William and Carrie Raschka were well enough aware, I'm sure, that May 2, 1919, was their 25th wedding anniversary. Yet two days later some three dozen relatives and friends allegedly pulled off a "complete surprise" — they all showed up that Sunday morning at the Raschkas' Lake Street house, coming from as far away as Chicago and North Judson, Indiana.
The guests brought baskets of food and gifts. They gave William and Carrie " a handsome set of silverware and a beautiful basket of roses." The party went on into the afternoon. Someone called up John Naumann, the photographer, asking him to come over and capture the happy assemblage of four generations.
(Click on image to enlarge)
I believe this photo was taken on this occasion. Only the people marked with numbers are identified: (1) Leona Raschka Ewigleben; (2) Carrie Chester Raschka; (3) William Raschka; (4) Wilma Raschka McLain; (5) Bernice Raschka Schultz; (6) Lesta Raschka Maicke; (7) Daisy Raschka Fleck; (8) Eugene Fleck; (9) John Grover Fleck; (8) Eugene Fleck (born August 16, 1917); (10) Otto Maicke (who married Lesta Raschka); (11) Lovisa Nelson (Carrie's sister); (12) Jim Chester. The lady between Carrie and William Raschka is tentatively identified as Minnie Raschka Marx (William's sister).
Image and identifications courtesy of John Fleck and J. Holborow.
Though Carrie's parents were both dead, William's widowed mother, Mary, had come up from Knox, Indiana; and William and Carrie's daughter, Daisy, now the wife of
John Fleck, had no doubt brought along their first grandchild, one-year-old Eugene.
Among the guests were Carrie's brothers, Charles and James Chester, as well as her sister, Lovisa Nelson (and Lovisa's son Glen, with his wife, Elsie). Nearly all of William's siblings were there: Louis and Anna Raschka of North Judson; Frank and Frieda Raschka, along with their unmarried brother, George — they jointly farmed a piece of land in Winfield Township; sister Minnie with her husband, John Marks, from Knox; and from Hamlet, Indiana, sister Lillie and her husband, Jacob Short.
Also present was Otto Maicke of Chicago. I haven't figured out yet whether he was related to any of the Raschkas. [
Update: he would marry Lesta Raschka in
1921.]
If that day was favored with the best of Indiana's early-May weather, it would have been sunny, not too hot, just warm enough so you could sit outside in the flower-scented breeze — and surely they did sit outside, as all those brothers and sisters, all those young nieces and nephews, would have spilled out of the house and all over the lawn.
Perhaps William and Carrie felt a twinge of the heart in remembering little
Bessie, who would have been a teenager now if she had lived. But when they considered that in a quarter-century of marriage, they had suffered no other losses, and that they and all their family had just come safely through a world war and an epidemic, I expect they felt blessed.
Sources:
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 9 May 1919.
♦ "Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Raschka Given Surprise on 25th Wedding Anniversary." Hobart News 8 May 1919.
