-
Early Life
He was born May 9, 1926, and lived most of his life in Sycamore. His parents were “share” farmers. They worked the farm for someone else, and in return were given a house and a small percentage of the earnings. As a result, he had to go into nearly full time work at an early age, and was not given the opportunity to go to college. -
Young Adult Life
When he was 16 he started working for Lindgren’s Dairy. The year was 1942. The US was still involved in World War II, but because he was blind in one eye he was not allowed to join the military. Because of the patriotic times, military service was highly valued. His self esteem was impacted, and he went through life thinking of himself as less than others. -
Process of a Milk Man
Daily at the dairy trucks delivered raw milk from the farms directly to the plant for processing. Processing included pasteurization (heating the milk to eliminate germs and disease), homogenization (blending the milk so that the cream/fat is distributed throughout), and bottling the milk into glass bottles. Then the milk was delivered directly to customer’s homes on a daily basis, placed in box coolers on the front porch, or sometimes, even right into the refrigerator. -
Real Life Milk Man
He worked early hours, leaving the house from 3-4am every day, and not returning until 3-4 in the afternoon. My memories of my dad are that he loved to nap. As an adult, I can now understand why.