We All Worked

Utah Historical Quarterly

Vol. 52, 1984, No. 4

We All Worked

BY WALTER KOCH

AFTER A THIRTEEN-DAY JOURNEY by ship to New York and a threeday and three-night bus trip to Utah, we landed on a cold, wintery March 19, 1954, on the corner by the First Security Bank in Logan. There we got our first look at our new hometown. It was a nice sight, but, oh, how I felt forsaken and my wife the same. Everything was strange. Nothing belonged to us. We couldn't speak the language and had no jobs. It was the first and only time doubts came up in my mind.

After a short time we got the impression we were in a land of plenty. The people were friendly. I had no more problems with mir and mich, sie and du; here it was only 31010 Some people brought us canned food, some a chicken, and old Mr. Meurer from Nibley said to me, "Come to my place. You can pick up some sacks of potatoes." For many weeks the Horlacher butcher shop gave us pigs' feet and pigs' heads for nothing until we didn't like them any more. It was a time of adjustment to a new life-style.

Our son Alfred, who had already worked for two years in Germany in a factory and got some training in the plumbing trade, had an opportunity here to go to high school again.

Our way to church was only around the corner, not a trip to the next town.

We tried to save money for buying a home, so we bought needed furniture from the welfare store and our first used automobile after we were three years in this land. In our second year here we started to build a new home. To my great surprise, a bank let us, strangers, borrow $9,500 at 4 1 /2 percent interest on our $11,000 home.

I couldn't find work, and it was depressing for me that my dear wife brought the first money home. She had cleaned floors and walls in an empty apartment house. Once a lady tried to pay her 50 cents an hour, but she didn't take the check until it was changed to 75 cents.

The rest of my wife's story is — for the next nine years she worked as a pastry cook in the university cafeteria, many times ten to twelve hours a day, then for seven years as a matron in the custodial department. After her work hours she cooked and washed for her three men. In the summer she canned fruit and vegetables until one o'clock in the night. With a wife like this no man can fail.

The first three months here I did all kinds of work in gardens and fields and also built fences around homes until Mr. Schoonmaker offered me a job on his chicken farm for 85 cents an hour. It was long days — every month between 250 and 270 hours — but I was happy to have a steady job. We also could eat as many cracked eggs as we wanted. After four years I got work as a custodian in the newly built dormitories at the university. There I worked for thirteen years until my retirement. This job was a heaven in comparison to what I had done in Germany.

Our oldest son, Alfred, was sixteen when we came over here. After school he washed dishes in Chambers Cafe. He bought the first new piece of furniture for our home, a stereo set. When school was out he worked for Settler Construction making cement draining pipes and splitting stones with a sledge hammer. These stones can now be seen on the front of the Logan post office. Our son Helmut found work on farms in Weston or Malad or in the cheese factory.

Yes, we all worked and it was not easy. You may think we had it better in Germany. Oh, no, we enjoyed working because we could see that we were getting ahead. I worked in Germany for thirty-four years, but we were all the time even. We never had money for something extra. We didn't even know the meaning of the word vacation. Flere we built us in the second year a new home. Some years later we bought two small homes on Morningside Square and rented them out. Every time a bank loaned us the money. In these years we bought also our first new automobile.

After our sons graduated from high school, Helmut worked full time, and Alfred attended the university. Both boys went on LDS missions.

These were the opportunities and economic conditions when we came to America in 1954, and yes, we all worked.

Much more could be said in connection with our emigration and immigration, but let me dwell a little bit on one experience I have had here many times over the years.

American people tell me how they have enjoyed their trips to Germany — how nice it was there, the beautiful parks, the castles, the boat trip on the Rhine River, the Black Forest, the cities of Heidelberg, Wiesbaden, Munchen, Oberammergau, and many more. I can only say, yes, I believe it is nice there, but I have never seen all those nice places. From 1906 to 1954 I lived in Germany. There were two lost wars and all the poverty. We were too poor and had no time to travel. It would take too much space to explain.

Being in this blessed land of America for thirty years now, my family and I, we have never regretted that we came. We are still thankful that they let us in.

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