Pamela Jean Baer Schmutzler: Congratulations!

by Jim Graupner

Pamela Jean Baer Schmutzler and her wonderful family celebrated her 60th birthday, Friday evening. Hard to believe, as always, that time passes so quickly when looking at this three-generation photo of Pam, age two, with her mother, Carol Gieseke Baer, and her maternal grandparents, Hertha Aufderheide Gieseke and George T. Gieske.

[Pam's father, George Baer, is the photographer, taking the photo in front of their home in Hazelton, North Dakota, where he had taken the pastorship of St. Paul's Lutheran Church (July 1950) .]

[Left: portrait of Robert E. and Pamela Schmutzler (1982); Right: portrait of their two children, Brent and Tami Schmutzler (1982). Pam and Bob have six grandchildren.]

It's safe to say that Pamela Baer is the only descendant of Fred and Elise Schapekahm Aufderheide to have been born in Africa. The circumstances surrounding her birth are very interesting. I'll try to recount some of the details by drawing from an article Carol Gieseke Baer, Pam's mother, wrote for the Autumn 1983, The Settler, entitled "Recollections."

Carol Gieseke graduated from Dr. Martin Luther College in 1944, and was called to teach First and Second Grades at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Mankato. She and George Baer had been dating, when in 1945 he was called as a missionary for the Synodical Conference in Nigeria, West Africa. In the year that followed, George persuaded Carol to resign her position, marry him, and travel to Nigeria.

"George was ready to go to Nigeria in the summer of 1945, but after World War II it was extremely difficult to get air or sea transportation. After many months of waiting, the Mission Board finally decided to send George to the Synodical Conference Black Mission in Alabama until June 1946. Thus, I was able to finish my second year of teaching and we were married in Mankato at Immanuel Lutheran Church June 25, 1946."

After some difficulty locating a new car that they could take to Africa, they left New Ulm to their departure point in New York on September 14, 1946. Fortunately, the newlyweds stopped in Burlington, Wisconsin, where Carol's cousin Gertrude Boock Graupner and Carl lived, with their family of three little boys. [Photo of George and Carol, standing, and Carl with Jim, Ken and Philip. The new Ford Deluxe stands next to the '38 Chevy at Hall's Point in September, 1946.]

When the Baers got to New York, they boxed up the Ford for shipment to Nigeria. After some delays they finally departed (October 8th) for Robert's Field, Liberia, via Newfoundland, Shannon, Lisbon, and Dakar, Senegal. "To our dismay, that [Robert's Field] was as far as the travel agency booked us, plus many other missionaries. We spent eleven days there waiting for a plane that had room to fly us to Nigeria. Planes were always full, and no advance reservations were possible. Therefore, we finally flew north on Air France's tri-motor, German Junker at almost tree-top level to Sierra Leone. After a day there, we boarded a ship which took us down to Lagos, Nigeria, in six days." From Lagos it took several days by train to Aba (Nov. 2), which was 45 miles from their destination, which was traversed by car through the jungle to Obot Idim, their home for three years. They were quickly immersed into a very different world.

"Our first home at the Mission headquarters, Obot Idim, was a bush house which was built of a framework of bamboo poles covered with mud, a thatched roof of palm leaf mats, and a cement floor. Walls inside and out were covered with a fine white sand. The doors and windows were without glass or screens. Wooden shutters on the windows were seldom closed. A veranda around the house helped to keep it cool in the 90 degree to 100 degree constant, humid heat. Mosquito nettings attached to a frame completely surrounded our bed from after 4 P.M. until morning. Yellow fever and malaria were threats even though we had shots and took an anti-malarial drug daily." The home got its electricity from a portable light plant. This was the home into which Pam would be brought when she was born.

"...our daughter, Pamela Jean, was born October 6, 1947 in Calabar. The hospital for "whites," or Europeans, as we were called, had eight beds. The doctor and nurses were from England. Aides were native blacks. T get to Calabar we traveled one hour by car and two on a river launch; so it meant going several weeks early. We brought back our bouncing, eight-p0und daughter who immediately became a U. S. citizen by registration at the American Consul's office in Lagos."

This photo was taken on a trip to Watertown tavelled by Norbert and Marian Boock and Carl and Gertrude Graupner in October, 1967. Pam would have been 20 years old and about to be married to Robert Edwin Schmultzer on 30 December 1967, in Watertown. [From Left: Marian and Norbert Boock, George and Hertha Gieseke, Gertrude Graupner, and Carol Gieseke Baer.]

The connection between Art and Emma Aufderheide Boock and George and Hertha Aufderheide Gieseke was especially close, not only because Emma and Hertha were sisters, but because the Boocks lived with the Giesekes for a time from 1924, and later purchased a house together. Gertrude baby sat Carol and later were best friends. Carol was a bridesmaid in Gertrude and Carl's wedding in 1939, both graduated from DMLC and taught at parochial schools before they were married.