My Dad-My Hero

My Dad's life began on a farm in Port Hudson, Missouri. He was the second son in a family of four. He was named Erwin Julius Hugo Schroeder, his middle two names being after his two godfathers as was the custom in his German community.

My father spoke only German till he entered school at age 6. When he was 9 years old his father died, and his mother moved with her children to town in Washington, Missouri. They were a religious family and my father attended the Lutheran school in Washington. After eighth grade my father had to cut his formal education short and go to work to help support the family.
This plow belonged to my Dad's father. One of my Dad's last memories of his Dad was of him pushing this plow.

Grandpa's Plow by mbgphoto

Although his formal education stopped at a young age, my Dad never stopped learning. He was always interested in how things work and he and his brother would work on various inventions, going as far as applying for patents for a couple of thier projects.

When Dad was 17, World War II was under way and Dad joined the Navy. This started his love of travel. He kept a journal of his days in the Navy. I was reading one entry in November of 1946 where he talks about the places he visited in Venice, Italy (the church of St. Mark and a glass factory). His entries are short but it gives us a look at the things that he saw and what interested him.

In the following sections I will tell of some of the lessons I have learned through my fathers example.

Mom and Dad were best friends in life and love. They married at age 19 and were married nearly 60 years when Dad died.

They survived a lot of struggles through life but they always did it together. Dad was always the healthy one and he helped Mom through her struggles with polio and deafness. His loyalty to her was evident.

They worked hard together through life, sharing all of the good times and bad. They loved to reward their hard work with vacations. First with the family and later, when we were all grown with each other.

Even when they argued, and they did do that, it was clear that they loved each other.

Dad was always proud of the time he served in the military. He was one of those brave young men who served his country in World War II. When the war broke out he was anxious to serve. At age 17, with his mother's permission, he signed up to join the navy.

Dad was in on the end of WWII and spent much of his time in the Pacific. He also was able to go to Europe with the Navy immediately after the war. He kept a journal and I have read about his stops in Venice and Rome, Italy.

He loved to talk about those years with his children and grandchildren.

Mom and Dad started their own business in 1958, a home improvement business and they worked in that business until they passed it on to my brother when they were nearing retirement age. Some might think they would then take it easy, but not Mom and Dad, they retired ?? to a farm and began a christmas tree farm.

They worked to build Grandpa Ervs' Christmas Tree Farm for another 15 years until health issues forced them to move back to the city and closer to family.

As I look back on it the christmas tree farm seems to bring together so many of my fathers' values. The tree farm brought together family to work together each Christmas when children and grandchildren would all gather at the farm each weekend to help customers cut down the trees. Members of Mom and Dad's church were able to work on the farm. They were hired to make wreaths, serve hot chocolate, and trim trees. Since the farm was seasonal, it also gave Mom and Dad free time to enjoy their love of travel.

My parents loved to travel. When we were small every summer we would go on a new adventure. I can remember loading the station wagon with our bags and we would all six head out on vacation. We lived in St.Louis, Missouri, so Florida seemed to be a favorite place to vacation. Dad would always turn the vacation into a learning experience. I was the oldest and I can remember at a young age Dad handing me the map and telling me I needed to learn how to follow the map.

Our vacations covered the continental United States, each year heading out in a new direction. We enjoyed the beaches in Florida, drove in the car up to Pikes Peak, visited the White House in Washington D. C., took a boat on the lake in Wisconsin Dells and enjoyed Branson, Missouri before it was crowded!

Once their children were all out of the house, my parents began to go on tours and cruises. My daughter, their oldest grandchild, was able to go with them on a guided tour of Israel when she was 10. My parents also visited Germany on a tour and then went off on their own to look for the places where their ancestors were born in Germany and Austria.

In later life, cruises became an easier way for my parents to travel. They cruised to Alaska on two occasions, through the Panama Canal, and on their last cruise they went with my husband and me on a cruise to the North Atlantic. In this photo, Dad and I are in Cobh, Ireland.

My father gained knowledge from everything he did. He was always curious about how things worked and why they worked that way. He did take some classroom courses while in the service and when he was first working as a machinist, but mostly he learned by asking questions and watching people.

Dad read the newspaper from one end to the other, and always watched the evening news. He always asked us questions and wanted to make sure his children knew what was going on in the world.

On vacations he would ask what we were learning, and if we fell asleep in the car he would complain that we were missing important things.

I remember when Mom and Dad started the christmas tree farm they searched for information on the best ways to do business and joined a christmas tree association to learn from others.

Dad was always proud of the educational accomplishments of his children and grandchildren.

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My father was not a man to talk about his religion or belief in God, but rather one to show it by the way he lived.

When Mom and Dad were first married they belonged to different churches. Dad let Mom know how important his religion was to him by attending church each Sunday. Eventually, Mom too joined the church. Dad made sure all of his children went to Sunday School each Sunday and we attended Lutheran schools.

Dad did a lot of work for the church by helping with repairs around the church. He never, however, wanted any recognition for his work and many times went about doing the repairs without anyone's knowledge.

Dad had a strong sense of fairness. In his business he would go out of his way to make sure that he treated each customer fairly. He believed strongly in always doing your best work...even when it cut into your profits.

I believe friends, neighbors, and customers alike would say that my father was someone you could always depend on to help you in time of need.