RUSSELL JOSEPH BARNICK
Age 90, of Montrose, Colorado.
DEATH: Thursday, March 17, 2016, @ Montrose Memorial Hospital in Montrose, Colorado.
BIRTH: July 31, 1925, in Milaca, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, to Herman Gustaf Barnick and Josephine Rachael Henschel Barnick.
SIBLINGS: Robert, June and Alice.
PRECEDED IN DEATH by father July 16, 1928, mother April 8, 1987, brother Robert November 24, 1989, sister Alice June 15, 1998.
CREMATION.
ARRANGEMENTS: Crippin Funeral Home & Crematory in Montrose.
LIFE STORY OF RUSSELL JOSEPH BARNICK
INTERVIEW by Pauline Annette DiSipio @ Centennial Towers in Montrose, Colorado:
The Early Years: 1925 - 1943
-1-
On July 31, 1925 in Milaca, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Russell Joseph Barnick was born to Josephine Rachael Henschel and Herman Gustaf Barnick. His mother was born July 31, 1893, in Princeton, Minnesota, and passed away April 8, 1987 in Princeton. His father was born September 18, 1881 in Brandenburg, Germany, and he passed away July 16, 1928 in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota.
Josephine was born to Peter Henschel and Adelia Hoeft, and, according to ancestry records, her siblings were William Carl (1897 – 1966), Laura Amelia (1899 – 1923), Hazel Margret (1901 – 1997), Ida M. (1903 – 1985), Ernest (1906 – 1984), Grace (born 1908), and Deniel (1911 – 2002).
“My father Herman Barnick, had three brothers and two sisters,” recalls Russell. “His brothers' names were Paul, Frank and Emil.”
-2-
Russell was the youngest of four children. His oldest brother is Robert. “Robert was born about nine years before me,” Russell adds. “My two sisters are June and Alice. June, who married Emanuel Wiese, is still alive and is 96 years old,” comments Russell. “She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her daughter.”
In research, I note that Robert Herman Barnick was born 1918 and passed away November 24, 1989. Alice L. Barnick was born in 1921 and passed away June 15, 1998.
“My grandfather Peter Henschel lived in Princeton, Minnesota. He spoke three languages … English, German and Chippewaw.” When describing his maternal grandparents, Russell commented that they were both short in stature.
Russell, who has lived in the Olathe and Montrose, Colorado area for more than 50 years, continues updating information about his siblings, “My brother Robert married Ethel Warner, and they had no children. He was about 50 years old when they got
-3-
married. My sister June has an adopted daughter. My sister Alice married Virgil Skouza, and they have a son Dwayne and a daughter.”
“I married Irene Samuelson, who was also born in Milaca, Minnesota. She is 10 years younger than I am. We met roller skating. We have three daughters, Judy Soell and her husband Dean live in North Platte, Nebraska. They have two daughters. Rose Distel lives in Coal Creek, Colorado, which is about 15 miles northwest of Montrose. Her husband's name is Melvin, and they have two sons. My daughter Amelia is married (his name is a Basque surname) and they have two sons and a daughter. They live in Olathe, Colorado.” Russell says that his wife Irene will be 80 years old this month. Irene Samuelson was born September 21, 1935, and lives in Olathe with our daughter and her family. “Irene is a very good person, a very good mother. She was a good wife to me.”
“When asked how his parents met, Russell says that his
-4-
mother Josephine was a schoolteacher in a one-room school. She taught all grades, 1 – 8. There were PTA meetings, and gatherings and socials. It was at one of the gatherings, that Russell's parents met. “It was a 'school doings' where she met Herman Barnick, who was 12 years older. The school had pie socials, and the ladies would fix up baskets and auction them off. The single men would buy them.”
“After they got married, they farmed. They grew corn, oats and hay, and had a few cows, hogs and chickens. “When I was two years old, my father passed away from a farming accident.”
It was about that time that Russell's mother went to stay with her the Barnick Family, and her farm was rented out. Russell went to live with his maternal Grandparents.
“My very first memory was when I was four years old. I went to stay with my Grandparents. They had two sons, my Uncles Denny and Ernie. They were my mother's brothers. My uncles were always pulling pranks and teasing me. They hung me up on
-5-
the clothesline by my suspenders!” That is Russell's earliest memory. He was not hurt, and his uncles did get him down from the clothesline.
Russell recalls more memories made with his two uncles. “We all lived on a farm with a big pasture. My two uncles and I went to investigate a huge mud turtle. It was the size of a No. 2 washtub, three feet across. There was an old mud lake on the edge of the farm. All three of us rode on the back of that mud turtle!”
Russell now tells more about mud turtles. “The mud turtles lay eggs, 200 eggs at a time sometimes. They go around and around and push their tails into the ground to make holes where they will bury their eggs. Then, they cover up the holes.”
“I helped my Grandmother Adelia churn butter. She had a butter press and ten to fifteen butter boxes, all with different pictures on the inside of the lids. There would be about two pounds of butter to each butter box. When the butter got hard
-6-
after churning, it would have the picture of whatever was on that particular lid.”
Russell says that his Grandmother made her own cheese. “It was like cottage cheese. It would be melted in skillet, cooked down, and rolled into balls about the size of large hen eggs or a tennis ball. I remember after they were rolled in flour, they were lined up on the kitchen cabinet shelves. Sometimes, my Grandmother would use garlic to flavor the cheese balls while cooking them.”
You have heard the story about the “cow jumping over the moon”? Well … there were milk cows on Russell's Grandparents' farm. With a smile on his face, Russell remembers a cow leaving the barn and jumping right over his head! Whoa! Russell was not hurt, and he comments that was he was pretty young, and not very tall.
When Russell was old enough to start school, at about age six, he went to school at the District #6 school, out in the
-7-
country, in Estesbrook, Minnesota. When asked about school memories, Russell recalls his best teacher. “I was in 6th grade, and she was the best teacher I ever had. She was not just a teacher. She was an 'educator' who had the ability to communicate with her students to teach them.” Miss Whitney was Russell's first teacher. “She was a young lady, just out of school. There was Miss Bemis, a local girl, and there was Mr. Huff.”
“After I finished the 8th grade, I was about fourteen years old. I did more farming on our family farm.” When Russell was fourteen, that had to be about 1939, the beginning of World War II. The 1930's hold some memories for Russell.
In 1929, the Stock Market crashed! All the banks were closed for about a year. “Things were cheap,” says Russell. “Metal banks were issued to children. Money was 10 cents on the dollar. It was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who brought us out of the Great Depression. He created projects …
-8-
the Works Progress Administration, which built roads and bridges; the CCC – Civilian Conservation Corps, which worked in the forests; and the Agricultural Stabilization Act 1931 – 1932, which helped the farmers and helped to bring us all out of the Great Depression.”
When I asked Russell to tell me about his favorite food, he exclaimed, “Gooey cinnamon rolls!”. He remembered always having a garden. “Before my father passed away, we had a windmill, and rain from a well for the garden. We had a hog or two butchered for space for a garden.”
There are recollections of the Dust Bowl, and Russell calls that time the “Dirty Thirties” with a drought that lasted about three years. “There were grasshoppers, locusts, and these were bad times for us on the farm. We had a little bitty farm, and barely had enough to feed our cows through the winter. Mother cooked whatever she could find.”
“It was dry and windy, and the dirt was coming out of
-9-
Kansas, Iowa and New Mexico. There was so much dirt in the air, the sun looked big and orange. “My mother took feed sacks, and soaked them in buckets of water. She hung them up in front of the windows and that would filter out a lot of the dirt.” Russell says that many people died with “dust pneumonia”. There were about two years of the Dust Bowl, and Russell says that 1934 was a turning point. A few rain showers helped the cattle, but many had already died from thirst and starvation. The government bought cattle and dumped them in trenches.
“In the spring of 1935, around the last part of March, there was a big snowstorm, then rain. President Roosevelt created the 'Agricultural Stabilization Act' which allowed for feed to be shipped in, enough to feed the cattle. We had six milk cows, and that helped us.”
“In 1935, gasoline was 10 cents a gallon. We had a 1927 gray Chevrolet. When the war broke out, the National Guard mobilized Milaka, Minnesota, which had an Armory. In the
-10-
country, there were trains carrying soldiers and guns.”
Russell says that there was no electricity at his farm. The family used kerosene lamps. “We had a little radio that ran on batteries … dry cell batteries and car batteries. There were no newspapers during the war. We did have a wall telephone with a crank, and there were 12 people on our line. At 6 PM, there would be a news forecast, that we listen to on our little radio, I remember the Roosevelt Speeches, He was 'For the People'. It was never 'I', but 'We'.”
None of Russell's family served in World War II. He says that farmers were exempt, because they were needed to provide food for the country. When Russell was drafted into the Army at about age 18, in 1943, there was a military base called Fort Snelling in St. Paul, Minnesota. When he had his physical, he was classified with a “Medical 4-F” by the military doctor. “The Army can't use you because of your health. The country needs farmers as much as it needs soldiers,” said the doctor. “Go back
-11-
home and farm!” Russell had rheumatoid arthritis from having had rheumatic fever at age 14. He also had a heart murmur.
END, PART 1
Interview by Pauline Annette DiSipio
September 13 and 14, 2015
Montrose, Colorado
NOTE: PART II - Bits and Pieces ... and Antarctica! Interview September 13 and 14, 2015, Montrose, Colorado, by Pauline Annette DiSipio:
-12-
Russell married Irene Samuelson, December 8, 1952 in Milaca, Minnesota. They farmed in Minnesota. Had children. Moved to a drier climate, Prescott, Arizona, where Russell worked for plumbing contractors. In the early 1960's, Russell worked in Montrose English Gardens Housing Development in Montrose, Colorado, and had this position for several years. He built homes, did carpentry and plumbing. When English Gardens shut down their building of homes, Russell's friend Wally Nystrom from Minnesota was a plumber and Russell's foreman for a year. After Wally's "health gave out", Russell was hired by IT&T in Antarctica. This was Russell Barnick's "favorite job" with all expenses paid. "These years in Antarctica were the best years of my life!" exclaimed Russell with a big smile on his face.
-13-
When I asked Russell what he liked the most about working in Antarctica, he replied, "Challenge! Excitement! A different world!" He started in plumbing and maintenance, and the last three to four years of his work there was "trouble-shooting" ... maintenance work and fixing and repairing. "If you can't do it, get Russ! He can do it!" Where Russell worked was 2200 miles from New Zealand, and the flight was 8-10 hours on a C-130 Cargo Freight Plane which could carry 50-75 people. "It's one of the safest planes ever built," comments Russell. When you leave New Zealand, it's all water, almost to Antarctica, then thin ice, then big patches of ice, then ski-equipped areas with hard-surfaced runway to land the plane. "I left Phoenix at 112 degrees, and went to Antarctica at 63 degrees below zero! The plane traveled about 135 miles an hour. In the raw sea, glaciers would move into the water and break off and form icebergs. Some glaciers were 80 feet thick," explains Russell, who helped build new runways for the planes.
-14-
I asked Russell about drinking water there, and he said that snow was melted for potable water.
"McMurdo is the biggest base in Antarctica, in the South Pole. I really loved my jobs in Antarctica! The Best!"
Russell Barnick retired in 1990 when he turned 65. For awhile he had a camper - trailer on the North Platte. His "home base" is Olathe, Colorado and Montrose, Colorado. Russell says that he moved to Centennial Towers in Montrose in 2013. "I walk every day outside around the building. For the last 25 years, I have been enjoying myself at Christ's Kitchen in Montrose, where I have good friends and good food. I watch television, mostly baseball." Babe Ruth is his favorite player of all times. "I have had macular degeneration for five years, and my eyesight is fading and getting weaker. I try to read and use special magnifying glass." Russell has a television with a 60-inch screen and keeps it tuned mostly to Channel 40 ... the Baseball Channel!
END PART II
Age 90, of Montrose, Colorado.
DEATH: Thursday, March 17, 2016, @ Montrose Memorial Hospital in Montrose, Colorado.
BIRTH: July 31, 1925, in Milaca, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, to Herman Gustaf Barnick and Josephine Rachael Henschel Barnick.
SIBLINGS: Robert, June and Alice.
PRECEDED IN DEATH by father July 16, 1928, mother April 8, 1987, brother Robert November 24, 1989, sister Alice June 15, 1998.
CREMATION.
ARRANGEMENTS: Crippin Funeral Home & Crematory in Montrose.
LIFE STORY OF RUSSELL JOSEPH BARNICK
INTERVIEW by Pauline Annette DiSipio @ Centennial Towers in Montrose, Colorado:
The Early Years: 1925 - 1943
-1-
On July 31, 1925 in Milaca, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Russell Joseph Barnick was born to Josephine Rachael Henschel and Herman Gustaf Barnick. His mother was born July 31, 1893, in Princeton, Minnesota, and passed away April 8, 1987 in Princeton. His father was born September 18, 1881 in Brandenburg, Germany, and he passed away July 16, 1928 in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota.
Josephine was born to Peter Henschel and Adelia Hoeft, and, according to ancestry records, her siblings were William Carl (1897 – 1966), Laura Amelia (1899 – 1923), Hazel Margret (1901 – 1997), Ida M. (1903 – 1985), Ernest (1906 – 1984), Grace (born 1908), and Deniel (1911 – 2002).
“My father Herman Barnick, had three brothers and two sisters,” recalls Russell. “His brothers' names were Paul, Frank and Emil.”
-2-
Russell was the youngest of four children. His oldest brother is Robert. “Robert was born about nine years before me,” Russell adds. “My two sisters are June and Alice. June, who married Emanuel Wiese, is still alive and is 96 years old,” comments Russell. “She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her daughter.”
In research, I note that Robert Herman Barnick was born 1918 and passed away November 24, 1989. Alice L. Barnick was born in 1921 and passed away June 15, 1998.
“My grandfather Peter Henschel lived in Princeton, Minnesota. He spoke three languages … English, German and Chippewaw.” When describing his maternal grandparents, Russell commented that they were both short in stature.
Russell, who has lived in the Olathe and Montrose, Colorado area for more than 50 years, continues updating information about his siblings, “My brother Robert married Ethel Warner, and they had no children. He was about 50 years old when they got
-3-
married. My sister June has an adopted daughter. My sister Alice married Virgil Skouza, and they have a son Dwayne and a daughter.”
“I married Irene Samuelson, who was also born in Milaca, Minnesota. She is 10 years younger than I am. We met roller skating. We have three daughters, Judy Soell and her husband Dean live in North Platte, Nebraska. They have two daughters. Rose Distel lives in Coal Creek, Colorado, which is about 15 miles northwest of Montrose. Her husband's name is Melvin, and they have two sons. My daughter Amelia is married (his name is a Basque surname) and they have two sons and a daughter. They live in Olathe, Colorado.” Russell says that his wife Irene will be 80 years old this month. Irene Samuelson was born September 21, 1935, and lives in Olathe with our daughter and her family. “Irene is a very good person, a very good mother. She was a good wife to me.”
“When asked how his parents met, Russell says that his
-4-
mother Josephine was a schoolteacher in a one-room school. She taught all grades, 1 – 8. There were PTA meetings, and gatherings and socials. It was at one of the gatherings, that Russell's parents met. “It was a 'school doings' where she met Herman Barnick, who was 12 years older. The school had pie socials, and the ladies would fix up baskets and auction them off. The single men would buy them.”
“After they got married, they farmed. They grew corn, oats and hay, and had a few cows, hogs and chickens. “When I was two years old, my father passed away from a farming accident.”
It was about that time that Russell's mother went to stay with her the Barnick Family, and her farm was rented out. Russell went to live with his maternal Grandparents.
“My very first memory was when I was four years old. I went to stay with my Grandparents. They had two sons, my Uncles Denny and Ernie. They were my mother's brothers. My uncles were always pulling pranks and teasing me. They hung me up on
-5-
the clothesline by my suspenders!” That is Russell's earliest memory. He was not hurt, and his uncles did get him down from the clothesline.
Russell recalls more memories made with his two uncles. “We all lived on a farm with a big pasture. My two uncles and I went to investigate a huge mud turtle. It was the size of a No. 2 washtub, three feet across. There was an old mud lake on the edge of the farm. All three of us rode on the back of that mud turtle!”
Russell now tells more about mud turtles. “The mud turtles lay eggs, 200 eggs at a time sometimes. They go around and around and push their tails into the ground to make holes where they will bury their eggs. Then, they cover up the holes.”
“I helped my Grandmother Adelia churn butter. She had a butter press and ten to fifteen butter boxes, all with different pictures on the inside of the lids. There would be about two pounds of butter to each butter box. When the butter got hard
-6-
after churning, it would have the picture of whatever was on that particular lid.”
Russell says that his Grandmother made her own cheese. “It was like cottage cheese. It would be melted in skillet, cooked down, and rolled into balls about the size of large hen eggs or a tennis ball. I remember after they were rolled in flour, they were lined up on the kitchen cabinet shelves. Sometimes, my Grandmother would use garlic to flavor the cheese balls while cooking them.”
You have heard the story about the “cow jumping over the moon”? Well … there were milk cows on Russell's Grandparents' farm. With a smile on his face, Russell remembers a cow leaving the barn and jumping right over his head! Whoa! Russell was not hurt, and he comments that was he was pretty young, and not very tall.
When Russell was old enough to start school, at about age six, he went to school at the District #6 school, out in the
-7-
country, in Estesbrook, Minnesota. When asked about school memories, Russell recalls his best teacher. “I was in 6th grade, and she was the best teacher I ever had. She was not just a teacher. She was an 'educator' who had the ability to communicate with her students to teach them.” Miss Whitney was Russell's first teacher. “She was a young lady, just out of school. There was Miss Bemis, a local girl, and there was Mr. Huff.”
“After I finished the 8th grade, I was about fourteen years old. I did more farming on our family farm.” When Russell was fourteen, that had to be about 1939, the beginning of World War II. The 1930's hold some memories for Russell.
In 1929, the Stock Market crashed! All the banks were closed for about a year. “Things were cheap,” says Russell. “Metal banks were issued to children. Money was 10 cents on the dollar. It was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who brought us out of the Great Depression. He created projects …
-8-
the Works Progress Administration, which built roads and bridges; the CCC – Civilian Conservation Corps, which worked in the forests; and the Agricultural Stabilization Act 1931 – 1932, which helped the farmers and helped to bring us all out of the Great Depression.”
When I asked Russell to tell me about his favorite food, he exclaimed, “Gooey cinnamon rolls!”. He remembered always having a garden. “Before my father passed away, we had a windmill, and rain from a well for the garden. We had a hog or two butchered for space for a garden.”
There are recollections of the Dust Bowl, and Russell calls that time the “Dirty Thirties” with a drought that lasted about three years. “There were grasshoppers, locusts, and these were bad times for us on the farm. We had a little bitty farm, and barely had enough to feed our cows through the winter. Mother cooked whatever she could find.”
“It was dry and windy, and the dirt was coming out of
-9-
Kansas, Iowa and New Mexico. There was so much dirt in the air, the sun looked big and orange. “My mother took feed sacks, and soaked them in buckets of water. She hung them up in front of the windows and that would filter out a lot of the dirt.” Russell says that many people died with “dust pneumonia”. There were about two years of the Dust Bowl, and Russell says that 1934 was a turning point. A few rain showers helped the cattle, but many had already died from thirst and starvation. The government bought cattle and dumped them in trenches.
“In the spring of 1935, around the last part of March, there was a big snowstorm, then rain. President Roosevelt created the 'Agricultural Stabilization Act' which allowed for feed to be shipped in, enough to feed the cattle. We had six milk cows, and that helped us.”
“In 1935, gasoline was 10 cents a gallon. We had a 1927 gray Chevrolet. When the war broke out, the National Guard mobilized Milaka, Minnesota, which had an Armory. In the
-10-
country, there were trains carrying soldiers and guns.”
Russell says that there was no electricity at his farm. The family used kerosene lamps. “We had a little radio that ran on batteries … dry cell batteries and car batteries. There were no newspapers during the war. We did have a wall telephone with a crank, and there were 12 people on our line. At 6 PM, there would be a news forecast, that we listen to on our little radio, I remember the Roosevelt Speeches, He was 'For the People'. It was never 'I', but 'We'.”
None of Russell's family served in World War II. He says that farmers were exempt, because they were needed to provide food for the country. When Russell was drafted into the Army at about age 18, in 1943, there was a military base called Fort Snelling in St. Paul, Minnesota. When he had his physical, he was classified with a “Medical 4-F” by the military doctor. “The Army can't use you because of your health. The country needs farmers as much as it needs soldiers,” said the doctor. “Go back
-11-
home and farm!” Russell had rheumatoid arthritis from having had rheumatic fever at age 14. He also had a heart murmur.
END, PART 1
Interview by Pauline Annette DiSipio
September 13 and 14, 2015
Montrose, Colorado
NOTE: PART II - Bits and Pieces ... and Antarctica! Interview September 13 and 14, 2015, Montrose, Colorado, by Pauline Annette DiSipio:
-12-
Russell married Irene Samuelson, December 8, 1952 in Milaca, Minnesota. They farmed in Minnesota. Had children. Moved to a drier climate, Prescott, Arizona, where Russell worked for plumbing contractors. In the early 1960's, Russell worked in Montrose English Gardens Housing Development in Montrose, Colorado, and had this position for several years. He built homes, did carpentry and plumbing. When English Gardens shut down their building of homes, Russell's friend Wally Nystrom from Minnesota was a plumber and Russell's foreman for a year. After Wally's "health gave out", Russell was hired by IT&T in Antarctica. This was Russell Barnick's "favorite job" with all expenses paid. "These years in Antarctica were the best years of my life!" exclaimed Russell with a big smile on his face.
-13-
When I asked Russell what he liked the most about working in Antarctica, he replied, "Challenge! Excitement! A different world!" He started in plumbing and maintenance, and the last three to four years of his work there was "trouble-shooting" ... maintenance work and fixing and repairing. "If you can't do it, get Russ! He can do it!" Where Russell worked was 2200 miles from New Zealand, and the flight was 8-10 hours on a C-130 Cargo Freight Plane which could carry 50-75 people. "It's one of the safest planes ever built," comments Russell. When you leave New Zealand, it's all water, almost to Antarctica, then thin ice, then big patches of ice, then ski-equipped areas with hard-surfaced runway to land the plane. "I left Phoenix at 112 degrees, and went to Antarctica at 63 degrees below zero! The plane traveled about 135 miles an hour. In the raw sea, glaciers would move into the water and break off and form icebergs. Some glaciers were 80 feet thick," explains Russell, who helped build new runways for the planes.
-14-
I asked Russell about drinking water there, and he said that snow was melted for potable water.
"McMurdo is the biggest base in Antarctica, in the South Pole. I really loved my jobs in Antarctica! The Best!"
Russell Barnick retired in 1990 when he turned 65. For awhile he had a camper - trailer on the North Platte. His "home base" is Olathe, Colorado and Montrose, Colorado. Russell says that he moved to Centennial Towers in Montrose in 2013. "I walk every day outside around the building. For the last 25 years, I have been enjoying myself at Christ's Kitchen in Montrose, where I have good friends and good food. I watch television, mostly baseball." Babe Ruth is his favorite player of all times. "I have had macular degeneration for five years, and my eyesight is fading and getting weaker. I try to read and use special magnifying glass." Russell has a television with a 60-inch screen and keeps it tuned mostly to Channel 40 ... the Baseball Channel!
END PART II
RUSSELL JOSEPH BARNICK
Age 90, of Montrose, Colorado.
DEATH: Thursday, March 17, 2016, @ Montrose Memorial Hospital in Montrose, Colorado.
BIRTH: July 31, 1925, in Milaca, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, to Herman Gustaf Barnick and Josephine Rachael Henschel Barnick.
SIBLINGS: Robert, June and Alice.
PRECEDED IN DEATH by father July 16, 1928, mother April 8, 1987, brother Robert November 24, 1989, sister Alice June 15, 1998.
CREMATION.
ARRANGEMENTS: Crippin Funeral Home & Crematory in Montrose.
LIFE STORY OF RUSSELL JOSEPH BARNICK
INTERVIEW by Pauline Annette DiSipio @ Centennial Towers in Montrose, Colorado:
The Early Years: 1925 - 1943
-1-
On July 31, 1925 in Milaca, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Russell Joseph Barnick was born to Josephine Rachael Henschel and Herman Gustaf Barnick. His mother was born July 31, 1893, in Princeton, Minnesota, and passed away April 8, 1987 in Princeton. His father was born September 18, 1881 in Brandenburg, Germany, and he passed away July 16, 1928 in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota.
Josephine was born to Peter Henschel and Adelia Hoeft, and, according to ancestry records, her siblings were William Carl (1897 – 1966), Laura Amelia (1899 – 1923), Hazel Margret (1901 – 1997), Ida M. (1903 – 1985), Ernest (1906 – 1984), Grace (born 1908), and Deniel (1911 – 2002).
“My father Herman Barnick, had three brothers and two sisters,” recalls Russell. “His brothers' names were Paul, Frank and Emil.”
-2-
Russell was the youngest of four children. His oldest brother is Robert. “Robert was born about nine years before me,” Russell adds. “My two sisters are June and Alice. June, who married Emanuel Wiese, is still alive and is 96 years old,” comments Russell. “She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her daughter.”
In research, I note that Robert Herman Barnick was born 1918 and passed away November 24, 1989. Alice L. Barnick was born in 1921 and passed away June 15, 1998.
“My grandfather Peter Henschel lived in Princeton, Minnesota. He spoke three languages … English, German and Chippewaw.” When describing his maternal grandparents, Russell commented that they were both short in stature.
Russell, who has lived in the Olathe and Montrose, Colorado area for more than 50 years, continues updating information about his siblings, “My brother Robert married Ethel Warner, and they had no children. He was about 50 years old when they got
-3-
married. My sister June has an adopted daughter. My sister Alice married Virgil Skouza, and they have a son Dwayne and a daughter.”
“I married Irene Samuelson, who was also born in Milaca, Minnesota. She is 10 years younger than I am. We met roller skating. We have three daughters, Judy Soell and her husband Dean live in North Platte, Nebraska. They have two daughters. Rose Distel lives in Coal Creek, Colorado, which is about 15 miles northwest of Montrose. Her husband's name is Melvin, and they have two sons. My daughter Amelia is married (his name is a Basque surname) and they have two sons and a daughter. They live in Olathe, Colorado.” Russell says that his wife Irene will be 80 years old this month. Irene Samuelson was born September 21, 1935, and lives in Olathe with our daughter and her family. “Irene is a very good person, a very good mother. She was a good wife to me.”
“When asked how his parents met, Russell says that his
-4-
mother Josephine was a schoolteacher in a one-room school. She taught all grades, 1 – 8. There were PTA meetings, and gatherings and socials. It was at one of the gatherings, that Russell's parents met. “It was a 'school doings' where she met Herman Barnick, who was 12 years older. The school had pie socials, and the ladies would fix up baskets and auction them off. The single men would buy them.”
“After they got married, they farmed. They grew corn, oats and hay, and had a few cows, hogs and chickens. “When I was two years old, my father passed away from a farming accident.”
It was about that time that Russell's mother went to stay with her the Barnick Family, and her farm was rented out. Russell went to live with his maternal Grandparents.
“My very first memory was when I was four years old. I went to stay with my Grandparents. They had two sons, my Uncles Denny and Ernie. They were my mother's brothers. My uncles were always pulling pranks and teasing me. They hung me up on
-5-
the clothesline by my suspenders!” That is Russell's earliest memory. He was not hurt, and his uncles did get him down from the clothesline.
Russell recalls more memories made with his two uncles. “We all lived on a farm with a big pasture. My two uncles and I went to investigate a huge mud turtle. It was the size of a No. 2 washtub, three feet across. There was an old mud lake on the edge of the farm. All three of us rode on the back of that mud turtle!”
Russell now tells more about mud turtles. “The mud turtles lay eggs, 200 eggs at a time sometimes. They go around and around and push their tails into the ground to make holes where they will bury their eggs. Then, they cover up the holes.”
“I helped my Grandmother Adelia churn butter. She had a butter press and ten to fifteen butter boxes, all with different pictures on the inside of the lids. There would be about two pounds of butter to each butter box. When the butter got hard
-6-
after churning, it would have the picture of whatever was on that particular lid.”
Russell says that his Grandmother made her own cheese. “It was like cottage cheese. It would be melted in skillet, cooked down, and rolled into balls about the size of large hen eggs or a tennis ball. I remember after they were rolled in flour, they were lined up on the kitchen cabinet shelves. Sometimes, my Grandmother would use garlic to flavor the cheese balls while cooking them.”
You have heard the story about the “cow jumping over the moon”? Well … there were milk cows on Russell's Grandparents' farm. With a smile on his face, Russell remembers a cow leaving the barn and jumping right over his head! Whoa! Russell was not hurt, and he comments that was he was pretty young, and not very tall.
When Russell was old enough to start school, at about age six, he went to school at the District #6 school, out in the
-7-
country, in Estesbrook, Minnesota. When asked about school memories, Russell recalls his best teacher. “I was in 6th grade, and she was the best teacher I ever had. She was not just a teacher. She was an 'educator' who had the ability to communicate with her students to teach them.” Miss Whitney was Russell's first teacher. “She was a young lady, just out of school. There was Miss Bemis, a local girl, and there was Mr. Huff.”
“After I finished the 8th grade, I was about fourteen years old. I did more farming on our family farm.” When Russell was fourteen, that had to be about 1939, the beginning of World War II. The 1930's hold some memories for Russell.
In 1929, the Stock Market crashed! All the banks were closed for about a year. “Things were cheap,” says Russell. “Metal banks were issued to children. Money was 10 cents on the dollar. It was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who brought us out of the Great Depression. He created projects …
-8-
the Works Progress Administration, which built roads and bridges; the CCC – Civilian Conservation Corps, which worked in the forests; and the Agricultural Stabilization Act 1931 – 1932, which helped the farmers and helped to bring us all out of the Great Depression.”
When I asked Russell to tell me about his favorite food, he exclaimed, “Gooey cinnamon rolls!”. He remembered always having a garden. “Before my father passed away, we had a windmill, and rain from a well for the garden. We had a hog or two butchered for space for a garden.”
There are recollections of the Dust Bowl, and Russell calls that time the “Dirty Thirties” with a drought that lasted about three years. “There were grasshoppers, locusts, and these were bad times for us on the farm. We had a little bitty farm, and barely had enough to feed our cows through the winter. Mother cooked whatever she could find.”
“It was dry and windy, and the dirt was coming out of
-9-
Kansas, Iowa and New Mexico. There was so much dirt in the air, the sun looked big and orange. “My mother took feed sacks, and soaked them in buckets of water. She hung them up in front of the windows and that would filter out a lot of the dirt.” Russell says that many people died with “dust pneumonia”. There were about two years of the Dust Bowl, and Russell says that 1934 was a turning point. A few rain showers helped the cattle, but many had already died from thirst and starvation. The government bought cattle and dumped them in trenches.
“In the spring of 1935, around the last part of March, there was a big snowstorm, then rain. President Roosevelt created the 'Agricultural Stabilization Act' which allowed for feed to be shipped in, enough to feed the cattle. We had six milk cows, and that helped us.”
“In 1935, gasoline was 10 cents a gallon. We had a 1927 gray Chevrolet. When the war broke out, the National Guard mobilized Milaka, Minnesota, which had an Armory. In the
-10-
country, there were trains carrying soldiers and guns.”
Russell says that there was no electricity at his farm. The family used kerosene lamps. “We had a little radio that ran on batteries … dry cell batteries and car batteries. There were no newspapers during the war. We did have a wall telephone with a crank, and there were 12 people on our line. At 6 PM, there would be a news forecast, that we listen to on our little radio, I remember the Roosevelt Speeches, He was 'For the People'. It was never 'I', but 'We'.”
None of Russell's family served in World War II. He says that farmers were exempt, because they were needed to provide food for the country. When Russell was drafted into the Army at about age 18, in 1943, there was a military base called Fort Snelling in St. Paul, Minnesota. When he had his physical, he was classified with a “Medical 4-F” by the military doctor. “The Army can't use you because of your health. The country needs farmers as much as it needs soldiers,” said the doctor. “Go back
-11-
home and farm!” Russell had rheumatoid arthritis from having had rheumatic fever at age 14. He also had a heart murmur.
END, PART 1
Interview by Pauline Annette DiSipio
September 13 and 14, 2015
Montrose, Colorado
NOTE: PART II - Bits and Pieces ... and Antarctica! Interview September 13 and 14, 2015, Montrose, Colorado, by Pauline Annette DiSipio:
-12-
Russell married Irene Samuelson, December 8, 1952 in Milaca, Minnesota. They farmed in Minnesota. Had children. Moved to a drier climate, Prescott, Arizona, where Russell worked for plumbing contractors. In the early 1960's, Russell worked in Montrose English Gardens Housing Development in Montrose, Colorado, and had this position for several years. He built homes, did carpentry and plumbing. When English Gardens shut down their building of homes, Russell's friend Wally Nystrom from Minnesota was a plumber and Russell's foreman for a year. After Wally's "health gave out", Russell was hired by IT&T in Antarctica. This was Russell Barnick's "favorite job" with all expenses paid. "These years in Antarctica were the best years of my life!" exclaimed Russell with a big smile on his face.
-13-
When I asked Russell what he liked the most about working in Antarctica, he replied, "Challenge! Excitement! A different world!" He started in plumbing and maintenance, and the last three to four years of his work there was "trouble-shooting" ... maintenance work and fixing and repairing. "If you can't do it, get Russ! He can do it!" Where Russell worked was 2200 miles from New Zealand, and the flight was 8-10 hours on a C-130 Cargo Freight Plane which could carry 50-75 people. "It's one of the safest planes ever built," comments Russell. When you leave New Zealand, it's all water, almost to Antarctica, then thin ice, then big patches of ice, then ski-equipped areas with hard-surfaced runway to land the plane. "I left Phoenix at 112 degrees, and went to Antarctica at 63 degrees below zero! The plane traveled about 135 miles an hour. In the raw sea, glaciers would move into the water and break off and form icebergs. Some glaciers were 80 feet thick," explains Russell, who helped build new runways for the planes.
-14-
I asked Russell about drinking water there, and he said that snow was melted for potable water.
"McMurdo is the biggest base in Antarctica, in the South Pole. I really loved my jobs in Antarctica! The Best!"
Russell Barnick retired in 1990 when he turned 65. For awhile he had a camper - trailer on the North Platte. His "home base" is Olathe, Colorado and Montrose, Colorado. Russell says that he moved to Centennial Towers in Montrose in 2013. "I walk every day outside around the building. For the last 25 years, I have been enjoying myself at Christ's Kitchen in Montrose, where I have good friends and good food. I watch television, mostly baseball." Babe Ruth is his favorite player of all times. "I have had macular degeneration for five years, and my eyesight is fading and getting weaker. I try to read and use special magnifying glass." Russell has a television with a 60-inch screen and keeps it tuned mostly to Channel 40 ... the Baseball Channel!
END PART II
Age 90, of Montrose, Colorado.
DEATH: Thursday, March 17, 2016, @ Montrose Memorial Hospital in Montrose, Colorado.
BIRTH: July 31, 1925, in Milaca, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, to Herman Gustaf Barnick and Josephine Rachael Henschel Barnick.
SIBLINGS: Robert, June and Alice.
PRECEDED IN DEATH by father July 16, 1928, mother April 8, 1987, brother Robert November 24, 1989, sister Alice June 15, 1998.
CREMATION.
ARRANGEMENTS: Crippin Funeral Home & Crematory in Montrose.
LIFE STORY OF RUSSELL JOSEPH BARNICK
INTERVIEW by Pauline Annette DiSipio @ Centennial Towers in Montrose, Colorado:
The Early Years: 1925 - 1943
-1-
On July 31, 1925 in Milaca, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Russell Joseph Barnick was born to Josephine Rachael Henschel and Herman Gustaf Barnick. His mother was born July 31, 1893, in Princeton, Minnesota, and passed away April 8, 1987 in Princeton. His father was born September 18, 1881 in Brandenburg, Germany, and he passed away July 16, 1928 in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota.
Josephine was born to Peter Henschel and Adelia Hoeft, and, according to ancestry records, her siblings were William Carl (1897 – 1966), Laura Amelia (1899 – 1923), Hazel Margret (1901 – 1997), Ida M. (1903 – 1985), Ernest (1906 – 1984), Grace (born 1908), and Deniel (1911 – 2002).
“My father Herman Barnick, had three brothers and two sisters,” recalls Russell. “His brothers' names were Paul, Frank and Emil.”
-2-
Russell was the youngest of four children. His oldest brother is Robert. “Robert was born about nine years before me,” Russell adds. “My two sisters are June and Alice. June, who married Emanuel Wiese, is still alive and is 96 years old,” comments Russell. “She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her daughter.”
In research, I note that Robert Herman Barnick was born 1918 and passed away November 24, 1989. Alice L. Barnick was born in 1921 and passed away June 15, 1998.
“My grandfather Peter Henschel lived in Princeton, Minnesota. He spoke three languages … English, German and Chippewaw.” When describing his maternal grandparents, Russell commented that they were both short in stature.
Russell, who has lived in the Olathe and Montrose, Colorado area for more than 50 years, continues updating information about his siblings, “My brother Robert married Ethel Warner, and they had no children. He was about 50 years old when they got
-3-
married. My sister June has an adopted daughter. My sister Alice married Virgil Skouza, and they have a son Dwayne and a daughter.”
“I married Irene Samuelson, who was also born in Milaca, Minnesota. She is 10 years younger than I am. We met roller skating. We have three daughters, Judy Soell and her husband Dean live in North Platte, Nebraska. They have two daughters. Rose Distel lives in Coal Creek, Colorado, which is about 15 miles northwest of Montrose. Her husband's name is Melvin, and they have two sons. My daughter Amelia is married (his name is a Basque surname) and they have two sons and a daughter. They live in Olathe, Colorado.” Russell says that his wife Irene will be 80 years old this month. Irene Samuelson was born September 21, 1935, and lives in Olathe with our daughter and her family. “Irene is a very good person, a very good mother. She was a good wife to me.”
“When asked how his parents met, Russell says that his
-4-
mother Josephine was a schoolteacher in a one-room school. She taught all grades, 1 – 8. There were PTA meetings, and gatherings and socials. It was at one of the gatherings, that Russell's parents met. “It was a 'school doings' where she met Herman Barnick, who was 12 years older. The school had pie socials, and the ladies would fix up baskets and auction them off. The single men would buy them.”
“After they got married, they farmed. They grew corn, oats and hay, and had a few cows, hogs and chickens. “When I was two years old, my father passed away from a farming accident.”
It was about that time that Russell's mother went to stay with her the Barnick Family, and her farm was rented out. Russell went to live with his maternal Grandparents.
“My very first memory was when I was four years old. I went to stay with my Grandparents. They had two sons, my Uncles Denny and Ernie. They were my mother's brothers. My uncles were always pulling pranks and teasing me. They hung me up on
-5-
the clothesline by my suspenders!” That is Russell's earliest memory. He was not hurt, and his uncles did get him down from the clothesline.
Russell recalls more memories made with his two uncles. “We all lived on a farm with a big pasture. My two uncles and I went to investigate a huge mud turtle. It was the size of a No. 2 washtub, three feet across. There was an old mud lake on the edge of the farm. All three of us rode on the back of that mud turtle!”
Russell now tells more about mud turtles. “The mud turtles lay eggs, 200 eggs at a time sometimes. They go around and around and push their tails into the ground to make holes where they will bury their eggs. Then, they cover up the holes.”
“I helped my Grandmother Adelia churn butter. She had a butter press and ten to fifteen butter boxes, all with different pictures on the inside of the lids. There would be about two pounds of butter to each butter box. When the butter got hard
-6-
after churning, it would have the picture of whatever was on that particular lid.”
Russell says that his Grandmother made her own cheese. “It was like cottage cheese. It would be melted in skillet, cooked down, and rolled into balls about the size of large hen eggs or a tennis ball. I remember after they were rolled in flour, they were lined up on the kitchen cabinet shelves. Sometimes, my Grandmother would use garlic to flavor the cheese balls while cooking them.”
You have heard the story about the “cow jumping over the moon”? Well … there were milk cows on Russell's Grandparents' farm. With a smile on his face, Russell remembers a cow leaving the barn and jumping right over his head! Whoa! Russell was not hurt, and he comments that was he was pretty young, and not very tall.
When Russell was old enough to start school, at about age six, he went to school at the District #6 school, out in the
-7-
country, in Estesbrook, Minnesota. When asked about school memories, Russell recalls his best teacher. “I was in 6th grade, and she was the best teacher I ever had. She was not just a teacher. She was an 'educator' who had the ability to communicate with her students to teach them.” Miss Whitney was Russell's first teacher. “She was a young lady, just out of school. There was Miss Bemis, a local girl, and there was Mr. Huff.”
“After I finished the 8th grade, I was about fourteen years old. I did more farming on our family farm.” When Russell was fourteen, that had to be about 1939, the beginning of World War II. The 1930's hold some memories for Russell.
In 1929, the Stock Market crashed! All the banks were closed for about a year. “Things were cheap,” says Russell. “Metal banks were issued to children. Money was 10 cents on the dollar. It was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who brought us out of the Great Depression. He created projects …
-8-
the Works Progress Administration, which built roads and bridges; the CCC – Civilian Conservation Corps, which worked in the forests; and the Agricultural Stabilization Act 1931 – 1932, which helped the farmers and helped to bring us all out of the Great Depression.”
When I asked Russell to tell me about his favorite food, he exclaimed, “Gooey cinnamon rolls!”. He remembered always having a garden. “Before my father passed away, we had a windmill, and rain from a well for the garden. We had a hog or two butchered for space for a garden.”
There are recollections of the Dust Bowl, and Russell calls that time the “Dirty Thirties” with a drought that lasted about three years. “There were grasshoppers, locusts, and these were bad times for us on the farm. We had a little bitty farm, and barely had enough to feed our cows through the winter. Mother cooked whatever she could find.”
“It was dry and windy, and the dirt was coming out of
-9-
Kansas, Iowa and New Mexico. There was so much dirt in the air, the sun looked big and orange. “My mother took feed sacks, and soaked them in buckets of water. She hung them up in front of the windows and that would filter out a lot of the dirt.” Russell says that many people died with “dust pneumonia”. There were about two years of the Dust Bowl, and Russell says that 1934 was a turning point. A few rain showers helped the cattle, but many had already died from thirst and starvation. The government bought cattle and dumped them in trenches.
“In the spring of 1935, around the last part of March, there was a big snowstorm, then rain. President Roosevelt created the 'Agricultural Stabilization Act' which allowed for feed to be shipped in, enough to feed the cattle. We had six milk cows, and that helped us.”
“In 1935, gasoline was 10 cents a gallon. We had a 1927 gray Chevrolet. When the war broke out, the National Guard mobilized Milaka, Minnesota, which had an Armory. In the
-10-
country, there were trains carrying soldiers and guns.”
Russell says that there was no electricity at his farm. The family used kerosene lamps. “We had a little radio that ran on batteries … dry cell batteries and car batteries. There were no newspapers during the war. We did have a wall telephone with a crank, and there were 12 people on our line. At 6 PM, there would be a news forecast, that we listen to on our little radio, I remember the Roosevelt Speeches, He was 'For the People'. It was never 'I', but 'We'.”
None of Russell's family served in World War II. He says that farmers were exempt, because they were needed to provide food for the country. When Russell was drafted into the Army at about age 18, in 1943, there was a military base called Fort Snelling in St. Paul, Minnesota. When he had his physical, he was classified with a “Medical 4-F” by the military doctor. “The Army can't use you because of your health. The country needs farmers as much as it needs soldiers,” said the doctor. “Go back
-11-
home and farm!” Russell had rheumatoid arthritis from having had rheumatic fever at age 14. He also had a heart murmur.
END, PART 1
Interview by Pauline Annette DiSipio
September 13 and 14, 2015
Montrose, Colorado
NOTE: PART II - Bits and Pieces ... and Antarctica! Interview September 13 and 14, 2015, Montrose, Colorado, by Pauline Annette DiSipio:
-12-
Russell married Irene Samuelson, December 8, 1952 in Milaca, Minnesota. They farmed in Minnesota. Had children. Moved to a drier climate, Prescott, Arizona, where Russell worked for plumbing contractors. In the early 1960's, Russell worked in Montrose English Gardens Housing Development in Montrose, Colorado, and had this position for several years. He built homes, did carpentry and plumbing. When English Gardens shut down their building of homes, Russell's friend Wally Nystrom from Minnesota was a plumber and Russell's foreman for a year. After Wally's "health gave out", Russell was hired by IT&T in Antarctica. This was Russell Barnick's "favorite job" with all expenses paid. "These years in Antarctica were the best years of my life!" exclaimed Russell with a big smile on his face.
-13-
When I asked Russell what he liked the most about working in Antarctica, he replied, "Challenge! Excitement! A different world!" He started in plumbing and maintenance, and the last three to four years of his work there was "trouble-shooting" ... maintenance work and fixing and repairing. "If you can't do it, get Russ! He can do it!" Where Russell worked was 2200 miles from New Zealand, and the flight was 8-10 hours on a C-130 Cargo Freight Plane which could carry 50-75 people. "It's one of the safest planes ever built," comments Russell. When you leave New Zealand, it's all water, almost to Antarctica, then thin ice, then big patches of ice, then ski-equipped areas with hard-surfaced runway to land the plane. "I left Phoenix at 112 degrees, and went to Antarctica at 63 degrees below zero! The plane traveled about 135 miles an hour. In the raw sea, glaciers would move into the water and break off and form icebergs. Some glaciers were 80 feet thick," explains Russell, who helped build new runways for the planes.
-14-
I asked Russell about drinking water there, and he said that snow was melted for potable water.
"McMurdo is the biggest base in Antarctica, in the South Pole. I really loved my jobs in Antarctica! The Best!"
Russell Barnick retired in 1990 when he turned 65. For awhile he had a camper - trailer on the North Platte. His "home base" is Olathe, Colorado and Montrose, Colorado. Russell says that he moved to Centennial Towers in Montrose in 2013. "I walk every day outside around the building. For the last 25 years, I have been enjoying myself at Christ's Kitchen in Montrose, where I have good friends and good food. I watch television, mostly baseball." Babe Ruth is his favorite player of all times. "I have had macular degeneration for five years, and my eyesight is fading and getting weaker. I try to read and use special magnifying glass." Russell has a television with a 60-inch screen and keeps it tuned mostly to Channel 40 ... the Baseball Channel!
END PART II
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