While putting together the 1995 book on The Heiden Family, I asked for family members' thoughts and remembrances about William Carl and Mary (Rambow) Heiden. I distributed a questionnaire with the following request:

As a young boy, I lived across the road from my grandparents. At times, Grandpa and I would sit together on the swing near the driveway and talk. I used to fill their wood box for 25 cents every Friday evening. I always wanted to have Grandpa pay me since he would often slip me an extra quarter which was a lot of money back in the 1950s. Every Christmas Eve after church services, we would all meet at their house. Fourth of July was the annual Heiden Family Reunion.

I remember the smell of the wood burning stove in the kitchen and the sight of Grandpa out in the garden hoeing even when he was a very old man. Grandma always seemed to have an apron on no matter when I saw her during the day.

I always thought I remembered a lot about my grandparents. But, when you consider that Grandpa Heiden was 74 years old and Grandma was 70 when I was born, I know that I missed so much of their lives. I would like to write a very complete history of William Carl and Mary (Rambow) Heiden so I need a lot of help.

Please jot down any stories, facts or historical remembrances that will help us understand these two people who played a very key role in the Heiden Family. I will get back with you to discuss the details as I start to write this up. In the meantime, if you think of other things you would like to include, write them down and send them to me.

Ralph Heiden, Grandson of William Carl and Mary and Son of Arthur and Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden

Picture: Wm Carl and Mary (Rambow) Heiden's wedding photo.

Note from 2024: If you would like to add your memories to this page, please send them to me in an email. Thanks, Ralph

Over the years, Ma and Pa or Grandma and Grandpa Heiden shared their house with several other family members including Leo and Lucille (Smith) Heiden for a couple of years in the mid-1930s and their granddaughter, Sally after the death of her mother Mildred (Heiden) Eipperle in 1939. Their son, William Frank, his wife, Helen and their family lived in the west side of the house between 1938 and 1951 before moving a short distance away to a farm at 8420 Dixon Road. They moved back to this house when they purchased the farm in 1960.

Picture: Wm Carl and Mary (Rambow) Heiden in the 1930s.

Granddaughter Laura, daughter of Edna (Heiden) and Henry Berns

I always remember Easter Sundays. All of the adults went to church as there was communion (which only happened 4 times a year then). All of us kids were left at Grandma's with Aunt Helen. We would all bring Easter Eggs and eat them. We always had to play outside. It was so much fun with all the cousins.

I also remember everyone going there after church on Christmas Eve and had ground bologna and chicken sandwiches. In the spring, we had big red delicious apples because Grandpa kept them in the hay in the barn all winter. I can still see Grandpa coming up the basement steps with a small jug of cider for the card players. I also remember Grandma leaning her head propped up by her elbow so she could play cards. They sure had a great time.

Great Granddaughter Karen (Berns) Wheaton, daughter of Walter and Madelyn (Hanson) Berns

I don't remember ever having much interaction with them. I admired them from "afar". I thought Grandma was so pretty and ladylike.

My Christmas Eve memory is Grandma sitting in her rocking chair in the living room with her family (women) around her. Grandpa would be in the dining room playing cards with all of the men.

Today I appreciate them for the invitation every year to come to their home as one big family and to know that love and security I felt then. I will always remember those Christmases and the reunion that was the high light of every summer with great affection.

Picture: Mary (Rambow) Heiden over the years.

Granddaughter Mary Lou (Heiden) Opfermann, daughter of Leo and Lucille (Smith) Heiden

My first memory of my Grandparents was when I was about 6 years old (1935). About this time we moved to the family farm on Dixon Road with them. We lived on one side of the house and my Grandparents and their younger children, Marie, Helen, William and Norma lived on the other side. My most vivid memories are of my Grandma baking bread and cookies. The smell was out of this world!

Back then we had men who would come to the farm to harvest the wheat and the women folk would prepare a big dinner and set up the dinning room table for them. When the men would come up to eat they had big tubs in the back yard with plenty of soap and towels for them. Jeanie (Norma) and I would play in the grain in the wagon and let it get up to our necks and try to pull our way out of it. That was great fun.

Another memory is going back the lane on the farm with Grandpa and his dog, Peg. We would do this in the late afternoon to bring the cows in from the field to the barn to be milked. While William was milking the cows, he would squirt milk from the cow directly into our mouths. He would also squirt the cats to give them a drink. I can still see him sitting on the stool and squirting us all.

Grandpa liked to fish on the River Raisin which was on the north side of the road across from the farm house. We kids would often go with him but he was very emphatic about our being quiet or the fish wouldn't bite. Back then, the river was not polluted and the fish were good. Today, I'm not so sure about the quality of the fish you would catch.

Grandpa loved company and loved to play cards. Many afternoons after he was older he would sit in the sun parlor smoking his corn cob pipe watching down the road to the east for someone to show up to play cards. Often William Cominess who lived across the River Raisin and his son, Charlie who lived in a trailer across the road from Grandpa's would come over to play cribbage. When there was a good card game going, there was always a pitcher of homemade wine  on the table. There were always a couple of barrels in the basement. The smell of the wine room still remains with me today.

One day Jeanie and I got a little too much and my mother, Lucille, was very upset with Grandpa for not watching us closer. We just kept taking a little nip out of everyone's glass now and then. It seemed they never lacked for company to play cards. Grandpa could tell who was coming by the looking down to the corner with Ida-Maybee Road and recognizing the car. He would say, "Here come Lesters, Arts or whomever" and get up to prepare the table for a game of cards.

Hoeing weeds in the corn field for Grandpa was another vivid memory. He would pay us 5 cents a row. Sometimes, the hoe would slip and we would cut down a stalk of corn by accident. I remember panicking and trying to prop the corn stalk up until Grandpa went past in hopes he wouldn't see it. As you can imagine this did not make him too happy.

I also don't remember him missing too many Sundays at church. At one time he had this huge three seated Packard car or something like that which was very plush inside with long rope handles on the back of the seats. He was not the best driver and he would race the motor and everyone would make fun of him.

Grandma always had two canaries in a cage in the sun room. I remember her feeding and taking care of them and the beautiful sounds they made. She would listen every day to her soap operas on the radio including, Days of Our Lives, Porsha Faces Life and Ma Perkins.

Every Christmas Eve after church at nearby St Matthew Lutheran Church (above), the whole family would gather at their home for a lunch and everyone brought gifts for Grandma and Grandpa. I can still see Grandma sitting in the front room opening her gifts. As I remember it, Grandpa got a lot of shirts, pipes and tobacco.

The Heiden Reunion was held the 4th of July every year. In the later years, it was held at the Grape Grange Hall on North Custer Road. Previous to that, it was held at various homes of family members. I guess the clan got too big to be accommodated by most people's homes. You had to have a pretty good excuse if you didn't show up for the reunion as Grandpa expected everyone to be there. We always had a big spread with fresh lemonade made in a big crock and beer out back in the shed. Games were arranged for everyone and, in the afternoon after everyone had eaten, a business meeting would be held. They would elect a president, secretary and treasurer for the next reunion. A collection would be taken to defray the expenses.

Grandpa also played a small accordion and one of his favorite tunes was Red River Valley. (Note: Art Heiden also played the accordion for fun.)

Memories come and go and I'm sure more will come to me later but Grandpa and Grandma both are very vivid in my mind. When I allow myself to think back, I can still smell Grandma's bread and Grandpa's corn cob pipe.

Pictures: Norma "Jeanie" Heiden - Card game with Wm, Leo, Mary and Lucille (Smith) Heiden - St Matthew Lutheran Church - Group at a late 1950s reunion including Pat (Bicking) Funkey, Ralph Heiden, Margie and Sharon (Bicking) Hamilton.

Grandson, Robert Heiden, son of Lester and Lila (Viets) Heiden

When I was 9 years old, I had never caught a fish. Grandpa told me to come over the next day and he would take me fishing. That day he caught a large carp and put it on a stringer back into the river.

The next day, we went fishing again. Grandpa told me to go fetch something from the house so I was gone for about 15 minutes. On my way back, he yelled to tell me that I had a fish on my line. I was so very happy to have caught such a big fish on only my second day at it.

Years later after I was a married man, Grandpa told me how he had hooked his fish from the previous day to my pole. From then on, he and I would always be partners when it came to playing euchre.

Picture: Wm Carl Heiden in the 1920s about 10 years before the incident with Bob.

Granddaughter Arlene (Fuller) Johnson, daughter of Hilda and Charlie Fuller

As a young girl, I mostly remember going to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas where we all drew names for the gift exchange. It was also fun to visit on the many weekends during the year. We were able to visit Grandma and Grandpa and go places with Jeanie and Helen to visit some of our cousins where we would often get into a ballgame. Always enjoyed the 4th of July Heiden reunions too.

I remember Grandma always baking bread, making donuts and fixing delicious Sunday dinners. Grandpa would go out and kill a chicken for dinner. There would be fresh watermelon from the field and we would eat it out in the yard on good days.

In the winter, I would go skating on the River Raisin with Jeanie once Grandpa determined that the ice was thick enough.

Picture: "Sister" Helen Esther Heiden as she was known in order to distinguish her from Helen (Henning) Heiden, the wife of her brother, Wm Frank Heiden.

Granddaughter Marilyn (Fuller) Glubke, daughter of Hilda and Charlie Fuller

I remember Grandma's home made bread and apple butter. Remember Grandpa in his rocking chair on the sun porch off the dining room smoking his corn cob pipe. Grandpa loved to play cards and I remember him telling me that I was the only person he knew who did not know how to play euchre.

I can remember eating warm raised donuts rolled in sugar fresh out of the wood burning stove in Grandma's kitchen.

The upstairs at the house was very cold in the winter and it felt so good to snuggle into the deep feather beds for warmth. Jeanie used to really bundle up to go to bed. I also remember the sound of rain on the metal roof above.

Christmas Eve for many years was spent going to the Christmas pageant at church and then back to their house to eat and exchange gifts. Everyone drew names and you also received gifts from your godparents who, for me, were Aunt Marie (Heiden) Tommelein and Aunt Helma (Heiden) Nickel. This was an annual event as long as I can remember for all the years that Grandma and Grandpa were alive.

Picture: Wm Carl and Mary (Rambow) Heiden's house at 8861 Dixon Road. At various times, other family members lived on the west (right) side of the house while they lived on the east (left) side. When the Fullers would visit from Battle Creek, Michigan, they would stay the night.

Grandson Gary Fuller, son of Hilda and Charlie Fuller

I remember very little about my grandparents. I was small, very shy and lived far away from them in Battle Creek. I remember the very stern looks I would get from Grandma, as if to say, “What is this little boy thinking and doing?” She would say to my mother, Hilda, “He eats like a bird.”

Grandpa, however, was a lot more “laid back.” We would sit on the swing in the backyard and on very special occasions we would pile into his big black Plymouth and go for a drive back in the lane. We would take a look at the crops. The large fields and big red barns were very overwhelming to a small city kid.

Grandson, William Tommelein, son of Marie and Morris "Brick" Tommelein

Grandpa was 72 when I was born and Grandma was in her late 60's. The Family Reunions and Christmas Eve parties were fun times when I was growing up. The Heiden home was a happy place always filled with relatives and friends.

When the men would play cards and I was a young boy, Grandpa would let me fill his pipe and then reward me with a sip of his beer.

Both grandparents were very caring people with big hearts. I am very proud to be their grandson.

Grandson, Dennis Tommelein, son of Marie and Morris "Brick" Tommelein

I remember going to Grandpa and Grandma Heiden's house on Saturday night or Sunday and always finding the men playing cards in the dining room while the women gathered in the living room for plenty of conversation. The kids seemed to roam from room to room and occasionally would end up next door (the west side of the house) at Uncle William and Aunt Helen's.

Grandpa would always reserve the filling of his corn cob pipe for one of the grandkids and usually they would pack it so tight with tobacco that it was a miracle he could smoke it at all. Still, he never complained, criticized or corrected any of us. He simply said, "Thanks, Dennis. She's drawing pretty tight tonight."

Picture: Card game with Bill Bicking, Art Heiden, Mary (Rambow) Heiden, Carl Heiden and Wm Carl Heiden.

Granddaughter Carol, daughter of Wm Frank
and Helen (Henning) Heiden

Until I was 13 years old (1951), we lived on the other side of the house from Grandma and Grandpa. I have lots of good memories. Grandma always seemed like the one in charge; Grandpa was more mellow and easy going.

To this day I really enjoy baking and cooking. Watching Grandma and also helping her really taught me a lot, especially about baking. On Saturday, all of us kids would wait for her to tell us to come in and help ourselves to sweet rolls. To this day I have never found any that taste quite as good as hers did. Her pies and breads were heavenly.

Maybe it is a good thing that I never could duplicate some of her recipes. I would probably weigh twice as much as I do now. Kelly (my daughter) will ask me for a certain recipe and all I can give her is the approximate amounts that Grandma told me. My daughter-in-law, Deanne, loves Cherry Soup. This was one of Grandma's recipes.

When I was small, I used to go down to the river with Grandpa and watch him fish. He would sit in his old wooden rocking chair with his cane pole in one hand and his pipe in the other. The can of worms and dirt would always be by his side.

He told me lots of stories about the land he owned and that it was sitting on an Indian burial ground. He was one neat man. I remember finding lots of arrow heads and often wonder what happened to all of them now.

Sally Ann (Eipperle, Guy) also lived at Grandpa and Granma's house. We were almost like sisters and I can remember bugging Grandpa to take us along whenever he would go to Ida or to the store. Quite often, he took us along.

I could go on and on, but am sure you don't want a book.

Picture: Sally (Eipperle) Guy in the mid-1950s.

Grandaughter, Janice, daughter of Wm Frank
and Helen (Henning) Heiden

Until the age of 11 or 12, (1951) my family lived in the same house as Grandpa and Grandma Heiden. Our family lived on the west side of the house while my grandparents and Aunts Helen and Jeanie lived on the east side. It seemed like we always had company with aunts and uncles and cousins visiting Grandma and Grandpa.

Probably 90% of the time, the visits involved several games of euchre around their dining room table. When I think about Grandpa, I can still see him at the table with his friend, Bill Cominess from across the River Raisin, playing cribbage (with matchsticks for pegs) saying "15-2, 15-4" etc. as they kept score.

I don't remember Grandpa getting mad at us. He always seemed easy going and good natured. Grandma was the disciplinarian. I remember filling the woodbox too, Ralph, and sometimes getting a nickel from Grandma. That was ok; it would buy a coke at Mitchell's ice cream parlor in Dundee.

When Grandma wasn't cooking or baking (I thought her apple turnover and fried rolls were the best!), I remember her taking a break to list to Stella Dallas on the living room radio. That was a soap opera from the 1940s and 50s. Occasionally, I'd sit on the floor by the radio and listen to it with her.

Some other good memories associated with them include getting and drinking Grandpa's homemade cider from the cellar, mettwurst sausage (not sure of the spelling) from the smokehouse out in the backyard, cherry soup and home made mincemeat. We had some good eating!

I remember Grandpa sitting in his chair off the dining room smoking his pipe and once in a while playing his accordion. I can still see him coming up the lane from the woods with a pail of fresh picked blackberries or hoeing in the garden. And, of course, I remember him sitting in the swing under the tree by the driveway.

Picture: Smoke house in the backyard at 8861 Dixon Road.

Grandaughter, Dianne (Heiden) Houpt, daughter of Wm Frank
and Helen (Henning) Heiden

I can still smell the aroma of fresh baked bread from Grandma's kitchen and the taste of the "Long Johns" pastries she baked.

I remember sitting with Grandpa while he fished with his cane pole sitting in his chair with his pipe firmly entrenched in his mouth. I remember the once a week trips when Bill Cominess came across the river to play cribbage with Grandpa.

The Christmas Eve get togethers were incredible. The number of people who stopped by was astounding.

Like my sister Cheryl, I remember getting the newspaper from the box out by the road for Grandma. She would sit on the front porch waiting for it so she could read it first!

Grandpa would walk back the lane with his cane and a stick to kill "blue racer" snakes. Are those snakes even around anymore?

One thing really stands out in my mind about Grandpa. I had been in a car accident in 1963 and when I came home from the hospital, I went to see him. I was wearing a neck brace and when he saw me, he started crying. Back then it was highly unusual for a man to cry. He was a very caring, sensitive person.

I don't know if you want to know this, but when I was quite young, Grandma came over to our side of the house and was standing in the living room talking. All of a sudden, her bloomers fell to the floor. Well, of course, my brother Dick and I started laughing and pretty soon Grandma started laughing too and couldn't stop for quite a while.

Picture: Wm Carl Heiden in the late 1950s.

Grandson, Richard, son of Wm Frank
and Helen (Henning) Heiden

The thing I remember most about Grandpa Heiden is when he would take me with him to pick blackberries back in the woods. I can still hear how he would roar the engine of the old gray Plymouth car he would drive to the woods. Also, I can hear his dry hands rubbing on the steering wheel as he turned.

I can also remember Grandpa always sitting in the swing outside with his flyswatter, wearing long-john underwear, even when it was 90 degrees out.

When we would play euchre, he would always seem to be leading and he would then tap me on the arm and say, "Richard, aren't you guys playing?"

I remember Grandma Heiden for her great cooking especially the long-john frosted breakfast rolls.

Grandaughter, Cheryl, daughter of Wm Frank
and Helen (Henning) Heiden

When I was about 7 (1960), we moved in with Grandma and Grandpa on the west side of the house. I remember getting the newspaper for Grandma and she would give me a "swat" with it if I didn't move quickly enough! She always had these orange and lemon sliced candies in the drawer of a chest in the living room.

I remember Grandpa best of all on Saturday nights hanging out next to him while he played euchre with Jeanie, Helen, Velda, Verdell and their friend, Maryann. That's how I learned to play the game. When Grandpa's luck was bad, he would shuffle the cards and cut them himself by giving them the "ole strassburg poke". I don't know where that expression came from but I've never forgot it and I use it myself sometimes!

Grandpa was the nicest man. Seems like he always had a smile on his face. I remember watching him playing cribbage, making corn shucks and just roaming around the farm. He'd sit in that little area off the dining room and smoke his pipe while checking out the neighbors!

I used to love Christmas Eve when the whole home would be opened up and all the aunts, uncles and cousins would be there. Heiden Reunions were great too. I remember Lela and Lila organizing bingo games and us kids making sure we knew where our mother's chicken dish was because we were picky eaters!

I sure remember spending lots of time at your place, Ralph. Going to birthday parties for your sisters, Kay and Gail was something else when Art got out the accordion and played Happy Birthday and other songs.

Picture: Old fashioned accordion played by Wm Carl Heiden and his son, Arthur Heiden.