Well here we are again. It's been an interesting week at the Depot. We've started cleaning out some of the storage areas around the museum and have found some long hidden treasures as well as a lot of junk. We have had several visitors and I want to tell about one in particular. Bertha Mae (Heiden) Drake. Mrs. Drake stopped in on Friday, the 23rd.

She is from just outside of Phoenix, Arizona, and receives the Argus regularly and remembers a few weeks ago my invitation for anyone with a story about the museum and/or the railroad, to share it with us. You remember that, don't you? I hope so. Mrs. Drake brought in a very nice story about her family and the depot and Shepherd. I want to share that story with you.

Herman and Fredareka Heiden, my parents, lived on a farm near Dundee, Michigan, where they had been born and grew up. My mother had severe hay fever and asthma. So, the doctor advised them to move north for her health. After deciding to explore this idea, they bought tickets on the Ann Arbor Railroad to Farwell, Michigan in early spring 1915. When they arrived, only trees and lumber mills were there. People told them to go back to Shepherd, where there was farmland. They took the "Motor" that ran on the tracks back to Shepherd where they stayed in a rooming house overnight. The next morning they rented a horse and buggy from the livery stable. By word of mouth, they learned that Frank Meyers (Spikehorn Meyers) needed someone on his farm which was north of Shepherd on Millbrook Road. They rented this farm. Incidentally, the house is still there.

My parents went back on the Ann Arbor to Dundee. In the spring of 1915, they moved from Dundee to Shepherd using the train. They loaded the furniture and farm machinery, their cows, horses, buggy and wagon all in box cars. My father and brother Lewis rode the box cars with the animals to make sure they were calm and safe. My mother and sister Nellie (who later married Chester Ayris) rode in the passenger car.

In February of 1918 my parents and sister went to Dundee for my grandfather's funeral. My brother was already there visiting cousins. While at the funeral, the big snowstorm of 1918 hit. The first train back to Shepherd was packed with travelers with many people standing. The train engine and wheels ground through the snow, slowly moving ahead. My mother was pregnant (I was born in March) and the conductor was very concerned that she had a seat. My dad was anxious to get back since neighbors were pitching in and helping with farm chores.

My parents moved from the Meyers farm to the Viegenberg farm where I was born in March of 1918. As a child, my parents took many trips from Shepherd to Dundee on the railroad, since my grandparents and aunts and uncles lived there. I can remember taking many trips on the train. Mother had a special basket of food on the trip. My dad would buy vanilla creme sandwich cookies for me to eat on the train. That was the only time I would get store-bought cookies, so it was a special treat.

When we would come to the train, a lot of the horses were afraid of the train because of the noise. They would rear up and sometimes would run away. We would wait on the platform and the big engine would come in roaring loudly with huge wheels grinding. I was scared but when the conductor yelled "All aboard", we got on. Then he would yell "Tickets! Have your tickets ready!", and he would take them. Before each station he would yell out the name of the city for the next stop. I was amazed at the green plush seats that could be turned to face one another. When we arrived in Dundee station, Aunt Lena and Uncle John Koster picked us up in their buggy.

My parents soon moved to the Zagameirer farm, also known as the Ruckel place. Here my younger brother Richard was born in 1926. This farm is the one I remember most. In the summer, my two cousins Alice and Helma Laas, came on the train to visit us on the farm in the country for their vacation. They worked in the office of a wheelbarrow factory in Toledo, Ohio. They shipped a beautiful metal wheelbarrow to my dad on the train as a special gift. My dad really appreciated it and used it in the barn. About this time, people started using cars for long trips instead of the train. My parents lived in the Shepherd area for the rest of their lives. 

Now, wasn't that a great story? I had just started to think about what to put in this week's article when Mrs. Drake brought this in. Yes, I do put some thought into what I write. Now I want to tie this story to our museum. Pay attention now, because I have decided there will be a test at the end of the year. Mrs. Drake said her parents took the "Motor" back from Farwell to Shepherd. Now if you look at the picture at the top of this article, you will see the "Motor" parked beside the depot. As I have said before, this was a McKeen gas Motor Car, also known as (????, test material) (the Potato Bug). In fact this most likely is the very car they would have taken. The picture is from 1922 and Ann Arbor would not have had more than one in this area. Next tie in, the rooming house her parents stayed in was the Joslin House. I was able to show her a picture of the Joslin Boarding House.

The livery stable where they rented the horse and buggy was most likely the one where Crawley's Auto Repair is located, just across the street from the museum. One last tie to the museum in this beautiful story. While talking in the telegraph room, Mrs. Drake commented on the Ann Arbor uniform we have on display. As I explained, she got a slight smile on her face and asked if l knew who it belonged to. As I started to say Karl Kipfmueller, she finished the name for me. It seems she looked after Mr. Kipfmueller's home for him and watched his children. As I am sure you remember, Mr. Kipfmueller was the grandfather of local residents, Gus, Steve and Tom Recker and Sue Alexander. She said she could remember he would only be home every other night while working. This made sense, since we know he worked on the Mt. Pleasant to Owosso run, he would have spent the night before catching the run on the following day.

Mrs. Drake, it was an honor and a pleasure speaking with you on Friday and I dedicate this article to you and your family for providing us with such a warm and lovely family story. See, you too can be a newspaper columnist. By the way, if anybody has some of those store-bought vanilla creme sandwich cookies, bring 'em on down to the museum and I'll call Bertha Mae down and she and I will get blitzed on a sugar high. See you at the Museum.

The Conductor (Mike Booth)