Grampa, Tell Me 'Bout The Good Old Days

I borrowed that title from a Judds single from...well...a lot of years ago.  Since I’m climbing my family tree and dragging y’all with me--cuz that’s how I roll--I was thinking about each of my grandparents last night.

It was hard to find a picture of Grampa Prokasky, but this
one seemed nice of mom's family

My Grampa Emil Prokasky died long before I arrived so I don’t have any memories of him at all, but I do feel a connection to him.  After he died, my Gramma Prokasky kept Grampa’s old tobacco pipe in a bureau drawer in the living room.  When I would stay overnight with Gramma, she would let me fill up a dishpan with water and Joy dishwashing soap and take Grampas’ old pipe and blow bubbles out on the back steps.  There is a very unique smell from Joy mixing with old pipe tobacco, and that’s the memory/connection that I will carry forever.

Gramma Prokasky is on the right, Gramma Brehmer is
on the left

My Gramma Clara Prokasky was the grandparent I remember most because she lived the longest, and our family spent more time with the Prokasky side than the Brehmer side.  What I remember most about Gramma is that she like to drive fast and if you showed up at lunchtime at her house, you were going to be served a Cheez Whiz sandwich, a Hostess snowball cake, and instant Sanka coffee.  If it was a holiday, the beverage choice was Pfeiffer’s beer or Mogan David wine.  When I would stay there for several days, I remember we played a lot of Rook and watched Lawrence Welk.  I don’t even know if Rook (similar to 500) is still available or not, but apparently we bent the rules because there should be four players, and we only ever had the two of us.

Not sure which grandkid this is, but that's Grampa Brehmer, and
that sure looks like a glass of alcohol!!

My Grampa Albert Brehmer always carried peppermint candy (the big pink chalky-type things).  In his later years when he lived with us off and on, I remember walking around my mom’s massive vegetable garden with Grampa, and he would sneak me three or four peppermints when Mom and Dad weren’t looking.  I remember using his walker (after he passed away) to learn how to ride a unicycle.

I guess when she took the apron off, she embraced her wild side!

My Gramma Clara Brehmer died when I was only 7 years old, so I don’t have solid memories of her, just vague impressions.  Mostly I remember that she always wore a full-length apron; the kind looked like bib overalls in the front and then had the apron skirt that went all the way around and tied n the back.  Or buttoned, actually, now that I think harder about it.

Grampa and Gramma Prokasky lived on a small acreage between Rochester and Oronoco in the TINY house!  You came in the front door and could take a right down the stairs to the basement or a left up 2-3 stairs to the kitchen.  In the basement, I remember she had an old cast iron 2-burner wood cook stove.  Hmmm, I wonder what happened to that.  Anyway.  The kitchen was small with just a table, fridge, and a row of cabinets and countertop that made a little “L.”  There was a pocket door between the kitchen and the living room, which was the biggest room in the house.  At the back of the house off the living room was a hallway with a  linen closet with a laundry chute door in the floor, a bathroom to the right, and her bedroom to the left.  Upstairs was a small bedroom and a small storage room.

Grampa and Gramma Brehmer lived in a little house in Rochester near Goose Egg Park.  They had a little front porch with blue trim.  I think theirs was what is called a shotgun layout.  You walked into the living room, then to the dining room, and then to the kitchen.  Which, by the way, I remember being the size of my shower.  Their bedroom, I believe, was off the dining room and there must have been a bathroom someplace but I don’t remember where.  From the kitchen you could go down 2-3 steps to a landing and either go right down the stairs to the basement or left out the backdoor to the back yard.  Their backyard was mostly flower gardens.  When they lived on the farm, Gramma was the flower person, but once they moved to town, Grampa got involved and took to it like a duck to water.  I remember they had this big plastic chicken with wire prongs that they could stick into the ground so it looked like this chicken was standing in the middle of the yard.  I remember Big Brother and I stayed overnight there one time, and we got to walk several blocks by ourselves to Cook Park to play, but we stayed too long and Grampa had to come looking for us.  I think we stopped at a little ice cream shop on the way home, but that may be a total fabrication of my imagination.  Big Brother would/should know!

I would love to hear from my Brehmer cousins about their memories of Grampa and Gramma Brehmer so I could pass those stories along to my kids.