my
folks bought 2 1/2 South and 1 1/4 East of Melbourne.
When I was a boy we would have to go to the hog pen every day to pick
up corn cobs for my mother to burn in the cook stove. We also cut wood
by hand with a cross cut saw, to get the wood we would drive a team of
horses 1 mile to bear grove and cut a tree down then cut in short enough
pieces to load on the bob sled box. Sometimes it would be zero or
below when we did this. When I was in sixth grade I milked 8 cows each
morning before going to school then at night also.
Each night as long as I can remember we had to help pick corn by hand
each fall. In the summer for fun we would throw racks at bumble bee
nests and see if we could out run them. Sometimes we didn't.
We would get to go to town maybe once every two weeks and if we got a
nickel to spend. We were lucky if they had free movies in town, but
they didn't have sound with them.
We kept our butter, milk, and cheese in a sack hanging on the end in
the well to keep it cool. Some people had ice blocks????
We would have home made ice cream once or twice a year.
The farthest I had been from home by the time I was 20 years old was to Des Moines and that was 45 miles away.
When we went to Sunday School I had to wear knee pants with long
stockings and alot of times made over brothers ?? until 7 years old.
When I started to school for the first year, I rode 4 1/2 miles in
either a horse drawn school bus or a bob sled, according to the weather.
When I was 16 years old I started to drive our Model 6 Ford car.
One Sunday I went to church with my three sisters and we were coming
home, we had to cross a railroad track in State Center, Iowa. I started
across the track and just then a train passed and caught the front
bumper of the car, turned it sideways and came within inches of killing
all four of us. That was one of my first close calls with death in my
lifetime. There were many more as I went through life.
I went into the Army and was in for 3 years. I came back and met
Pearl and we were married Sept. 4, 1946 and we started up farming. We
lived a good married life for 43 years before she was taken from me with
a car accident on Nov. 6, 1989.
Now I have a good life with my friends, children, and grandchildren, I just love every one.
