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It's now December of 1971, and what do you know. That doggone big bird (while it knew it wasn't too welcome at the Johnson household), did manage to find an open window at the Lake Land Hospital in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. This time it deposited a precious bundle in the bed of one Carol Johnson Dahl. We welcomed to our house our very first grand daughter, Jennifer Michelle Dahl. Man, time is marching on too fast now that we're grandparents. Only yesterday, I was in the eighth grade being glowered at by Clara B. Poulson. I have to add a little aside right here to let folks know about Clara B. Poulson. Miss Poulson was my eighth grade teacher. She was a teacher whose path was not to be crossed — you can probably tell this by looking at her in the picture. Please note that she is standing next to one Charles Roland August Johnson, AKA Pleto, and it certainly appears that she has pinned my arm behind my back to insure that I don’t screw up the photograph. Miss Poulson had the uncanny knack of making every one in her class feel as though she was staring just at you, if you just happened to look up from your text book toward her desk!
Moving the Office
This was the beginning of a whole new era. Since the time that Bob Morava and I had gone our separate ways, business-wise, we had shared the same offices and warehouse. It was a building that we had built and we owned together. My brother Stuart owned a building on the other side of town that had been an automobile sales building. It was a Chrysler franchise and the owner who had been renting the building from my brother was moving out. The building was for sale. My brother knew that I was looking for space and he made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse. I didn't refuse and bought the building. I sold my half of the building that I owned with Morava to Morava and proceeded to move my office and warehouse supplies to 1351 Elkhorn Road in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The year is now 1972 and I am 52 years of age, the same age that my Father was when I was born.
We rented a truck to haul all of the “stuff” from one building to another. I had hired sort of a general all-around man to work in the warehouse; he could drive the truck. I needed someone to load the truck at one end and someone to unload the truck at the other end. Nancy, my youngest daughter, knew of a boy in her class at school who might be willing to help me, and he might have some friends who could help with this project. I hired these four boys, and they did an excellent job. As I said before, things were beginning to look up. The man who drove the truck left me for greener pastures, so I ran an ad for a man to help with shipping and receiving. I intimated in the ad that this would be an ideal job for a retired person who might be interested in supplementing his retirement income. A man by the name of Sidney Hume, who had just retired from Bosch and Lomb at the age of 65 years, applied for the job and he was hired. At this writing, some 27 years later, Sid is 92 years old and is still going strong as the “Chief” of the warehouse crew at The Supply Corporation.
I needed extra help in the summertime to help assemble heaters that would be sold during the winter. I remembered one of the boys who had helped me in the move to our new warehouse and asked Nancy to ask him if he might be interested in this summer job.
The boy was interested and came to work for the Supply Corporation that summer, and every summer thereafter all through high school and all through his years as a student at the University of Wisconsin. That young man — Rex Anderson — still works at The Supply Corporation. (As a matter of fact, Rex is now the President of the Supply Corporation and incidentally, and really not so incidental, he is also my son-in-law, married to Nancy. He is also Swedish and Lutheran.)
Linda completed her four years at the university of Wisconsin, River Falls and moved back to live with us in Lake Geneva. She got a job at the Abbey Hotel in Fontana, Wisconsin, on Geneva Lake, and there she met Rick Kley. After a whirlwind romance Linda and Rick were married and moved to Houston, Texas.
Stuart
My brother and I had our many “Ups and Downs” but somehow or another we always seemed to resolve our problems. It's now 1974 and Stu and I are back to being the very best of friends. We would always have lunch on Fridays and talk over the happenings of the week and all kinds of little chitchats. One Friday — actually it was Friday June 6, 1974 — it was after our regular lunch, I went home, and I got a phone call that went something like this. “Hello, are you Roland Johnson? Do they sometimes call you Pleto? Do you live in Lake Geneva and do you have a brother named Stuart Johnson?” After I answered all these in the affirmative , the voice said “Well your brother is dead!” That is how I learned that shortly after we had our lunch that noon that my brother had suffered a heart attack and had died. Stu had been married to Margaret “Peggy” Kloman, and shortly after Stu passed away she moved to Atlanta Georgia where she passed away some six years later.
More Big Bird
The same Big Bird had become addicted to the Johnson family, I guess 'cause sure enough he followed Linda and Rick to Houston, and on January 7, 1978 someone left a window open in a hospital in Houston. What to our wandering eyes should appear but our second Grand Daughter Christine Michelle Kley — seems all of our granddaughters are named Michelle.
Without going into great detail, Carol and Michael Dahl, and Linda and Rick Kley have since been divorced. Carol and her daughter Jenny lived with us at 1630 Evergreen Lane until they took up residence in Janesville, Wisconsin. Linda and Christy lived with us for awhile until they rented a home two houses down from us. From the date of 1971 until 1978 all three of my daughters worked for the Supply Corporation at one time or another, but never all at the same time. They were great employees and having them at the office was a great joy for me.
The Empty Nest
It's about this time that Nancy, our baby, enrolled at The University of Wisconsin, Lacrosse, and the nest is truly empty. The closer this story gets to 1999 the more vague I am about what's happened in recent years. Marilyn had now joined Lioness' international and she was a Charter Member of the Lake Geneva Chapter. This was something that she was very proud of. Now that the nest was empty Marilyn was scouting around for something to keep her occupied. This is when she started her own mail order company called Manor Hill Gifts. She would send out catalogs offering all sorts of knick-knacks for the house. Here again she was as pleased as punch. The Supply Corporation offered her her own office in their building, a'phone and all of the necessities to run her business.
Time flies!! Carol met Tom Berner and Tom asked me for Carol’s hand in marriage. Marilyn and I liked and still do like Tom, and I can remember telling Carol that if this marriage fails we're keeping Tom and so long Carol. Of course that was said in jest, but we wanted Carol to know that we thought a great deal more of Tom than that “other guy.” Jennifer, our grand daughter, lived with her father, then her paternal grand parents, then with Tom and Carol and then back to her paternal grand parents. Jennifer has now been married for the third time and is now living in Shawnee Kansas with her husband Thorleif Ingess and their three children Natalie, Alex, and Eric.
Nancy graduated from college and came home to 1630 Evergreen Lane for a brief stint. Then ol' Dan Cupid came along shot an arrow through the heart of Nancy and the aforementioned Rex Anderson and the two of them were married October 14, 1978. They moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Rex was employed by NCR. It wasn't too long after that, that Rex was lured back to work for The Supply Corporation, a move that was good (I hope for Rex), and certainly for one Charles Roland August Johnson AKA Pleto.
Linda met and married Dave Swengel. Linda, Dave and Christy moved to Harvard, Illinois. After some shaky moments in the Johnson family, it seems that all is well and all of our daughters and their families are in A-1 shape. I'm not going to go into detail about the “Big Bird” activities at this time, however, the “Big Bird” was active!! He found open windows at the Harvard Hospital and at the Lake Land Hospital in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Grandchildren were presented to Marilyn and me as follows: Julie, and Laura Anderson, and Michael and John Swengel. Please notice the absence of the name Michelle. We do have a Michael!
Christy is at the University of Illinois and it’s been told that The Dean of the University very seldom makes any drastic moves without first checking with Christy Kley. One of my friends once wrote a letter to me and all the letter said was “ Yes, I know you have a grand daughter.” I guess I do brag a little about Christy's accomplishments.
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