Notizen zu dieser Person
Royce Elmer (or Roise Hjelmar as written in the family Bible) was the eldest child of Ludwig Wederquist and Charlotte Johnson. In 1981 his daughter, Hildur, wrote in her memories of him that he did not complete elementary school and went to work on the farm. (Charlotte Wederquist Mort, RE's niece said the kids had to quit school because their Dad, Ludwig, had lost his job on the railroad)
Later he graduated on April 4, 1904 from the Shenandoah (Iowa) Commercial Institute as an "Intelligent and Competent Accountant" as proclaimed by his sheepskin. Hildur notes that his graduation exercise included a stand up demonstration of multi-column computations. She says he would have been happier in business, but because he was tall and thin and therefore considered to be a candidate for tuberculosis, he was directed back to farming with its fresh air.
Hildur commented that Royce daydreamed and was easily depressed during tough times. He was sometimes impractical, as when the house began to burn down, and he first carried out the rubber plant, violin and desk; grandmother Mabel, the more practical, threw clothes out the windows. "Dad would have liked to become a horse trader, but my mother, being of the more practical mind, stopped that." He was also sometimes remote, sitting at a noisy meal table with 7 children, his wife and hired men, and get his 'Swedish stare' evincing he was miles away. "On the other hand, he seemed able to extend his arm to rap any of us on the head if we misbehaved or misspoke!"
"He was painfully honest," Hildur noted, "and had great respect for the land and compassion for his animals. We all spent many summer nights on the front yard looking at the sky and counting stars until there were too many."
Royce sat on committees and boards, including the school board, farm bureau, soil conservation board, township, etc. He was a 33rd degree Mason and held various offices in his lodge.
In his early 60's Royce and Mabel left the farm and moved into town, where he started a hardware store. He sold it to a friend, then started a feed and seed store which he ran until his death in 1953. Rev. Wilkins presided over his funeral services at the Randolph Methodist ch urch, Fritz Larson gave the funeral oratiion, and internment was at the Randolph cemetery. According to his obituary "Members of the Masonic lodge of Randolph attended in a body and the ritualistic service of the Order was held at the grave."
Royce was a kind grandfather to Linda Lovas Hoeschler, Hildur's daughter. She remembers going to his store and getting nuts and candy to eat, and taking home seed to play with. She listened to Jimmy Durante records while sitting on his lap; the only thing she didn't like about him was his scratchy face when unshaven!
Jens Aaron
Guttstein
