11 minute read
THANKING THOSE WE DON'T THANK ENOUGH
from November Issue-2021
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by AnnA EngEls, Editor-in-ChiEf My grandpa, August Poppen, was not one to share the details of his childhood or early adulthood with anyone. No matter how curious my youthful mind was, he would never gratify the itching questions in the back of my head. Restrained and disorganized pieces of my grandpa’s life were all that I was permitted to hear, only coming from my mom and what she knew. It took a great deal of begging and keeping promises in order to persuade my grandpa to tell his life story, and it took even more to allow me to share it with the public. My inquiries, at last, are answered, and my grandpa’s biography is finally able to make its mark on the world. 10
On Aug.12, 1933, August was born to Johanna and Konrad Poppen in Westersander, Ostfriesland, Germany. Born six years before WWII and at the end of the Great Depression, August spent his early childhood suffering through the backlash. This consisted of countless hungry nights and fearful days. Starting WWII, poverty and starvation did not take long to sweep Germany and affect the Poppen family. Dinners consisted of his mom, Johanna, chewing on raw rice in order to make sure her kids got all the food available. Even with her faithful and altruistic attempts, her five youthful children had to face their grumbling stomachs each day, with guilt sewing their mouths shut so a complaint would not dare to slip out. August recalls a time visiting a neighboring farmhouse in search of leftover food from a hosted Canadian troop. While digging through the abandoned and forgotten trash, he came across a piece of white bread and orange marmalade; neither he had seen before. He took it out into the field and sat on a rock in complete disbelief of the unfamiliar food tasting so sweet. The pure happiness that the bread and marmalade provided August with, at that time, was enough to keep this sensational food still considered as his favorite to this day. Even with the detrimental effects of the war swarming in the background, school was, without a doubt, still in session — a oneroom, one-teacher, public school with eight different classes cycling through. An average day of August’s childhood consisted of going to school and hiding in bomb shelters multiple times throughout it. He lived almost 25 miles away from a major city housing a German military port, which made the bomb threats in his small town notable but not intense. However, the few that did stumble into their town burned houses and businesses to the ground, making their poor conditions even worse. When the military port got bombed during the night, August recalls his room lighting up bright enough to read a newspaper in it. As Hitler reigned over their country at this time, he left families and towns like August’s helpless under his power. Anyone that was not already on the front line, or being held against their will in concentration camps, was forced to be trained under his control. At the age of eight, August was required to join Hitler’s Youth. August, and any other boy his age, younger or older than him, underwent training that consisted of tasks such as marching and climbing trees. This continued for nearly four years before the war ended. August lives with the notion that if the war had continued for another year, he would have been sent to the front line and forced to fight for a leader and his morals that August knew little to nothing about. Thankfully, he was the one that got away. August’s coarse childhood ended rather quickly, whether he wanted it to or not. Graduating at the age of 13 years old, he was sent off by his father to learn a trade and swiftly got an apprenticeship as a bricklayer. His work incorporated the rebuilding and repatching of the rubble left from the devastating WWI and II and ultimately constructed Germany’s new upcoming. At the age of 22, August craved adventure and set his sights on America to bring him promising success and a life of his own. In Dec. of 1955, August spent an taxing week on the M.S. Berlin ship to finally touch ground in Manhattan, New York. This is where he was inspected and allowed entrance into the U.S. as a farmer searching for work. Knowing three words of the English language and having run out of money after a train fee, August embarked on his travels to his new life knowing and having nothing. With multiple miscommunications between the train conductor and himself, his first week in the new country left him stranded 114 miles away from his desired location of Mason City, Iowa. After many caring citizens lent a helping hand, August reached his destination and quickly began work on a distant relative’s farm. Along with accumulating money through labor, August attended church every Sunday, in hopes of one day fully understanding the sermon. It took an entire year to reach his goal and comprehend the English language as a whole. Throughout his mid-life, August was finally able to obtain a normal stress-free life, or as close to normal as it could get. He traveled around his new home over the next 10 years, finding small jobs to support his experiences and discovering his soul mate, Pat, along the way. In the following years, August and Pat never left each other’s sides, which then led them to a promise of commitment through marriage in 1964. Settling down in Pocahontas, Iowa, the married couple had four children and watched them grow up, helping them throughout the way. Opening up his own housing construction business, titled A&P construction, August was able to work under no one but himself for the first time in his life, and his business flourished. In 2013, August was faced with one of his biggest life challenges. On his way home from the blacksmith shop, he suffered a minor heart attack, leaving him feeling sick in the midst of driving his car. He pursued the uneasy feeling and drove himself to the nearest hospital as the uncertain feeling consumed his body. It did not take long for the doctors and nurses to detect he was having a heart attack, which led him to rapidly be transported by ambulance to the hospital in Des Moines. When the time came, the surgical team began prepping him for open-heart surgery and noticed his heart monitor had flatlined. They believed that the monitor tracing his heartbeat had fallen off, but by the time they realized he suffered a major heart attack, he had been dead for several minutes. Cracking August’s chest as soon as possible and manually massaging his heart back to life took 19 minutes. Once his heart began to beat again, they performed the surgery with hopes that the journey of recovery would kick in. Multiple wakeless days and empty promises later, doctors came to the conclusion that August would never be the same. It took four painful and intense weeks for August to prove them wrong, and two full years to be able to write his name again. He was the one that got away. Now, at 88 years old, August is remaining stable in Pocahontas, with Pat, and continues to live life for all that it is. He spends his days giving uttermost love and care to his garden and even more to his five grandchildren. While continuing to eat the prominent bread and orange marmalade, August is catching up on a sense of normalcy as the chapters of his life carry on. His abnormal and influential experiences carved him into the man, friend, husband, brother, dad and grandpa that those who know him are in disbelief about. Whether God has kept an open tab on him or he is just pure utopian, August was the one that got away, and his memoir is yet to be finished.
Artwork by AnnA EngEls photos providEd by August poppEn
jack simpson:
THE STORY BEHIND THE KING
by Chloe houwman, editor-in-Chief
Picture this: you are sitting in the front row at LHS’s Homecoming game. Halftime has just started, and the marching band is approaching the field. Clad in blue and black, they begin their performance. You are taken aback by the ‘The King,’ the leading man in this part of the show, as he pulls out his guitar. This man, LHS junior Jack Simpson, has undoubtedly stolen the show.
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nitially, there were no plans to feature a king in the performance, but Simpson wanted to be a part of the show. He approached LHS band director Daniel Carlson and ‘The King’ was created.
“Mr. Carlson gave me a few solos during the performance, and I also die at the end of the performance now. I’ve just been insanely happy they picked me to be ‘The King’ and I’ve had a great time doing it,” said Simpson. “We have one of the best marching band programs in the region and it would be a shame if I did not take advantage of that.”
Simpson’s musical career started seven years ago when he began playing the piano. He played for about three years before his interests landed somewhere else.
Spending at least two hours a day practicing his chords, it is no surprise that Simpson has already made a career playing the guitar.
“I have opened for musicians at The District; I play solo jazz guitar gigs at The Source and I was scheduled to open for Taylor Scott Band at the Levitt at the Falls, but it was rained out,” said Simpson.
Simpson’s love of classical, jazz and blues music stems from those genres’ versatility.
“When I can’t come up with words to describe how I am feeling, I feel like I can say it through my guitar when I am playing. So, if I am in a sentimental mood or something similar, I can play a really slow ballad and take the time to portray my emotions through it,” said Simpson.
Other times when he is feeling more downcast he will take a piece that has already been written and put his own spin on it.
“The great thing about music is you can take anything, even just a classical piece that’s kind of boring, and you can make it any emotion that you want. For example, I can take an Olivia Rodrigo song and turn it into a jazz chord,” said Simpson.
Not only does he adapt existing music, but he also creates his own.
Two years ago, Simpson was accepted into the Summer Jazz Academy at Lincoln Center in New York City; the program was held virtually because of the pandemic. The application process required Simpson to submit a series of videos playing specific jazz standards and upload them to the Academy’s website.
After he graduates from college, Simpson would like to become a studio musician, someone that is hired to play on tracks or during live performances.
His ambition, however, does not end there.
Simpson has taken a break from live performances for the time being.
To stay caught up with Simpson and his musical endeavors follow his Instagram, @simpson.guitar, or check out his YouTube, @JackSimpson.
“I feel more like myself when I’m playing the guitar. At this point, it feels like an extension of myself,” said Simpson.
