© Glenn

Funeral Services for Erna Sallaska, 90, of Fairview, will be 1:30 p.m., Friday, February 20, 2015 at the Fairview Mennonite Brethren Church. The Reverend Grant Sallaska will officiate. Burial will follow in South Mennonite Brethren Cemetery. Arrangements are by the Fairview Funeral Home, Inc.

Viewing and visitation will be 9 am to 5 pm Monday, February 16 through Wednesday the 18th and Thursday, February 19 until 9 pm. There will be no viewing at the church.

Erna Bartel was born September 10, 1924 on a farm south of Fairview, Oklahoma to Peter and Bienna (Kliewer) Bartel. She was the eldest of eleven children. They lived first across the road from their Kliewer grandparents and then moved to the Patzkowsky place close to Isabella, Oklahoma. Most of her grade school years were spent at Elm Grove country School walking two miles each day to and from school. Her father later bought a buggy and pony that they drove to school. Some boys liked to scare the pony so their teacher let them leave at 3:50 p.m. so they would already be home by the time the other children left school. She attended Peerless which was a two room country school after moving near Isabella, Oklahoma. When she was twelve, her parents bought the Eck place southeast of Fairview, Oklahoma where she attended Progressive School. Erna started high school in 1937. There were no buses so she rode to school for two years with a neighbor, Lawrence Patzkowsky. In 1940 she went to Corn Bible Academy. Eugene Sallaska had his eye on her already and would come to see her. She stayed at her Grandma Bartel’s home where she worked for room and board while attending school. Her senior year (1941-42) brought her back to Fairview where she was needed at home to help with caring for her new baby sister Edna. She graduated in May of 1942. A senior trip wasn’t to be had, due to World War II. Many things were rationed such as sugar, lunch meat and shoes. Tokens were used to buy these things. Erna made her first quilt and embroidered the names of her high school classmates on it. It was hand quilted by Erna and her mother and a treasure she kept all through the years.

Erna learned to play the piano at the age of six, by ear. She took lessons from Loren Nightengale for 15 cents a lesson. She started playing the organ for the Junior Dept. at South Fairview M.B. Church at the age of eight. Her uncles led the singing. At sixteen she was the piano assistant for choir and junior male chorus and sometimes for senior male chorus. When she was eighteen they organized a ladies chorus where she was the director until she got married.

Often when Eugene came to see her she would be hauling bundles of hay. They didn’t get to go many places. Most of their time together was spent in her parents’ front room on the divan. Eugene and Erna were married on September 19, 1943. Eugene was already in CPS Camp since he had been drafted in December of 1942. She went to visit him while he was stationed in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her mother helped her sew her wedding dress. Jake Grunau performed the wedding ceremony and Jody Bob Sallaska played the piano. They lived at several different places in Colorado Springs. Erna worked at Glockner Hospital and then Piggly Wiggly in the bakery and later for Safeway in the meat department as well as a checker. Eugene was transferred to Terry, Montana in March so she moved home until he was discharged in May of 1946. Then in June some men came from Balko, Oklahoma and sold a farm to Eugene’s dad. Erna and Eugene moved there. Weeds were two to three foot high all around the house and out buildings. They cleaned up the place and lived in only two rooms of the house until October, 1946. There were four rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs but no inside bathroom. She carried water to the house with a bucket from the well. The water tasted good. After about a year they put a small stock tank in the wash house on top of the rafters and then piped water to the kitchen so they would have running water. There was no water heater so it had to be heated in an old (miagropa) or iron kettle. Laundry was done on a rubbing board for close to a year when they purchased a gas powered washing machine. Erna did laundry usually on Wednesday while ham and beans simmered on the stove. She washed white and light colored clothes first and ended with overalls and dark clothes. She used the same soapy water for five or six loads and rinsed them twice. She made her own soap from lye, lard and water in a big pan and then shaved it into pieces so the soap wouldn’t stick to the clothes. The clothes were then hung on the lines to dry. The white shirts and girl’s skirts were starched and then dried. Before she ironed them they were sprinkled with water and rolled in a towel. Before getting a gas powered iron Erna heated the iron on the stove. The clothes smelled so good and fresh after being dried outside.

She always baked zwiebacks on Saturdays and lots of times cinnamon rolls to hand out to neighbors. Her favorite was zwiebacks just out of the oven with fresh churned butter melting on them. They always raised pigs and one day each winter their neighbors came over and helped butcher one or two. Sausage was ground. Fat was cooked in a large kettle to make “cracklins”. The lard was used for all her baking and cooking. Head cheese was made from the whole head, tongue and feet. They also pickled the tongue and feet and ate them with fried potatoes. Eugene and Erna raised lots of chickens for meat and for eggs which they sold in town. Every year a big garden was planted and lots of canning was done until they could afford a freezer. The couple also milked around ten or 15 cows by hand and separated the milk and cream into five gallon cans. The cream was taken to town to be sold at May’s Produce so they could buy groceries. Eugene couldn’t milk because he lost his finger in an accident while in CPS so Erna and the children did the milking. While they milked they learned Bible verses.

Eugene helped build the Forgan School and later the Balko School. The children all went to Bethany School which at one time had thirty students. They had boys and girls basketball teams. There were five or six other small schools in the area, so Bethany held the basketball tournament. Erna and another lady made homemade donuts to sell during the tournaments. Always involved in church, Erna played piano, was choir director, helped with Vacation Bible School and taught Sunday school. She was also a deacon. Eugene and Erna had morning devotions with their children and also before bed. They learned to have a strong faith in God.

Eugene worked for Beaver County for twenty-three years. Erna cooked for forty to fifty men at the Beaver Rotary club every Thursday for fourteen years. On Ladies Day there could be as many as ninety people to feed.

After the grandkids were born, they all came and spent two weeks each summer. Angela and Chad would fly into Amarillo, Texas where Erna and Eugene would pick them up. After two weeks their parents would come to get them. Barbara brought Abby and Adam. Clint and Grant would stay several weeks. Sabra and Dane would come for a few days but the kids all ate lots of fried chicken and biscuits and gravy which were their favorites. One time Erna remembered having had all eight grandchildren at the same time. The kids played baseball and croquette, had water fights and the water was cold just out of the well.

In 1984 Erna and Eugene took a four week trip to the East coast: North Carolina, Pennsylvania to see the Amish community, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and then back home through Lincoln and Hesston, Nebraska. They considered this their honeymoon because they never had one when they got married. Then in 1994 they celebrated 50 years of marriage at the Balko MB Church with many relatives and friends. All of their children and grandchildren were present. In 1998 Eugene and Erna were visiting Tom and Barbara, while preparing to go home Eugene suffered a stroke and spent six days in the Norman, OK hospital. Erna had always wanted to move into Fairview, and now following the stroke he agreed it was a good idea. The cattle had been sold and the land put into CRP. Following Eugene’s class reunion in June of 2000 while driving around Fairview they spotted a little house on Cimmaron Drive. Tom and Barbara came to look at it and they decided that very day to put a deposit on the home. The couple sold the farm house and eighty acres and put everything they didn’t want to move up for auction. After just two nights in their new house, they traveled to California for Elsie and Warner’s Golden Anniversary. The Monday following Erna became ill and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Erna underwent surgery that went very well. She gave God the glory for healing her.

The time spent in Fairview was good for them. She got involved in WMS, quilting at church, volunteer work at the Fellowship Home and played keyboard almost every week. Eugene got acquainted with their neighbor named Harold. The two of them took numerous site seeing trips and enjoyed eating out.

Erna lost Eugene January 22, 2007. Erna moved to an apartment at the Fairview Village where she enjoyed participating in activities and played the piano.

Erna was preceded in death by her parents, husband Eugene, one daughter-in-law Cynthia Sallaska and one son-in-law Larry Kroeker, one brother Marvin Ray Bartel and two sisters, Elfrieda Ruth Scholl and Elsie Kroeker.

She leaves behind two sons; Ronald Sallaska and Garold Sallaska, two daughters; Eugenia Kroeker and Barbara Welk and husband Tom, five brothers; Walt and June Bartel, Willard and Doris Bartel, Carl and Virginia Bartel, Leroy and Marilyn Bartel and Erwin and Winnie Bartel; two sisters; Elvina and Roy Short, Edna and Wayne Decker, eight grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Fairview Fellowship Home (Building Fund) or the charity of your choice with Fairview Funeral Home Inc. acting as custodian.

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