Dead men tell no tales — so they’re counting on volunteers with the Bonduel Community Archives (BCA) to do it for them.
The local historical society will present its 10th annual cemetery walk, “A Walk in the Past,” from 12:30-2 p.m. Sunday at the St. Paul Lutheran Church cemetery. There will be half-hour presentations featuring eight figures from Bonduel’s past.
The cemetery walks started in Bonduel in 2004 after BCA volunteers learned about the success of similar programs in Green Bay and other communities, said Lynn Marohl, who helps coordinate the walk.
“It is a lot of research. We go into the archives and their family files. We talk to people who knew them,” Marohl said.
Marohl estimated she spent 40 to 50 hours researching her character, Anna Teschke. Teschke was a charter member of several key women’s organization, including the Bonduel American Legion Auxiliary, the Bonduel Woman’s Club and the Mission Circle, according to Marohl.
Teschke’s husband, Conrad, was in the banking business for 51 years, Marohl said.
Marohl had a little help in understanding Teschke from her son, who lives in California and had been a classmate of Marohl.
An interesting tidbit Marohl gleaned from her research was that the Mission Circle was formed as an exclusively English speaking organization when it was established in 1933.
“Whereas, the Ladies Aid, when it was formed in 1913, they were still speaking German,” Marohl said.
Marvin Klosterman is portraying Walter Kallies, a teacher who enlightened young minds in both the parochial and public school systems in Bonduel. He had an easier time getting into Kallies’ character than in roles he has played previously because he had met Kallies.
“I knew him a little bit, but I never had him as a teacher,” Klosterman said, noting that he got most of the biographical information on Kallies from a family history written by the man’s daughter. “I didn’t get to see him when he was really active.”
Kallies taught at the Lutheran school for 17 years before retiring. He served as a substitute teacher for Bonduel High School for another 10 years. Kallies was born and raised in Zachow before moving to Chicago
“He spent quite a few years in Chicago,” Klosterman said. “He told his wife that it was a call to come home. I think he wanted to come back to a familiar place for him, although his wife was a Chicago girl all the way.”
Kallies was known as being a stern disciplinarian. When Klosterman portrays the man on Sunday, he will be carrying a ruler, the instrument Kallies used to keep order in the classroom.
“He said rules were not made to be broken. They were made to be obeyed,” Klosterman said.
This is the third time BCA has selected St. Paul’s cemetery for its event. The group decided it would fit in with the church’s 150th anniversary celebration.
Refreshments will be available at the walk, which will move inside St. Paul’s if it rains.
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