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THE ROLL People of the Tamarack Falls Paper Company, 1902–1998 |
| I started with the last seniority list, which was posted by the time clock the week we closed, and then added the old-timers people sent me. Years are years of service. If I got something wrong, tell me and I'll fix it. If your name's here and you don't want it to be, tell me that too. — Lyle |
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NO. 3 PAPER MACHINE Lyle Haugen — fifth hand to machine tender, 1962-1998 Wendell Thorson — back tender, 1966-1998 Mike Peplinski — third hand, 1977-1998 Jerry Fenske — fourth hand, 1984-1998 Brian Kuchta — fifth hand, 1995-1998 (the baby of the crew) Arvid Solberg — machine tender, 1941-1983 NO. 4 PAPER MACHINE Bernard "Bernie" Radtke — machine tender, 1954-1998 Gene Wiese — back tender, 1970-1998 Kathy Hintz — third hand, 1979-1998 (first woman on a machine crew here) Tom Duquette — fourth hand, 1988-1998 Randy Zastrow — spare hand, 1991-1998 WOOD YARD AND GRINDER ROOM Arnold Haugen — wood yard, 1931-1962 (my dad) Ed Behnke — crane operator, 1958-1996 Marv Pfeiffer — grinder room, 1972-1998 Leo Gauthier — wood yard, 1946-1981 Clarence Moe — wood yard foreman, 1929-1970 COATING AND SUPERCALENDERS Dick Marquardt — coater operator, 1968-1998 Steve Rusch — supercalender, 1975-1998 Paul LaFave — supercalender, 1983-1998 Harold Kluck — coating kitchen, 1949-1987 WINDERS AND FINISHING ROOM Tou Vang — finishing room, 1988-1998 Mai Xiong — finishing room, 1990-1998 Dorothy Grams — finishing room, 1951-1989 Joyce Sonnenberg — finishing room lead, 1969-1998 Bev Theisen — finishing room, 1976-1998 Larry Ebert — winder operator, 1971-1998 Dennis Pagel — winder operator, 1985-1998 SHIPPING Walt Jansen — shipping foreman, 1960-1997 Kevin Ziegler — forklift, 1987-1998 Ron Buss — railcar loader, 1964-1998 MAINTENANCE Merle Voigt — millwright, 1957-1995 (the whistle man) Chuck Dreier — millwright, 1974-1998 Al Nowak — pipefitter, 1966-1998 Jim Hafner — pipefitter, 1980-1998 Gary Boettcher — electrician, 1969-1998 Dave Schmitz — electrician, 1986-1998 Frank Mikula — machinist, 1952-1990 POWERHOUSE Orville Skaar — boiler operator, 1947-1985 Tim Rohde — boiler operator, 1978-1998 Nick Stoltz — turbine operator, 1982-1998 LAB, OFFICE AND GATE Carol Lemke — paper tester, 1973-1998 Judy Kappel — payroll, 1962-1998 (she knew everybody's business and never told it) Rita Doll — mill nurse, 1958-1994 Howard Ellefson — gate guard, 1971-1998 (knew every car) Nels Tveit — mill manager, 1963-1989 (a good one) Florence Heller — switchboard, 1938-1976 FROM THE EARLY DAYS (sent in by their kids and grandkids) Ole Haugen — dam and mill construction, 1901-1903 (my grandpa) August Krueger — first machine tender, 1904-1938 Stanislaus Grabowski — grinder room, 1907-1946 Emil Guenther — millwright, 1911-1952 Hilda Plautz — finishing room, 1913-1920 Joseph Brunette — wood yard, 1920-1961 |
 GONE SINCE THE CLOSING Arvid Solberg, No. 3 machine, 42 years at the mill — May 1998, age 84 Dorothy Grams, finishing room — September 1998, age 76 Ron Buss, shipping — December 1998, age 57 Orville Skaar, powerhouse — February 1999, age 80 Bernie Radtke, No. 4 tender — April 1999, age 64 Frank Mikula, machinist — July 1999, age 69 Bernie had the most years of anybody, so on the last day we let him shut down No. 3, since his own machine was already down. He never really got used to being home. His wife Lorraine says he walked down to the river every morning at quarter to seven and stood by the fence until the time the whistle would have gone. They buried him in his mill jacket. |
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FOR THE ROLL Forty-four years was Bernie's number. Thirty-five and nine was mine. Nobody wrote a book about us. We wrote our names down on the line at the end of the last roll off No. 3, in marker, crooked, one by one, and some magazine somewhere got printed on it and got read and thrown out when it was done. That's all right. That's what paper's for. You make it. Somebody else says what it's worth. But here is where the names are, all together, in case you wondered who they were, on earth. — L.H., March 1999, one year after |