Stories and Tales

Grandpa, John G. Taipale, 1879-1967, Noormarkuu, Finland.

Grandpa Taipale continued working in the mine until he earned enough money to buy land on Emily Lake Road near Twin Lakes. He cleared the land to build a dairy farm. He built a sauna, a privy, a two-story home, a woodshed, a cobbler's shed, a huge barn for storing hay & housing cows. The home, privy & woodshed were at the top of the hill, and the rest of the buildings followed each other downhill to the barn on flat land.

Grandma, Alina Josephine Wirtanen Taipale, 1878 - 1969, Pomarkku, Finland.

Grandma Taipale had a large kitchen sink with a hand pump. Drinking water was fetched from a spring across a field, in the woods. Grandma worked with a wood stove, a cabinet with a built-in flour sifter & a 54-inch square farm table with 5 legs. When I was a child, my parents, Fred & Ellen Sibilsky, managed Twin Lakes County Park, now a state park, so I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. I remember playing & napping under the farm table with its Montgomery Ward label. My husband restored our table & someday our oldest granddaughter will inherit it. A cream separator & stairs to the root cellar were in a small room off the kitchen. Above, were the steep stairs to the 2 bedrooms. Back in the kitchen, Grandma made Viili with cream on top. It was so good; it took me forever to like modern yogurt. We held our noses when she prepared Lutefisk for the Christmas holidays.

In the living room, my grandparents each had a rocking chair. I took the photo of my grandmother sitting in her rocking chair under a print of "Whistler's Mother" where she often crocheted. Opposite of their rockers was a table covered with a velvet cloth with long fringes which I liked to braid. On the table was a huge Finnish Bible & a mantel clock. Back in the day, this may be where they set the Victrola, to pass the time listening to music on cold winter evenings. In my time with them, it was stored in one of the bedrooms along with their stereoscopic picture viewer. In the corner of the room was a secretary with a curved glass door on the left half. A mirror was on top of the right half & below was a door that dropped down for writing & cubby holes for writing supplies.

Another treasure I have are my grandma’s golden earrings. The appraiser on Antique Roadshow said they were 18 carats gold & had a Finn mark on them.  They will soon go to my grandparents great-great-great granddaughter who is 9 years old. Her mother wore them for her wedding.

My mother talked about growing up with three brothers where she did whatever they did including skiing off the barn roof on skis Grandpa made. Her older sisters were off & married at a young age.

This article has been an interesting journey down memory lane. Thank you for asking me to write it. It has given me a greater understanding & appreciation for my grandparents.

Diana Lyon

September 2022

Hill #69

1944

I’d like to tell my experience on line the night that we took Hill sixty-nine May the eleventh at eleven P.M. was the time set for the attack to begin

The hill was part of the Gustav Line. The English had broke it, but fell back each time. Now it was time for us Yanks to try and each man was ready and willing to die.

At eleven o’clock we laid a barrage that will go down in history none ever so large. The boys started out to take this hell hole on earth facing machine guns and artillery bursts.

Through Trimonsonli we had to move fast for it had the name of “Purple Heart Pass”. To get into position our chances looked slim for most of those Jerries had all zeroed in.

On the side of the hill we had to dig in. With martar shells singing shrill songs of sin. Twenty-three hours on that hillside we stayed and many a brave men went to his grave.

Each man prayed out-loud and looked toward the sky, but the shells kept on coming – brave men had to die. We accomplished our mission and broke that strong line and Jerry pulled out leaving wounded behind.

After they started running it was not so bad. Our boys gave them all that they had. We knew our objective, it was to Rome and we knew each step placed us nearer home.

We marched through Rome on June the fifth. Dirty and sore and tired and stiff. The only regret we had on our mind was our buddies we left back on Hill 69.