My Dad

If you’ve read other sections of this website you already know how my interest in the Gottsacker family name came to be. I was born in Madison, WI–my father Tom (Fabian) and his brother Frank, continued the family tradition as printers and moved to Madison after World War II. My uncle Frank was a partner in a printing business in Madison, Littel Printers (yes, that’s spelled correctly) and my dad was a pressman at ‘the shop’ for all of his working life after World War II. For 25 years dad also worked a second job pumping gas at a gas station in Middleton, the town where we lived. Even with two jobs, dad found time to build a garage next to the house, pour the driveway and sidewalks, and play catch with me when I asked. My dad was like so many other World War II veterans–they went off to war for several years, did their duty, returned and said little about their war years. They worked hard to support their families and led modest, but successful lives. Tom Brokaw’s books on World War II veterans describes my dad and the thousands of other like him. Tim Russert’s book, “Big Russ and Me”, is another book about guys like my dad and families like mine. Below is dad in Guadalcanal during the war. All of my family are heros to me. My dad, though, was the best hero of all. (That’s a soda in his hand, not beer).

Mom

Mom was an eternal optimist. When I was very young, she apparently didn’t worry too much about male vs. female roles. She taught me all sorts of things that at the time only girls learned: How to use a sewing machine, how to cook, how to iron my own clothes, how to use a washboard, how to garden, how to do ‘spring cleaning’ and how to wash windows. Dad taught me all sorts of manly things–how to build things, how to work with concrete, how to put in a lawn and care for it, and how to eat raw hamburger with onions and pepper on top (the fancy name for it is ‘steak tartar’). But without a mom like my mom, I would never have been able to cook, clean, or do my own laundry. Mom grew up in Milwaukee and was a life-long fan of the Milwaukee Braves and then the Brewers. She died a few years ago of a heart attack at Brewer stadium, just before the start of a Brewer’s game. She lived life how she wanted and died that way too. The adults in the picture below are just married dad and mom in the center and Bill and Jeanette (Gottsacker) Orth. The kids, left to right are cousins Dave Orth, Mike Orth, Joanne Gottsacker, Tom Orth, and Bob Gottsacker. Bob later became a 4th generation printer at Littel Printing in Madison.

Grandpa

Grandpa Joe was a printer, just like his dad, Frank Gottsacker Sr. Frank Sr. was the first Gottsacker to enter the printing business and was a prominent figure in Sheboygan in his time. Frank Sr. was editor and owner of the National Demokrat (spelled correctly) and was very active in Sheboygan’s economic, social and political life. Grandpa Joe, on the other hand, was a quiet, unassuming guy who loved his family and despite being a business owner, was a life-long democrat and always voted according to the Printer’s Union recommendations, just like my dad. Below is Grandpa Joe and his print shop in what looks to be a bad winter in Sheboygan in 1942. At the bottom is the same building in 2004.