I was always made to feel I was much wanted. Mom had to stay in bed for three months during her pregnancy as she had a miscarriage between my brother and myself.

One of the first things I remember is playing with little toy cars under the old oak table while mom was ironing. I remember it was a very pleasant experience. Now looking back, I'm convinced it was because of the stable feeling of having her there talking to me as I played.

Another memory is being able to have my own piece of dough to play with or eat while mom was baking zwiebach.

My father had deep hollows in his collarbone. I would sit on his lap and play washing dishes in one side and rinsing in the other side.

Singing "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" every night before I went to bed was a nighttime ritual.

My parents became concerned that I was becoming very naughty as when they called me for meals I wouldn't come. I insisted that I didn't hear them. Finally they took me to the doctor and found I had an overabundant amount of hard wax in my ears. After it was removed, I could hear properly again.

I loved to climb trees and play with the neighbor kids, Fred and Kathy Schmidt. Kathy was one year older than me and is developmentally disabled. Fred was one year younger. We had many good times together. We could just walk across the field as we were next door neighbors. Luella was my second mother, and I enjoyed her cookies and treats many times.

An experience that left a deep impression on me was one summer that Dad had promised me the next calf that would be born would be mine for helping him in the field. By this time, my older brother was gone from home, so I spent many hours with dad. Well, the next calf born was a heifer born to Rosie, our best cow. I knew that was an extremely valuable calf and told him I shouldn't have that one, I could wait for the next one, but he insisted I take that one as he promised me that. I named her Diane and hand fed her and played with her a lot. Later when I sold her, I made a nice amount of money.

I wanted a horse more than anything. One day when I came home from school, there was a black and white horse tied to a tree. Dad had bought it from a children's home. I had been foundered so it was a little touchy on the hooves. I had many wonderful times riding and caring for him. My Jitterbug.

Most siblings fight, but Don was 6 years older than me so he already knew better than to fight with his little sister. Guess I was spared a lot of bruises.

Playing house in the brooder house was always special. A trip to the junk pile always produced something we could use to set up housekeeping.

I started school at 6 years old at Emmenthal School located one mile south of my home place. Richard Bartel and myself were the only ones in a class until Sandra Carol Abrahams joined us in 5th grade. Richard was so smart, he always answered the questions before I even had a chance to speak up.

The country school experience was wonderful. We had long recesses. There was an old horse barn we played tag in. An indoor sandbox up on legs was a special treat when we had our studies done. And of course, we had Community Programs, where parents and kids got together once a month for a meal and program. The adults would have a choir for the Christmas program and still remember listening to them practice as I had to go along and play in the sandbox. To this day when I hear "There's a Star in the East" it reminds me of that community choir.

We either walked or rode bike to school, therefore learning every bump and areas of interest in a hurry. There was a culvert that usually had some water in the ditch. It was fun to stop to throw rocks or skip them on the water.

Getting rides on the Merry Go Round was really special when we could get the older boys to push because they could run so much faster. They would stand in the middle of the Merry Go Round. Once when I was in Fourth Grade, the 7th grade boys were giving us a ride. There were only three of them: Eldon Schmidt, Roger Ratzlaff, and Norman Hiebert. While they were pushing us, Norman's belt buckle pinched my fingers, and I expressed pain. He said he was sorry with a very meaningful look. I fell in love with the guy and knew He was The One for Me.

But them he went off to High School, and I figured it would be over as he was older. So I went through a stage where I liked about every boy I laid eyes on. Of course, they never knew anything about it.

My best friend, LaDean Ratzlaff had graduated the year before, so I felt quite lost entering a new school without a best friend. It turned out to be fun and a good experience even though I often thought back nostalgically about the good old days at Emmenthal.

One day Norm stopped to talk to me on the road while I was riding bike. I was so happy. As he drove away, I said, "That's the man I'm going to marry." There was not one doubt in my mind about it.

High School was fun but hard, as I was very conscientious about my studies. I played piano for the chorus and many solos for contest. That became quite stressful by my senior year, even though I enjoyed it. Therefore, I was glad for graduation, even though I knew I would miss my classmates. My buddies in high school were Bonnie Frey and Vera Schroeder. Leroy Koehn kept me laughing through school. His humor helped to relax us all and have some fun through all the studies and hard times.

Then after graduation in May Norm and I became engaged to be married on August 22, 1964. I was ready to become his wife and know that was the best decision I have ever made in my life. Thank you, Lord for sending him to me.

On June 15, 1946 at 11:45 a.m., an 8 lb. 5 oz. baby girl, measuring 23 inches was born to Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Klaassen at the Bethesda Hospital in Goessel, Kansas. They named her Marcia Diann. The other member of the family included a six year old son, Donald Ray.

Being a breast fed baby, I grew up to be a healthy youngster and learned to walk when I was 10 months old. My first words were “all gone.” One day mother sent daddy and me to the store to buy bananas. On the way home, Dad and I started eating the bananas and didn’t quit until they were all gone. After Dad said, “Oh, oh, all gone”, I said the same thing.

When I was yet too young to digest peanuts, Dad would chew them and give them to me from his mouth to mine. I just loved this.

Playing with other children during my childhood consisted mainly of playing with my neighbors, a boy a year younger than me and a girl a year older than me. The girl is developmentally disabled. As we lived, and still live, very close together on the same section, I would simply walk across the field without ever having to walk on the road when I went to visit them. We always had such good times together.

I remember distinctly what a dislike I had for milk at a certain age. I thought it tasted so awful that I would actually gag on it. Dad thought this was nonsense and told me he would get the stick (what he said when I was about to get a spanking) if I didn’t drink my milk. This went on for quite awhile until I finally got over my dislike for milk. Now I am so happy that my parents made me learn to drink and like milk, because now I know it is the most wholesome food a person can eat; and I love it. I drink a glass or more for every meal.

Starting to school was a wonderful experience for me. My brother had taught me the alphabet and I knew how to write my name before going to grade school. Mother always read to me when I was a preschooler when we laid down to take a nap. When she was very tired and would leave out sentences or words, I could always tell her what she had left out; it made me angry when she didn’t read the whole story. Because of these reasons, I have always enjoyed learning and it has not been especially hard for me either.

Transportation to school was on the back of my brother’s bicycle until he graduated. During my second grade year, I learned to ride bike from the seventh grade boys during recess; and I got a brand new bicycle of my own on March 17 of that year. My parents didn’t actually believe that I could drive bike, so I got on it and drove down the driveway.

Richard Bartel and I were the only two in our class until our sixth grade year, when Sandra Abrahams joined our school. When I was a first grader there were only four girls. Consequently, we usually played with the older boys. I think this had a lot to do with my feelings toward boys, because I have always like boys quite a bit older than me.

I have liked all my teachers except one – a teacher in grade school, and that’s because he couldn’t explain things so we could catch on. I loved grade school and have thoroughly enjoyed high school.

There came the time when the country schools had to consolidate. The result was the Goessel Grade School. This school was built just in time for my eight-grade year. Going to this school was fun and I’m glad I got to go there, but it still wasn’t as much fun as going to our country school, Emmenthal.

When I was small, I always had such bad nosebleeds. Finally it became necessary to go the nose specialist to have him burn my blood vessels with electricity. The procedure was very painful.

This winter I had to visit the specialist again, only this time it was because of my throat. Somewhere I had picked up the germ for Hemoletic strep throat. The doctor gave me three shots, checked my blood to see if I had a sufficient number of white blood corpuscles, and made me stay home from school for a week as it was very contagious and could have developed into rheumatic fever. This happened to be the week of the league tournaments, and being a cheerleader, I hated to miss them. Other sicknesses I have had include the measles, mumps, and chickenpox, which I had during my first, second, and third grade year of gradeschool. I also have trouble with hayfever from June through September.

Taking piano lessons was another great part of my life. My folks have sacrificed much time and money for me to learn how to play. My first piano teacher was wonderful and taught me much. When I had reached the books where she could no longer be of any help, I changed teachers having two before the one that I give credit for teaching me how to play. Now I give lessons myself after school. On Saturdays I work at the hospital office as receptionist.

My grandparents were Dietrich and Aganetha (Duerksen) Klaassen and Peter and Helena (Regehr) Doerksen. I never knew my father's parents as his mother died when he was four and his father when Dad was twelve years old. My grandpa Doerksen died when I was a second grader, and my grandmother died in January ‘62. Daddy's mother and sister died within a weeks time from the flu epidemic (1918). Another one of Dad’s sisters died from cancer.

My mother's dad was born in South Russia and her mother in Germany. Dad's father was born in Eastern Malush, Russia.

My mother was born on a farm near Inman, and my dad was born on a farm near Hillsboro. After they got married, they lived in Inman for three years. Then they moved to where we live now, three miles south of Goessel, with their year old son.

Both of my parents have had a high school education. My mother's mother had only 6 weeks of grade school education and her father had none. However, grandpa learned how to read English and German. By taking a correspondence course he became a licensed veterinarian.

Out of my mother's family of eight, four received a high school education, and one of those that couldn’t go to high school couldn't because he was retarded.

Out of my dad’s family of fifteen, of which he is the baby, Dad was the only one to graduate from high school, although one of his brothers went to high school for two years. Three of his sisters went to college after grade school and taught school.

To be able to go to school and stay over for football practice, Dad had to rise early in the morning to chore by himself while his other brothers who didn't go to school, slept late. Football practice must have been pretty rough-one time because Dad landed up with a broken collarbone.

Although most of my aunts and uncles from Dad's relation did not have much education, they do not seem ignorant but are the nicest people I know. They are so out going and are always concerned about others instead of themselves. Dad’s brothers and sisters all called him "Baby" and some of them still do. Dad's oldest sister, Agnes, was like a mother to him and the others. Even now, she seems like a grandmother to me.

The favorite foods in our family have always been fried chicken, green peas, mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake and jello with whipped cream as desert.

Our family has certain ideas for self-medication just like everyone else does. Things like soaking feet in hot salt waters applying kerosene on the neck and swallowing a few drops of it to cure a sore throat are examples that really work.

Concerning cleanliness, I believe we have fairly good health habits. We take a bath every night and brush our teeth once a day and a lot of times twice a day. We are neither under or over solicitous regarding health. We go to the doctor when we have to, but do not run there the minute we cough or sneeze,

Some outstanding experiences I have had during my life follow. Dad used to have trouble with sciatic nerve in his leg and back, and the summer before my sixth grade year we even had to take him to the hospital because of it. That same summer Mother had surgery, and they were in the hospital at the same time. My brother had to take care of stacking the bales as Dad had finished the baling but not the stacking. As I was fairly young, my aunt and uncle from Newton let me stay with them until Mom came home from the hospital. There in Newton, "Big Mike” a neighbor of my cousins became my boyfriend.

Another memorable experience was my mother and dad's Silver Wedding Anniversary in June, 1962, at which my brother and I gave the program. He had devotions, I played the organ, we sang duets, and he sang a solo with his guitar while I played the piano. It was lots of fun.

This last summer was full of new experiences for me. On the Monday after the school picnic, our neighbor lady had a baby boy and she had asked me to take care of her three year old girl and two year old boy while she was in the hospital. Then, without having had any vacation, I stayed there for five days and nights, making meals and taking care of them. I don't think I’ve ever had more fun or more laughs. The second week in June a girlfriend and I went to Camp Wonderful as Counselors. Camp Wonderful is a camp for retarded children and I wanted to go because of my neighbor girlfriend. This was a very worthwhile week. Besides that, I got to go swimming twice a day. Then when we got back from camp, I started working as a cleaning girl at the Home for the Aged.

Because Mother had more surgery this summer, I was responsible for things at home. One of the things I learned to do during this time was to clean or skin fish.

I believe my first date with Norman and becoming his steady were the most wonderful experiences in my life.

I think Mother and Dad have done a terrifically good job of bringing me up, and hope I can do as well with my own some day. I would like to have three or four children. I will try to bring them up to be intelligent, to love all people, and to be happy they are alive.

Farming has been the main occupation is cur family. When my brother and I were younger, Dad picked up odd jobs besides farming.

Mother is a homemaker besides being a part-time assistant cook at the Bethesda Home for the Aged. Both of my parents enjoy their work. My parents feel that a good education, or something beyond high school is essential for everyone.

Concerning intelligence, my brother was salutatorian of his high school class, and rated 26th high in his graduating class at Wichita University of about 400 students.

My plans for the future include attending Cosmetology school, although at the present time, I am also interested in secretarial work.

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