Individual Details
Nancy Lorraine Gartmann
(15 Apr 1940 - 30 Dec 2018)
BIRTH:
April 15, 1940, on the family farm in St. Joseph Township, 9:30 p.m.,
9 and 1/2 pounds, 20 inches, on a Monday.
RELIGION:
Baptism:- St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson, Wis.; godparents, Joseph
and Ithalia Gartmann (uncle and aunt), 12 May 1940, Rev. J.M. Owens
Holy Communion: - St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson, Wis.
Confirmation: - St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson, Wis.; sponsor,
Augusta Gartmann.
Marriage:- October 15, 1960, St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson; witnesses
were Peg (Gartmann) Sutter and Jack Stayberg (cousins).
EDUCATION:
Fall 1946- Entered first grade, McKinley School, St. Joseph Township,
Elizabeth Schaeffer was teacher
Fall 1950- Entered sixth grade, Hudson Elementary, 4th Street, when McKinley
School closed, Ida Johnson was teacher
May 1957- Graduated from Hudson High School
OCCUPATION:
June 3, 1957- Began career at State Farm Insurance, Roseville
May 1, 2002 -Retired (after completing 44 years of service on 4-28-2002)
HOBBIES:
Genealogy and photography; also enjoy reading and travel and camping
BIOGRAPHICAL:
I was born at home in mid April 1940. My mother had done the Monday wash
and had begun preparing supper when it was time to notify Dr. Newton and my
grandmother to come. My grandmother stayed with us for a week, taking care of
me and cooking for my dad, until my mother was back on her feet.
Home was the Gartmann family dairy farm in St. Joe township where my
father had grown up and my mother had come as a bride the summer before.
My mother named me Nancy because she liked the name, and Lorraine after
her own middle name.
I was baptized a month later, on May 12, 1940, by Father Owens, at St.
Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson, Wis., with an aunt and uncle, Genevieve and
Joe Gartmann, as godparents.
My father was born September 11, 1893, a son of Anna Friend and Joseph Antony
(Tony) Gartmann, making him 47 years old at the time of my birth. My mother
was 32, having been born on May 13, 1907, the second child and second daughter
of Karine Jenson and John A. Stayberg. This was a first marriage for both.
All four of my grandparents were foreign born; Anna Friend from Silesia, Tony
Gartmann from Switzerland, and Karine and John both from Norway.
My father had lived and worked on the family farm his entire life. My
mother was a city girl, born and raised in Hudson.
I have two younger brothers. Bob was born in 1943 and Tony in 1944.
My preschool childhood years were also the years of World War II. When my
mother's youngest brother was drafted it began a series of letters between
him, my grandmother and other
family. All told, there are more than 1500 of the letters in my possession.
Since both he and my grandmother wrote daily the letters are filled with the
everyday happenings of family and town, and I am mentioned in many of them.
The summer I turned twelve I got Apache, a white with brown Moroccan
filly with a clear blue eye on the white side of her face and a brown eye on
the other. It didn't matter that I didn't have a western saddle, my $10
McClellan was just fine and I rode her at every opportunity.
I entered first grade at the one room McKinley school in St. Joseph township
in the fall of 1946. My father had attended McKinley almost 50 years earlier
and my mother had taught there during the '30's. Consolidation closed the rural
schools in our area after the 1949-50 school year and that fall I entered sixth
grade in Hudson. I graduated as salutatorian on May 31, 1957 and started to
work at State Farm Insurance in Roseville, Minnesota the next Monday. I've been
fortunate to spend the majority of my State Farm career in the data processing
tech area where it is never routine or dull.
I had been working at State Farm about two and a half years when I met Art
in 1959. His sister, Dorothy, also a State Farm employee, asked me if I would
go to the annual Christmas party with her brother who was staying at their
house. The group would include Dorothy and her husband, Harlan, their friends
Muriel and Ted Rolf, Art and I. I had tickets for the party and had bought a
new dress but had found myself without a date, so after thinking about it for a
day or so, I told Dorothy I would go with Art. Years later I heard the stories
of Harlan and Ted wondering whether Art would need to bring peanuts along for
his date.
Obviously the evening went well as Art and I were married the following
October in a small ceremony in the rectory of St. Patrick's Church in Hudson
with Mons. John Owens, who had also baptized me, officiating. I wore the same
off white wool dress I had bought for the Christmas party a year earlier. My
parents entertained friends and family at their rural Woodville farm afterward,
my mother preparing all the food and my father proudly greeting guests in bib
overalls and plaid shirt.
We didn't have a lot of money in those days but wanted to take a honeymoon
trip to Montana so I could meet Art's mother, Edna, and other family. Also,
it had been nearly three years since Art had been home and we were aware that
Edna, although seeming well now, had nephritis, a degenerative kidney disease.
All I knew of Jordan was that it had once been described in Life Magazine as
the lonesomeiest town in the U.S. We had a choice of places to sleep at the
ranch and choose the sheep wagon with its bunk across the back, heavy patchwork
quit and gunny sack curtain on the door. We spent the week at the ranch with
Edna, visiting and getting to know each other and meeting other friends and
relatives, returning to North St. Paul where we had rented, and later bought, a
small home on Fifth Avenue.
On Thanksgiving weekend, six weeks after our wedding, we returned to Montana
with Dorothy and Harlan, this time to stand watch as Edna struggled with death
in a Miles City hospital. Caroline came from Texas, Chet and Vada from Idaho,
and Frances, who was still in high school, from Jordan. We rented a motel room
with a kitchette and took turns sleeping and staying with Edna at the hospital.
As the newest member of the family I found myself taking long afternoon walks
while Art, his brother and sisters were at their mother's bedside.
Edna passed away on December 1st and was buried in Jordan on Caroline's
birthday amidst a December snow storm.
My father died 13 months later, in January 1962, and my mother passed away in
January 1969.
A few years ago we inquired of Jerome about the sheep wagon. He had sold it
years earlier and as far as he knew, it was still in use somewhere in Wyoming.
The last thirty years have revolved around work and raising a family of four
children. I've spent 17 years in various scouting capacities and estimate I've
driven in excess of 20,000 scout related miles alone.
It was during this time that I developed an interest in family history. Art and
I are charter members of the St. Croix Valley Genealogy Society and I have
edited their quarterly newsletter, The PIPOST, for the ten years now. We
compiled our first family history for the Hawkinson family in 1973, and I've
done several things for the Jenson side of my family, including a calendar with
1900-era photos, births and deaths, and a Family Reunion Cookbook with
Memories. Several years ago, after more than sixty years, we made contact with
my Gartmann relatives in Switzerland and have exchanged visits, a second cousin
visiting here with her son and daughter in April of this year.
My latest project involves those war years letters I mentioned earlier. After
talking with people at both the Wisconsin and Minnesota Historical Societies
and the Minnesota Genealogical Society, I am compiling them along with other
information obtained from the National Archives and the Wisconsin Historical
Society for a book I hope to publish.
Besides SCVGS, I am also active in several other genealogy and local history
societies and am a member of the library history room committee. I always look
forward to an annual summer research trip with "genie" friends.
In 1977-78 we built a home in rural St. Joseph Township where we still live
and where Art raises "Cut-Your-Own" Christmas trees.
And finally, now that Art has retired from the auto parts store, we hope to do
a little traveling and spend time enjoying the grandkids.
April 15, 1940, on the family farm in St. Joseph Township, 9:30 p.m.,
9 and 1/2 pounds, 20 inches, on a Monday.
RELIGION:
Baptism:- St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson, Wis.; godparents, Joseph
and Ithalia Gartmann (uncle and aunt), 12 May 1940, Rev. J.M. Owens
Holy Communion: - St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson, Wis.
Confirmation: - St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson, Wis.; sponsor,
Augusta Gartmann.
Marriage:- October 15, 1960, St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson; witnesses
were Peg (Gartmann) Sutter and Jack Stayberg (cousins).
EDUCATION:
Fall 1946- Entered first grade, McKinley School, St. Joseph Township,
Elizabeth Schaeffer was teacher
Fall 1950- Entered sixth grade, Hudson Elementary, 4th Street, when McKinley
School closed, Ida Johnson was teacher
May 1957- Graduated from Hudson High School
OCCUPATION:
June 3, 1957- Began career at State Farm Insurance, Roseville
May 1, 2002 -Retired (after completing 44 years of service on 4-28-2002)
HOBBIES:
Genealogy and photography; also enjoy reading and travel and camping
BIOGRAPHICAL:
I was born at home in mid April 1940. My mother had done the Monday wash
and had begun preparing supper when it was time to notify Dr. Newton and my
grandmother to come. My grandmother stayed with us for a week, taking care of
me and cooking for my dad, until my mother was back on her feet.
Home was the Gartmann family dairy farm in St. Joe township where my
father had grown up and my mother had come as a bride the summer before.
My mother named me Nancy because she liked the name, and Lorraine after
her own middle name.
I was baptized a month later, on May 12, 1940, by Father Owens, at St.
Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson, Wis., with an aunt and uncle, Genevieve and
Joe Gartmann, as godparents.
My father was born September 11, 1893, a son of Anna Friend and Joseph Antony
(Tony) Gartmann, making him 47 years old at the time of my birth. My mother
was 32, having been born on May 13, 1907, the second child and second daughter
of Karine Jenson and John A. Stayberg. This was a first marriage for both.
All four of my grandparents were foreign born; Anna Friend from Silesia, Tony
Gartmann from Switzerland, and Karine and John both from Norway.
My father had lived and worked on the family farm his entire life. My
mother was a city girl, born and raised in Hudson.
I have two younger brothers. Bob was born in 1943 and Tony in 1944.
My preschool childhood years were also the years of World War II. When my
mother's youngest brother was drafted it began a series of letters between
him, my grandmother and other
family. All told, there are more than 1500 of the letters in my possession.
Since both he and my grandmother wrote daily the letters are filled with the
everyday happenings of family and town, and I am mentioned in many of them.
The summer I turned twelve I got Apache, a white with brown Moroccan
filly with a clear blue eye on the white side of her face and a brown eye on
the other. It didn't matter that I didn't have a western saddle, my $10
McClellan was just fine and I rode her at every opportunity.
I entered first grade at the one room McKinley school in St. Joseph township
in the fall of 1946. My father had attended McKinley almost 50 years earlier
and my mother had taught there during the '30's. Consolidation closed the rural
schools in our area after the 1949-50 school year and that fall I entered sixth
grade in Hudson. I graduated as salutatorian on May 31, 1957 and started to
work at State Farm Insurance in Roseville, Minnesota the next Monday. I've been
fortunate to spend the majority of my State Farm career in the data processing
tech area where it is never routine or dull.
I had been working at State Farm about two and a half years when I met Art
in 1959. His sister, Dorothy, also a State Farm employee, asked me if I would
go to the annual Christmas party with her brother who was staying at their
house. The group would include Dorothy and her husband, Harlan, their friends
Muriel and Ted Rolf, Art and I. I had tickets for the party and had bought a
new dress but had found myself without a date, so after thinking about it for a
day or so, I told Dorothy I would go with Art. Years later I heard the stories
of Harlan and Ted wondering whether Art would need to bring peanuts along for
his date.
Obviously the evening went well as Art and I were married the following
October in a small ceremony in the rectory of St. Patrick's Church in Hudson
with Mons. John Owens, who had also baptized me, officiating. I wore the same
off white wool dress I had bought for the Christmas party a year earlier. My
parents entertained friends and family at their rural Woodville farm afterward,
my mother preparing all the food and my father proudly greeting guests in bib
overalls and plaid shirt.
We didn't have a lot of money in those days but wanted to take a honeymoon
trip to Montana so I could meet Art's mother, Edna, and other family. Also,
it had been nearly three years since Art had been home and we were aware that
Edna, although seeming well now, had nephritis, a degenerative kidney disease.
All I knew of Jordan was that it had once been described in Life Magazine as
the lonesomeiest town in the U.S. We had a choice of places to sleep at the
ranch and choose the sheep wagon with its bunk across the back, heavy patchwork
quit and gunny sack curtain on the door. We spent the week at the ranch with
Edna, visiting and getting to know each other and meeting other friends and
relatives, returning to North St. Paul where we had rented, and later bought, a
small home on Fifth Avenue.
On Thanksgiving weekend, six weeks after our wedding, we returned to Montana
with Dorothy and Harlan, this time to stand watch as Edna struggled with death
in a Miles City hospital. Caroline came from Texas, Chet and Vada from Idaho,
and Frances, who was still in high school, from Jordan. We rented a motel room
with a kitchette and took turns sleeping and staying with Edna at the hospital.
As the newest member of the family I found myself taking long afternoon walks
while Art, his brother and sisters were at their mother's bedside.
Edna passed away on December 1st and was buried in Jordan on Caroline's
birthday amidst a December snow storm.
My father died 13 months later, in January 1962, and my mother passed away in
January 1969.
A few years ago we inquired of Jerome about the sheep wagon. He had sold it
years earlier and as far as he knew, it was still in use somewhere in Wyoming.
The last thirty years have revolved around work and raising a family of four
children. I've spent 17 years in various scouting capacities and estimate I've
driven in excess of 20,000 scout related miles alone.
It was during this time that I developed an interest in family history. Art and
I are charter members of the St. Croix Valley Genealogy Society and I have
edited their quarterly newsletter, The PIPOST, for the ten years now. We
compiled our first family history for the Hawkinson family in 1973, and I've
done several things for the Jenson side of my family, including a calendar with
1900-era photos, births and deaths, and a Family Reunion Cookbook with
Memories. Several years ago, after more than sixty years, we made contact with
my Gartmann relatives in Switzerland and have exchanged visits, a second cousin
visiting here with her son and daughter in April of this year.
My latest project involves those war years letters I mentioned earlier. After
talking with people at both the Wisconsin and Minnesota Historical Societies
and the Minnesota Genealogical Society, I am compiling them along with other
information obtained from the National Archives and the Wisconsin Historical
Society for a book I hope to publish.
Besides SCVGS, I am also active in several other genealogy and local history
societies and am a member of the library history room committee. I always look
forward to an annual summer research trip with "genie" friends.
In 1977-78 we built a home in rural St. Joseph Township where we still live
and where Art raises "Cut-Your-Own" Christmas trees.
And finally, now that Art has retired from the auto parts store, we hope to do
a little traveling and spend time enjoying the grandkids.
Events
| Birth | 15 Apr 1940 | Born on the Gartmann farm in rural St. Joseph, Hudson, St. Croix, Wisconsin, United States |  | ||
| Christen | 12 May 1940 | St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson, St. Croix, Wisconsin, United States | |||
| Graduation | 31 May 1957 | Hudson High School - Hudson, St. Croix, Wisconsin, United States | | ||
| Occupation | 3 Jun 1957 | State Farm Insurance - St. Paul, Minnesota, United States | |||
| Marriage | 15 Oct 1960 | Rectory of St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Hudson, St. Croix, Wisconsin, United States - Arthur Franklin Hawkinson | |||
| Retirement | 31 May 2002 | State Farm Insurance, Woodbury, Minnesota, United States | |||
| Death | 30 Dec 2018 |
Families
| Spouse | Arthur Franklin Hawkinson (1937 - 2021) |
| Child | Kenneth Arthur Hawkinson (1965 - ) |
| Child | Jay Arthur Hawkinson (1969 - ) |
| Child | Karine Marie Hawkinson ( - ) |
| Child | Robyn Lorraine Hawkinson ( - ) |
| Father | Robert Joseph Gartmann (1893 - 1962) |
| Mother | Thelma Lorraine Stayberg (1907 - 1969) |
| Sibling | Robert John Gartmann (1943 - ) |
| Sibling | Anthony Joseph Gartmann (1944 - 1997) |
Endnotes
1. Register of Deeds, Birth Records: Wisconsin, St. Croix County, Certificate No. 536401.
2. Miller, Willis H. and Benoy, Marian Thorson, Hudson High School Alumni Directory Star-Observer Publishing Co., Hudson, Wis., 1973, p57.