Today I received word that a dear friend of the family has gone to his reward. Stan Gallus and his wife, Lorraine, were long standing friends of the new family that my son and I gained when I remarried three years after the death of my first husband.
My thoughts are with Stan’s family today as I plan to attend his funeral on Friday in St. Cloud. There are so many good memories of the good times we had together when we all lived in the St. Cloud area.
Stan and his wife lived on the outskirts of town where Stan carried on his work of car body repair. On the side, they raised chickens. When the chickens were plumb and ready to eat, my husband, Gus, would load up his chicken plucking machine and away we would go to spend the day with many friends and neighbors who gathered at the Gallus home to enjoy this fine Chicken Plucking Day. (For those who have never heard of a chicken plucker: It consists of a huge,round, revolving drum lined completely with many stubby, sturdy rubber fingers that would pluck all the feathers off the chicken in just a few minutes.)
Greywar was the only young one in the group, between 3-5 years old (We did this every year until we moved away, but greywar only until he started school). His job was to take a large, long instrument to hook the chicken’s legs and drag them to the one who would decapitate them. Then the chickens were scalded, brought to Gus who ran the chicken plucker and then the rest of us dressed them out…hundreds of them. It was an all day neighborhood get-together.
When all was said and done, we all went out for supper…never ordering chicken, to be sure. It was always a day of fun, jokes and shared stories about life and the world around us. Good, good memories.
We went on many fishing trips with this family also. We got acquainted with many of MN’s ten thousand lakes with these good friends.
Stan, you will be sadly missed. Remember us to our mutual Friend, Jesus, as you stand to receive your rewards before His throne.