Jim "Muscles" Piekarski

I always knew my Dad like to golf, but I didn't really realized that it was a life's love. This is an undated photo, but from the newspaper clippings I found with it, I believe it was from 1948. Dad was about 16. When Dad was in Messemer High School, he and twelve other students formed the first Messemer golf club/team. There were several other newspaper clippings with this photo. Most of them were from when he was in high school. The reporters all referred to him as Jim “Muscles” Piekarski, because he was a long ball hitter - a power driver. One of the players in matches to keep your eye on. The only fault they mentioned was that he sometimes struggled with his putting. The clippings that he saved from the high school tournaments never listed him finishing lower then fourth place.
Now, looking back, I understand why my Dad, when I asked him to teach how to play, had me practice my swing for hours, before he'd take me to a course to play. Golf was more then a walk on the course, it was a challenge. It was playing the game the way it was suppose to be played. Unfortunately, we didn't get to play on the courses until I was an adult and he was a senior player. I would have liked to have played with him when he was a little younger and still had his full swing. Even as a senior, his drives were long and straight, rarely out of the fairways. His short game was good, but I think he felt his putting always needed work and it seemed liked he was always looking for the “perfect” putter.
So “Muscles” I'm sure you and Mom are playing golf as I write this, and that your playing a perfect round.

Grandpa Beck

This is one of my favorite photos of my Grandpa. On the back of this photo, Grandma wrote “John and his sunglasses – 1923 Cedarburg”. Grandpa didn't say much, but I thought he was one of the coolest Grandpa's ever. I “met” my grandpa when he was 69 yrs old. As I got a little older, I thought all grandpas were retired and didn't go to work. Like most families we got together over holidays, Thanksgiving at one grandparents home, Christmas at the others etc. Also like a lot of kids I'd spend sleepovers at grandma and grandpa's. When I was young and I visited Grandpa and Grandma, I just hung out and didn't do much at their home. If I did visited over Christmas break, grandpa would ask that I'd let him watch the bowl games. That's the only thing I remember him asking me to do. Other then that we just talked a little, but that was about it. After my family moved away, I started visiting them for a week every fall (it was a great way to miss the first week of school) . During the first few visits, Grandpa and I didn't do much together, we hung out in their living room, where he'd be playing solitaire or reading his bible and I'd be reading a book. Then during one visit, I over heard the two of them talking and grandma telling him he should do something with me. He didn't know what to do with me, so Grandma suggested taking me to the zoo. So he did. This became our time together and the best times for me. We'd go to the Milwaukee County Zoo early in the morning and spend the whole day there. We'd wander from animal group to animal group; of course always stopping by Samson's cage hoping to see him move and not just stare at you. Talking about nothing and just enjoying each others company. After taking the zoo train once, we decided that we only visit the zoo as long as Grandpa could walk and we could wander where we wanted. The last time we went was when he 94 and I was 25. From these trips to the zoo, we became friends, We'd talk about a lots of things, mostly about his love of flowers and gardening. He lived in apartments or flats in Milwaukee all of his life, so he never really had his own yard, but in Cedarburg by relatives he would help tend their gardens and grow gladiolus.