Ray & Jenny Nehrlich

Ray was born in 1914 and raised by his parents in the Erie Avenue home. When he grew up, he got a job at the Northern Furniture Company where his father worked. The Northern Furniture Company became the Rway Furniture Company in 1949. Ray was a spindle carver which meant he cut decorative grooves into the wooden arms and legs used in the furniture. The term spindle carving comes from the machine where a stationary spindle with a cutting bit on the end is spun using a motor and a belt. The carver holds the wood in his hands and brings it in contact with the spinning blade to carve the decorative grooves.

	Ray also followed his father into band music by taking up the trumpet. At one point they both played in the WHBL Little German Band. WHBL was and is a local radio station in Sheboygan.
	He also took up the sport of fishing and went on many fishing trips including trips to Canada.
	Ray met Jenny at Martin's Tavern on Michigan Avenue, a social gathering place as were all bars in Sheboygan. They were married in the Fall of 1941. They started a family and had two children, Jan & Wayne, and a dog, Peppy, shown here in his bed in the kitchen.
	They rented an upper flat on 14th Street from the Planesheck's (sp?) who also owned the Harmony Bar a couple of blocks down on 14th just across the Sheboygan River. That bar was also a social gathering place that we visited almost everyday including after church on Sunday mornings.
	The house had a nice backyard and Ray built a charcoal grill with a wood stand and a concrete top on which to cook those bratwurst we enjoyed and for which Sheboygan was famous. On the 100th aniversary of its incorporation as a city in 1953, Sheboygan initiated an annual Bratwurst Day initially celebrated downtown by closing 8th Street. Jenny & Jan are seen in downtown Fountain Park in 1955. Eventually Bratwurst Day was moved to Kiwanis Park.
	Martin's Tavern continued to be a social focus for them as well as their best friends Margaret & Frank Sleber shown on the right with their two daughters Susan & Nancy in front of them. Martin's sponsored various sports teams from basketball, to softball, to bean bag. They even had a social club called the Mitchell Club.
	Here we see the Mitchell Club Auxillary, i.e., the women's side, with Margaret and Jenny in the back row on the left. Every year the Mitchell Club would hold a picnic at picnic area 2 in Evergreen Park. Our church, Trinity Lutheran, would also hold an annual picnic, but that was in picnic area 9 on the other side of the stream going through the park.
	After Ray was at the Northern/Rway Furniture Company for about 17 years , Ray's good friend Frank Sleber got a job with the Sheboygan County Sheriff's Department and talked Ray into joining also. At that time, there were just 12 deputy sheriffs. The county had just two patrol zones: north and south of Rt. 23 and three shifts a day. There were two deputies on the evening and night shifts and one during the day. The sixth deputy for each zone rotated to cover the others on their days off.
	In the early 50's Frank & Evelyn Krause rented the flat below ours for a few years. They moved out, but we remained friends and, in particular, visited them at their cottage on Wolf Lake about half way between Sheboygan and Fond du Lac. We liked it so much that we rented the cottage each summer for a week's vacation. That's Ray and Peppy on Wolf Lake. It was also an experience since the cottage had no bathroom, i.e. we had to use an outhouse.
	Ray did well during his time with the sheriff's department eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant. In addition to his regular patroling, he eventually took charge of coordinating the Safety Patrol across all the schools in Sheboygan County. Here he is (top right) with the best performers who were rewarded with a trip to Wisconsin Dells for their work. Jenny usually went with him on the trip and since they went annually there was no reason for any additional trips meaning the family never went and I still have not been to Wisconsin Dells. Unfortunately, his tour of duty with the Sheriff's Department and his family ended way too early. Ray died of colon cancer at age 53. He went to the doctor with some abdominal pain in August of 1967. The doctor diagnosed it immediately, but when he went to take the cancer out, he discovered it had already spread all over and he simply closed him back up. Ray hung on until Christmas when his kids came home and then passed away while they were with him. I still remember a sheriff's car passing us on Erie Avenue to take the lead of the funeral procession.
	After Ray passed away, Jenny got a job at the Asgrow seed company. Here she is (third from the right) at lunch with her coworkers. She also took some longer trips including a trip to Las Vegas with friends.
	In 1973 she made it to California to visit her brothers as shown in the left photo with Bill. She went again in 1977 with her friend Stephie. The first picture is with Bob, Bill, and Stephie while the second is Bob, Bill, and Bill's wife Kolleen.
	In the early 1980's, Jenny moved out of the 14th Street house and moved into an appartment across from Fountain Park in downtown Sheboygan. On the left is Jenny with her brother Herman and good friend Stephie on the coach in her apartment. On the near right, she is seated with her grandchildren Sonia and Eric as well as her son Wayne and brother Herman. On the far right, we have Herman, her daughter Jan, Jenny, & Wayne on the couch with Wayne's wife Sooja, and Jenny's other grandchildren Chad & Heidi in front.
	Eventually, Jenny had to give up her apartment and move into a nursing home. On the left, she is sitting in the common area with Wayne in front of an aviary. In the picture on the right, she is celebrating her 86th birthday with her daughter Jan and son Wayne. Unfortunately, Jenny did not live to see her 87th birthday as she passed away in 2003.