Irene Dorothy Schaake

F, #97, b. 24 October 1915, d. 20 May 1995
Pedigree
Relationship
1st cousin 1 time removed of Sheila Sue Altenbernd
Father*Edward Charles Schaake b. 25 February 1886, d. 12 August 1938
Mother*Magdalena Altenbernd b. 23 June 1881, d. 1 May 1954
Charts
Philipp Bödker Descendants
     Irene never knew her grandparents, Katharine and Wilhelm. They had both died before she was born.
     Irene and John met while they were Kansas University students.
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     The following information is from the records of John Altenbernd.
     Irene would marry John Vogel, a college graduate with a degree in business. He would operate the large Ed Schaake farm after Uncle Ed's death. John Vogel in later years would be a Republican Representative in the Kansas State Legislature.
     End of information from John Altenbernd.
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          The following information is from the records of Nancy Vogel (#156).
     When she was four years old, Irene Dorothy Schaake moved with her parents and sister from Leavenworth County to Douglas County, a distance of a mile or two. The year was 1920, and she would call Route 4 and "Wilder Wild" home for the next 60 years. Her parents' 25 wedding anniversary (Edward C. and Magdalena Altenbernd Schaake) and her own silver wedding anniversary would be celebrated there. Her sister, Frieda Louise, and Arthur A. Heck were married before the green-tiled fireplace in the living room. Ed Schaake had had oak floors laid in the new home, and the woodwork downstairs was oak; upstairs, pine. In this highly movable culture, Irene set something of a record by living in the same house for 60 years.
     On Route 4, she literally lived in the eye of a tornado, felt an earthquake shake the house, and saw the 1951 bluff-to-bluff flood of the Kansas "Kaw" River deposit so much sand on the land south of the house that a bulldozer had to pull a plow with a yard-deep blade to turn over the dirt before it could once again be tilled. Yet no storm had the power or fury of a disease, polio, which, in 1952, left John and Irene's son, Jerry, a quadriplegic.
     But that is getting ahead of the story. The Schaakes always had dogs, usually collies or german shepherds--and barn cats. Irene always wanted peacocks (because they are "beautiful") but she never got that job done. She started school at Bismarck, "built the first year I went to school: I lived in a new house and went to a new schoolhouse" (District 79). The first telephone was a party line, and the number was 773N2.
     Irene took piano lessons (age 8 to 14) at Mrs. Parker's, about 14th and Rhode Island. "Frieda and I would walk to Bismarck Station and catch the Interurban; then from 6th and Massachusetts, we would walk eight blocks south, and we'd reverse it on the way home. We always carried oriental umbrellas to keep the sun off."
     Once, Magdalena, Irene's mother, cut her hand on a glass while washing dishes. Infection set in and the local doctor referred her to a Kansas City doctor who came to Lawrence: Dr. John Outland saved her life; prescribing, among other things, soaking her hand in Epsom salts. Dr. Louis K. Zimmer later became the family doctor.
     Sara Tucker, professor of history at Washburn University in Topeka and a popular lecturer, says that most Kansans have a chicken story. Irene does. For a time, she raised chickens for home use and "egg money". Her mother taught her how to butcher a chicken. A hatchet and a stump were all you needed. Her daughter can still remember the smell of feathers dipped in scalding water.
     At the University of Kansas, where she majored in social work and met John H. Vogel, Jr., from Phillips County, later a graduate of the School of Business, she drove a green Chevy coupe and "had a parking space right beside Watson Library." She did social work for a couple years in Douglas County. Her office was in the courthouse, and Mildred D. Watson was director. Although her mother saw Indians when she grew up, the only Indians Irene saw were at Haskell (American Indian Junior College.)
     The Oak Ridge Birthday Club, a group of Grant Township friends, counted her a member until Jerry got polio. She also became a member of Progressive Circle, mostly women from her church. Five hundred and fifty-five people watched John and Irene exchange vows after the church service on Easter Sunday at Trinity Lutheran. 13th and Hampshire. They are still members.
     Ed Schaake was among the early potato growers in the Kaw Valley. Paris green was a dangerous poison in those days; no longer used, it did kill the bugs. In the 1920's and 1930's, the potatoes were hauled to Bismarck Station, across from the schoolhouse, for rail transport to the market in Chicago. Mules pulled the wagons to the interurban, and the potato culls were cooked outdoors for livestock consumption (hogs). Ed Schaake had one tractor, a John Deere plow tractor. John Vogel replaced the mules with other tractors, and he pioneered mechanized cornpicking in Grant Township. This year (1992) the Pine Family Farms, the renters of the Vogel acres and other area farms, harvested the potato crop with a leased four-row machine from Holland (a six-row machine costs one quarter of a million dollars). Potatoes are an expensive and risky crop. Corn and wheat were her father's main crops, and Alf Landon, Governor of Kansas, broadcast over CBS radio from the Schaake farm in 1935. Today soybeans are also a major crop, but alfalfa is no longer raised, now that there is no dehydrator.
     Irene is not fond of travel, but she and John do visit their daughter, Nancy, in Hays were she is a professor at Fort Hays State University. After a couple days, she is ready to return home, now to 1568 El Dorado Drive. She and John did move to town in 1980, but they chose a lot that backs onto Quail Creek at Alvamar where the spaciousness of the golf course reminds them of the pasture out the kitchen window and the fields in all directions.
     End of information from Nancy Vogel
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     The following is a newspaper clipping from a local paper.
     AT TRINITY LUTHERAN
     __________
     A Marriage and Baptisms Features
     of Easter Services
     __________
          Unquestionably the biggest Easter Sunday ever observed at Trinity Lutheran church was marked down in history yesterday. From the sunrise service, when the chorus-choir presented the traditional cantata, to the baptismal service for children in the afternoon, people streamed in and out of the church. At the 11 o'clock service, all existing attendance records were broken, when 555 persons were present. The church seats about 450 and ushers were compelled to carry many chairs. A special Easter offering toward the church debt totalled $600.
          As a surprise feature at the close of the service, a marriage ceremony was performed for John Vogel, K.U. student and Miss Irene Schaake, daughter of Mrs. Edward Schaake. Even tho the regular time for the service had already been consumed, not one of the 555 persons present stirred from his seat, but stayed to witness the service of matrimony.
          In the afternoon at 2:30, the largest class of children ever to be baptized at a single time, were presented at the font. The class totaled 27.
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     The following appeared in a local newspaper.
          Announcement is made of the marriage of Miss Irene Dorothy Schaake, daughter of Mrs. Edward C. Schaake and the late Mr. Schaake, to John H. Vogel, Jr., son, of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Vogel, Sr., of Stuttgart, Kan.
          The marriage was solemnized Sunday at the close of the Easter service at Trinity Lutheran church. The Rev. Charles A. Puls, performed the double ring ceremony.
          For her wedding the bride wore a floor length white lace dress, princess-styled with a short train. Her finger tip veil was held in place with gardenias. The bridal bouquet was also of white gardenias.
          The bride is a graduate of the University of Kansas with the class of 1937. Since her graduation she has been employed by the Douglas County, Welfare board as a social worker. She plans to continue this work.
          Mr. Vogel is a senior in the school of business of the University of Kansas. He is associated with Alpha Kappa Psi, business fraternity. After his graduation in June Mr. Vogel will manage the business owned by the late Edward C. Schaake in Douglas county.
          Following the ceremony a dinner for members of the immediate families was served at the Colonial Tea room. The table held a tiered wedding cake. It was decorated with lighted tapers and a bouquet of white snapdragons, stock and lilies.
          Mr. and Mrs. Vogel are at home on route five, Lawrence.1


     Photo of front: Herb Altenbernd and Irene Schaake
Middle: Hugo Hoelszel, Frieda Schaake, and Helen Altenbernd
Back: Frances and Hildegarde Hoelzel. Original photo in the possession of Sue Myers (#130.)


     Irene was born in Leavenworth County, Kansas, USA, on 24 October 1915.1 She was the daughter of Edward Charles Schaake and Magdalena Altenbernd.
     She was baptized at Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, USA, on 9 February 1916.1

     Photo.



     Photo of Herb Altenberd, Will Altenbernd, Irene Schaake. Original photo in the possession of Sue Myers (#130.)

Herb Altenberd, Will Altenbernd, Irene Schaake


     Photo taken by Photo is missing on this tag.

Irene Dorothy Schaake hosted a family reunion on circa 1920 at in Grant Township, Kansas, USA. Among the attendees were Irene Dorothy Schaake, Frieda Schaake.

     Irene Dorothy Schaake, Edward Charles Schaake and Magdalena Schaake's child, resided with Edward and Magdalena R7, Grant Section 28, Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, USA, in 1920. They owned 267 acres.2
     Irene worked. She worked as Housewife.
     Irene Dorothy Vogel was housewife.1
ME by John Altenbernd

Ordination Day


Ordination Day was a day to be approached with some degree of fear and trembling as well as with joy and anticipation. It marked the end of a lot of things as well as marking a beginning.
I was 25 years old. I had been in school ever since I was 6, and that had been a long time. There would now be no more of that. While school carries with it a great deal of responsibility, it is still a kind of sheltered responsibility. From here on I would be on my own. Instead of being a student under somebody, I would be the head man.
The farm house in Kansas would no longer be my home. And I did love that place. I had neither the desire nor the natural talent and knowledge to be a farmer, but I did love being there and working on it. There's a great difference between working on a farm and having the know-how to run it. My genes were primarily from the Stoerker family rather than from the Altenbernds, and I was smart enough to know that early on. Any attempt at farming as a living would have been doomed to disaster. I hated leaving the farm, but I've never had regrets for having done so.
I had already accepted the dual pastorate of St. John's and Bethany Churches in Berger, Missouri, so I knew where I was going. July 11 would be my first Sunday there. I had been serving there as student supply during the last few months at Eden, so I had some knowledge of the place and of the people. And although it was a farming community, as was the Kaw Valley of Kansas, it was a vastly different world. Around Lawrence and Eudora things and people were as much urban as rural, not at all the usual stereotype of country people. Berger, particularly around Bethany Church, was very definitely and exclusively rural. I wasn't at all sure I would like Berger, but I had to start somewhere. So this too was on my mind that day.
June 27 was a Sunday. The Ordination service would be that evening at St. Paul's Church in Eudora. Uncle Adolph Stoerker and Aunt Marie, with their daughter Joanne (now Kleuter), were there at the farm house from Aurora, Illinois, where he was pastor. Uncle Adolph was on vacation, and they were visiting my mother. Also there was Rev. Myron Ross, a friend from Eden (black) who had been ordained a year earlier. He was not yet married.
Uncle Fred Stoerker, pastor of Zion Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, and Aunt Hilda would come in that afternoon. He was to

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be the ordaining pastor. They would be bringing with them his student assistant for the summer, Lorenz ("Ike") Eichenlaub, another old friend from Eden who would be ordained two years later.
Rev. Karl Baur and his wife, Betty, would come from Kansas City in time for the service. Karl Baur had been pastor at Eudora during my teen years, and I had dated his daughter, Joan, who was now married and would not be with them.
Dr. Harold Barr, Dean of the School of Religion at Kansas University, was to be the preacher at the service. He only had to come from Lawrence so he would go directly to the church.
Rev. James McAllister, my roommate my Senior year at Eden, was also scheduled to be there but couldn't make it. He was a Methodist, and he was transferred to Roodhouse, Illinois, from Payson, Illinois, that week. So he was busy moving.
All the ministers mentioned above would participate in the Ordination service, along with Rev. Joseph Polster who was pastor in Eudora at the time. Rev. Polster was a half-educated, boorish, obnoxious man for whom I had little use, but as pastor of the church he could not simply be left out and ignored.
We went to church that morning as usual. It wasn't long before it became obvious that this was going to be a very hot day - and it would remain hot into the evening.
There was a lot of picture taking that afternoon. St. Paul's Church had given me a pulpit robe (Not the one I now have. That one long since wore out), and there was a lot of posing in it for the benefit of other people's cameras, I would wear the robe that evening at the service.
My mother continued with preparations for a reception at the house after the service that evening. With a large front porch and a large lawn on a summer evening, space was no problem.
The service was splendid. Dr. Barr was at his preaching best. Rev. Polster behaved himself. I was afraid he might decide to say "a. few words" somewhere along the line (something he could do with embarrassing frequency, and when he did so it usually was a display of ignorance).
When the time came for my formal Ordination, Uncle Fred called me forth and I stood before him. Uncle Fred was flanked by Uncle Adolph, Rev. Baur, Rev. Ross, Rev. Barr, and Rev. Polster. Uncle Fred asked me, and I accepted, the vows of service to God and to the Church. I then knelt for the laying


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on of hands. Uncle Fred's hand was on my head, and the hands of the others were on top of his. Uncle Fred then pronounced the words of Ordination.
I then rose and accepted the hand of fellowship and collegiality from each of the ordained pastors before me. I was one of them now. I said a few words of appreciation to them and to the assembled congregation, pronounced the benediction (my first official act as an ordained pastor), and the service ended.
     I was very moved by it all, a highlight of my life.
The church was nearly full. St. Paul's congregation had turned out in force for me, only the second son of the congregation ever to be ordained. (Rev. Carl Schmidt was the other one a good many years earlier.) Other friends and relatives were there too. Among them was a surprise - Rev. Theodore Hauck from Higginsville, Missouri, who had baptized me years before when he was pastor of St. Paul's. He had arrived a little late, and we didn't know he was there or we would have asked him to participate in the Ordination.
A good many of them were at the house afterward for the reception, including Uncle Carl Altenbernd and Aunt Mattie, cousins of mine - Homer and Charlotte Altenbernd, Herb and Peggy Altenbernd, Helen and Al Wichman, Irene and John Vogel, and Frieda and Arthur Heck. There was also my father's hired hand when I was a boy, Oscar Russell. He was an old man by then, and I hadn't seen him in years.
     I wished my father had lived long enough to have been there.
There was only one negative note in the whole thing. Connie Peters had said she would drive down for the Ordination. I was expecting her. But she neither showed nor called. That hurt a bit.


* * * * * * * * * * *

I was the second son of St. Paul's Church to enter the ministry. Carl Schmidt, brother of Ralph Schmidt, had been ordained in 1930.


( at St Paul's Church, Eudora, Douglas County, Kansas, USA, on 27 June 1955.)3
     Irene Dorothy Schaake lived at 1568 Eldorado, Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, USA.
     Irene died on 20 May 1995 at age 79.4
Last Edited=28 June 2021

Child of Irene Dorothy Schaake

Citations

  1. [S1602] Letter from Nancy Vogel (#156) (Lawrence, Kansas) to Sheila Altenbernd (#172) August 1992. (Document Source Number: 00097-1992-08-00-01).
  2. [S1513] Unknown author, "Douglas County Farmers' Directory," The Pioneer, 3, XIII, Page: 132, File Number: Genealogy 978.101 D74DCGA 1989-1991 (Published: Spring 19990) Viewed: 2007. (Document Source Number: 00095-1920-00-00-02).
  3. [S1410] John Stoerker Altenbernd,"Ordination Day" in ME; Page(s) 609-611; Published:.
  4. [S6] Letter from Nancy S. Vogelto Sheila Sue Altenbernd January 16, 1996.
  5. [S1154] Gerald Vogel (#155) Obituary, Topeka Capital-Journal, Topeka, Kansas, June 15, 2012, http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/cjonline/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=158045830#fbLoggedOut on March 27, 2013 (Document Source Number: 00155-2012-06-15-01) . Hereinafter cited as Topeka Capital-Journal.