Elmer Henry Pick, born May 1, 1916, was welcomed into the Adam and Mary Pick family by five sisters and six brothers.

Music has been a part of my life as far back as I can remember. I first heard Perry Como’s Catch a Falling Star on the radio that sat on our kitchen island.

The huge garden on my parent’s farm southeast of Remsen, Iowa, was in the north corner of the east side of the big barn on a hog lot long ago abandoned but rich with “aged” manure. Mom put much thought into the garden’s location. This was in the mid-1970s.

This is the summary of Elmer & Marvel’s early marriage years lived in Ames, Pocahontas, and Fort Dodge, Iowa.

How does one get the attention of one’s children without yelling and screaming? Blow a whistle. That’s what Mom did in the ‘50s. Whether for time to eat, come in for the night, or whatever needed attention, Mom would open the front door and blow.

2004 - Mary at 407 E 5th St, Remsen, IA

This photo is of Mary (Pick) Wagner, the oldest of the Elmer & Marvel Pick children. She is sitting on the steps of her childhood home, 407 E 5th St in Remsen, Iowa. The picture was taken in 2004 when Mary was visiting Remsen for the Pick family reunion.

The Pick kids loved this house, especially Mary. It is full of memories of where she grew up with her eight siblings in an idyllic 1950s small-town setting. She often refers to it as her beloved childhood home.

Before the story is told of the 1958 birth of the youngest of the Pick children, Kathy, the story must first be told of the birth of a brother, Mark, in 1957. Baby Mark died during his delivery at the hospital. Although Elmer & Marvel rarely talked about Mark’s death, several family members and a friend shared their memories of this very sad time for the Pick family.

We had a neighbor boy who was a bully. He hit Barbara on the head with a shovel in a sand pile where a basement was being dug for a new house two lots west of us. The cut required stitches. About that time, Uncle Frank, doing some work on our house for Dad, came to our rescue. He told us to yell 'du bist ein esel' at the boy when he got mean.

Mary shares all the family stories relating to home deliveries ‘back in the day’. From dry cleaning to groceries to dairy, payments were on credit with deliveries to the door of their home.

Marvel’s younger brother, Lorne, Remembers Marvel. These sweet stories from their childhood were told to his wife, Janet, in December of 2003.

How many times did Dad (Elmer) refer to The Great Depression as “The Dirty Thirties”? There was this deep foreboding look and spirit that overtook Dad when he talked about that time. It was clear that whatever happened, you sure as heck didn’t want it happening to you. Unrelenting fear of another Depression plagued Dad for life.

A story on the plight of our ancestors as they took the big voyage across rough waters and follows their journey to start our family roots in America.

This post is an attempt to summarize Adam Pick Farm’s agonizing demise, most notably throughout The Great Depression, using information taken from Sioux County Iowa Abstract of Title, archived Sioux County Iowa atlas’ and area newspaper articles.