Spv may 2014 by St. Paul Publishing Co.

C ommunity Celebrations “We had pies with every meal,” recalled Trost. His mother also made her famous coffee cake with sliced apples and syrup on top. By age eight, Trost was helping feed the cows, and his parents discovered that he had the strength in his hands to start milking. He was assigned the gentlest cow and learned how to milk and take care of her. His parents milked the other 22 twice a day, at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m., a chore that took about an hour and a half. The family carried fresh milk in five-gallon pails to the milk house where it cooled in concrete tanks filled with ice. Later they bottled the raw milk in half-pint, pint and quartsize bottles. They skimmed off the cream that rose to the top and sold it in halfpint containers. Bottles were washed and sterilized before being filled to prevent impurities and appease the health inspectors. After working in the barn, Trost would wash up, put on a clean pair of overalls and sit down to a hearty breakfast. It might be pancakes one day, and eggs and cornbread the next — al-

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ways something different. Then it was time for school. He had his choice of cutting through a pasture on his way to the McGrath grade 1-4 elementary school at the corner of Charlton and Wentworth, near today’s St. Stephan’s Church, or walking a half-mile to Robert Street and catching a “homemade bus” driven by Mr. Ramisch. The bus was actually a truck rigged with a topper and benches in the bed for the young scholars. The country route ran between Oakdale and Delaware with stops along Robert Street and Charlton. McGrath was a one-room school house, and in 1934 had 18 students in grades 1-4, and one teacher, a young Miss Smith. Grades 5-6 were at Dodd Road School, at Dodd and Smith Avenue. What Trost remembers most were the six weeks he missed school when he had whooping cough. The doctors made house calls back then and recommended lots of rest as well as the placing of mustard plasters on his chest to try and loosen up the phlegm that was settling in his lungs.

While Trost was at school, his dad delivered the milk. There were plenty of dairy farms in the area and each had its own set of customers. The going rate in the late ’20s was nine cents a quart, and five cents a pint. Young Bud helped with deliveries on the weekends.

Severe weather The years of 1934 through 1936 remain crystal clear in Trost’s mind because of the particularly harsh winter conditions, with heaps of snow and temperatures dipping into the minus 30 range for several days in a row. “The barns were OK because of the heat from the animals, but we had to use kerosene heaters in the motorized panel truck (purchased in 1931) to keep the milk from freezing,” he recalled. When Trost was 13, his dad began to feel the aches and pains of what was then called chronic rheumatism, most likely arthritis. His joints and back stiffened and he couldn’t keep up with the heavy work. Trost had to quit school after eighth grade to take over the

The Trost family farm, located near present-day Robert Street and Marie Avenue, is commemorated in this painting by Trost’s son, Tim. farm at age 15. He plowed 40 acres with a horse and plowshare and milked most of the cows. “It had to be done,” he said. “We had to keep going.” His mother did the bookkeeping and Bud’s younger

brother Calvin helped with the milking, bottling and delivery. This was during the Great Depression, so the Trosts were grateful that they had work and food. Trost was witness to one of the most memorable events in Minnesota his-

tory. He began making his milk rounds on November 11, 1940, which started out as a warm, balmy morning with light fog. By 10 a.m. the first flakes of snow appeared, the wind picked up Bud Trost / Page 19 For More Information

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St. Paul Voice - May 2014 - Page 5