In 1925, at the age of 16, my grandfather, Robert H. (Bob) Sternitzky, graduated from Wausau High School, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
An all-around athlete, Bob “Butts” played football and basketball and was on the swim team during his high school career. He also participated in events sponsored by the local YMCA.
1925 Wahiscan. Bob is in the back row, 1st from left
Swimming
This team photo, dated 1924, was published in the 1925 Wahiscan. It was common to publish spring sports in the following year’s book. The high school swim team was a new addition to the sports program at the high school. The team was coached by Kurt Fox, the “boys’ secretary of the Wausau Y. M. C. A.” Young Men’s Christian Association.” The first interscholastic high school swim meet in the state of Wisconsin was held Friday, May 16, 1924, in Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, at the Y. M. C. A. pool. The evening events began at 7:30 p.m.: Diving, the 40-yard/Free Style, the 40-yard Backstroke, the Four-Man Relay, the Plunge for Distance, and the Breast Stroke.
Bob participated in the 40-yard Back Stroke, the Plunge for Distance, and the Four Men Relay. The Four Men Relay is a race “eight times around the tank, each man swimming twice around tank.”1
“The 100 yard relay race was the most exciting event of the evening when Eau Claire slightly outdistanced their opponents and in a flashy swim [Fred] Hilyer went ahead to the finish line a half-stroke ahead of his opponent. The 40 yard backstroke was another event filled with thrilling amazement when Sherman Olson remained a half head behind Sternitzky at the finish line when the two raced almost even on the last lap.”2 Bob’s winning time was 37 seconds.
Bob stood 5’8″
The evening ended with Wausau being awarded 31 1/2 points to Eau Claire’s 29 1/2 points. Wausau took home second in Diving, first in the 40-yard Free Style, first and third in the 40-yard Backstroke, first and third in the Four-Man Relay, second in the Plunge for Distance, and second in the breaststroke.
The second and final meet was held the following week, on Saturday, May 24th, at Wausau’s Y. M. C. A. pool. More than 100 students were there to witness the first home interscholastic aquatic meet. Bob again competed in the 40-yard Backstroke, the Plunge for Distance, and the Four Men Relay. The 40-yard Backstroke was his strongest event, as he easily took first place with a time of 33 4-5 seconds. While it was not reported how he did in the Plunge for Distance, the Four Men Relay team took first with a time of “one minute flat.” The “Local Swimmers Repeat Victory Over Eau Claire. Aquatic Meet in Y Pool is Won by Score off 36 to 25 Saturday Night.”3
Football
The schedule for the 1924 Football Season included eight games. It was a highly anticipated season as the team had participated in the newly inaugurated spring football training “previous to the summer vacation. It was thought in some quarters that this would lead to a general improvement in play.” Bob was one of only five returning players.
His yearbook entry reads: “Robert ‘Butts’ Sternitzky played the whole season at half-back. Until the introduction of the ‘huddle system of signals,’ ‘Butts’ called the plays. Sternitzky could plunge and many of his passes to team-mates resulted in good gains. This is Sternitzky’s last year.”
1924. Bob is in the 3rd row, second from right
The season roster:
vs Tomahawk 14-7
vs Marshfield 7-7
vs Stevens Point 7-7 “Butts Sternitzky scored the lone touchdown on a plunge through the line after a sensational fifteen yard sprint by Kieffer to the enemy’s four yard line. The men in line played a fine contest, opening many holes for the backs, while the ends and tackles were down the field fast on the punts”
vs Eau Claire 15-7
vs Rhinelander 14-7
vs Antigo 0-0
vs Merrill 7-0 Homecoming
The season’s final game was the championship game against Shawano High School. The 2:15 p.m. game was a home game played at Recreation Park in Wausau. In preparation for this game, Coach Ewers moved some players around, one of them being Bob. “He [Coach Ewers] will start Archie at right end instead of Swan, and Stone will begin at left half instead of Sternitzky. The latter is an aggressive player, but not as speedy as Stone…”4 Although favored to win, the team lost the game 20-0.
1925 Wahiscan
Basketball
The basketball season started immediately following the football season and spanned the first and second semesters. During this time, a school career was counted in semesters; eight semesters concluded your high school career. Two members of the 1924 team completed their eight semesters at the end of 1924, so they were ineligible to finish the season; these players were Ralph Patterson and Bob’s brother, Arthur. The yearbook states: “The players deserve more than passing mention for their splendid playing during the season…Robert Sternitzky showed up well when he was given the opportunity. Had Ralph Patterson and Arthur Sternitzky stayed with the team throughout the year, the outcome might have been different.”
1924 Wahiscan
On Friday, December 12, 1924, Wausau defeated Tomahawk High School in the first conference basketball game at the Y. M. C. A. The final score was 24-21. Bob, a left guard, scored 4 points during the game. The newspaper reported: “Sternitzky was the only Wausau player to attempt shots from the floor. He registered two, both in the second quarter for the only points made by his team in that period.”5
Hexalthon Meet
In early March Bob participated in a national Hexathlon meet held at the Wausau Y. M. C. A., where over 200 young men participated. “The boys’ hexathlon meet starts this week and continues throughout the month. There are five divisions, according to weight, 80, 95, 110 and 125 pounds and over.”6 In a hexathlon meet [a Greek word, hexa = 6, athlon = contest] there are traditionally six different track and field contests: 75m hurdles, long jump, javelin, high jump, shot put, and 800 meters. Lampert Ruffing (any relation to the Calumet County Ruffings?) took first place in five of the six events. In May the honor ribbons were awarded, and the newspaper reported that he had taken “fifth in the unlimited class.”7
Bob was awarded the “coveted” “W” for his participation in Swimming, Football, and Basketball. His older brother Arthur also received a “W” in Basketball.8
Arthur Sternitzky graduated from Wausau High School on June 4, 1925. Bob was just one credit shy of graduating and completed this credit during summer school. While attending summer school, he worked as a house painter.
That summer almost 100 years ago, a family story was born, and was told, and re-told. The first to tell the story to her grandson, Robert D. Sternitzky, was Verna Christine (Christine) Goerling Sternitzky, the mother of Bob. The story was then confirmed with the telling of the story by one of Bob’s high school friends. Robert D. (Bob) told the story to his grandchildren in 2004.
As he told it that day, this is the story: “The summer Bob (Robert H. Sternitzky) graduated from high school in 1925, at the age of 16, he worked as a house painter. He was still living at home. One day, his mother, Christine Goerling Sternitzky, answered the phone, and it was Curly Lambeau, coach of the Green Bay Packers, calling for Bob. Bob was working, so Christine took a message. Curly wanted him to play for the Green Bay Packers. The terms were $1.00 a minute for every minute played; Bob would buy his own shoes and insurance and pay for gas from Wausau to Green Bay. Curly was interested in Bob because, when playing high school football, he could throw the “old punkin” (this was the old heavy pigskin ball) 50 yards. He hurt his back playing football in high school, so he didn’t accept Curly’s offer.”
Instead of becoming a Green Bay Packer, Bob took the position of “office boy” at Marathon Corporation in Rothschild, Marathon, Wisconsin. “In 1928 he entered the firm’s accounting department cost section…He was named supervisor of the standard cost department of the firm in 1938.” “When [the] Marathon Corporation main office was shitted to Menasha in 1945, Mr. Sternitzky moved here with his family. From 1947 until several weeks ago he was manager of the manufacturing accounting department at the firm’s Menasha office.”9
In the late 1940s or early 1950s, Bob had his portrait taken by the Fabian Bachrach studio. Louis Fabian Bachrach, Jr. is the photographer best known for his portrait of Senator John F. Kennedy. His photo of Kennedy was used as the official photograph after Kennedy was elected President in 1960. I cannot tell if the photo was taken by Fabian Bachrach himself or by his studio, but I did find evidence of other Marathon Corp. executive’s photos being attributed to Fabian Bachrach. Did they travel to Massachusetts to be photographed? Did a representative of the company travel to Wisconsin at the request of Marathon? We may never know.
I never knew my grandfather; he passed away from a heart attack on 14 Feb 1952 at the age of 43. This strong man, this amazing athlete, had developed a heart condition, “coronary sclerosis and angina,” that failed “to respond under medical care.” His doctor wrote on 14 Jan 1952: “I feel it is imperative you be required to take a leave of absence from your present employment at Marathon Corporation. This leave of absence should be a period of at least three months.”10 He died in Long Beach, California, while he and my grandmother, Anola, were visiting her brother, Neal Cook. His body returned to Wisconsin via railway car, arriving in Wausau on February 19th, where he was met at the station by his father and his son. He was buried in Restlawn Memorial Park, Wausau.
Sources:
“Local Swimmers Repeat Victory Over Eau Claire,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 20 May 1924, Monday Evening, p. 8, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Local High Tank Men Lost First Meet to Wausau,” The Eau Claire Leader, 17 May 1924, Saturday Morning, p. 2, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Local Swimmers Repeat Victory Over Eau Claire,” Monday Evening, p. 8, col. 5. ↩︎
“Favor Wausau to Win Game and the Title,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 22 Nov 1924, Saturday Evening, p. 1, col. 7; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Wausau High Defeats Tomahawk at Basket Ball, 24-21,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 12 Dec 1924, Saturday Evening, p. 11, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Sport Chatter,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 03 Mar 1925, Tuesday Evening, p. 11, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Sport Chatter,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 13 May 1925, Wednesday Evening, p. 5, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“Students Given Merit Emblems for School Work,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 23 May 1924, Friday Evening, p. 3, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
“R. Sternitzky Rites Thursday,” Obituary, Twin Cities News-Record, 18 Feb 1952, Monday, p. 3, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 8 Oct 2018). ↩︎
Letter, 14 Jan 1952, from David M. Regan, M.D. to Robert H. Sternitzky; Sternitzky Family Memorabilia; privately held by Susan Sternitzky Fassbender. Robert H. and Anola J. Sternitzky Family Archives, 1950. ↩︎
Christmas is a time of sharing and many times; this includes the sharing of food, be it a tray of cookies delivered to a neighbor or a New Year’s luncheon. I did not deliver any goods to the neighbors this year; the atmosphere was damp, and the cookies and caramels I made were a disappointment. I did, however, have success when we hosted friends on the 2nd for a New Year’s luncheon. It had been years since we had entertained in a special way, and I was thrilled to discover that I could still put together a complicated menu and get it on the table in good order.
Lasagne. A recipe that I have been making for about 40 years. When I moved into my first apartment as a sophomore in college, I created a cookbook binder for myself, copying my mother’s recipes. This lasagne recipe was one of them. Years later, when I asked my mother about the recipe, she said she had no memory of ever making the recipe and had no idea where she had found it, suggesting that I had found the recipe on my own.
This past weekend, we were told to brace for a major snowstorm. A major storm here in Rhode Island is around six inches. As seasoned Wisconsinites, we did not panic but looked forward to the possibility of snow, and I thought it would be the perfect time to raid the freezer and get out the container of lasagne meat, grab the pie crust left over from Christmas, and finally get the apples out of the basement fridge where they have been waiting since Thanksgiving. Lasagne and apple pie for dinner.
This dish has become a freezer staple in our family. Baking a pan, cutting it into squares, and freezing the individual squares, ready to pull out as needed. This dish was a favorite of our babysitter, Kimmiebabsit (to differentiate her from Kimmie Cousin), and she was always happy when she saw that I had pulled a few pieces out of the freezer for her dinner.
Wherever the recipe originated, I have made it my own over the years. One of the first things I did was to replace the pork with first, ground veal, then ground turkey. Both are delicious. I use 1% milk-fat cottage cheese and increase the amount of mozzarella. It’s all about balance.
I have resolved that 2024 is the year that I get a handle on my mother’s paper. Her paid bill file and her medical bills were all quickly “filed” in the recycle bin. This past weekend, I started going through her recipe binders. As her vision faded with macular degeneration, she created new binders with the recipes in a larger and larger font. Favorite recipes in more than one place. A treasure was finding the sheets from her very first binder, her handwriting strong and confident, and the cooking splatters clearly marking favorite recipes. Included in this pile was the lasagne recipe. Not covered with splatters – so maybe this was just a recipe that she collected but never made?
In addition to the handwritten recipes, I brought her much-deteriorated 1969 copy of the Betty Crocker Cookbook downstairs to look through. Looking for indications of a recipe that she had tried, liked, and even become a family favorite. And there it was on page 292, “Lasagne.” Turning to my own 1987 copy of the cookbook, a lasagne recipe is found on page 54. Similar, but not the same. Updates do not always make for an improved recipe. I will stick with the 1969 version.
While we did not get a lot of snow, it was enough to feel cozy with a fire in the fireplace, lasagne baking in the oven, and the promise of a slice of apple pie to finish the meal.
A week ago today the weather was miserable in Wisconsin. After two days of 65° degree weather we woke to temps in the 30s, and an expected snowfall of 2-5”. Not the weather we had hoped for as we laid my mother to rest in Neenah’s Oak Hill Cemetery.
We met at the cemetery at 11:00 and headed to what shelter a nearby mausoleum entrance could provide from the snow and sleet. It was a beautiful service with readings and intentions from some of her oldest friends.
Upon leaving the cemetery we headed back to our hotel at the Home2Suites in Appleton. We had two rooms that were adjoining, and so allowed the 12 of us ample seating and room to move around. Mom loved a grazing meal in front of the fire in the library, a glass of wine in hand. We couldn’t provide the fire or library, and we didn’t offer wine, but we had warm coffee, cupcakes, and all the cheeses and charcuterie meats she loved.
As a genealogist, I love to tell stories. As the keeper of the photos, my mother loved to identify, date to the best of her ability, and gather them into an album of sorts for all to view. Last week we played on the room’s massive TV a slideshow I had put together of her life.
In the past, we have done photo boards where pictures are randomly tacked to foam core sheets, and placed along the receiving line. For my mother-in-law, I created a movie using actual footage from their wedding and adding images of her and my father-in-law through the years. I was a bit ahead of my time as it didn’t transfer to a form that would play well at the dinner after the funeral.
This time we had a bit more control as we sent the slideshow from my laptop to the Apple TV.
As people entered the room, the kids had it playing and the coffee brewing (we brought a 12 cup pot from home, along with a favorite flavored decaf). The images stopped people in their tracks. 51 images with captions flowed across the screen. Mom and her brother as young children, mom as a teen in red shoes, a 1947 selfie stating “Me ’47 taken by me,” when she was 14. An image from her days studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, graduation from Drake University in 1955. Her summer trip to Europe where she and two college friends traveled 2900 miles over 31 days in a small Renault, visiting France, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, back to France, London, Scotland, back to London then the ship back to New York. Her days working at Quaker Oats in the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, meeting my father, their marriage and move to New York City. The birth of their first child, me, and the second, my brother. Images of us as a family, and her days working as the secretary at First English Lutheran Church in Appleton. Images through her life. A snapshot of time. A life. My mom’s life.
Because of COVID and distance, it took a year for this to happen. But I think she would have been pleased with how the day came together. Rest in peace mom.
This past Friday and Saturday, I had the wonderful opportunity to network with other genealogists, and learn from Judy G. Russell (!) at the Wisconsin Genealogical Society’s Gene-A-Rama. This year the Gene-A-Rama was held in Wausau, Marathon Co., Wisconsin, the birthplace of my father, Robert Sternitzky. I knew that I would have no time to do any research, but I did think I would have time to search out the church that my father and his family attended while living in Wausau. Thinking this would be an easy process, I asked my mom if she knew what church they were attending when dad was baptized. Not finding his baptismal certificate, she did find his Solemn Holy Communion card, dated May 14, 1944, and from St. James Catholic Church. BINGO! A quick Google search showed that St. James church no longer existed in Wausau. What happened to it?
It took a bit of digging, and a lot of disappointment in the lack of information available on the parish website, and also the diocesan website, but I figured it out. They had simply changed the name of the parish. Now in the world of consolidation of parishes, I am used to seeing parishes being re-named. An example is St. Katherine Drexel in Kaukauna, Outagamie Co., Wisconsin. St. Katherine Drexel is the consolidation of three parishes, but they still retain their individual identity by being called: St. Katherine Drexel, St. Mary Site; St. Katherine Drexel, St. Al Site; and St. Katherine Drexel, St. Francis Site, which is the parish located in Hollandtown, Brown Co., Wisconsin. In Wausau, the Eastside Parishes consist of St. Michael Parish, and Church of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ (formerly known as St. James).
While I have not yet determined when and why the parish was re-named, I have learned that the present building was constructed in 1911-12, as the congregation had outgrown its present building. St. James had been organized in 1905 as the first English speaking Catholic parish in Wausau.
Checking the Mass schedule, I was disappointed to learn that it was a 6:00 p.m. Saturday Mass, while St. Michael’s had the 4:00 p.m. Knowing that churches are usually open 45 minutes to an hour before mass time, I made the decision to attend St. Michael’s for Mass, and then head over to Resurrection, hoping to get in. I had no problems navigating to the address: 621 North 2nd Street, and getting out of the car, I shot a couple of photos of the exterior:
Testing the door, I found it unlocked, and so went in. The lights were still dimmed, and there was a woman praying near the front of the church, who I did not want to disturb. I quickly snapped a few shots, knelt and said a few prayers, and vowed to return at a time closer to Mass time so I could have better light. But until that point in time, I did find this website discussing the restoration of the interior of the church by Conrad Schmitt, and this flickr album showing the windows.
Directly across the street from the front entrance of the church, is the school. Dad would tell the story of how he would take the bus to school, and after school, or at lunch time, would head over to visit his Grandma Sternitzky (Christine Goerling Sternitzky) at her house on Steuben Street.
The Baptismal Font is still there, and appears to be original. Now I just need to be able to get close to it for a good photograph. Another item to add to the growing to-do list. Photo of the Baptismal Font in the Church of the Resurrection aka, St. James. NOTE: This is NOT the original baptismal font, please see comments below.
An Addition: Laziness set in yesterday, and so I didn’t go in search of my great-aunt and uncle’s address in Wausau, even though I knew my father would visit with them also; sometimes for a quick lunch during the school year. And it should be shame on me, as I never knew my great-grandparents, Robert R., and Christine Sternitzky, I did know my grandmother’s older brother, Great-Uncle Russell Cook, and his wife Hattie (Dietzler). Aunt Hattie even attended my wedding! Here is the route dad might have taken to their home from school, and then back down to the Sternitzkys:
My family lived in Owatonna, Steele Co., Minnesota from 1973 until 1980 – late summer moves both times. We lived in a house built by my parents; it had a view of Maple Creek, and sat above the fairway of what is now called Brooktree Golf Course. Our property had a small wooded section at the west end, which overlooked the fairway.
Some time in the mid 1970s, my parents purchased a park bench to place under the trees next to the birdbath. It was a real park bench, the kind that had holes in the feet so that it could be bolted into place. My mom thinks they may have paid $4.00 for the bench, one of two that were for sale.
When they moved to Appleton, the bench naturally moved with them, and sat for many years, first on the front stoop, and later in the corner of the back yard. Eventually the wood rotted away.
I took the pieces and the legs to our shop, hoping to use the remaining wood as a pattern. Unfortunately the wood was thrown out during a shop clean out, so the project sat. Until now. My son is hoping to take his hobby to the next level, and is having fun adding “toys” to his basement workshop. The bench became one of his first projects completed in this new space.
This weekend he brought the park bench home, and presented it to my mother. A piece picked up in an antique store in the late 1970s, is now fresh and beautiful with newly painted legs, and a cedar seat and back. Now the only decision is, where to place it, and when will it be warm enough to enjoy it. To be honest the bench looks so nice on his deck in this photo that I wasn’t sure that he would willing to give it away.
We have attended two funerals this month, both for men gone too soon. Reading through the obituary at the end is the usual statement: “A memorial has been established in his name.” We all want our loved ones to be remembered. As a genealogist, remembering is what I do, and I am working to write about the lives of these family members gone, but not forgotten.
When my father, Robert (Bob) Sternitzky, passed away in 2005, my mother wanted to do something in his memory. “A memorial has been established in his name.” The memorial. I realized that as part of my Library of Artifacts page, I should include these memorials. I will start with my dad.
As I have stated before, Samuel Andrew Cook was the Cook that fascinated my father. He spent years researching him, and documenting his story. One of my father’s “pet” projects was to support Cook Park, a park on Doty Island, located near where S. A.’s home once stood. William E. Dunwiddle wrote about how Cook Park came to be a park, in his book:The Parks of Neenah: An Historical Interpretation.
In 1997 it was determined that Cook Park needed to update its playground equipment. The park became one of four parks participating in the “Buy a Brick. Build a Dream” program sponsored by the Kimberly-Clark Community Playground Project. Each brick cost $30.00, and was engraved with your name, or the name of someone you wanted to honor. My father took on, as his mission, the task of filling Cook Park with the names of Cook relatives. He brought the program to the Cook Reunion that year, and worked to spread the word. At the end of the campaign, Cook Park had new playground equipment, and 161 engraved bricks were set in place. 61 of these bricks honored Cook family members. Dad commemorated this accomplishment by photographing the bricks while standing on a ladder overlooking the bricks; and the park, from the open window of a friend’s Cessna 172, flying at 1300 feet and 75 mph.
In 1996, the year before the brick project, a planter had been created in Cook Park, and the front of the box facing the street was formed by the giant “S. A. Cook” concrete piece that once graced the top peak of the S. A. Cook Armory. The armory had been torn down in the late 1980s, and thankfully this piece had been saved, and is now preserved in the park named for him.
Cook Park, 23 Jul 2007
When my dad passed away in 2005, mom wanted to create a memorial that would be placed in Cook Park to honor both my dad and his great granduncle, Samuel Andrew Cook. She worked closely with the Neenah Parks and Recreation department to decide how best to do this, one idea was to place a bench in the park with a plaque bearing dad’s name. One thing that was missing from this park, was information telling the visitor WHO S. A. Cook was, and why would a park be named for him. And in that question came the answer.
A large rock was placed in the garden bed, and attached to this rock is a brass plaque telling the story of S. A., and a smaller plaque honoring my father. My mother wrote the history with input by me, and edited by my brother.
The plaques in place
“DONATED IN MEMORY OF ROBERT D. STERNITZKY”
This story is fully commemorated in my dad’s “Report” created for the Cook family members who supported the brick project. It was privately published in December 2005 as “The Bricks of Cook Park. A Modern History.” The introduction written by my father reads:
“This is not the story of S. A. Cook who was a U. S. postmaster, a mayor, a state assemblyman, a U. S. congressman, a successful businessman. This is the story of the park named for him and the combined efforts of family and friends to fund a patio of bricks engraved with the names of his grandfather, his parents, his siblings, his two wives, his three children and his grandson–plus people I call mother, uncle, aunt, child, grandchild and cousin–many cousins!”
