LTE – Janice Olson Hill – 11-28-2012

Hi from Juel’s daughter, and the proud owner of that great sign. What fun it’s been since first Cousin Bev sent the picture to Cousin Brian…who sent it to me. The whole family has been waiting.

Now here is another part of the story: Clean wash has always been almost an obsession in our family. My mom was descended from tailors on her maternal grandma’s side and clean, ironed linens were nearly a religion in our family.

Her mom, my grandma, would say (in German) “every person deserves a clean place to lay their head”…it’s more interesting in German. My mom lived in a farm on the road near Norton. My mom and dad met when my dad went to the farm to sell a washer to her mom. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps and after the war they settled here in Sheboygan.

A few years ago I learned of an outreach called Laundry Love. Essentially, it provides clean free wash to families in need. It “called to me” for several years. I kept bringing it up to friends at church and finally, perhaps tiring of me always talking about it, my pastor told me if I felt called to do it, perhaps I should DO it instead of talking about it. This June we will mark three years of doing Laundry Love. Every two weeks either my church or volunteers from another church who jumped in, take over the local laundry and provide that free clean wash for anywhere from 12 to 20 families per session. The need is so great, but its a joyous mission. What’s not to like about clean wash? Interestingly, all the machines are Maytags.

I have many fond memories of the Colfax Messenger arriving in Sheboygan. My parents always received a subscription from Brian’s mom, and always had fun reading who went to visit who!

Thank you for doing the story about that great sign. My dad was a wonderful person. I often tell people I am blessed by what he never taught me. He never taught me prejudice. He never taught me harsh or profane language. He never taught me I was better or worse than any other person. He was kind and generous and if he only had $5 he would find a way to give you $10 if you needed it. He served on his church council, was charter president of our local Optimists Club and retired as the manager of our AAA office. He knew everyone. When he died, our pastor’s eulogy was “Everyone Loves Juel”. They did.

Thank you for helping us all remember him.

Janice Olson Hill