Larry Niemoth

Foreman High School

Class of 1962

→ Join 2190 Alumni from Foreman High School that have already claimed their alumni profiles.
→ There are 82 classes, starting with the class of 1934 all the way up to class of 2022.

LARRY'S PROFILE

This is a limited view of Larry's profile, register for free or login to view all their profile information.

Larry Niemoth - Class of 1962 - Foreman High School

First Name	Larry
Last Name	Niemoth
Graduation Year	Class of 1962
Gender	Male
Current Location	Wood Wiver NE
Hometown	Grand Island, NE
Relationship Status	Married
About Me	I was born July 23rd 1944 in Grand Island, NE. The day before my birth, Mom was on hands and knees picking strawberries with my 3 year old sister Judy riding on her back. My delivery was very painful for Mom, she suffered greatly the Dr. had to pull me out with a tongs on my head. The mandatory stay of 10 days for every birth in a 2 story brick St. Francis hospital had to be very warm inside Mom was not too happy she had normal births with 7 other children. Judy and I attended District #71 a one-room country school that had outhouses and the water came from outside using a long-handled pump. There were 21 students kindergarten through 8th grades. My sister Judy, brother Dwayne, sister Jolene and I lived on my Grandfather's farm until he died in 1951. On my 8th birthday we moved to Chicago and attended Falconer Grammar School and Foreman High School, much was different there I visited the Principal 1st day apparently new bib overalls were not dress code as they were back in Nebraska and 1st snow I was told throwing snowballs was a nono, again snowballs were ok in Nebraska there the teacher joined in building forts and having snowball fights. Then came brothers Fred and Steve and sisters Tammy and Laura all attended Falconer. And another thing was out in the hall my teacher bonked me on my chin just for taking the lid off a small box that had a fuzzy black spider pin in it the pin stuck through the bottom of the box and I could make it wiggle. Another thing about Falconer anyone remember Mr. Lipner, he passed a classmate with lower scores than me but failed me because I didn’t do as well as Mr. Lipner said I should so I was sent to Kelvin Park summer school with guys in black leather jackets and ducktails intimidated me enough about Falconer. I was kind of shy of girls not that I didn't secretly have many crushes (some I see here in Classmates and Foreman Alumni websites) but no dating or attending party invites or Prom because that would mean asking a girl and she would probably want to dance, two things I couldn't do if I was paid. The day after graduating from high school, I started work at ITW (Illinois Tool Works) as an engineer designing metal cutting tools, shaper cutters and hobs. I soon transferred down to the main floor where my father, grandfather, and brother-in-law (Kenneth Willard) were in the hob back off department on the night shift, I joined the day shift in the shaper cutter department where we ground all sizes and shapes (some of which I designed upstairs), they were made for cutting gears for auto companies for cutting transmission gears etc. I ground a very tiny cutter with teeth difficult to see except through a viewer it was for turning a satellite camera. This was where the big wages and hours were to be made (I averaged 57 1/2 hours weekly). After work I sped in and out of traffic on my Honda Super 90 to a company that converted vans into custom campers I worked there by myself and went back home, ate supper then went to the basement and built custom grandfather clocks, furniture and kitchen cabinets with countertops sinks then installed them in customer’s homes. My sister, Judy married Ken at an old church made of stones on Cross Lake in Wisconsin after they graduated from Oak Hills Bible College at Bemidji, Minnesota. Cross Lake is split by Wisconsin and Illinois our fence line was the Wisconsin side other side of fence was in Illinois, needed both state fishing licenses because game warden used binoculars before getting in his boat to check on suspicious looking characters. Ken's younger sister Sharon also wanted to attend Oak Hills so she moved from Minnesota for the summer into my folks’ house where I lived, to get job and save money to attend Oak Hills in the fall, she got a job right away a block from our house at a small shop that made campaign buttons/pins for aldermen, etc. My sister Judy's best friend Carla lived right across the alley to the shop where she visited and earlier they gave her a collection of small Elvis Presley pins each had a title of his songs of the late 1950's she gave them to me I took them to Falconer to show them off and hopefully the girls would be envious. One afternoon 2 classmates from Foreman pulled up in front of the house in a 1928 Model A Ford Coupe where Sharon and I were sitting and asked if I wanted to go go carting, I said "cool" they said "ask Sharon" I did and she said "cool" my 1st 'date' was riding in rumble seat with my arm trying to keep from getting too close to Sharon. She loaned me $450 to buy my 1st car so I no longer had to walk 12 blocks to work. It was a 1932 Plymouth sedan freewheeling hydraulic brakes suicide doors all wheels including spare had a key lock on the hubcaps I enjoyed that car. It wasn't long after that we sat on the couch watching TV with my arm over her shoulder on purpose and she didn't seem to mind a bit, but summer ended and she left me for Oak Hills back to Minnesota :( I was sad but wrote her a letter every day. She reappeared at our house to work again through the summer things got more serious, I proposed she accepted. Mom made it known Sharon was not welcome because she didn't care for how Ken, Sharon's brother, was mistreating my sister Judy after their marriage and didn't trust Sharon. So Sharon moved to a tiny studio apartment with her older sister Betty, and I was a frequent visitor this is where my life was changed forever, Praise the Lord. I was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran faith but Sharon led me to accept Jesus as my Lord and savior I was cleansed of all my sins not that I don't slip now and then but HE is always there with open arms and loves me as no one else can and He waits with open arms inviting all to accept Him as their Lord and Savior. I was blessed that evening and pray that everyone experiences what I did. It was the single most important moment of my life. In Illinois without parents' consent before 21 years old (I was 19 Sharon 18) a wedding wasn't going to happen, we could have eloped just around the lake into Michigan where 18 was legal but Sharon's mother advised against it. Next summer Mom's parents were visiting from Nebraska and it was Saturday most everyone was at the Summer cottage on Cross Lake Wisconsin where every weekend was huge gathering, Mom's 2 sisters Marion and Dorothy 1 brother, Bill with their families were frequent but not usually all at same time wall to wall but much fun. Grandma said to me "So when are you gonna marry Sharon?" I said "we can't because Mom says no" Grandma turned and looked at Mom, Mom knew that look and said "OK". This was Sunday so while grandparents were here, and before Mom could change her mind, we were married 6 days later on Saturday September 5th 1964:) fast but all went well. Sharon's mother and brother Roy and sister Betty with husband Delano made the trip down from Minnesota. Sharon borrowed a friend's prom dress bought a new pair of shoes I wore the suit I graduated in. It was Labor Day a three day weekend, so after the tiny reception at my parents’ house. We headed for Mississippi River Palisades Park for the 2 remaining holiday days for our honeymoon, arriving about 11pm to get into camping area, but the guard said "too late", gates are locked, after hearing "but we are on our honeymoon", he gave in and we pitched our tent as quietly as we could and it was Heavenly, Ha:) Next August daughter Deborah made appearance and following year, December daughter Lynn showed up. Sharon got a job at CCC (Continental Can Company) working on the line it was tedious and in a not so good neighborhood. She soon started working for Quaker Oats located in the Merchandise Mart which spans two city blocks along the Chicago River 25 stories high the largest building in the world built in the 30s it was purchased by Joseph P. Kennedy in 1945, her job was in the copy room, just pushing start and copies came spitting out was not yet available she had free medical as did I so we were paid by both companies pocketing $400 each when Deb and Lynn were born. It was my dream to farm but Nebraska was too expensive so I looked at Minnesota near where Sharon was from and early September I signed a contract for deed on 180 acres including machinery and 30 ewes ready to lamb in March. I left Sharon and the girls with her parents and headed for home, anxious to share my news with Dad. I got back to Chicago on September 6th 1968, this was when my parents that afternoon were on their way to the Cross Lake cottage. After an ITW work picnic (where beer flowed freely), they didn't make it. Mom and Dad passed away in a tragic auto accident near Libertyville, Illinois there was 5 minor children in the car but besides bruises the most serious was my sister Tammy had a broken jaw wired together. My sister Judy took into her family of 4 children brother Steve, sisters Tammy and Laura. I took Fred aka Fritz (14 years old) and he moved to Sharon's parents until we moved up to our farm on Valentine's Day of 1969 at Solway, Minnesota. There was 4 feet of snow on the ground so we hired a D-8 cat dozer to open the driveway and yard. We raised sheep and hogs, and gradually I had grade-A dairy and beef cattle--life was good:). We had 3 sons Michael, Chris and Roy. Having the children I didn't want a bull on the place I had our local AI (Artificial Insemination) guy come to breed the cattle but he was a drunk and more than once I had to pull him out of the ditch. So I decided to learn AI and drove to Cary, Illinois to Curtis Breeding Services where they held week long classes for AI. They had a dorm with bunk beds where about 15 guys from all parts of the country shared their stories and history of themselves. In the morning after breakfast we had classes until lunch then off to a barn full of older non producing milk cows where we had hands on teaching AI. We visited the bull housing introduced to some of the bulls ornery and one that enjoyed being petted we were shown the process of collecting semen then at the lab where semen went through the processing ending up in liquid nitrogen tanks. Curtis Breeding Service was started by the man who introduced Baby Ruth’s and Butterfingers. Here is website for anyone to visit to read how the 'Candy King' had a dream evolve. (http://mchenrycountyliving.com/baby-ruths-butterfingers-and-world-class-stud-bulls/) Roy was born in 1974 and that fall when Roy was just a few weeks old I was chopping corn for silage with a 5 ton tractor pulling the chopper and wagon to catch corn trailing behind. Then the feed belts on chopper started to burn and not let stalks feed through the chopper, I jumped off tractor and was about to yank on stalks to relieve tension on belts but thought about neighbor my age who opened the knife cage on chopper and lost his arm just passed elbow. I decided I had 5 kids and I better do this the safe way. I went back to tractor standing in front of left rear tire, I reached across to right side where PTO was to shut it off, well there were 2 short handles on same shaft and I pulled on the hydraulic clutch instead of PTO, the tractor took off at full speed driving over me crushing me I could feel and hear the ribs breaking and then I passed out, it was by the grace of God that my youngest brother, Steve just got home from school a few minutes earlier and was on sitting on the right side fender, he never drove the tractor but got it stopped just before the chopper axle was about to take me out. Yep, I did this all by myself, I guess they call them accidents, not on purpose. I woke up as my brother-in-law, Rod was pulling me out from between the tractor and the chopper axle. The ambulance got there and gave me a very bumpy ride across the corn rows to the local hospital in Bemidji 17 miles away. I had knocked out 3 vertebrae, severed the spinal chord, ruptured bladder, broke both pelvis bones, crushed right rib cage breaking all front ribs some into pieces. The Ural surgeon sewed the bladder back up but the hospital was not equipped to handle spinal injuries, they did put in chest tubes in my lungs and installed a tracheotomy and put me on ventilator to stabilize me. After five days in a room with a private duty nurse where my grandmother Frieda her sister Erna and Erna's husband drove up from Nebraska to visit me. I was then moved to ICU and informed my wife that I was stabilized and I would live. I didn't know I had a trach and couldn't understand why I couldn't talk. After 10 days in ICU I was transferred to St. Luke's Hospital with an 11 story wing of just neurological disorders in Fargo North Dakota. 10 days at Bemidji Hospital was long enough to develop bedsores on my back so surgery had to wait about 3 weeks until sores healed. This was when girls went braless and with all the young nursing students I had much to take my mind off my injuries (a perv I guess I was). After wiring 5 vertebrae together, a few weeks I started rehab. Then was transferred to Fargo Hospital there to be their 1st spinal rehab patient. 2 registered nurses (RNs) hovered over me, showing the student nurses how to care for me. I was special, I could call down to the cafeteria during the night and order up a BLT and buttermilk, anything I wanted. I spent 7 months, learned how to do wheelies driving down the halls on back wheels, a big brass squeeze bulb horn on side of wheelchair causing maybe heart failure to nurses thinking I was going to fall on my back. A volunteer drove me to the local Tandy store where I was taught basic leather craft in basement, another volunteer drove me to a school for injured people to learn skills that might help them get a job, I chose woodworking where I made a checkerboard using white maple and black walnut, because before the accident I made Grandfather clocks, furniture, countertops and bases installing in several homes a kitchen rebuild with sinks water and drain hookups, almost anything custom made, after work at ITW I rode my Honda Super90 to a shop where I worked alone converting vans into campers installing pop up tops, windows, sink counters with water, beds, table, whatever customers wanted, then hopped on Honda back home, ate Supper, went to basement building whatever people ordered (generally all in all averaged 81 hours weekly but was saving money for the farm in Minnesota. Then after 7 months of one of Fargo's worst Winters (only way to get Doctors and nurses was by snowmobile for few weeks) removing the blowing, drifting snow and 50 degrees below temperatures before wind chill was being used and went back home after 8 months in Fargo to farm at Solway---btw I didn't tell you about my 2 brothers Dwayne and Fred who left Chicago after my accident to run the farm--a huge help and sacrifice on their behalf. In October when 1st snow falls you don't see ground again until April and in January, the coldest month there was a 2 week period when temp never got above 20 below during days and some nights it got down to 50 below without wind chill. I was in house all Winter to get out of house just 2 imes cabin fever Deluxe, not much fun except playing cards with Chris (he beat me in 7up for real, the little rat) and watching 1 year old, Roy maneuvering wheelchair with armrests removed and playing with him on my lap while sitting in recliner. The next summer I said "Let’s go on vacation." the kids asked "What’s a vacation?" We had a Ford Maverick, Roy in front, me driving, Sharon trying to keep him from showing me pink panther comics in front of my face and slug bugging me the older 4 kids in the back seat all the time pulling a small trailer with camping equipment. We drove through Wisconsin up to Door County where a ferry boat took us 7 miles to Washington Island where we camped overnight, then to Niagara Falls in New York, next stop, New York City to watch the tall ships to celebrate the bicentennial in 1976. Pitching a tent was in a New Jersey made over train yard with table with broken leg we propped up with trash can and cold showers, it was also by far the most we paid for a campsite and it was the worst. Seeing the Statue of Liberty, Plymouth Rock and other sites was impossible, parking was too far from the sites. So I told Sharon "Get the map out and get us out of here fast". The remaining drive into Maine and through Appalachian, Blue Ridge mountains, Illinois historical sites, Kentucky and Tennessee where we drove by fire station and visited with firemen and Dalmatian dog all sitting outside in front of station, right out of a Norman Rockwell. The trip was very pleasant but it rained almost every night and pitching went tent in a different state every night. After returning home for a while we headed up into Canada very beautiful but gravel roads, well not a complete surprise because a friend from ITW and I went up there fishing many years before, and then we drove back home to the farm for another rest, then down to, the Badlands, Wyoming's Devil's Tower and Black Hills Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota and then Colorado Springs, Cave of the Winds, Seven Falls, and Royal Gorge bridge and staring down at the Arkansas River 1,053 feet below, there was a No Fishing sign in the middle of the bridge Ha Ha! Then into Nebraska where my brother, Dwayne was working on farm outside of Wood River for our 2nd cousin, Ed Schmidt. Dwayne lived on a piece of land with a gravel pit lake and a former railroad car converted to living quarters. The 5 kids slept in the tent pitched out in front. Then came time to start school, we enrolled Deb and Lynn into Wood River Elementary, it was quite the site when they hopped on school bus 4 miles from town. We couldn't find a house in Grand Island that I was able to use wheelchair without remodeling but we found one in Wood River. We bought that house so Sharon and I drove back to Minnesota with Roy, our youngest to pack up the biggest U-Haul truck we could rent. Sharon and I drove the car with Roy, 700 miles was interesting to say the least 2 tires blew out on the U-Haul there was a delay getting them replaced but we made it back to Wood River. The next morning my brother Butch, Ed Schmidt and his father Rudy helped unpack the truck. Sharon got a job at Berkley Pump in Grand Island it was long hours and hard work taking a toll on Sharon's back and hips. I stayed home with Roy making supper, canning produce from our garden, grocery shopping, etc. After the accident I was a paraplegic with full upper body strength, taking care of myself completely. Then 3 years later I developed a syrinx which is a fluid-filled cavity that develops in the spinal cord (called Syringomyelia), in the brain stem. One day I coughed, forcing spinal fluid up into the severed spinal cord and the flappy end of the cord was a one way valve, trapping the fluid, I instantly lost feeling down my inner left arm to my wrist, with each cough or sneeze it got worse I lost more and more function of my left arm but it stopped at my shoulder. It took away all function of my left arm and started on my right side. 3 days later at University of Nebraska in Omaha I had a MRI, a neurosurgeon put in a stint in my neck vertebrae to hopefully relieve the pressure and stop the progressive loss of function. It worked but just in time and as result I have no function of left arm and limited use of right arm, I can use just my index finger to type, thus my excuse for typos. I'm not looking for pity, I have The Lord and Savior to give me guidance in my life and the world's best wife anyone could ask for, hands down. I started Central Community College in the evenings taking electronics, soon I landed job repairing TVs, radios and microwaves for 12 years. I developed a pressure ulcer on my butt and had plastic surgery called a muscle flap. I got home from hospital only to be fired from my job. I saw a guy in a wheelchair working at front door at local our Sam's Club, so I applied as People Greeter next door at Wal-Mart. They took a chance on me and I worked there as a People Greeter 22 years and 2 days when I was let go because of my disabilities I was no longer able to work for Wal-Mart. Until 6 years ago I was able to drive myself, with hand controls, in a van the 16 miles to Grand Island for work and anywhere else I wanted, to northeast Iowa visiting my brother, Fred and his family of 4 daughters, it was a riot, then to McHenry, Illinois to visit my mom's brother, Bill, and his family of my cousins, then to Schaumburg , Illinois to visit mom's sister, Marion, and more cousins, then to Des Plains, Illinois, to visit mom's sister, Dorothy, and more cousins. But I had to give up driving because my left shoulder, (my gas and brake hand control was making it impossible to brake without endangering me and everyone else). This loss of that independence was huge, but my wife and oldest daughter, Deb, (when she is here) drive me to and from work, doctor appointments, etc. without hesitation, I am blessed indeed. I have a computer on my kitchen table I'm on at the moment, here I download new and old TV programs and movies, I also have a computer in my bedroom where I transfer TV and movies to. I have a flat screen hanging from ceiling directly above me so I can watch what I want. I hire a caregiver every morning to do everything for me a BM, perri care, etc put my pants on, transfer me into my wheelchair with an overhead electric hoist, I then move myself to kitchen where she finishes dressing me. I eat breakfast Sharon has prepared and drove me to work Wednesday through Sunday, my 'weekend' was Mon and Tues. After work at 4pm I eat supper and about 5:30 a caregiver arrives to put me in bed. At 11pm Sharon tucks me in for the night, she rolls me onto my right side because I can't turn myself. In the morning, when the caregiver arrives, we start a new day. Sharon and I are now married 53 years and have 5 children, 12 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren life is great, yes indeed I am blessed. Now that I am indeed retired I stay at home pestering Sharon and anyone else who will e-mail me not venturing outside except for church, doctor appointments and family functions. I believe that’s about it, too many details but it is as it is and was and God's will be done. Thanks all for your patience, Have a Blessed day! English and grammar were my least favorite subjects, please forgive all my mistakes. Si...(read more)