Verona Longtime Resident and Veteran Interviews, Events NOTE: Some of these recordings will play in your browser, but some of the larger ones make you download the file first. Welcome to our online archive of audio interviews! In 2016 we began a new initiative to interview additional longtime residents and area veterans. Let us know if you have folks in mind who might be up for being interviewed, or who might volunteer to do interviews today. 1970s through 1980s
1990s through early 2000s ![]() Ernie Johnson, date of interview unknown but likely around 2008. Ernie was village president of Verona from 1953 to 1957, a longtime barber, and friend to most of the village and later city. Verona World War II Veteran Interviews 2001-2003, by Karl Curtis and the Verona Press. Karl did a wonderful interview series of articles with many Verona area WWII veterans. Included are:
2016 and Beyond We began a new effort in 2016 to capture more stories... ![]() William E. Kunstman - Interviewed 7/7/2016. Mr. Kunstman was an army tech sergeant in WWII from 1941-1946 serving in the 100th infantry division. ![]() ![]() Warren Webster - Interviewed 7/21/2016. Mr. Webster was born in Reedsburg, WI in April of 1915 and was 101 years old during this interview. He was a pilot in WWII, serving in the 406 Fighter Group and its 514 squadron. He moved to Canada in 1940 to join the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he became a flight instructor. He came back to the United States in 1944 and served in the Air Force in 1944/45 in Europe flying P47 Fighter Bombers. His service included being part of American forces pushing back Germans at the battle of the bulge. He moved to Verona, WI around 2006. ![]() Viola House - Interviewed 10/28/16. Mrs. House has lived in Verona since the 1950s. She reflects on some of the Verona landmarks and traditions she recalls, her two decades working in the Verona Schools' cafeteria, and a few thoughts on how the city has changed in the last half century. John Scharer - Interviewed November 27, 2016 by Jesse Charles. John moved to Verona in May of 1936 at the age of four and grew up living and working in "The Eagle's Nest" - an iconic Verona bar and restaurant which stood on our main intersection from around 1850 to 1970. As a young man John came in contact with countless Verona "Characters" from all walks of life, and recalls them in detail. He was drafted into the Korean War on 3/29/1951 and was discharged on 3/21/1952. He was trained in the First Armored Division in Fort Hood Texas, but served in Korea as part of the Army's Third Infantry Division north of the 38th parallel near Chorwon. John was present at the Battle of Pork Chop Hill and in the area known as "The Iron Triangle". Pete Way - Interviewed March 5, 2017 by Jesse Charles. Pete grew up in Mount Vernon just west of Verona, and served in the Navy on an air craft carrier during the Korean War. Pete described growing up in the rural countryside, as well as the day to day life on a Navy ship. ![]() Bill discusses surviving two helicopter crashes in 1966, the first being caused by contact with a pole and the second from hitting a berm on takeoff. On June 13, 1966 Bill was injured by shrapnel during a mortar attack and received a purple heart. ![]() ![]() Mary Fritz - Interviewed July 1, 2017 by Jessica Popp. ![]() ![]() Doris lived on a farm in rural west Verona and spent her first three school years at West Middleton Grade School. It was then her parents Lena (Eberhardt) and Rudy moved their 4 children to South Shuman in downtown Verona where their 5th sibling was born. Her father was well-known and respected as a mechanic for Niglis Implements “because he could fix anything”. Doris shares her wonderful humor and memories of growing up in the village from ice skating on top the nearby village Pump House to setting pins at Fischl’s bowling alley. ![]() ![]() Anna May grew up on Nesbitt Road on a farm that was divided by both Highway 18/151 and the railroad tracks (now Military Ridge Trail). Currently Barnes Landscaping owns part of the acreage where her parents Walter and Helene Elizabeth (Mauer) Herrington farmed. All of her years have been spent in the Verona area so in this interview she shares many memories of familiar people and places that most listeners will recognize. She attended Maple Grove and then Verona Area High School. After graduating she worked for the University Hospital until her marriage four years later. Her marriage ‘united’ the Mauer family of northeast Verona to her husband Julian’s family on the west side (County G). She and Julian spent nearly 30 years farming on Riverside Road before retiring and building a comfortable house on Barbara Street in the city. ![]() Bernice is one of our oldest interviewees, 98, who was born in Verona. With her sharp memory, she vividly recalls all her neighbors during her childhood on 302 Shuman Street. Her father Jerome was the rural mail carrier for Verona (1912 to 1940). One of her favorite memories was to be able to ride on the cutter when her father returned from his route. Her grandfather had built a house across Shuman, the ‘White’ house which was moved during Miller’s store expansion. When asked if she could just run down the street to her grandparents, she exclaimed, “Oh, no, I wasn’t allowed to cross the street because there was too much swift traffic” (because of the bustling activity at the mill and other businesses near the Auditorium). One of Bernice's daughters shared another quick note with us in Fall of 2020: "(Bernice) used to say that when they (her family) rode the mail route with their father, they made it a game among the sisters to name the husband, wife and all of the children at each of the stops on the route. I guess she started training her good memory at a young age!" Gladys (Zingg) Behnke, interviewed by Jesse Charles on 8/11/2019. Gladys's grandfather Fred Zingg immigrated from Switzerland, eventually settling in Verona with wife Ella around 1900. Gladys's father Ernest R. Zingg was born in 1900, later moving to New Glarus where Gladys was born in 1928. Gladys and her parents moved back to the Zingg farm in Verona on the northwest corner of highway M and Cross Country in 1937 when she was nine years old. In this interview, Gladys discusses growing up on the farm, attending the Verona Graded School and working at the original Dane County Poor House and Asylum from 1946 to 1948. She would also later return to working at both institutions later in life until retiring in 1990. Gladys saw life at the poor house and asylum first hand, and shared her memories of patients and other employees with us. ![]() Phil and Laura Roethlisberger, interviewed by Jesse Charles on 9/8/2019. Phil grew up attending our Valley View rural school and Laura attended the White School, which still stands on land donated to the township by her great grandfather and pioneer settler Solomon White. They talked about growing up on a farm, their experiences in various Verona schools and other social events, as well as they themselves being farmers for many decades. |
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