The year was 1944 and it was the day after Labor Day.
My mother was walking me to Ellsworth School for kindergarten. We walked south on Ellsworth Street, under the train tracks to School Street, turned east and walked to Sleight Street and to my first day of school!
Our teacher was Miss Reynolds. By the third week of school, we had to learn her new name, Mrs. Hallwachs. Many years later I learned that she got special consideration from Superintendent Ralph Beebe to get married during the school year which was not permitted back then. She received permission because her husband was leaving for service and the war in Europe. Wow! Think of that today!
Miss McDermid was my first grade teacher in 1945-46.
In April of 1946, we had one of the worst train wrecks in the history of the Burlington Railroad at the time. It happened at the Loomis Street crossing just after 1PM. Forty-six people were killed and none was from Naperville. My dad picked me up from school that day because I would have been walking home right where the crash took place.
My second grade teacher was Mrs. Peterson. She made house calls to all her students. I remember one time when she came to our house, she told my mother that she thought I should be playing an instrument. She thought it would help me stay focused on study!
World War II was over and things were beginning to get back to normal. Veterans returned home and the housing boom began in Naperville.
I told my parents I wanted to play the big bass horn (Sousaphone) and they said it was too heavy for me to carry. Well, that didn’t stop me. Band teacher Elmer Koerner brought a full-size Sousaphone to Ellsworth School and he marched me up and down the gym. I blew a blast that scared the pigeons for three blocks and both he and my dad agreed I could carry and blow it!
That next fall when I began third grade, my sister, Julie, was born and I started taking lessons from Mr. Koerner. By November 1947, I was a member of the band.
I remember marching in the Naperville Memorial Day Parade in 1948. Both my dad and mom were really proud of another Keller in the band!
Kroehler Manufacturing Company went to Harold Moser at Moser Lumber Company and they worked out a plan to build small two-bedroom and three-bedroom houses on the farm located north of Burlington, extending Loomis Street north to Ogden Avenue. Homes were built from there to Columbia. This neighborhood was called Kroehler Addition and it was hoped that people who worked at the factory would live near their work.
That was the beginning of the real growth of Naperville.
Thoughts for the Month
I woke up and got dressed in my concert uniform, picked up my conductor’s folio and headed to the Community Concert Center. Upon arrival Em and Rene met me at the door and told me the band was warmed up, tuned and ready to play!
As the timp hit the roll, the stage door began to open and we began the theme song! Central Park was jammed with people, almost standing room only and we began with “Hail America.”
THEN POOF – I woke up and it was only a dream, but a good one!
Stay calm and take safety precautions. We will get through this and I am looking forward to a great fall and indoor season. Maybe we can put together some small groups in August (hopefully). Think positive.
