Hedy Yaeger

Audio Clip

Okay, first I would like to ask you what drew you and your family to the Weston area?

I lived here all my life.

What role did you play in the development of the Weston community? Do you like do anything to help Weston?

Sure, whatever projects were going on in the Weston area, I was involved.

How has Weston changed since you lived here? Has it changed for the better, the worse?

With all the new roads that are being built here, I don’t know if that’s for the better or worse. And got rid of all the dairy farms that were all over.

What makes Weston different from all the other communities?

You’ve got a lot of growth in it the town and village now. Homes, manufacturing establishments, businesses, the outgrowth of Wausau you might say is out here in Weston.

Can you share one of your success stories?

Well, after we got married, we developed and built up Yaeger Auto Salvage.

Has there been any impacts on the community that you’ve done, or like that you and your husband have done in your lifetime living here?

Well my parents farmed, and then after we got married we lived on the farm. That helped the community.

What is your most exciting memory you had in Weston? It’s been a long time.

Everything has been exciting.

Is there one memory that just sticks out from all the others, like as a child or as an adult?

Well, there has been 5 weddings to go to, that type of thing. Celebrations, birthday celebrations.

Is there anything unique that happens or has happened to Weston that you can think of?  Anything unique to Weston?

It’s very interesting in ’76 to end Weston’s anniversary, the celebrations that were held.

What type of things do you enjoy in the community, things that are exciting?

When I grew up I belonged to a 4H club, and then I was a 4H leader, and then later on the homemaking groups that are now known as HCE groups, those were always meeting places and activities at the fair, the Wisconsin Valley Fair, those were always interesting.

What kind of activities did you do at the fair?

At the fair I worked with 4H.

What kind of stuff did they do? Did they just help out?

Projects. They split inter-projects(sp?) for judging, just as they do now. Same type of thing. Of course at the Wisconsin Valley Fair, the displays, commercial, and agricultural and educational have all changed down the line.

Are you involved in any community organizations besides the 4H, or do you just do that?

After 4H, well then I was- the children grew up- I was at girlscouts, boyscouts, children organizations, and of course the homemaker clubs which are the HCE clubs now. And now I am in senior citizens.

How did you find out things like that, did you just have friends that were in it and met up with them, or start it?

Perhaps. Through school announcements.

Were you really active during school? Like, were you always involved during school, doing like student council, yearbook, stuff like that?

When I went to school, I went to school in a one-room schoolhouse with a furnace in the corner, and all eight grades in the one room and each grade as their subject matter went to the bench near the teacher’s desk to learn their lesson for the day.

Wow. How many kids were in the school? Like was that all?

This was all eight grades. So I don’t know, I think 60…

Where are you in this picture? So you were one of the littler ones.

First grade. Or either second grade because this one was younger. Of this picture, of the Upper Kelly School, about 5 people are still living in this group.

Oh really? Do you still keep in touch with them?

I see them every once and a while, yes.

So most of them stayed in this area? Did they move out or with their family?

Most of these people, I would say most of these people stayed in the area.

What do you see for the future of Weston?

Crowded conditions.

Yes, because it just keeps growing.

Right.

Well, is there anything else you would like to tell or, or show us?

Well, as I grew up on the farm, up to 1946, we had no tractors; it was all horses that did the farm work.

What did you all do on the farm? Did you help your family do chores?

Well we helped, yes yes we helped, we milked cows.

How many cows did you have?

I think our farm when I grew up had about 12, because the new barn was built with12 stanches. And this is the house that I was born in and lived in for 25 years. And that house is still on Rine Street.

Oh really, it’s still there, the same house?

Yes. So you can imagine this house is a few years old.

How many family members did you have living in that house, like brothers and sisters?

I was in a family of eight. I was the oldest. This is a picture taken in ’39, our family.

Did you go on any vacations, or family trips? Or did you all just hang out at the farm?

No, my dad did- we went to the Wausau area, Marathon Park, the fairs always, and if there was any doings in Weston or Rothschild we attended as a family. And I do remember, I must have been very young- 6, 7 years old- when I attended the Charlie Wittenchur(sp?) performance where Hayden Funeral Home is right now. So this was, I don’t remember the performance, but I do remember that Dad took us to see this. Of course when I was up to 7, well maybe younger, this was our transportation to church.  Our way to St. Mary’s Church in Wausau, and the little kids played in the park while Mother and Dad went to church if it got too noisy.

So you rode a horse and a carriage to church? I’d love to do that.

And I imagine how winter was with the big sleigh.

About how old were you when cars first started coming out? Like when you started getting your first car instead of using a carriage?

I think in 1930 we got our first car.

How much were they? Really cheap?

Well for $400 you could buy a brand new car!

Oh wow, if only it was like that now. Was your school by your house or did you have to walk?

Yes, we had to walk. You might say about 3 blocks we had to walk, across the road, across the railroad track, to our school.

How long did it go, did it go the whole day?

Yes, till 4 o’clock. I don’t know, nine to four, or what hour…probably nine to four. Okay, talking about farms and growing up, there were a lot of- for extra money on the farm- people planted pickles- patches of pickles, or strawberries, or later on green beans so that they could be transported to bean factories and gathering places. Because I remember pickle bats(sp?) that were in Callen(sp?), and the potato warehouses that were in Callen(sp?) and there were places that green beans were gathered so that they could be sent to factory.

So that’s what most people did for a living, farming stuff?

Yes.

What did you do for a living, like what was your career path throughout your life?

I went to Wausau high school, graduated in 1940. While in high school, I worked for room and board, no money, any extra. Then after I took local jobs after high school, like at the Marathon Rubber Plant, Wausau Battery, I worked at a clothing store, the battery factory. Those factories in Wausau hired once in a while. I didn’t work after I got married, except for occasional things.

What was your favorite job, did you have a favorite job when you were growing up or throughout your career, or were they all pretty much the same?

They were all jobs.

So when you said you worked for room and board in high school, in high school you stayed at the school?

Yes, I stayed in Wausau and walked home every weekend or so.

So it was kind of like college?

Well the street cart, for a nickel you could take the street cart halfway. To Rothschild, it would cost 10 cents to take the street car.  I think the street cars ran on Sunday, not every day.

So did your family go to church on Sunday’s, as family and friends and all that stuff?

Yes, I mean regular church was the norm. And after 1929, or ’30, when we got our car- a car- then we always went.

So what are these things, I know one of them is your birth certificate, but..?

This is the school, and these are the people on there.

Oh okay, so a list of their names?

My dad always kept a cash book you might say of every penny that was spent, and this is some of the writings for that.

Oh, so it’s kind of like a checkbook.

These are my flower gardens.

Oh, those are really pretty.

These are decorations for my front porch, these are my flowers. Okay, this might be an interesting picture. This is a picture at the 70^th birthday of my husband William, taken at the Weston Town Hall. With this camouflage- this picture on the wall- and this was made by a town of Weston person.

Oh so is that like a picture, a showing of..?

The history of the town of Weston. There’s the roads, and the bridge, and I don’t know where that picture is right now.

Was it a painting, or was it like stitched on, or..?

It’s a painting. There was no stitching I don’t think. Of course this is a yard sign, and this is my family.

So these are all of your children?

Yes.

Oh, she has really long hair.

Haha. Just a couple years ago she cut her hair. Now she’s got it short.

So do you have grandsons and stuff like that now? Grandchildren?

Yes, grandchildren, yes yes. And they all are in the Everest. Since the one room little schools disappeared, and we all go to grade school, and junior high school, and senior high school, yes.

Now there’s like 1,000 people in each grade. Would you have liked the classes to be bigger, or did you like them smaller?

I don’t know, we learned just as much with eight grades in front of us as when you go to high school and only 9^th grade is in the one room. Because you sort of were listening to what was going on by the teacher’s desk when you were doing your work.

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