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Show CENTERVILLE I HXSTO filC&L SOCIETY f sports, but baseball, requiring nine men, became the favorite, so the Haacke baseball club was organized. organiz-ed. After the death of the older brother left a vacant spot, the team was filled with eight Haackes and various other men from the south Bountiful area. Herb was the star center fielder. When Maye's mother passed away in 1924, Grandpa Porter and five young children were in need of a mother, so Herb and Maye voluntarily volun-tarily moved in and provided the care needed to get these children grown and on their own. Herb eventually even-tually purchased the home, and labored long and hard to make it into an attractive place where he could raise his family with pride. In spite of the extra responsibilities respon-sibilities and hardships that Herb and Maye had taken on with the Porter family, they still opened their home and their hearts to two little girls who were left homeless in 1940. They also adopted the girls, aged six and eight, and raised them to beautiful young womanhood. Herb believed that if you lived in a town you should become part of it, and soon began his civic career which spanned many years in Centerville. His first project and main interest was the cemetery, a mass of sagebrush, cheatgrass and oakbrush clumps truly unsightly and forlorn. Everyone has heard the story of J. Golden Kimball telling the people peo-ple assembled at the grave of B.H. Roberts, "You're laying away a good man here, but what a hell of s place to be laid!" . Henry Cleveland was mayor at this time, with Wallace Walton, John Q. Adams, Clarence Reeves CONT. ON PG. B-6 and well. He received his discharge papers in Logan, Utah, Jan. 4, 1919. His safe return was a relief to his parents, especially after having received word that he had drowned, as they thought they had lost another an-other son to the ocean. (His older brother had died while en route home from an LDS mission to New Zealand and was buried at sea.) After very brief stints working at Sweet Candy Company and Harry L. Bracken Cylinder Company, he settled down to a job with Hatch Dairy, a job that lasted 32 years. How did he meet Verona Maye Porter, who was to become his wife? Well, his dad rode the same Bamberger train to work that Maye rode. They became acquainted and had many conversations. Haacke elaborated on each of his sons, their qualifications, commitments and availability, and told Maye that she could have his son Herb who was in France winning the war. Upon Herb's return, he did meet Maye, and after a proper courtship they were married May 26, 1920, and made their first home in south Bountiful. Three years later he purchased pur-chased his first new car, in which to show off his new baby daughter. He felt the first female to come into the Haacke family in 34 years deserved something special. The nine Haacke brothers loved By VES HARRISON i We wish everyone in Centerville, both those who personally knew Herbert Haacke, and those who didn't, had attended our meeting Sept. 5. For those unacquainted with him it was a lesson in personal dedication, devotion and unstinting labor for his adopted community. For those who did know him it was a trip back in memory to a simpler time, a time when one man could make a big difference in the town. Two of those who knew Herb best, his daughter Melba and her husband Frank White, held our attention at-tention with an interesting account of Herbert E. Haacke s life. Frank told of meeting Herb in 1939 when he started courting Melba. Like his marriage to Melba, his close friendship friend-ship and affection for Herb was enduring. en-during. Melba then told the history of the Haacke family, converts to the LDS Church from Germany, who settled first in Salt Lake City, then moved to Lethbridge, Canada for two years, where father Haacke worked at the Lethbridge Iron Works. Herb was bom April 13, 1900 while the family was still in Salt Lake City. He was the fifth of nine brothers. His mother had seven boys, and upon finding that the next birth was twins and still boys she declared it was time to quit. She did have one girl, their first, but the baby died when only a year old. The family moved back to Utah in the spring of 1911. Two of the boys rode home in the cattle car so they could feed and take care of the family cow. They settled in Bountiful, Boun-tiful, where Herb attended various schools until his graduation from the eighth grade. He then went to work for Thomas Winegar at the old Woods Cross Mercantile Company Com-pany for $1 a day. In October 1917 he joined the army. Being only 17 years old, he moved his birthdate back one year so he could enlist. He sailed from New York to Liverpool, the cross- 1 ing taking 15 days. While in France, most of his time was spent moving from town to town, and Jiving in bams when they could find them. In 1918 France suffered along with the rest of the world with the great influenza epidemic. Herb became ill and was listed among those expected to die, and so his clothing was taken and issued to another. He did recover, however, and had to be given new clothes. While he was in France his folks received a telegram stating that he had been drowned in a large tidal wave that swept the beach where they were camped. Herb was on guard duty and was not present when the count was taken, and it was assumed that he had drowned. A second telegram was sent to his home saying that he was safe , fffWFJT OF A ttm LtNE OF tUWrXtOUS FT: - -g(BV 4 U JSmmU k Semi 3 mo XJJP 111 F JSff I inm board rST I iv' VI . :FC&oKt I mm n his election , JTV m LiOMArb wits wove I 1.- v 1 " SS53S-SSW,5 IMAYf PORTER I m 7mM2rc. MAY 25; 1920.... 13 MA Jfrww AND NOW A U1TIS I THE WOODS CROSS Vj- i GRANDSON GRACES I BASEBALL TEAM Of THE X J V ,V,W MONTHS IN m FAMILY, I A Z)Wf COVNTY LEAGUE I Vj 5 LI UNCLE SAM 2 TWO LOVELY LITTLE I w A GttF BROTHERS . . SUNS. I lVeJ-MM THE STAR - -VVTW l CENTEX fiDEP. C.H.S. INFORMATION fishing or traveling, but he always had time to lend a hand wherever needed, and he influenced many lives. In 1965 he was involuntarily retired, as he was reaching the mandatory man-datory retirement age of 65. This came as quite a jolt to him, and for a time he felt quite lost. Melba said that he did appreciate the night that was held in his honor on March 26, 1966, "Herb Haacke Appreciation Night spearheaded by Ves and Kay Harrison, Lowell and Marjean Steed, Les and June Beer and Harry and Lucille Fletcher. Melba read a letter written to Heber in 1970 by Val L. Mitchell, then assistant professor of meteorology at Montana State University, Uni-versity, expressing appreciation for the lessons and encouragement given him by Herb. She closed by reading from a letter written by Dorene following Herb's death in January 1983. In that letter Dorene concluded with, "I looked out over Centerville on that clear, sunshiny day, and thought, 'Uncle Herb, that town is truly more beautiful because you lived here. And isn't that what it's all about?' Frank then related a few more instances in-stances in Herb's life. Herb had a somewhat quick temper which sometimes got him into a little hot water with some folks. This bothered him, and shortly before his death he asked Frank to ask all whom he may have offended to forgive him. Following Frank and Melba's presentation several townspeople arose and related experiences they had had with Herb, and the Whites displayed four large albums of Herb's life and accomplishments. It was a fascinating portrayal of a rich . and unselfish life. We believe it could be said that "they don't make them like that anymore. The historical society has a treat in store for those who attend our meeting on Oct. 3. Editor Judy Jensen and others of the Clipper staff will detail the history of this fine paper and give us many early-day early-day tidbits of Davis County, with special emphasis on old-time Centerville happenings. You will enjoy this one! CONT. FROM B-7 and Harold Roberts on the town board. Herb was made chairman of the project to beautify the cemetery. He worked untiringly on this project, pro-ject, without pay. After completing his daily milk run, it was up to the cemetery from 2 p.m. until dark each day, changing this nightmare . into a beautiful dream. Many days Maye took his supper to him, and sat and watched until the setting sun told Herb it was time to go home. Hie entire area was cleaned and leveled. Herb and Martin France, with the help of an old gray mare, made progress against almost insurmountable in-surmountable odds. Oak clumps were removed and attractive trees were planted. Curbing and oiled roads were installed. Herb designed and built many concrete decorative pots in which flowers were planted. Russian olive trees, donated by Porter-Walton Company, were planted along the east side to form a wind break. Herb, Roy Rigby, Leland and Rodney Porter, Leonard Peterson and others dug, balled and hauled in 82 native Utah junipers from Stockton. A letter from Dorene Rushforth Jones, a niece, stated, "Many of the graves were unmarked or had temporary tem-porary markers. To uncle Herb this was not right, as he felt that all the graves should have permanent markers. Be bought a set of lead letters and made a frame, and I remember re-member watching him mix the cement, ce-ment, pour it in the frame, smooth the cement, round the corners and place the letters and dates in. ' ' He built the entrance into an attractive at-tractive area to enhance the beauty of the total project With the installation in-stallation of a sprinkling system, the lawns, trees, flowers and shrubs have all flourished. It was considered con-sidered by many to be the prettiest cemetery in the state. As if all of this donated labor of love were not enough, Herb served three terms on the town board and was elected mayor in 1945. In 1950 he became Centerville s first full-time full-time employee. Thus began many years of service as city engineer, water master, marshall, sexton, garbage gar-bage collector, road supervisoryou name it. In those days the graves were dug by hand. One time Herb was digging digg-ing a grave alone, and when it was finished he realized that he couldn't get out by riimself. Jimmy Tony happened along and helped him climb out Herb was Centerville' s "Jack-of- all -trades." You have heard the expression, ex-pression, "Let George do it." In Centerville it was, "Let Herb do it" He spent so much time assisting the Jaycees with their projects pro-jects that he was made an honorary . member. He did much work on the old Soldiers' Memorial Hall, building a projection booth for movies, stenciling stencil-ing a floral design around the entire interior walls, etc. Orval Leak added add-ed to the atmosphere by painting a beautiful scene on the stage curtain. Melba remembers with fondness those old picture shows, the three-act three-act plays, vaudeville skits, visits by Santa Claus and other events. Herb never took time for hunting, |