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Texas
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Lone
Star Diary Richard
Gaertner's Storyby
Murray
Montgomery
"Gaertner
... can remember things from the past that folks half his age would probably have
a hard time recalling. His memory is sharp and clear, so much so that he can recall
the more insignificant details of an event that most people would tend to forget." |  |
Every
town needs a storyteller and Moulton
is fortunate to have a mighty good one in a feisty fellow named Richard Gaertner.
Born
on Feb. 4, 1908, this friendly 96 year-old gentleman was raised in Lavaca County,
most of his life being spent on the family farm some five miles northeast of Moulton.
He moved to town a few years ago and is now residing at Shady Oaks Nursing and
Rehab.
His social
life is a weekly routine – on Monday evenings he drives his minivan over to Flatonia
to play bingo at the legion hall with his “lady friend,” then on Thursdays and
Fridays he plays more bingo in Moulton
at the KC Hall and the American Legion Hall. “I try to spend only five dollars
at Bingo, I just go to visit,” says Gaertner. After dinner on Fridays, he plays
dominoes with some other fellows at the Main Bar.
Gaertner, a confirmed
bachelor, can remember things from the past that folks half his age would probably
have a hard time recalling. His memory is sharp and clear, so much so that he
can recall the more insignificant details of an event that most people would tend
to forget.
In a recent interview, he was asked a number of questions about
how it was to grow up in the Moulton
area. His eyes seemed to take on an added sparkle when he began to spin yarns
about the things that happened in his life years ago. |
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Richard
Gaertner
Photo courtesy Murray Montgomery |
“When
our family first came over from the old country,” said Gaertner, “they wanted
to settle over in High
Hill, which is located in Fayette County. But the people there were all Germans
and we were Czechs. The Germans wouldn’t allow no Czechs to live there back then
so our family changed their name from Zahradnick to Gaertner and that’s the name
I grew up with.”
Richard’s branch of the family founded their farm, in
Lavaca County, back in 1880 – they started out with 200 acres which they had planned
to purchase for six dollars an acre. But Richard recalled that a fellow from Oklahoma
said he had a prior claim on the land and the Gaertner’s had to pay twelve dollars
per acre to get it. Over the years the family acquired more land and the farm
grew to 500 acres.
There were five children in the family – Richard had
three brothers and one sister – he has outlived them all.
The Gaertner’s
raised cotton as their main crop, along with
corn, and some wheat for making flour; they also maintained a garden to help feed
the family. The kids had to do their share of the work and there was plenty to
do. But young Richard didn’t care much for picking cotton.
You get the impression that he would rather have been fishing or swimming with
the neighbor kids over at Rocky Creek or the North Fork of the Lavaca River.
On Saturdays, as was the case with most country folk, the Gaertner family would
go to town. “Momma was in charge of the buying and selling,” said Richard. “She
would buy the basics such as sugar, flour, and coffee, while making some money
selling eggs.” His daddy would go to the saloon and drink beer. Richard recalls
that the town was full of people on Saturdays back then (around 1914). “There
were so many people you couldn’t hardly walk around, it isn’t like that anymore.”
Cotton
was big business in those days. Gaertner remembers that in 1920 they made 40 bales,
each bale weighed 500 pounds. They would take the cotton to the gin in Moulton
and collect their money. At the time, cotton was going for 45 cents a pound. “Papa
kept bringing more bales and each time the price would drop. It finally was down
to 6 cents a pound and they told Papa not to bring anymore.”
Richard went
to the Baursville School. But he couldn’t go ‘til the cotton was all picked. He
had to walk three miles to school. The classes only went as high as the 8th grade.
“The first two years I didn’t learn anything, but then I got where I knew as much
as the rest of them,” he said.
Growing up in Moulton,
the railroad was a big part
of Richard Gaertner’s life and he has many stories on that subject as well. His
mother seems to have had a considerable influence on his life and it was she who
told him many of the tales that he shares today.
One of Momma’s stories
was about a railroad crew that was coming from Flatonia
laying track towards Moulton when a local farmer confronted them. The farmer had
two big sons and each was armed with a shotgun. The old farmer declared that the
railroad would never cross
his land.
The crew stopped work while the foreman tried to figure out a
way to get the tracks down. He came up with a plan and waited until dusk when
the farmer and his boys went home. The foreman hired another crew and started
to cross from the south with the strategy being to complete the job after meeting
the workers coming from the north – having the entire track laid before sunup.
The job wasn’t quite complete when the farmer showed up, but after seeing that
the work was nearly finished; he just shook his head and went home.
Gaertner
has seen many changes over the years. He saw the coming of the automobile and
airplane. “I saw my first airplane in 1918,” he said. “Another kid and me were
riding bicycles when we saw the plane come over. It was flying low and then landed.
We finally found it in a pasture and there was a bunch of people there. It looked
like a picnic with so many people. Them two fellows on the plane were going from
Houston to San
Antonio when they ran out of gas and had to land.”
When the automobile
arrived in Lavaca County, Gaertner’s family was among the first to purchase a
new Model-T Ford. “Back then the county gave each car an identification number,
Dr. Guenther had number one, and our family had number 157,” he said. “There weren’t
any real roads back in them days, only ruts, and when it rained a lot those ruts
would fill up with water, that made it nearly impossible to drive.”
It
seems as though the Gaertner’s new car had a 60-inch wide wheelbase, and the ruts
were only 56 inches in width. But Richard’s daddy found a way to solve that problem.
“Papa heard of this fellow over in Breslau who had a junked car with a 56- inch
frame,” said Gaertner. “Papa bought the frame and put our car body on it, after
that we could drive in them ruts just like everybody else.”
Horses were
scared to death of the automobiles according to Richard. He remembers one time
when he saw a car pass by a wagon, and the horses became so wild that the fellow
on the wagon jumped off and ran for the woods – the man had never seen a car before.
Richard
Gaertner was raised in the Catholic faith but he doesn’t get to church much these
days because he doesn’t like to take his hat off. Seems as if he removed his hat
once while touring Europe and because he doesn’t have any hair on top, he caught
a bad head cold. “Now I never take my hat off,” he said. “I even wear it when
I eat and I can’t go to church because you have to take your hat off in church.”
In
1980, Richard and the other family members decided to sell the farm. But before
they would agree to the transaction, it had to be understood that they could still
live on the place. The buyer agreed, and two acres was fenced off – Richard and
his brother, “Rudy,” lived together there. And even though he lives in town now,
Richard still drives to the country and checks on the home place every Monday
before he goes to Flatonia for bingo.
After the farm was sold, he decided to do some traveling and see the country.
First he drove to Las Vegas several times. “It took me two days to get there,”
said Richard. Then he commenced to tour the world, with travels to Europe, Africa,
Germany, France, Switzerland, and other countries as well. Once he flew out to
California and caught a ship to Alaska. He also took a ship from Puerto Rico and
visited South America. Richard really enjoyed his trip through the Panama Canal.
Before
the interview with Richard concluded, he just had to share one more tale. This
one must have been his favorite, by far, because the story made him laugh so hard
that he had a tough time finishing it.
Again, the story was about an event
concerning the railroad in Lavaca County. According to Richard, there once was
a fellow working at the railroad “roundhouse” in Yoakum.
The man left work a little early one day and went home to get some rest. He crawled
in bed with his wife and started to go to sleep. But she shook him and said that
she was feeling bad and needed him to go get some medicine from the drug store.
Being a considerate husband, he got up, put on a pair of pants and went to buy
the medicine.
“When he reached in his pocket to pay for that medicine,
he pulled out a handful of money and it wasn’t his,” said Gaertner, “he had somebody
else’s pants on.” The story goes that they never did find out who those pants
belonged to, or where the other fellow was – he might even have been hiding under
the bed when the husband came home.
“That’s a true story,” Gaertner laughingly
explained. “I had kinfolk working in that roundhouse and they told me it was true.”
© Murray
Montgomery
Lone
Star Diary
May 14,
2005 Column
Update: |
 |
Richard
Gaertner and Helen Muehlstein -
Moulton Shady Oak 2010 Valentine King and
Queen |
Subject:
Moulton
story teller...
The Moulton storyteller, Richard Gaertner, has passed away. He celebrated his
104th birthday in this picture on Feb. 4 - another valuable piece of history is
gone. I am happy that I had a small part in telling his story. - Murray Montgomery,
March 05, 2012
I thought y'all might be interested in this picture
of the Moulton story
teller, Richard Gaertner. We ran this photo in the paper - he was elected Valentine
King at Shady Oaks Nursing and Rehab. in Moulton.
The queen is Helen Muehlstein - Mr. Gaertner just turned 102.
Here is
the caption that ran with the photo: Shady Oak Nursing and Rehabilitation announces
during activities on Monday that the 2010 Valentine King and Queen are Richard
Gaertner and Helen Muehlstein. The King and Queen are nominated and voted on by
staff members. King Richard Gaertner has been a resident for nine years. He proudly
holds the title of being the oldest resident at Shady Oak, having just celebrated
his 102 birthday. He enjoys playing dominoes and cards and telling his stories!!!
Queen Helen Muehlstein has been a resident for nearly five years. She is active
in all phases of Shady Oak life and especially likes being outside, playing bingo
and doing religious things. - Murray Montgomery, February 17, 2010
Richard
lives in the Shady Oaks Nursing Home in Moulton,
as he did when I wrote the article; he was 96 at the time and still driving. Just
wanted to let you know that he just turned 101 - he's in good health but I don't
think he drives anymore. - Murray Montgomery, February 18, 2009 |
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