8 . Clara3 Geurink (Henry John2, Arent Jan’) was born Town of Lima, Sheboygan County, WI July 10,
1901. She married Lester TenHaken Town of Easton, WI, February 7, 1923.
-Taken from the Wausau newspaper dated February 9, 1923: The marriage of Miss Clara Geurink of the town of Easton and Lester W. TenHaken of Sheboygan took place Wednesday afternoon at two o’clock at the home of the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. Geurink, the Rev. Weidena of Plover performing the service.
Miss Ruth Geurink, sister of the bride, and Walter TenHaken of Sheboygan, nephew of the bridegroom, attended the couple.
The bride wore white pussy willow taffeta and carried roses and sweet peas, and her bridesmaid wore white organdie and a corsage of sweet peas. At six o’clock a wedding dinner was served. House decorations were in pink and white.
After a wedding trip to Sheboygan Mr. and Mrs. TenHaken will return to the town of Easton to make their home. (Note: several misspellings of names in this news article.)
-The Reverend from the Christian Reformed Church married them. They had to get the minister with a bob sled.
Lester was born Sheboygan County, WI March 29, 1899. He was the son of John William TenHaken and Johanna Droppers.
Lester died May 12, 1997 in Bimamwood, WI, at 98 years of age.
*Text taken from Wausau newspaper: Lester TenHaken, 98, of Bimamwood, died Monday, May 12, 1997, at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Dorothy and Clifford Mortenson, Bimamwood, with whom he resided.
He was born March 29, 1899, in Sheboygan County, the son of the late John William and Johanna (Droppers) TenHaken. He married Clara Geurink on Feb. 7, 1923, in the town of Easton, Marathon County. She preceded him in death on June 10, 1983.
After marriage, the couple farmed 80 acres in the town of Easton until 1968 when they built a house in Birnamwood and moved there. Since 1993, Lester has been living with his daughter and son-in-law in the town of Plover. He had served as treasurer, elder and deacon of the Forestville Reformed Church, now New Hope Community Church, town of Easton. In addition, he also served as treasurer of the former Easton Center School District, treasurer of the Pure Milk Producers Associate (local chapter), past president of Forestville Cemetery Association, did appraisal work for the Bank of Bimamwood and served as custodian for the Bimamwood Forest Cemetery Association. Lester also was employed by the former Kopitzke-Staus Funeral Home of Bimamwood and later Schmidt-Schulta Funeral Homes, Wittenberg and Bimamwood. He enjoyed traveling, playing games and cards.
Survivors include, one son, Victor (Ruth) TenHakeken Leesburg, Fla.; one daughter, Dorothy (Clifford) Mortenson, Birnamwood; eight grandchildren, Randall TenHaken, Vicki (John) Meshkin, John (Marcia) TenHaken, Ronald (Terri) TenHaken, Lawrence (Cindy) Mortenson, Theresa (Robert) Jansen, Jerome (Joan) Mortenson, Roger (Karen) Mortenson; and 17 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by four brothers, John, Gerrit, Benjamin and Edward two sisters, Jenny and Alice; and one great-grandson.
Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 15, 1997, at New Hope Community Church, town of Easton. The Rev. Larry TenHaken will officiate. Interment will be in Forestville Cemetery, town of Easton.
Friends may call from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at Schmidt-Schulta Funeral Home, Bimamwood, and again from noon Thursday until the time of services at the church.
On the Go at 90 - “County lines” article in Wausau newspaper: Lester TenHaken, Birnamwood, has some good stories to tell. How about the time he lost his gold watch while he was plowing a field on his town of Easton farm? It was a special watch - engraved with his name and the date in 1917 his parents had presented it to him. He looked and looked but it was gone. Five years later - after crops of corn and hay - he saw something shiny as he passed through the field with his horses and plow. There was the watch. The works were rusted - but the watch is still as decorative as ever.
Or how about the day after he and Clara Geurink were married in February 1923? They bundled up themselves and their wedding flowers, hitched up the horses and drove to Wausau to get their wedding pictures taken.
And then there’s the first school bus in Easton. TenHaken’s son, Victor, wanted to go to high school in Birnamwood in the early 1940’s but there was no bus. So Dad found out if he could recruit three more students, a bus would run a regular route. Two neighbor girls, who had been attending school in Wausau (and staying in the city during the week), came back home and a neighbor boy wanted to go too. So a bus -just a converted pickup truck - started its rounds. There’s been one ever since in the area, which is now part of the D.C. Everest District.
TenHaken enjoys reminiscing - when he has time.
Today he’s observing his 90th birthday with an open house at New Hope Community Church, town of Easton.
He bought a new car a year ago and drives to the church for services twice each Sunday. Then on Thursdays, he drives to Riverside Center in Wausau to shoot pool or play cribbage in the morning have lunch and then play cards in the afternoon. In between, he keeps his own home looking spotless, does his own cooking and, in the summer, takes care of the lawn. And, he reads, enjoys working on various projects and testing his buying skills by matching wits with contestants on “The Price Is Right.”
TenHaken’s never been one to take life slowly.
He was born March 29, 1899, in Sheboygan County, moving to the town of Easton to work on a brother’s farm, joining a growing settlement of Dutch families in Marathon County.
“You could get 160 acres here for the price of 40 acres in Sheboygan County,” he remembered. He and his wife, Clara, who died in 1983, farmed their own 80 acres until 1968. Then they moved to the village of Birnamwood.
Clara died June 10, 1983 Bimamwood, WI, at her home, at 81 years of age.
*Text taken from local newspaper: Mrs. Lester TenHaken, 81, Birnamwood, died at her home this morning.
The former Clara Geurink was born July 10, 1901, in Sheboygan County, daughter of Henry and Effie Geurink. She married Lester TenHaken on Feb. 7, 1923, in the town of Easton. He survives.
Mr. and Mrs. TenHaken operated a dairy farm in the town of Easton from 1923 until 1968, when they moved to Bimamwood. Mrs. TenHaken was a member of the Dorcas Circle and the Easton Center Homemakers.
Survivors besides her husband include a son, Victor, Birnamwm a daughter, Mrs. Clifford (Dorothy) Mortenson, Route 2, Birnamwood; a brother, Floyd, Route 1, Ringle; two sisters, Mrs. Ruth Nauta, Antigo, and Mrs. Wiebe (Ora) Nauta, Minocqua; eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Monday at New Hope Community Church, town of Easton. The Rev. Ray VanBeek will officiate and burial will be in Forestville Cemetery, town of Easton. Friends may call after 4 p.m. Sunday at Schmidt-Schulta Funeral Home, Bimamwood. There will be visitation at the church from noon Monday until services.
- The funeral for Clara took place on Monday, June 13, 1983. Both Rev. Ray VanBeek and Rev. Ruehen TenHaken officiated. Annie Geurink was the organist with Carolyn Gunderson as soloist. The casket bearers were Randall & John TenHaken, Lawrence & Roger Mortenson, Jerome Mortenson, and John Meshkin.
*Excerpts taken from notes by Ruth TenHaken on Clara & Lester‘s lives. Received from Leonard Meyer -contained in Willy Geurink’s belongings.
“By 1922 Clara was ‘going steady’ with Lester TenHaken who had come from Gibbsville to work for his brother Gerrit on a nearby farm. One moonlit winter night, Les was bringing his ‘girl’ home from a date with horse and cutter. Now a horse, unlike a car could if so trained, find its way pretty well without much attention from the driver, so Les had tied the reins to the whip socket so as to be more cozy under the cutter robe. The horse strayed a bit along the long driveway and suddenly the little sleigh jammed into a tree. The horse pulled loose, Les grabbed the reins and leaned over the dashboard after his horse, which took off through the orchard, Lester hopping behind on one leg yelling ‘Ow - Ow’ for the unexpected happening brought on a leg cramp!
Clara, back in the cutter was overcome, not with concern, but laughed until she cried at the moonlit apparition.. .
Clara accidentally ran a needle into her thigh as she sat down on the sofa one day. The highly respected Dr. Cady of Birnamwood was called...He came, studied the situation as to how far the needle had worked its way in, and right there, aided by scalpel and hand administered Chloroform located and removed the needle!. . .
In 1923, Clara married Lester on February 7th the anniversary of Henry and Effie in a home ceremony. They went to Sheboygan County on their honeymoon to visit relatives including Lester’s elderly parents in Gibbsville. This was the custom then, if one had a honeymoon, to spend it visiting relatives. Lester had bought the farm of Rat Roach, a bachelor and former woodsman. The story goes that the previous Halloween, Lester with the other neighborhood pranksters had run some of Rat’s machinery down the road and into the ditch, then having bought the farm, the next spring Les had to undo his own ‘Halloweening!’ They soon built the popular basement barn and when their children Victor and Dorothy were school age, raised and enlarged the tiny 4 room house. Upon retirement Les and Clara moved into a new home in Bimamwood and celebrated not only their 50th but their 60th wedding anniversary. Clara whose health was poor at the latter event, died the following summer.. .”
*Taken from Annie Geurink’s writing The Geurinks in Marathon County.
Historical events during the life of Clara Geurink:
