Joseph Charles Diederich6 (John William5, John4, Johann Nicolaus3, Paul2, Johann Nicholas1) was born 29 June 1895 at Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, the son of John William Diederich and his second wife, Wilhelmina Van der Heyden. He was the youngest son although the baby of the family was his sister, Viola. His birth is recorded in Winnebago County birth records, v. ___, no. ___. The birth record gives his name as Joseph Diedrich, his father's name as J.W. Diedrich, and his mother's name as Minnie Van der hyden. It was signed by W.A. Yirdon of Oshkosh 1 July 1895 and registered 6 July 1895.

He always said he would live to be a hundred years old, and he almost made it. He died Tuesday, 17 August 1993, a few weeks after his 98th birthday, of heart failure at the Portage County Nursing Home, Stevens Point, Portage County, Wisconsin. The funeral was held Thursday, 19 August 1993, at St. Bronislava Roman Catholic Church at Plover, Portage County, and he is buried in St. Paul's Catholic Cemetery at Bloomer, Chippewa County, Wisconsin. His death is recorded in Portage County death records, v. ____, no. _____, and obituaries were published in the Stevens Point Daily Journal and the Chippewa Falls Herald Telegram.

He married Alice Florence Yost 5 September 1928 at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Valley Junction (now West Des Moines), Polk County, Iowa. Rev. ________________ presided. Witnesses were __________________ and ________________. The marriage is recorded in the marriage register of the church. See also Polk County marriage records, v. ___, no. ______.

Alice Yost was born 17 June 1900 at Stuart, Guthrie County, Iowa, the daughter of William Clifford and Hannah Elizabeth (Russell) Yost. She was baptized 1 July 1900 at All Saints Catholic Church at Stuart. Her birth is recorded in Guthrie County birth records, v. ___, p. ___.

She died 7 December 1985, age 85 of heart disease at St. Michael's Hospital at Stevens Point. The funeral was held __ December 1985 at St. Charles Roman Catholic Church at Chippewa Falls, Chippewa County, Wisconsin, and she is buried in St. Paul's Catholic Cemetery at Bloomer. Her death is recorded in Portage County death records, v. ____, p. _____, and obituaries were published in the Chippewa Falls Herald Telegram.

Joseph Charles Diederich was named Joseph in honor of his uncle, Joseph Diederich, but he preferred to use his middle name, Charles, and most people called him "Charlie". He usually signed his name "J. Chas. Diederich".

Alice Florence Yost was actually baptized "Florence Alice", but when she was still an infant, her parents reversed the names, and she was always known as "Alice".

In October 1899, Charlie's parents purchased a 160-acre farm in the Town of Grow, Rusk County, Wisconsin. Charlie was only four years old that first winter, but he never forgot it. The family lived in a small log house, hastily constructed before winter set in. His father killed a deer and strung it up from a tree so the howling wolves couldn't get at it, and the meat from that deer got them through the winter.

Charlie grew up on the family farm. It was not good farm land. The pine had been logged off by the Hein Lumber Company, leaving land that was rocky, marshy, and full of hardwood trees and pine stumps. It was too far north for a reliable growing season, but Arnie Verhyen, who was married to his mother's sister, was a real estate agent for the Hein Lumber Company, and he persuaded the Diederichs to buy the land.

Charlie's education consisted of eight grades at a one-room rural elementary school which Rusk County had paid his father $800 to build. Despite the scanty education, Charlie was very adept at shorthand arithmetic (which is no longer taught), and he enjoyed reading. Later in life, he attended the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire where he audited courses for many years.

Charlie worked on the family farm but did not enjoy it. To escape the hard work on the marginal land, he took a job traveling throughout the West collecting for subscriptions to Colliers Encyclopedias, Great Books, and other publications. After his brother, Bill, was killed in an accident on the farm, he returned to Rusk County to help his parents work the land. He was glad when his father decided to retire, sell the farm, and move to Ladysmith, the county seat.

The United States entered the first world war on 6 April 1917 by declaring war on Germany. On 7 December 1917, the United States declared war on the Austrian empire. A few months later, on 29 May 1918, Charlie Diederich enlisted in the United States Navy at Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, even though he could not swim. He was assigned serial number 131-21-91 and on 2 June 1918 was assigned to the receiving ship at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington, for training.

He applied for submarine duty and on 20 August 1918 was transferred to the naval training camp at Pelham Bay Park, Bronx County, New York. On 29 October 1918, he was transferred to the receiving ship Bay Bridge at Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. A week later on 8 November 1918, he was assigned to the U.S.S. Frederick, a cruiser based at Norfolk, Virginia. Aboard the U.S.S. Frederick, he spent his working hours shoveling coal to fuel the boilers. The war ended while his ship was in a convoy headed for France. When the Frederick returned to the United States, he was honorably discharged on 4 January 1919, with the rate of seaman second class.

After the war, he returned to Rusk County and formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Henry John Arts, to sell Chevrolet automobiles at Ladysmith. One day, Charlie figured out a way to connect a small Philco radio to the electrical system of an automobile and thereby invented the car radio.

About 1902, Alice Yost's parents moved from Iowa to eastern Pennsylvania, where her father went to work in an iron forge at Crum Lynne, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. He was employed there from 24 March through 14 October 1902. In late 1903, he began working in a meat market at Spring City, Chester County, and the family apparently lived there during most of 1904.

In 1905, her parents moved back to Stuart, Iowa, where her father returned to work for the Rock Island Railroad. When Alice was nine years old, her father was transferred to Valley Junction, a Rock Island division point. She grew up there and graduated from Valley Junction High School in 1917.

She then took a secretarial course at Capital City Commercial College at Des Moines and in July 1918 obtained a temporary job as secretary to a lawyer in Adair, Adair County, Iowa. He had been appointed county judge of Adair County and was closing his law office; his former secretary had left to take a civil service job at Washington, District of Columbia.

The job lasted three months, and in the fall of 1918, she returned to Valley Junction and obtained a clerical position in the car repair department of the Rock Island Railroad.

In 1920, a severe economic recession began, and she was laid off when the railroad reduced its clerical forces in all division offices to a skeleton staff.

About this time, her parents sold their home at Valley Junction and bought an 80-acre farm near Ladysmith. Although her father kept his job as a conductor on the Rock Island, her mother and the younger children moved to Rusk County, and Alice moved to St. Catherine's Hall for Business Girls in Des Moines. She worked for several employers after being laid off by the Rock Island, but in the late summer of 1921, she decided to move to Rusk County so that she could be a companion to her mother who managed the family alone.

Soon afterward, she obtained a secretarial job with the Pioneer National Bank at Ladysmith and remained there until June 1922, when her father became disenchanted with the idea of farming and the separation from his family and brought his wife and children back to Valley Junction. It was while she lived in Ladysmith that Alice met Charles Diederich. However, Alice did not like Ladysmith, nor Wisconsin for that matter, and welcomed the return to Iowa.

After her return to Valley Junction, she became secretary to five insurance agents of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company.

In July 1923, she moved to the nation's capital to take a civil service job as secretary to Miss Ruth O'Brien, Chief of the Division of Textiles and Clothing, Department of Home Economics, Department of Agriculture. Miss O'Brien had been Dean of Chemistry at Iowa State College, and Alice enjoyed working for her fellow Iowan whom she described as "99 percent Norwegian with her father's Irish name. The most Irish thing about her was her red-blond hair and a great sense of humor." While working in Washington, Alice lived at St. Catherine's Home for Business Girls operated by the Sisters of Mercy.

In October 1924, her father was seriously injured in a train wreck, and she returned to Valley Junction to be with her parents while her father recovered. She became secretary to the senior vice-president of Royal Union Life Insurance Company, a Des Moines-based company, and until her marriage in 1928, continued to live with her parents. For a year and a half she contributed her entire salary toward the construction of a new home her parents built at 625 12th Street, Valley Junction.

Charlie Diederich visited Alice Yost at Valley Junction periodically during the years 1924–1928 and proposed in ______. Alice Yost was the girl of Charlie's dreams, and his persistent courtship led to their marriage in September 1928. Despite her lack of enthusiasm for Ladysmith, she agreed to live there. They resided at ______ ____________ Street, Ladysmith, in a five-room bungalow with a large glassed-in front porch from which they could watch the sun rise over the Flambeau River.

The depression started a year later and the partnership of Arts & Diederich broke up in the fall of 1931. The family moved to Bloomer where Charlie became a salesman for Riley Chevrolet Company. They rented a house at 1521 11th Street.

In 1932, Charles obtained the Pontiac franchise for Bloomer and started his own business, the "Auto Exchange". He also sold farm implements manufactured by Allis-Chalmers and New Idea. During the decade that followed, Charlie Diederich was reasonably successful, considering the depression. However, he invested all his earnings into a vast hoard of spare parts, obtained by "junking out" old cars. He stored the parts in bins in two huge rented barns that had once been livery stables.

Charlie liked the number 2. His phone number was 2222, and his license plate was 2222. He kept a pet bird, a white cockatoo named "Dewey", at his shop.

In June 1936, the Diederichs bought a small bungalow on Highway 53 in the Village of Eagleton, about nine miles south of Bloomer. Their two oldest children commuted to Bloomer each day with their father to attend St. Paul's Parochial School. In May 1939, the Diederichs sold the home in Eagleton and rented a house on the Martin farm, several miles west of Bloomer on RFD 1. In October 1940, the family moved back to Bloomer and rented a house at 1920 Kranzfelder Street.

When the United States entered the second world war following the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, automobile manufacturing was drastically curtailed and gasoline rationed. Assuming that the war would last a long time and that the prospects for an automobile dealership were dim, Charles liquidated the entire stock of cars and parts, for a fraction of its value, through an auction in April 1942. If he had stayed in business during the war, he might have become a millionaire because he had the parts needed to keep old cars on the road. As it was, he was able to collect only a fraction of the accounts receivable he was owed. Charlie never forgot that costly strategic mistake, and later in life he became a pack rat.

After liquidating the business in April, the Diederichs moved from Bloomer to a cottage on Lake Wissota, about five miles east of Chippewa Falls, and Charlie became an inspector at an artillery shell manufacturing plant near there. In September 1942, they bought the house at 43 East Elm Street, Chippewa Falls.

After the war, when the defense plant switched to making pressure cookers, Charlie became a salesman for the Ford dealer in Chippewa Falls. However, there was huge pent-up demand for automobiles so the Ford dealer decided he didn't need a salesman. Charlie then became a tire salesman for Montgomery Ward & Co. He was so successful, he soon was earning more than the store manager. He was offered a lower paying salaried job as "assistant store manager." He left and worked for a while as a salesman at the Gamble Skogmo store and then for Rogness Battery & Electric Service. Eventually, he became a siding and roofing salesman, but that involved traveling the countryside, and it was hard to make enough money to cover his travel expenses.

Charlie Diederich had a dream, and it involved a farm near Bruce in Rusk County. The notion of owning and operating a small farm was not an easy one for the family to understand because he did not like farm life when he was a young man. In fact, he had enlisted in the Navy during World War I, even though he could not swim, as an alternative to becoming a farm laborer.


In ______ 1947, Charlie bought a 225-acre farm in the town of ______, Rusk County, ___ miles south of Bruce. The family moved from Chippewa Falls to the farm the following year. However, while Charlie enjoyed living on the farm, it turned out that he didn't actually enjoy farming. Moreover, the farm wasn't big enough to be successful so he continued to work as a salesman and would leave the family with the chickens and goats while he drove around the countryside selling roofing and siding. One day the barn burned down. It was not insured. That catastrophe ended any hope of making the farm go so when winter came, the Diederichs moved to a rented house in Bruce and lived there until _______ 19__. They sold the farmhouse and 160 acres, retaining 65 acres, and moved back to their home in Chippewa Falls in _______ 19__.

However, Charlie always had a fondness for the remaining 65 acres. He would visit it as often as he could and dream of building a modest home on it someday where he could watch the beavers dam their pond. He wanted the 65 acres to stay in the family as a legacy for his children and hoped that they might someday subdivide it and each of them live on his or her portion of it. That was not to be. After Charlie had moved into a nursing home, and exhausted his savings, he could not obtain financial aid from the state unless he disposed of this valuable real estate. Reluctantly, his children agreed to the sale and it brought $______ in a sale to _____________ in ________ 19__.

While in Bruce, Alice obtained a clerical job with Flambeau Plastics to supplement Charles' income from selling. After returning to Chippewa Falls, she became an office employee of the W. E. Brady Company in September 1951. The Brady Company manufactured industrial tapes for atomic plants In 1953, the Brady Company moved its operations to Milwaukee. Alice became a secretary at Chippewa Falls Senior High School in November 1953. She retired from that position on 1 July 1968.

After the family returned to Chippewa Falls, Charlie gradually retired. He took up lapidary and began to attend classes at the vocational school. Each day, he enjoyed walking over to the Leinenkugel brewery for his two free glasses of beer. He also became a pack rat and bought and saved a hoard of old car parts and other items that many considered useless but which were his treasures.

After his sister, Theresia, died in 1980, Charlie decided to enroll at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire to audit journalism classes. Theresia had written a few stories which she had never published, and Charlie thought he might learn enough to be able to edit them and get them published. He attended classes at the university for about five years.

After his wife, Alice, died in 1985, Charlie lived alone in the big house on Elm Street in Chippewa Falls for several years. In 1988, he sold the house and moved in with his daughter, Mary Alice Lanke, at Plover. He spent a lot of time with the other senior citizens at the Lincoln Center. When his health began to fail, he moved to the Portage County Nursing Home, where he lived until he died. Even when he was confined to a wheelchair, he continued to be a happy person, and the staff of the nursing home described him as a man who always had a song on his lips.

Charlie Diederich was a member of the American Legion club, the 40 & 8, a special military regiment of veterans who had served in France, the Last Man's Club, the Knights of Columbus, and the Catholic Forestors.

Alice Diederich was a member of the Catholic Women's club, ________________________________________________________.

The secret of Charlie Diederich's longevity was no doubt his personality. He was a gentle man who avoided stress and confrontation. He rarely became upset or angry. He was a happy person. He was laid back but by no means lazy. He did not let problems worry him or cost him sleep. He suffered many setbacks and frustrations during his life, but they did not defeat him. He had no bad habits, although he liked an occasional cigar and a small glass of beer or brandy.

He was a religious man with an abiding faith in God and the Roman Catholic Church.

He was an optimist and an entrepreneur, but he never made a lot of money. He believed in buying low and selling high, but he was too naive and generous to be truly successful in business. Because he was gregarious and enjoyed meeting and talking with people, he was a natural-born salesman. At one time, he seemed to know almost everyone in Rusk County, Wisconsin, and all their extended family connections as well.

By contrast, Alice was uptight. She was very intelligent and enjoyed discussions about philosophy and religion with her friends in the reading club. She could play the piano. She cared very much about appearances, and Charlie's habits of storing old cars and window frames and discarded lumber in their side yard distressed her very much. She was ashamed of the mess because all her friends had nice, neat homes. Her economic circumstances also pained her. Most of her friends were wives of professional men. Nevertheless, she dutifully went along with Charlie's whims. She felt
helpless and frustrated, and it made her angry and bitter. After she went back to work, their relationship deteriorated, and they slept in separate rooms.

Joseph Charles and Alice Florence (Yost) Diederich had six children:

John William Diederich = Mary Theresa Klein
Joseph Charles Diederich = Katheryn Louise Miller
James Edward Diederich
Mary Alice Diederich = Allen Gregory Lanke
Elizabeth Anne Diederich = Roger Lee Martineau
Francis Anthony Diederich = Shirley Leone Michael

i. John William Diederich

B. 30 Aug 1929 at Ladysmith, Rusk County, _________. He was baptized __ ___ ____, at _______ Church at ______________. His sponsors were __________ and __________. See the baptism records of the church, p. __. His birth is recorded in _______ County records v. ___, no. ____.

M. 25 November 1950 - Mary Theresa Kline at ________ Church at Port Washington, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. Rev. ______________________ presided. The witnesses were _____________________ and _________________. See the marriage records of ____________ Church, p. ____. Also see _____________ County marriage records, v. ______, no. ______. She was born _______________, at _____________, _____________ County, _____________, the daughter of ________ and _________ (_______) Klein. See ______________ County birth records, v. ______, no. _______. They reside at 3751 Little Neck Point, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 23452. They had 13 children.


ii. Joseph Charles Diederich

B. 1 Aug 1931 at Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wisconsin. He was baptized __ ___ ____, at _______ Church at ______________. His sponsors were __________ and __________. See the baptism records of the church, p. __. His birth is recorded in _______ County records v. ___, no. ____.

M. 14 August 1957 - Katheryn Louise Miller at ________ Church at Springfield, Greene County, Missouri. Rev. ______________________ presided. The witnesses were _____________________ and _________________. See the marriage records of ____________ Church, p. ____. Also see _____________ County marriage records, v. ______, no. ______. She was born _______________, at _____________, _____________ County, _____________, the daughter of ________ and _________ (_______) __________________. See ______________ County birth records, v. ______, no. _______. Reside at 210 Puritan Avenue, Highland Park, Wayne County, Michigan, 48203.


iii. James Edward Diederich

B. 15 Aug 1933 at Bloomer, __________ County, Wisconsin. He was baptized __ ___ ____, at _______ Church at ______________. His sponsors were __________ and __________. See the baptism records of the church, p. __. His birth is recorded in _______ County records v. ___, no. ____.

D. 22 September 1940 at _______________, _____________ County, _________ and is buried in ____________________ Cemetery at _____________________. See _______________ County death certificates, v. ______, no. ________.


iv. Mary Alice Diederich

B. 6 Mar 1936 at Bloomer, Chippewa County, Wisconsin. She was baptized __ ___ ____, at _________ Church at ______________. Her sponsors were __________ and __________. See the baptism records of the church, p. __. Her birth is recorded in ______ County records v. ____, no. ____.

M. 24 October 1949 - Allen Gregory Lanke at __________ Church at Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Rev. ______________________ presided. The witnesses were _____________________ and _________________. See the marriage records of ____________ Church, p. ____. Also see _____________ County marriage records, v. ______, no. ______. He was born _______________, at _____________, _____________ County, _____________, the son of ___________ and _________ (_______) Lanke. See ______________ County birth records, v. ______.
Reside at 160 North 70th Street, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, 53213.


v. Elizabeth Anne Diederich

B. 8 Mar 1938 at Eagleton, Chippewa County, _________. She was baptized __ ___ ____, at _________ Church at ______________. Her sponsors were __________ and __________. See the baptism records of the church, p. __. Her birth is recorded in ______ County records v. ____, no. ____.

M. 11 July 1959 - Roger Lee Martineau at __________ Church at Chippewa Falls, Chippewa County, Wisconsin. Rev. ______________________ presided. The witnesses were _____________________ and _________________. See the marriage records of ____________ Church, p. ____. Also see _____________ County marriage records, v. ______, no. ______. He was born _____________, at _____________, _____________ County, _____________, the son of ___________ and _________ (_______) __________________.. See ______________ County birth records, v. ______, no. _______. Resides at 1804 Sandy Acres Drive, Plover, Portage County, Wisconsin, 54467.


vi. Francis Anthony Diederich

B. 15 Dec 1942 at Chippewa Falls, Chippewa County, Wisconsin. He was baptized __ ___ ____, at _______ Church at ______________. His sponsors were __________ and __________. See the baptism records of the church, p. __. His birth is recorded in _______ County records v. ___, no. ____.

M. 30 January 1965 - Shirley Leone Michael at ________ Church at Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. Rev. ______________________ presided. The witnesses were _____________________ and _________________. See the marriage records of ____________ Church, p. ____. Also see _____________ County marriage records, v. ______, no. ______. She was born _______________, at _____________, _____________ County, _____________, the daughter of ________ and _________ (_______) __________________. See ______________ County birth records, v. ______, no. _______. Resides at 114 Asbury Drive, Wilmore, Jessamine County, Kentucky, 40390.