{"id":1927,"date":"2021-04-13T18:25:24","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T23:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=1927"},"modified":"2021-04-13T18:27:04","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T23:27:04","slug":"chucks-house-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=1927","title":{"rendered":"Chuck’s House Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Last week, I read in the Vail Observer that Rev. Victor Rehmaeker died at the age of 85.\u00a0 I have a couple of memorable moments that involve both my mother and Father Rehmaeker (RAY-maker).<\/p>\n

The last incident first.\u00a0 When my half-brother Bobby Wulf died, mom made funeral arrangements with the assistance of the Pfannebeker Funeral Home in Denison, Iowa.\u00a0 One of the decisions my mom made, which was unwavering, was that Susan Rosener would sing.\u00a0 Sue has a great voice, and mom wanted this occasion to be special by hearing one of the greatest local vocalists.<\/p>\n

Father Rehmaeker was the parish priest at St. Ann\u2019s Church in Vail, Iowa.\u00a0 When it was time for a hymn, Sue began singing, and so did Father Rehmaeker.\u00a0 The only difference was that Father Rehmaeker was wearing a mic and his voice was drowning out Sue\u2019s.\u00a0 I am in the front pew with mom and she\u2019s grabbing a hold of me, shaking me, and saying: \u201cMake him stop, Marty!\u00a0 He\u2019s singing!\u00a0 I don\u2019t want him singing!\u00a0 Please, Marty, make him stop!\u201d\u00a0 I suppose I could have made the six o\u2019clock news, but I had no idea what to do to make him stop.<\/p>\n

I realized that he heard mom\u2019s pleas when he began the eulogy.\u00a0 He explained that the Pope, or the bishop, or some other head of church, had written that everyone should sing and praise God jointly; that singing should not be a presentation.\u00a0 It went in one ear of mom\u2019s head and out the other.\u00a0 Can you blame her?\u00a0 She did not like Father Rehmaeker.<\/p>\n

I tried to explain to her earlier in life that he wasn\u2019t to be trusted.\u00a0 When I was in high school at Kuemper in Carroll (1964-1968), Father Rehmaeker was the principal.\u00a0 It was the policy of the school that the crime of skipping school required the student\u2019s parents to come to the school and have a powwow with the principal, the student and the parents to allow the student to be re-admitted.\u00a0 I was caught skipping school, so mom came with me for the inquisition.\u00a0 My step-father was not considered to be a parent.<\/p>\n

Mom and I are sitting on folding chairs in Room 207 \u2013 Rehmaeker\u2019s office.\u00a0 Father picks up a manilla folder off his desk and opens it.\u00a0 He reaches in and pulls out a slip of paper.\u00a0 He hands it to mom and says: \u201cMrs. Wulf, do you recognize this handwriting?\u201d\u00a0 Mom said, \u201cyes, that is my handwriting.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWell, then,\u201d Father Rehmaeker pumped his chest and pulled out the remaining stack of papers and asked, \u201cwhose handwriting is this?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cOh,\u201d mom said, \u201cthat\u2019s Carol\u2019s handwriting.\u201d\u00a0 Carol, my innocent sister, was a year ahead of me at Kuemper.\u00a0 Thanks, Mom!\u00a0 Carol didn\u2019t write all those excuses.\u00a0 It was easier to forge her handwriting than that of my mom.\u00a0 Carol never got in trouble for it.\u00a0 I received another 3-day suspension.\u00a0 I never did understand why they suspend a student for the student\u2019s self-suspension.<\/p>\n

I was reminded of one of those skipping moments when Chuck North sent me a friend request on Facebook.<\/p>\n

One gray, cold winter day, several of us boys in Vail decided to skip school.\u00a0 We all met at Chuck\u2019s house.\u00a0 Of course, it wasn\u2019t his house; it belonged to his parents, Earl and Mary North.\u00a0 We were having a blast, doing what is questionable, but I don\u2019t think we were drinking, smoking or doing drugs.\u00a0 That\u2019s a plus, I suppose.<\/p>\n

Close to midday, someone yelled, \u201cEarl just pulled up outside.\u201d\u00a0 There must have been at least eight of us.\u00a0 I remember Jim Devold, Chuck North, Ron McCoid, Laird Vergith, Jim Malloy, and possibly Russ McCoid and another Malloy, along with me all being there.\u00a0 We all ran upstairs and hid in the master bedroom closet.\u00a0 Bodies on bodies.<\/p>\n

We heard Earl come in and prepare a lunch.\u00a0 We tried not to move, but what are you going to do when you have that many male adolescents packed into a tiny space.\u00a0 Then, the inevitable occurred.\u00a0 Someone farted.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the silent kind, nor was it the fragrance of roses.\u00a0 It was suffocating to say the least.\u00a0 I just knew we would be caught by Earl.\u00a0 A few began whispering.\u00a0 They might just as well have talked aloud.\u00a0 We were not quiet by any means.\u00a0 The decibel level had to have floated down to the main floor, but Earl finished up his meal and headed out.<\/p>\n

I wonder what he thought.\u00a0 I wonder whose excuse I used for that day.\u00a0 I\u2019ll bet it was in that batch of excuses with my mom\u2019s signature on it, with Carol\u2019s handwriting, possibly forged by me.<\/p>\n

Rest in peace, Father Rehmaeker.\u00a0 After dealing with me and mom, you deserve it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I read in the Vail Observer that Rev. Victor Rehmaeker died at the age of 85.\u00a0 I have a couple of memorable moments that involve both my mother and Father Rehmaeker (RAY-maker). The last incident first.\u00a0 When my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[848,590,589,644,730,847,849,850,852,851],"class_list":["post-1927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chuck-north","tag-jim-devolld","tag-jim-malloy","tag-kuemper-catholic-high-school","tag-laird-vergith","tag-rev-victor-rehmaeker","tag-ron-mccoid","tag-russ-mccoid","tag-st-anns-church","tag-sue-rosener"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1927"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1933,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions\/1933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}