Arthur M. Kloepfer
1883-1961

The following is from"Kloepfer-Klöpfer Genealogy & More" by William Wesley Kloepfer and Bill Kloepfer, 1993. William Wesley Kloepfer is the great great grandson of Dionys Klöpfer, a descendant of Jorg Klopfer (Family # 5, Klöpfer, Kloepfer, and Kleopfer). Bill is his son. For more information contact Wes Kloepfer, 142 N. Angeleno Avenue, Azusa, California 91702.

ARTHUR M. KLOEPFER AND ATTA COLE

A Biography by their son, W. Wesley Kloepfer.

In all probability Thursday November 8, 1883 was a crisp cold day along the shores of Lake Michigan north of Chicago, when my father, Arthur M. Kloepfer (1883-1961)/78 yrs, was born. At that time, though Chicago was a thriving city of over 300,000 people and now almost completely mainly farmlands. Evanston, later the largest rebuilt following the disastrous fire of 1871, the North Shore area was sparsely settled and of the northern suburbs, was not incorporated until 1892, with a population of a little over 4000. Winnetka had been incorporated as a village in 1869. The area in which my father was born was known as Grosse Pointe. Originally Grosse Pointe had been plotted as part of the Village of Wilmette in 1869, but was incorporated as a separate village in 1874, and was not again a part of Wilmette until 1924. Together with Glencoe, Kenilworth, what is now Northfield and part of the present Glenview, it forms the Township of New Trier. The first Township meeting was held in 1850 and the population at that time numbered under 500.

Arthur Kloepfer's early boyhood days were spent working on the family farm and in the general store. He was present when his brother, Albert, (later a general building contractor in Winnetka) picked up a dynamite cap carelessly left by a salesman, and in the explosion blew off several fingers. Art attended St. Joseph's Elementary School from 1890 to 1898, and the parish high school from 1898 to 1900. In 1893 his father traded the store for fifteen acres of farm land. This was operated by the older boys in the family and their mother, with sister Pauline as housekeeper, while Dennis plied his trade of carpentry. As a teenager, Art raised pigeons and sold the squabs for pocket money. From 1900 Dad attended the Jones Business College in Chicago for a year, studying bookkeeping and stenography.

He obtained his first position on April 1,1900, as clerk in the office of W. F. Van Bergen, Ticket Auditor of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, at a salary of $15.00 per month. By 1902 he was earning $30.00 a month and moved to the Telegraph department to a position under G. G. Thayer on July 1,1902 at $50.00. On August 1st he was given another $10.00 raise and in 1905 raised to $70.00, as Chief of the Telegraph Division.

We have little to refer to for his activities during these years, except the entries in his personal cash journal, which are revealing at least of the prices paid in those days for such items as haircuts, ties, shoes, etc. Entries such as "dish of ice cream "5 cents, "two collars" 25 cents, "pair pants" $3 .00, show how prices have escalated since then. Dad's last entry for the pigeon business was June 6,1903: "two pair pigeons sold, 40 cents". The only cash journal he preserved was his first one, covering a period from July 1,1902 to June 30, 1905. The first entry which would suggest he had met his future wife, Atta Virginia Cole of Winnetka, was November 22, 1903: "Dance, Prouty Hall, Cole and Carpenter, $ 1.15".

After that there were many entries for various expenditures with the initials "A. V. C.". Judging from the journal entries, Dad dressed well, went to the barber regularly, smoked cigars, with no lack of friends of the opposite sex. Unfortunately he did not enter full names in the journal, only initials. Some of these were, and I have supplied the full names where I could guess them: .A.G. (B. A. GoIb), F. l. S., F.W.B., J.H.P., E. B.C. (Edna Carpenter). The A.V.C. initials (Atta Virginia Cole), became very frequent in the spring of 1904. At about the same time F. J. (Freda Juker) appears, also R.K. (Rose Kerwin), and O.K. (Olive Kerwin). Rose and Atta were most frequent in 1905, toward the end of the journal. The monetary entries were for such expenses as dances, candy, flowers and ice cream. No lack of social activities there.

He studied piano, first under a Mrs. Uhe, then Mrs. Kramm. He joined the Knights of Columbus in 1904 and became the recording secretary a year later. I recall as a child seeing his Fourth Degree sword, cape and hat.

There is no indication that he ever lived separately from his father's home until his marriage. Journal entries show many gifts to his parents and other relatives, such as "Father, box of cigars, $3.00", "pair drapes, mother, $7.50", "Stan Scully, present, $1.00". My uncle, Ben, and his wife, Anna, whom we always thought was childless, apparently had a youngster, as there is an entry in the journal for "Ben's baby, flowers, 50 cents". - presumably a child had died.

Arthur Kloepfer and Atta Virginia Cole (1885-1933)/48 yrs were married Thursday June 24,1908 at Sacred Heart Church in Hubbard Woods, then called Lakeside, by the Rev. Frederick Haarth. Mother was a convert to the Catholic faith, although coming from a Methodist, and further back, Dutch Reformed, religious background. As seen in a wedding photograph, mother's attendants were her sister, Sadie and a close friend, Freda Juker. The Jukers lived just north of the Cole residence at 468 Ridge Ave., Winnetka. This property is now a park. The wedding trip of the couple was to Glen Isle, Colorado, where they stayed at the Glen Isle Inn, said to have been owned by a relative of my mother. Niagara Falls was also on the itinerary.

The Kloepfer residence at 325 Linden St., Winnetka, was built in 1908 by grandfather Dennis Kloepfer. During the period that dad was with the Northwestern railroad, he had risen from the position of clerk in the Ticket Auditor's office to Chief of the Telegraph Division, where his salary was $125.00 per month. Long active in Democratic politics, as were most of the Kloepfers, through the kindly offices of Senator J. Hamilton Lewis, dad received an appointment as Postmaster at Winnetka, from then President Woodrow Wilson, and, resigning from the railroad, he took office on June 26, 1913.

I was born Friday October 28, 1910 in the Linden Street house, my sister, Virginia, was born in the Evanston Hospital on Sunday May 3, 1914. Dad served in the office of Postmaster until January of 1922. During the early part of this period he owned, with his brother Bill, Kloepfer's Confectionery, a candy and ice cream parlor adjacent to the post office. The Post office was then on Lincoln Avenue, north of Elm, and the candy and ice cream store was next door. The store had been opened by Frank Fischer, a candy-maker who specialized in coconut candy made in the shapes and colors of hams and bacon, etc. Mother helped in the store and made all the chocolate candies, a skill she learned from a Mr. Theobold of Evanston, who had a similar store there on Davis Street.

The store flourished and the fame of Kloepfer ice cream was such that they delivered from Evanston to Lake Forest. My gastronomic memories of that store are many, for the folks made their own candy and ice cream. I can remember the folding type cardboard boxes with the big "KLOEPFERS" on the lid in script. I do not recall all who worked in the store, but there was one clerk, Jack, who was my favorite, as he plied me with candy or ice cream cones. He was quite tall, and when I came into the store he would take me by the hands and let me walk up his body to his shoulders. He also would let me slide open the glass doors to the candy showcase and filch some goodies. I can remember the back room where the ice cream was made, with its concrete floor always wet, and the delicious aroma of salt and vanilla.

The store was a popular meeting place for young and old, and its fame for the delicious home-made ice cream spread all up and down the North Shore. We also had candy made by the former owner of the store, Frank Fischer, Bill Fischer's brother, made of fondant and coconut, shaped and colored like hams and bacon. Even after the folks sold the store, mother continued to make chocolates at home, usually as gifts at Christmas time. I helped her many times, pouring out and working the fondant on a marble slab, shaping the pieces and then dipping them in chocolate, making a little special swirl on top to identify the flavor of the filling. During the years of World War I, dad made quite a record in the Winnetka Post office for the sale of War Bonds and stamps, and for other war connected activities. Confidence of the Postal Department in him was shown, when in 1917, he was re-appointed for a second term. My brother, Arthur, was born December 4, 1916, and a second daughter was born in 1919, but passed away at the age of twelve days. Dad served as Postmaster until December 19,1921, when his successor was appointed. He then joined the Equitable Life Assurance Society, in the Hammond agency, with offices on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. He stayed with the insurance business for many years and did very well until the financial collapse in 1928, the start of the depression.

During my boyhood, family vacations were almost always taken at either Minong, Wisconsin, at the Gilmore Lake cottage of the William Fischers, or at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, at a cottage on Lake Winnebago, usually the one next to that owned by the Cal Burntons, who were distant cousins of my mother. At home, family week-end outings usually took the form of Kloepfer family picnics at one of the lakes in upper Illinois. We would usually go in a caravan of cars, the Al Kloepfers in their big Haines motor car, Ben and Anna in their Lozier, with grandfather and grandmother as passengers. We had a series of Studebakers, and one car that was called a National.

We never owned horses at the Linden street address, although some of our neighbors had them - the Wallaces, across the street on the corner of Mt. Pleasant had several and we kids used to exercise them around the paddock, and in the winter we would ski-jore. The Eltinge family, down a block or so on Linden had a very fancy rig drawn by four horses with a coachman, and with a coach dog running under the carriage. Grandma Cole had a mare, "Lady Jane", which I used to ride. Also, Perry Leiber (later head of Public Relations for R.K.O. in Hollywood) had a pony and cart in which he delivered eggs and other farm products that Grandma would bring back from her many trips "up country" into Wisconsin, where she had many relatives living on farms. The Leibers,(Maurice Leiber was station agent for the Northwestern at the Winnetka station) lived on the second floor of the Cole house.

The earliest automobile that I can recall was dad's Studebaker of about 1915 or 1916 vintage. We had a one car garage at the rear of the property on Linden street, and a separate structure that housed a gasoline tank of about 100 gallons. There was no automobile service station in town, although Richardson's stables later became a garage. Braun Brothers started an oil company and they would deliver gasoline to our tank. Our driveway was of cinders from the coal furnace. Over the garage was a small loft which I used as a hide-a-way as a small boy. We later tore this structure down and added an attached heated garage to the back of the house.

Our neighbors in the early days were, on the north the Buell family, with two boys, Seton and Kennedy. Later this was the home of Dr. Ida Laird Barroll, with children Adelia and Betty. Next, the Lackners with children Louise, Antoinette, Francis and Herman; then a vacant lot which later became the home of the Benoists, with Edmund and his sister Marilee. Still later this was the Gallagher home. Next, on the corner of Willow and Linden, was the Schmid residence. Their children were David, Warren and Diantha. To the south of our home was vacant property, the lot immediately abutting ours later became the residence of the Arthur Barrett family, with children Barbara, Bill (Saxon), Roland and Carolyn. The large corner lot south of them was vacant for many years, and the Village would flood a skating rink there in the winter. Across the street from us was a large white house belonging to Mary Maverick Lloyd, divorced wife of William Bross Lloyd, the supporter of Socialist Eugene Debs. Children in that family were Bill, Jessie, Mary and Georgia.

I can recall many social occasions at Grandmother Kloepfer's home - the long dining table gleaming with white linen and heavy silver and glass service, cut glass dishes holding home-made pickled crabapple, olives, celery, pickled beet slices, etc. Their parlor suite (given to them by my father) was walnut with plush seats and backs. During the early days the German language was spoken in their home, and I learned many poems and songs in German, now forgotten. Somewhere along the line, probably when the grandchildren were growing up, and hastened by the War with Germany, they all changed over to English, with only an occasional German expletive by grandpa during a whist or bridge game. He was an inveterate card player and greatly enjoyed games with "his boys". To them he was "Pa", never "Dad" or "Father".

I can remember, too, during the war years particularly, summer festivities at Grandmother Cole's house on Ridge Avenue. In those days, before the road was put in along the right-of-way, their yard extended perhaps two hundred feet in front. Long picnic tables were set up in the side yard, with Japanese lanterns, each with a candle, hung from ropes slung above the tables. Grandma always had one or more service men from Great Lakes or Fort Sheridan under her wing. She knitted for them, made cookies and cakes, and week-ends and special occasions, they would be down for Sunday dinners. I cannot remember all who attended the big occasions, but they seated about fifty people. I do remember the home-made root beer in the basement of the big house. We always had to open the bottles, with their lever-action stoppers, in the wash tubs, as many of them would explode. I recall, too, Klondike watermelons in huge tubs of ice. Fourth of July was the big celebration, many service men as guests, and the whole family there.

Mother, having been ill from time to time following the death of her baby girl in 1920, passed away on a Thursday August 24,1933. An autopsy showed a massive tumor on the brain. But through those years, despite her ill health, she maintained a very happy and socially oriented household. Both dad and mother were very active in church affairs, local and national politics, and had a wide circle of friends. Mother belonged to the Winnetka Woman's Club, the Sacred Heart Woman's Club, and several "circles", as the small neighborhood social groups were called. On the day of her death she was attending one of these latter functions with her life-long friend, Jeanette Fischer.

From about 1927 or 1928, until well after mother's death in 1933, the Kloepfer family had rather hard financial going. I worked for dad in 1928 and 1929 in the insurance business, but the stock market crash hurt a great deal and we were arranging more loans than we were selling new insurance. From 1934 to 1937 business improved and dad was doing very well at the time of his re-appointment on February 24,1937 as Postmaster in Winnetka by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  He held the position until his retirement on November 30,1953. In May of 1938 he researched the files of the Post Office Department Washington DC finding the complete record of the history of Postmasters for Winnetka and then presented the information to the Winnetka Historical Society. The first Postmaster was Anson Taylor in 1850 when the Post Office was first established under the name of New Trier. Taylor was the founder of Taylorsport, a part of Glencoe. Charles E. Peck was the 4th Postmaster appointed in March 7,1863. Peck was one of the village founders which was to be called "Peckton" in his honor until his wife suggested "Winnetka" an Indian word for "beautiful land". Arthur Kloepfer was the 14th and again the 17th Winnetka Postmaster.

Dad remarried in 1937 to Faye Ogan James. They sold the Linden street property and moved to an apartment in Hubbard Woods. My brother, Art, had left home before then, thumbing his way to California, where, unable to find a job, he ended up in the Civilian Conservation Corps, where he stayed until he had earned enough to pay his way back home to Illinois.

During this time we had frequent get-togethers with the family, at dad's, at the Bill Kloepfers in Glencoe and at the grandparents'.

Grandma Kloepfer passed away May 19,1940 and grandfather went to live with son Ray, in his first Winnetka home on the corner of Spruce and Provident. Dad and Faye's friends then were the Bill Kloepfers, Leo Schrams, Bill Schneiders, and others who had belonged to the bridge club which used to meet when mother was living. Dad was active in Winnetka during this period, he was Chairman for many years for the Anti-Polio Fund drive, headed the Winnetka Business Mens group of the Red Cross and others. He was Secretary and then President of the Illinois Postmasters Association. He was instrumental in obtaining approval of the Post Office Department's purchase of the old Horace Mann School site for the building of a new, much needed, post office. Grandfather Kloepfer died October 1,1944 and dad was executor of the will.

In 1949 dad and Faye purchased the Dieley house on the south-east corner of Locust and Oak streets. They lived there until his retirement on November 30,1953, when they sold the place and moved to California, staying with us at our home on Duell Street in Azusa, awaiting the completion of a new house at 1045 East Dalton in Glendora. Many of their Winnetka friends had found their way to California. Among these were the Barney Eberles, Harold and Maybelle Voltz, the Richters and Storers and the Vollmans. My brother, Art, now married, had moved to Azusa a few years after we did, so dad had some of his immediate family here and many of his old friends.

Dad was restless in his retirement and although he kept busy with his new home, building a patio, and landscaping, it was not enough. He sold insurance for a time, but did not keep at it long enough to get his brokers license. In 1959 he and Faye took a long trip back to Illinois in their car, and then went on to Florida to visit his two brothers, Ed and Bill. Upon his return he was not feeling well, and when a few month's rest did not improve his health, he was put into the hospital for a series of tests and finally an exploratory operation. His ailment turned out to be inoperable lymphoma, cancer. I do not believe the doctors ever told him just how serious it was, for he spoke many times of moving to Florida. His health failed gradually and in the last few months he was confined to bed. Even then his Kloepfer stubbornness kept him going and we would find him working in the yard, against doctor's orders. Finally, he became so weak a nurse was in constant attendance. On Thursday August 10,1960 he was taken back to the hospital and he died in his sleep that evening. He was buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery after services in his old church, Sacred Heart in Hubbard Woods. His nephew, Father John Kloepfer, conducted the rites.

CHILDREN OF ARTHUR KLOEPFER AND ATTA COLE

In addition to W. Wesley Kloepfer (see Chapter XIV), the children of Arthur and Atta were:

Atta Virginia, b 1914, m (1)1933 to Edwin Erland, who died in 1965. They had four children: Edwin Peter, John Mitchell, Virginia Kay and Robert William; (2) Joseph Shmickler. Ed Erland founded the Erland Electrical Contractors of Skokie, Illinois, which became a very profitable concern. They purchased an old farm in Barrington, some five acres of land and a large house, which they renovated. After Ed's death Peter took over the management of the business. Virginia later married Joe Shmickler, a glove manufacturer and close friend. Some years later the old farmhouse caught fire and burned to the ground. Both Virginia and Joe escaped injury, although Joe had to go out a window in his pajamas. After some delay in resolving the insurance problem, they built a large modern home on the site. At the present writing, Virginia is battling the debilitating Parkinson's Disease. Her married daughter, Ginger, lives in the guest house on the property. Both Peter and Mitchell live close by.

Arthur Dennis, b 1916, m (1) to Elizabeth Paletti, produced triplets, Karen, Karol and Kareen, of which Karen survived. Divorced and married (2) Vera Bund, resulted in two more children - Dennis Michael and Pamela Ann. Again divorced, married (3) Beverly Brown, one more child, Susan Chanteal. Again divorced, married Esther Platt.

As a lad, Art left home and bummed his way to California. Unable to find a good job, he entered the Civilian Conservation Corps, where his companion, Chris Danby, was put to work hacking weeds and digging ditches, while Art was given the position of bugler, his only job being blowing the horn to wake up the barracks and chow call, etc. After earning enough, he and Chris were shipped back to Winnetka. He went to work in the Winnetka Post Office as a Special Delivery messenger and later, regular postman. At the onset of WWII he entered the Air Force, training as a pilot, but they found an eye difficulty which precluded that position and he became a navigator-bombardier. He saw no overseas service. Returning to Winnetka he again served in the Post Office. He later followed his brother, Wes, to California, settling near him in Azusa and going to work in the Pasadena Post Office.

Quitting the Post Office, he opened a bicycle shop in San Marino, which he operated for a number of years. He then was offered a sales job with United Imports, a bicycle importing company, where he became sales manager for the western states. In semi-retirement he worked in a bicycle shop in Garden Grove, where he and his fourth wife, Esther lived.

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