Dehlers

The Anton Janson farm and the Gust Dehler farm were next door to each other west of Buckman, within easy walking distance. Maggie Janson and Regina Dehler were close friends, a good thing since Maggie often wasn't well.  Mom talked about how Regina would bring strawberries over, or take the bread dough home and bake it for Maggie, and how these kindnesses made life at Jansons much better.

August Dehler and Regina Hortsch were married in October 1914, and daughter Evelyn was born a year later, then Irma in 1918, Lucille in 1919, Ralph in 1922, Lorraine in 1923, Richard in 1925, Anna in 1932, and Kenneth in 1936.

Tragically, in December 1941, 16 year old Richard shot and killed his parents and two younger siblings, and set the house on fire to cover what he'd done.

Among mom's photos, I found this one...of Kenneth Dehler, very possibly taken that winter, with his dad's fur mittens on.

(Much later...) This poignant photo of the whole family is from 1939.

► And here's Evelyn, Lorraine, mom and Lucille in Dehler's yard, probably when they were all working in Minneapolis, I think, and were home visiting...I'd guess Thanksgiving 1939.

The other photos mom had of these neighbors were from later years, when the older sibs had moved to the west coast. She & dad visited there a few times, and they kept up a lively correspondence over the years.  They remained good friends all their lives.

Richard was released from prison in the 1970s.  He married and lived in Wyoming, where he died in 2008.

This six-sib photo is from 1989.....