| Occupation:
Education: Marriage: |
Machinist in garage [Source: 1930 U.S. Census] Completed 8th grade Alma Theresa Stimler April 16, 1926 Foley, Benton, Minnesota |
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| Children: | Billy John | July 7, 1929 | † July 10, 1929 |
| Margery Ann | June 6, 1930 | ||
| Helen Mabel | June 19, 1934 | † Oct. 5, 2005 |
| Notes: |
Al left home at about the age of 16 and travelled around on a motorcycle.
Relatives in South Dakota remember him as a young boy visiting them.
When he was 19 he was hit by a drunk driver and broke both legs badly.
They had to put a steel plate in one leg, which accounts for Al's very
distinctive walk. He was in the hospital for a very long time and wouldn't
take anything for the pain. He used to throw oranges at the ceiling and
said he spotted most of it.
Al was a mechanic and at one time worked for Tony Stimler. Later he had his own garage. He used to manage the roller skating rink. He was a great hunter, fisherman, sportsman and bowler; he did so many things and did them well. He owned and raced Model T Fords in the 30's and early 40's. At the time of the April 21, 1930 federal census, Al and Alma were living in a home they rented for $10 a month in Foley Village. He was 29 and she was 25 years old. Al was working as a machinist in a garage. They did not own a radio. They were married when he was 25 and she was 21 years old. Al stated that he was born in Nebraska and both his parents were born in the United States. Alma and both her parents were born in Minnesota. (Marge Randall's memories of her father): "One time my Dad put my Mom and Grandma in his boat and started the motor from the dock and away they went - it was wide open - luckily he hadn't turned on the gas so they didn't get very far. They really gave him a good chewing out and he laughed so hard he was doubled over. But he never got them in the boat again. I can just hear my Mom saying, 'You darn fool!" (Helen Hengel's memories of her father): "I have so many memories of my Dad. He could do so many things and everyone always asked Al to fix whatever for them. He used to manage the roller skating rink and my first skates were rollers put on a pair of my high top shoes. I was about 3 or 4 when I first skated. Dad had a speed boat out at Lake Julia, and he made his own surf board to pull behind. I was the test pilot. He put it on the sand and I laid down on it. He hit the motor and off I went. I plowed the bottom of the lake for about half a block before he stopped. He had forgotten to put a keel on the bottom of the board. The kids all loved my dad; he could do so many tricks. Pat Stimler still does one with quarters on his arm that Dad taught him. Another was to bend over, grab your big toes with your hands and jump over a line on the floor. Easy? Try it. I can still hear my Dad coming in the door of my house and calling, 'You- who who who!' to my kids and they ran to hug Grandpa. Another thing everyone might remember is the ice cream made on the 4th of July at the lake and Dad shooting the carbine cannon off the dock and the loud bang it made. Dad always smoked a pipe and you never saw him without it. I know my Dad was liked by one and all. He was a good guy." |
| Ancestry: | The Balder Line [through marriage] |
| The Franz Kampa Line [through marriage] | |
| The Stimmler/Stimler Line [through marriage] | |
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