In Memory

Stanley John Siefkes

Stanley John Siefkes

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/131281898/stanley-john-siefkes



 
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06/12/14 02:44 PM #1    

Paul Henry Rudolph

Stan and I were pretty good friends late in high school and after for a few years.  If you look in the yearbook for me, you will find that I got in more than I really deserved.  That is because Stan was on the yearbook committee and sweet talked so that I got in the yearbook several times.  His death was not unexpected to me, he had been sick many years.  Jim Kennedy was also a good friend of Stan and I hope he adds to this short memory.  I have many more memories but I think they should will remain untold.


06/13/14 10:16 AM #2    

James Dean Kennedy

In 1958 I met Stan as we went through confirmation (7th grade) at Trinity Lutheran Church on 12th & H St.  Our instructor, Pastor Zardi was often very frustrated with our questions about God and other mis-guided beliefs about life. After repeated threats by the Pastor we settled down and graduated as I don't think he wanted us back the next year.  While serving as candle lighters during church services, Stan did things like snuffing out my candle lighter just before we went up to the pulpit...thus making me out to be a fool.  One time we were asked to leave the Christmas Eve service because we could not stop laughing in the in the darkened, candle lit, sanctuary, while singing Silent Night.  Being forced to leave early, we thought we deserved to have two bags of treats reserved for the children after the service, instead of one...so it worked out pretty well for us. We felt guilty about that for several hours. For entertainment during church services, Stan came up with this great idea: both of us, dressed in our white candle lighter gowns, would stare at an adult church member until they sensed someone looking at them and as they turned toward us, we would quickly turn our head away...we thought they would feel paranoid. (You would have to be there to appreciate it.) And I might add...age 14.  We also would take our offering money, given to us by parents, pick up a church bulletin to present to parents as evidence of attendance, then go to the drug store on 13th & F St. for a coke and a Butterfinger. 

In high school Stan had in his basement a card table.  Paul Rudolph attended some of those poker games.  I saw Paul there gambling.  Sometimes the games became heated and Stan usually won. He dressed up as a gambler with a white buttoned shirt and a visor to hide his eyes. There are more stories about that basement which should remain a mystery.  The refrigerator.  The coffin cloth room.  Etc.

In the summer of 1965, in Stan's 1965 Navy Blue, 289, 4 speed, Mustang convertible, we drove Route 66 all the way to LA.  Top down, hair blowing in the wind.  Yes.  Hair blowing in the wind.  We worked at a warehouse all summer and met up often with Skeats (Dave) Hollibaugh who's brother was general foreman of the company and Skeats was finishing up his tour with the Marines.  It was a great summer, and apartment with a swimming pool, hitting the beaches up and down the coast and trying without much luck to live that "California life of sun and fun." like you see in the beer commercials.  Skeats met his wife Lynn, Stan went back to school and I got drafted.

We both ended up in the Army during the Viet Nam "conflict".  Stan went to Alaska where he greatly enjoyed the sub glacial weather.   I went to Germany.  After Alaska, Stan moved to Phoenix to never be cold again where he worked as an accountant.  

Stan was very bright, with a great, dry, sense of humor and a way of looking at life which reminds me in some ways of the character "Holden" in The Catcher in the Rye.  Stan became disabled several years ago.  I have missed him for a long time. May he rest in peace.      


06/13/14 01:18 PM #3    

John Thomas Dockery

Rest Peace Stan, and God Bless.

 

I have typed three responses, none has posted.. last try. ok this one works. Stan's mom was the LHS librarian, I took Library class so I could hide in the back and do homework, I took another semester of it, as the Dewey Decimal System was too advanced for my infantile character. The poker games were quite memorable, right out of the 1930's, Bare light bulb over the table in the basement, Stan with the see thru green visor on, and elbow protectors. Beer padlocked in frig.....only 25 cents...no one had a quarter that I can remember. Thrill ride to Marysville in the Silver Corvair convertible, 85mph top down, gravel roads, no speed limit in Kansas. Remember tthe summer in his alley lining up concave and convex lenses and magnifiers to make a ray gun. Burned a few dark spots on some garages. Great escapades, fearless, and a wonderful dry humor that made your stomach hurt from laughing.

Thanks Stan for great memories. God Bless

John Dockery

 

 

 


06/13/14 02:56 PM #4    

Dean Dumler

 Six years after high school (where I had limited contact and no poker games with Stan) it was my turn to join Uncle Sam's finest. After a couple of the finest military schools I ended up in Alaska where about the first person I came across was Strac Stan. He just happened to be in charge of placements for the brigade. He had seen my name but didn't think much about it. Anyway, he mentioned assigning me to a field engineering unit where they spent a fair amount of time in the field doing mock battle with the USSR. It was at that point we discussed his position and the workings thereof and he mentioned the adjutant general area needed some clerking duties with good typing abilities. (It's at this point that I wish I could remember who the typing teacher was at LHS that wanted to give several of us 1's for working and with U's for citizenship but found she couldn't. Even keeping us in the front row didn't shut us up but we did the work. It was a skill I didn't think I would have much use for.)  Anyway, Stan brought me into the office and had me type for the powers that be all the while narrating my unique skills. I think I took something like a five minute test with him extolling my virtues without ever once inhaling. To this day I've never seen that kind of skill. Believe me, I thanked him many of the days where it was 70* in the office and 50-60 below outside. Next time someone says "What difference can one person make" I'll be glad to talk to them.

Dean


06/14/14 11:14 PM #5    

Paul Henry Rudolph

Just another small memory of Stan.  Stan and I and Bill Larsen used to go to the Cornhusker late at night on the weekend sometime and you could get fries that looked like curly cues.  I forget the name, maybe pigtails.  Anyway, once in a while Jim Kennedy would show up too, I don't know why.  I did not know Jim very much but Stan seemed to.  I do remember that Jim was a very accomplished burper and did several songs for us.  Stan would do almost anything, I think to keep from being bored.  I seldom won any money at the card games.  Stan had this deck of round playing cards and when he was losing he brought them out.  His luck would change immediately.  I think they were marked.  I stole them for a year or so but finally relented and returned them.  What a time that was.  Maybe Don Gartner could add something.


06/25/14 01:20 PM #6    

Donald Jack Gartner

Stan was a wild man!! I mainly knew Stan the last year of high school and the first year of college. We were on the yearbook staff together and had a lot of fun with Judy, Lorreta and the rest of the staff. I do remember the card games and beer in Stan's basement. When the Magic deck of cards came out Stan's luck always changed.  The placement of mirrors around  the table may have added some to Stan's success.  Stan always sat in the same position at the table. I wonder why? It was great fun and brings back great memories.  I could never figure out how he made the basement of his parents' house off limits to his parents.  As I recall, he locked them out of their own basement. As you guys stated, what happened in Stan's basement should stay in Stan's basement. The trips to Marysville were wild and we should all  feel lucky we made it back to Lincoln alive.  He loved that Covair and drove it like a race driver.  Stan was a fun person to be around !!  May he rest in peace!! Take care guys and see you in Lincoln next year. 


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