Still Pretty Perky for her Age

Two of Frankenstein's favorite sons, Rich Samson (center) & Gary Kremer (right)

An area craftsman offering handcrafted wren houses for sale

Early Saturday morning my wife and I headed east to Osage county with our neighbor, Rich Samson.  The occasion was the Sesquicentennial of Our Lady Help of Christian’s parish in Frankenstein, Mo. 

Though Mary Shelley’s famous book about the Frankenstein monster was published in 1818 when Shelley was only 19 years old, that has nothing to do with how Frankenstein, Mo was named.  Frankenstein was named for the farmer who donated the land for the church, Gottfried Franken,  and the material comprising the church’s outer walls - "stein" - the German word for stone. 

Frankenstein!

To say the Frankenstein area is somewhat hilly is like saying the U.S. tax code is “somewhat long”.  As we parked I heard a word of advice from a local:  “Better set your parking brake or your car might roll all the way back down to Linn!”

We arrived at 9 am and things were already hopping.  Dozens of vendors were displaying their wares.  By the time the parade started at 10 am we had already purchased a Frankenstein sesquicentennial t-shirt, 3 sesquicentennial coolie cups, 4 postcards of different eras during the parish’s past 150 years of service, 3 bags of kettle corn and a wren house shaped like a covered wagon.

At 10 am a parade led by an honor guard proceeded from the ball field to the church parking lot.  The spotlight was on old cars, old tractors, old fire engines, veterans, and more than a few old people.  In the parade was Goldie Kliethermes, the oldest woman in the parish, Wilford Kremer, the oldest man in the parish, and Caroline Starke, who at 88 boasts the longest continuous church membership.  In Sunday’s News Tribune I read that a relative described Caroline as follows:  “She’s pretty perky for as old as she is!”  That immediately became my new favorite way to describe my wife (from a safe distance).

We grabbed a bite to eat after the parade (1 hamburger, 1 brat, 2 bags of potato chips and 2 bottled waters – total cost $5.50) so that we could get good seats for a presentation on the history of the community scheduled for noon.  Frankenstein has a pretty good resource for compiling the community's history.  Gary Kremer, Executive Director of the Historical Society of Missouri and the author of a small library of fascinating history books about this area, grew up in Frankenstein.   He began his presentation with “Hello, my name is Gary Kremer and my roots run pretty deep here”.  What followed was a fascinating history of the church and the Frankenstein community.  Gary interspersed his presentation with insightful first-person recollections of many important events of the last 50+ years, including national events like his memories of the Pittsburgh Pirates amazing win over the heavily-favored New York Yankees on a ninth inning Bill Mazeroski home run in the seventh game of the 1960 World Series.    A twelve-year-old Mickey Mantle fan at the time, that day still brings a tear to my eye.

Saturday was an enjoyable day of reflection and hugging in the only town named Frankenstein in the United States.  Hundreds, maybe thousands, of past and present members of Our Lady Help of Christians Parish and area residents gathered to celebrate the amazing history of the beautiful stone church their ancestors sacrificed to build high atop a rocky hilltop in Osage county, Mo.  I suspect my wife and I may have been the only 2 people present who were not related to anyone else in attendance, but we were honored to watch and learn.  And I'm certain, as a result of our visit, an unsuspecting family of Cole county wrens is going to be pleasantly surprised to discover a cozy new covered wagon bird house with a sturdy green metal roof ready for occupancy.

If you would like a copy of the remarkable book on the history of Frankenstein written by Gary Kremer, call Betty Chillington (573-897-4354) or Doris Keilholz (573-763-5947).