Tapes About Einar Aho
Around August 1970, I taped a conversation with Jim and June about our uncle Einar. The same month I taped a coversation with my mom and Tyne about Einar.
Jim and June
EINAR HAD A TEMPER
RON:
What do you remember about Einar?
JIM:
The things that I remember about Einar were mainly by word of mouth. The only time that I saw him was when we lived on Locust Street. That was when you were about 3 years old.
He had a terrible temper. Mom was saying that he was in a bar during the Second World War - I don't know if he had flat feet or some other disability, but he wasn't in the Service - so some soldier came up to him and said, How come you're not in the Service?" I guess Einar got so mad that he just smashed the guy right in the mouth. And this was right on 6th and Wisconsin - the corner bar there.
And ah, well... Once in 1944 a bus smashed into a tavern on 7th and Galena, and he was in the bus. He got cut, and I guess he had to go to the hospital for that. When he came home, Harvey and Helen and Audrey were staying with us at Locust Street. The police came about 11 o'clock at night. Of course, then everyone was across the street in the tavern. They were looking for Einar , but we at first thought that they were looking for Audrey, because she had beat up the girl down the street. They wanted to get his statement regarding what happened.
Then the only other time I remember is when he was leaving for Des Moines, Iowa, and I saw him in his room just before he left, and he asked me if I had ever seen a hundred dollar bill. And I had never seen one. He had about seven in his wallet - carrying all that loot around with him.
Then we saw him when we went to California. We saw him occasionally there.
ELLA DRANK A LOT
JUNE:
The first time I saw him was when we lived on Kilbourn, and he came over at 4 o'clock in the morning.
JIM:
Oh, yeah, that's right - with Ella.
JUNE:
They had been driving all night.
JIM:
They were bombed.
JUNE:
And Ella, for breakfast... I said, "Do you want coffee?"
And she said, "No, I'll fix my own breakfast." And she laid out about 20 different pills and took a juice glass full of whiskey and "gulp!"
GOOD TIMES AT CLUB DE ALEX
JIM:
He had an awful lot of stamina, I'll tell you.
Come to think of it, I did see him after that. He came back here on vacation, and it was 1949. He left in about '44, came back in about '49. That was when Wally and Jean were down here. They all got bombed over at Lo Cicero's. That used to be Held's.
RON:
Club de Alex.
JIM:
Club de Alex. And they drank until they closed at 2 o'clock, and then they came back at 7 o'clock in the morning and pounded on the door until Held came down and opened up. Can you imagine that? They really had stamina in those days.
LOSING HIS SOCKS
RON:
I remember driving in a car... was Hjalmer living there?
JIM:
Yeah. We were living with him on 60th Street.
RON:
We were driving in Hjalmer's car, I think, and Einar lost his sock out the window.
JIM:
Threw them out. Were you in the car then? I was driving, and Wally and Jean were in the back with Einar. It was in that '50 Ford they had. Right down by Memorial Parkway, by the Northwestern Depot there. And they tossed out both of his socks. I can't remember whether they tossed out both of his shoes too.
Things like that would normally get him mad, but he didn't this time.
Then we didn't... I mean I didn't see him for - it must have been 10 years.
(COMMENT)
(The way I remember that incident was that Einar stuck his foot out of the window, while the car was going down Capitol Drive, and I think Jean pulled his sock off. Later, we did get all the way to the Northwest Depot. That train depot has since been ripped down.)
ANOTHER TIME HE VISITED MILWAUKEE
RON:
But he did come back again. I remember that Korte's were here again too, because I remember that Dennis and I washed his white Oldsmobile.
JIM:
Yeah, that was with Ella. And that's when they came over to our place on Kilbourn.
JUNE:
They stayed there. then we went to Lillian's, and then we went to the bar, and we had that great big discussion.
JIM:
Oh, yes. We even went to Happy's. That's when it was still Happy's, and that's when Ella said that she didn't wear any panties. That was the style in California. It was a lot more airy. I'll never forget that.
CABBAGE AND HIS TEMPER IN PALO ALTO
JIM:
Then we went out there on vacation, and we went to his place occasionally. Of course, him and his temper. Like that time with June and the cabbage. You can tell that one better.
JUNE:
His favorite meal seemed to be cabbage and ham, and he made it in a pressure cooker. he was in a hurry for some reason, and he was going to take the cover off.
I said, "Don't do it, Einar! you're going to have food all over the ceiling."
But he said, "No, no, no. It is time. I can do it, you know."
I said, you're going to be sor-ry."
He said, "I've done it before." And he opens it up.
All over the ceiling! All over the floor! The kitchen was a mess. I couldn't help it, but I started laughing. He was so mad! He turned purple. I couldn't help from laughing. I kept on laughing, and finally he started laughing too. He finally admitted that he did it too soon.
That was when we were living with him in Palo Alto.
FUSSY ABOUT HIS HOUSE & HIS HEART ATTACK
JIM:
He was real fussy about his house. Real fussy. The kids would come up to the big bay window, that he had on the side of Illinois Street, and put their hands on the window and looked in. And he would say that he just washed those windows. He was real fussy about it.
RON:
Was he still married to Ella when you were there?
JUNE:
He was. Ella was living in San Francisco, and she was sick in the hospital. And then he was in the hospital, when we were still living there and were just about to move. Then that washer flooded his whole family room, and he was in the hospital.
JIM:
That was in 1961. That was October 1961. I remember, because I left in November from that company, and I had taken June down to Los Angeles. So I stayed there at the house.
The washer was in the family room. It was an old garage, because there was one step down. I came walking in there, and here there was 6 inches of water. Gad, what a mess. The hose had busted from the washer. So, I had a heck of a time, cleaning that mess up.
Then I went over saw him at the hospital. That was his first heart attack. he had got it at the racetrack. He just keeled over. Then he was in good spirits and everything. then, before that we just stopped off and...
VIEWS ON COMMUNISM
JUNE:
The only impressionable thing that happened is Palo Alto is that big discussion on communism.
RON:
Was he communist tending or Nazi? Or was it Ella?
JIM:
More Ella, I think.
JUNE:
More communist. Everybody should be equal. Everybody should have a fair share of the riches and all that stuff.
RON:
Ella or Einar?
JUNE:
Einar. We didn't see Ella after we moved there. Everything for the working man. They work hard, so they should have their share of things too. There shouldn't be classes.
HIS GIRLFRIEND HELEN
JIM:
Didn't Ella die...? No, they got a divorce. He sold the house in Palo Alto and got this apartment and this stereo and everything.
Wasn't he going around with another woman?
RON:
Helen.
JIM:
That's right. And I think he was pretty crazy about her. She had a... she was the type that went real well to do. Everything had to be real class. Even his apartment and his stereo and all that jazz. Probably fine wine and everything like that.
We went over to see him, and I got the impression, because of the attitude he had towards me, that he was inwardly ashamed of what he was doing. He gave me that impression, because when we knocked on his door, rather than being pleased to see us after a number of years -- he was dressed in a bathrobe, a real nice bathrobe, you know -- then he showed us the stereo he bought...
JUNE:
After the initial shock of having us over, he was OK.
RON:
Because it's funny, because I always thought it was the big thing in his life. Because when I was there, he showed me places that she had showed him. He seemed to have found... new class, or something like that.
JUNE:
As opposed to Ella. He liked to go out. He liked to have a good time. But Ella, I imagine, could be very embarrassing to him. She got really...
ARGUMENT WITH JIM'S FRIEND
JIM:
A friend of ours came over from L.A., this Bob Ditman. He was an intellect, to a certain extent. He reads a lot and stuff. He came and was going to stay with us at Einar's.
Einar didn't really mind at first, but then Einar had been drinking, and they got to talking. That's when they really... they got into a terrible discussion there. Bob was almost ready to clobber him.
Then he said... he just got up and said, "I wouldn't come into this house again."
And then Einar changed, and he said, "Oh, come on. Don't go. you know, you're a friend of my nephew."
And he says, "I wouldn't stay in this house for all the money in China." He turned and slammed the door and walked out.
RON:
What were they talking about?
JIM:
I don't know. I forget what it was. Maybe it was Bob's way of living. He was sort of a bummy character.
JUNE:
Not bummy. He just had an attitude. He didn't care where his next money...
JIM:
You might say he was that era's hippy. Starting to go into that shiftless life. Not finding his thing. Finally, he got married, and now he's all set.
That big discussion came up...
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"
RON:
What about that time when Einar got upset when you were going to go out?
JUNE:
That was at Margaret's.
RON:
That was at Margaret's?
JIM:
Sure. We had some friends who had come up from Los Angeles, and they had a camper and were staying outside of Einar's house, where we were staying. Then we decided to go out with them. I had a company car. We'd go to San Francisco and Chinatown.
JUNE:
Margaret was going to babysit.
JIM:
We got dressed up. This was the first time since we had been there. First of all, I didn't have a job, and I was looking for a job and everything. And I was staying with him. So here he thought, what am i doing spending my money foolishly, enjoying myself,, when I didn't even have my own place and things like that.
We didn't stay with him very long - really. It was just the idea.
He was walking around the house saying, "Who do you think you are? Rockefeller?" and stuff like that. He had been drinking, you know.
RON:
The way i had heard the story was that he went right up close to you and said, "Who do you think you are? The President or something?"
JUNE:
Basically, yeah. That's what happened. But he had been drinking and that.
JIM:
I can see why. He wouldn't have said anything like that if I hadn't been staying in his house. But he was doing something for me, and it appears as though instead of helping myself out after he had helped me, I was taking money and blowing it. So, in own own way, I couldn't blame him.
Otherwise... that's about the limit. You saw him, with a few exceptions, as I did.
JUNE:
I don't think he was too thrilled with having two kids in the house. Other than that, he always bought cookies for the kids. And Jimmy called him "Uncle Enu", and he would laugh and say, "What can I do? They call me 'Uncle Enu, got a cukey?'"
EINAR WAS A NEAT DRESSER
RON:
He was a pretty neat dresser. He was pretty neat all the way around.
JIM:
He was always neat. Like that one picture of him standing next to you there on Locust Street. You were only about 2 years old then. If I remember right, he had a blue wide pin-striped suit on.
Every time I saw him, he was dressed. Matter of fact, it was because of Einar and Hjalmer that I started dressing myself in suits. Ever since I was 17, 18 years old, I kind of patterned myself after their neatness in dressing. Even with the overcoat and the hat and the whole bit.
All of the Aho's were well dressed, even Wayne. He's very fussy about his clothes and likes a lot of them. But I think he got that from Hjalmer and Einar, too. In Duluth, he used to dress up real well when he was young.
RON:
Oh, yeah. Like that one picture Tyne has of him. Wayne looks pretty dapper.
JIM:
I think he had a double-breasted cashmere overcoat...
JIM:
Once we were over in a bar with Einar in Palo Alto.
JUNE:
The one with the silver dollars on the bar?
JIM:
Yes. We were sitting there, and then he said, "Just a minute." He just got up off the bar and walked down about six stools and started talking with this woman.
And then I naturally said, "Well, you old Dapper-Dan, you. I never figured at your age..."
He said something, and I laughed it off.
But actually, I think that he was the type that looked like a rich businessman, and I think that he would have done all right for himself with the women.
RON:
He was so shy when he was younger. Supposedly. I don't know.
JUNE:
Look at those hats he wore. He looked like a 1920's...
JIM:
Listen... well, ah, true, true. Then with the bald head and everything... He did have have a build, because he worked hard all the time. He was a strong man.
HE WAS A HARD WORKER
JUNE:
After a while, when he would come home form work, Jim was at work, and I don't know where Jimmy was, he would take Jeri Lynn and me to this bar. I would have a drink and Jeri a shirley temple. Well, this happened a few times, and finally Jimmy says, "Don't do that!" I think I would have turned to be an alcoholic or something.
JIM:
He was well liked by his co-workers.
RON:
Yeah, I remember that when I worked at the Journal for one day... I guess that I got the job through Einar somehow.
JIM:
That's how I got my first job at the Sentinel - through Einar - in the mailing department. I talked to the foreman, and when he found out I was Einar's nephew, he gave me a job right away.
RON:
So I called up later and asked how come I hadn't been asked to come back there on a Saturday or something like that. And he says, "The way you worked, you're not like your uncle!"
JIM:
Welcome to the club. I lasted one day. Oh man, that was hard! Lifting those bundles from one conveyor to another.
RON:
I wasn't fast enough. I just couldn't - it wasn't so hard, just so fast - and I kept getting behind.
JIM:
Yeah, me too. But that lasted until you got a break - two hours. Then you might have a 25 minute break, but during that time you've got to pick up all the scrap paper and wire and crap, and get that all cleaned up. Go out there and help them load those trucks, so they can get ready for the next run to come out. That's not my bag, boy. But the money was excellent. The newspaper business was always rough.
DISCUSSION ENDS
(That is the end of what I taped.)
Tyne and Mom (August 1970)
MOM:
Einar was kind of a cranky type. He never did mix up with us other sisters and brothers. He used to be Father's pet. He used to carry him around. And Einar always used to say, "I want a pony, I want a pony."' And he was a regular pest about wanting a pony.
He was pretty smart in school. In school, a girl was just ready to sit, and he put a tack under her. This girl was a lot of fun and she just laughed.
Tyne, remember the time that we locked Einar out?
TYNE:
I remember when we locked Einar out, and he tried to get in. We were inside, and we held the window down, and he couldn't get it open.
MOM:
Mother and Father were at the neighbor's. So Einar got so mad that he got a hatchet. He tried to open it with a hatchet. Somebody from the inside put their knee through the window and broke it. So then we made up right away, and we let Einar in. And who thought of the darn window? Anyway, we got the window pane from the barn and we fixed the pane. It was months later that Father noticed that there wasn't any pane in the barn window. And we already said that if they asked we would say that the calf broke it.
TYNE:
Wasn't it Wayne's idea to use the barn window? Wayne was about 8, Lillian was 9, and I was 13. Then when we used to go on the barn roof. My dad said that we weren't supposed to go on the barn roof, because it's old, and it would fall down. That we would go right through the barn roof. But we didn't listen. We just want on the roof anyway. And then when he saw us he came running, yelling, and the way he always swore. "Get down from there. When I get a hold of you, I'm really going to give it to you." There were us kids - Einar, Lillian,...
MOM:
No, I wasn't up there. I was always a fraidy-cat.
TYNE:
Einar, and Wayne, Hjalmer, and me. So then Hjalmer jumped in front of the roof, but Einar, Wayne and I ran into the woods. So Hjalmer got a licking. By the time we came back, Dad had cooled down already.
MOM:
Hjalmer felt that he had it coming since he always got the lickings anyway.
RON:
It almost seemed like he wanted it.
MOM:
Yes, you get that way. Like, "I'm supposed to get it."
TYNE:
Like when Wayne would do all sorts of crazy things, and Dad would get mad. Wayne would run and hide under the bed, and Dad would grab him by the hair and pull him out.
MOM:
That's why he has a long neck. Remember, Wayne, the time we made that little fire in that barn? Then Father just woke up, he was sleeping on the bed, and Wayne stuck the can under the bed to hide it. And the smoke was all over. We were 6 or 7.
TYNE:
Einar was always hunting. He was hunting for minks or weasels when he found a skunk in one of his traps. When he tried to loosen the skunk from the trap, the skunk turned around and let him have it right in the eye. And all his clothes and everything stunk, and his eye burned like crazy.
MOM:
He never wanted to go to school, but that day he wanted to go. So the folks buried his clothes, and he had to go around naked - ha ha. He only had one pair of trousers. ha ha. No, I really can't remember about that.
TYNE:
His eye burned for days.
MOM:
I used to tease him a lot. So finally Einar got so mad that he cornered me and was hitting on my arms. I started yelling and crying. And I cried and cried. Mother and Father said that why don't I leave Einar alone, because I know what he's like. But I kept crying and sitting on a chair. Finally a cat came up and put his paws on the chair and looked up and said, "Meow." Then I started laughing. I was already 14 then.
When we were in Duluth - I was 18 then - well sometimes I didn't have no one to go to the dance with. I was just crazy about dancing, so I told Einar that he should come with me. And he said that if I pay him a quarter. It was only a dime to get to the dance, so I paid his way, just so I wouldn't have to walk alone. We did that often.
There was this one girl Einar met. She was Finnish and short and 5 feet 2. She was real crazy about Einar. So once she was doing housework, and she called Einar to come over there. She was washing clothes, and they got stuck in the ringer, and the people weren't home. So Einar went there.
After a while Einar didn't care for her, and the girl felt so hurt about it that whenever she saw Einar on the street, she went on the other side of the street. He said that the reason he didn't like her was that she had lipstick on her teeth.
Then Einar started going with a nurse there, and Einar always was buying nice things for her.
So then all of a sudden, Einar decided that I'm going to hit the road. So he went to Cleveland, Seattle, and several other towns to work in the newspaper. Then he went to San Francisco.
When he was in Cleveland, Mother was dying. So we telegraphed him, and he took the train right away. We took the train - Tyne, Tom, Wayne, and little Ronny. In Madison we met Einar. Einar was on the train. When we telephoned him, we said that Mother was dying, but on the train he looked so hurt when we said that she had died. It just happened that we met him there on the train. He had to transfer there too.
TYNE:
That's one thing I remember, is his face. I can just see how he looked.
MOM:
When we lived in Duluth, before Hjalmer got married, Einar was kind of sickly. He got all sorts of pains and was running to the doctor all the time. I was wondering if he really had any pains, or if he was imagining. We even said that Einar got that way after Father died. That he started feeling sick.
MOM:
Einar was always heavy.
TYNE:
Look how heavy he was before he had that goiter operation. He was so fat, just like a... just full of .... I think it was like he was bloated.
MOM:
Then Einar stayed in Milwaukee for a while. Ronny was about 4 years old. He was living on the East side too. So then he told me to iron his shirts. Well I didn't like the idea, when I was so darned tired when I had worked already. So then I told him that I'll bring his shirts to his apartment. He wasn't home, so I just left his shirts by his door. He was so mad. He said, how dumb of me to leave his shirts right there. Anyone could have taken them.
RON:
I remember the picture of me and him on Highland, by those flowers. I was 4 years old then.
MOM:
One time we went on a bus, and Ronny was carrying a great big stick, and I was going to let him take the stick on the bus. Einar got so mad and said,"You can't let Ronny take anything on the bus, just because he wants to."
TYNE:
Einar never was too close.
MOM:
Einar came to your place every single day.
TYNE:
Yes, but he just visited, and there was nothing special.
MOM:
When Einar went to Oakland, Einar met this Ella. And they got married. I think that Einar was happy with her. She was kind of artistic. And they both drank a lot. Finally the doctor said to stop your drinking or you're going to die. So Einar stopped, but Ella wanted to keep on drinking, and that's when it seemed that Ella wanted to get a divorce. But Einar had a hot temper. He said that he went to Ella's. Ella said that she didn't want him there, and Einar pushed her and she fell over a foot-stool.
TYNE:
Her sister was there too, and her sister ran into the bedroom and locked herself in there. She was scared that Einar was killing her. That's when Ella left Einar after that.
MOM:
Then Einar tried to make up to her. He bought groceries, but had to leave them behind the door because she wouldn't answer. Then Einar met another babe, about 10 years younger. And I think that Einar was really in love with her.
TYNE:
Einar was in love with her in only a sexy way, but I think he was in love with Ella in the right way. This other woman was pretty, and she knew just how to wrangle everything out of Einar. She took his charge-a-plate and went out and bought a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff on his charge-a-plate.
MOM:
The way that Einar wrote to me that he doesn't want...
TYNE:
Oh yes, I know he said it, at that time he was just that way - infatuated with her. But I feel that the way Einar felt he really loved Ella, in a deeper way - in a true way. But in this one - she was young and pretty - she knew how to get around Einar.
MOM:
Einar had two heart attacks. The second was with this girlfriend, Helen. She got the doctor right away. He said she saved his life. And then in the hospital, she ordered a great big bouquet of flowers for him.
MOM:
Einar sold the house and paid the settlement, and two months later Ella died.
Then Einar got the food poisoning. So Einar called Margaret and Hjalmer, and they came there. Hjalmer had asked, "Where's Helen?" and Einar had looked real mad and said, "It's none of your business."
TYNE:
Maybe Einar told her, "You poisoned me," because she was doing the cooking.
MOM:
No. Maybe Einar had said, "Now we can get married," after the divorce from Ella, and she had no plans to marry him. Anyway, it was December 13th that Einar got the fatal heart attack. He was buried on the XXth. Tyne and I flew there, and Nick flew there from Duluth. Jimmy flew from Los Angeles, thinking that no body was coming to Einar's funeral. He was surprised to see all of us there. Even the funeral - I've never seen a funeral with so few people.
TYNE:
He was always such a loner. He'd go to those high class places and meet some people there and never see them again.
RON:
It sounds as if you didn't get along with Einar.
TYNE:
No, we got along fine. But it is just that when I got married, Einar was always gone in other towns. He would stay here a little while.
He bought me a birthday present once - a $5 one. Einar was kind of tight. He didn't like to spend money much. But then when we lived on Locust Street, he went out every night. He worked at the Journal.
MOM:
Einar took once took Eina home.
TYNE:
He used to go around when this Edna, and I'll bet you a nickel that Edna's still crazy about him.
4MOM:
Einar said that when Edna went home to Pavalaitii's, she saw Einar. And Einar said that she looked like a darn farmer, and that he didn't care for her.
TYNE:
Einar was closed mouthed about what he did. He wouldn't say nothing about what he did even if you asked him.
MOM:
He seemed nicer and friendlier the last few times he came. Look, we sat at the table and talked all night long at Jim's house on Kilbourn. And he met somebody here, right in Milwaukee, and she wanted him to write. I don't think that Einar would have any trouble getting a girlfriend when he got older. He was talkative.
TYNE:
Once he got a few drinks. But he didn't talk too much when he was sober. You'd have to get him cornered to get him talking with him, but if you didn't start talking, he would start the conversation.
MOM:
But he was better in later years.
TYNE:
Maybe. We did talk pretty much when he visited at Kilbourn Avenue. Wayne has some movies when he was then, and Ginger was so crazy about him. Ginger was licking Einar's face. That was the last time Einar came to Milwaukee.
RON:
If he was so stingy, why did you expect him to always put out the big roll of money?
MOM:
He used to be a good spender.
TYNE:
He was a good spender in the tavern, but he didn't buy gifts, like for the sisters and brothers. Maybe he would have liked to, but maybe he just didn't think.
RON:
Well, what did you buy him?
TYNE:
We didn't buy him anything either. ha ha.
MOM:
We just expected it from him. Isn't that true?
TYNE:
When we were children he used to walk in his sleep. I remember once when he started to walk and his eyes were just bulging. Oh yes, they were open, and he had such blue eyes that you could see them, and I was so scared that I took his hand. I was young then. I took hold of his hand, and there were cold chills running up my spine, and I led him into the bedroom, Nothing was ever said later. You are not supposed to talk to sleepwalkers, but I didn't know that then. I was just so scared that I took hold of his hand.
MOM:
Einar said that the girls are just after his money. Then didn't it seem that we - like we expected something from Einar. We didn't do anything for him. So the last time he was over, I wanted to make sure - because we always said that Einar doesn't give anything - to make sure he didn't think that I was looking for some hand-outs from him. And I was real generous with him.
Well the time when Einar and Ella came we had been raving about him how when he went to Las Vegas, he had earned $2000. Then we went into the tavern and here Elmer bought the drinks and then somebody else bought. Then Einar bought, and then Hjalmer buys again. Then Einar doesn't buy at all, and we just sit there and sit there. Einar wasn't ever generous. Here I wanted him to be a good spender there.
TYNE:
You just wanted to show off that he has a lot of money.
MOM:
That's why I tried to show him a good time the last time he came.
TYNE:
It's funny, I can always remember this, that when he walked out on Kilbourn Avenue he never turned around, and I wondered if I'll ever see him again.
I saw him then when I went to California, on vacation, but he never came here again. It's so funny that I had thought of that. Of course he had had those heart attacks already. And he was so quiet.
MOM:
In Clifford, he went hunting a lot with Hjalmer. Hjalmer should know a lot since they were more together.
TYNE:
We were always envious of Einar because Dad favored Einar. Maybe because Einar - he wasn't quite well. But then again, neither was Wayne. But Einar was the one that Dad favored. He used to carry him, like Lillian said, and we didn't like that because Einar was always favored. Einar always wanted to have a cowboy suit, and he finally got it. Then he went to Ironwood with Hjalmer.