That's My Entertainment!

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was sitting with my uncle in his garage one summer in Wautoma, Wisconsin on a summer day.  He was sharing with me about his winter window entertainment.

He told his neighbor that he, and his kids could deer hunt on his farm all he wants. No charge at all. The only thing that he had to do was to leave the head, hide, legs and entrails on a certain spot. This certain spot was about 40 yards from his living room window. He explained that while the Wisconsin snows were blowing, he can view the entrails from his living room window. 

He explained it like this: the crows find it first, as they are squawking and eating,  the hawks notice it. The hawks chase off the crows to have a turn to eat. The eagles then show up.  The eagles chase off the hawks to have their turn to eat. 

After all of those birds are well feed, then the coyotes find it. The coyotes will eat what meat is left, plus the bones and hide. It's then all consumed.  While all of this is happening over many days, my uncle is watching it all from his living room window. He says that this is his winter entertainment!

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Watch The Bubbles Boys!

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was visiting my uncle on the old family farm in Central Wisconsin.  He was sharing with me about his old navy days the destroyer USS Wadleigh in 1954.  Those old destroyers were very small, and they could just disappear in the large ocean. He volunteered for destroyer service because they traveled the most around the world.

One day a large storm came upon them! One of the old salts said, "watch for the bubbles boys!"  The order went out to baton down all of the hatches!  As the little ship was thrown around the crew down below grew afraid!  When they rolled over at a 41° angle,  they were not sure if they capsize or not!  

The captain of the ship got on the intercom and shouted for the crew to prepare to abandon ship!  The crew immediately got into their life vests. Again,  one of the old salts yelled, "watch the bubbles boys!"

At this point all of the crew were down below in their life vests. My young sailor uncle asked one of the old salts what "watch the bubbles" meant. The old salt explained like this.

If the ship would capsize and flood with sea water, you follow the bubbles!  Bubbles will always flow upwards, towards the surface.  He said to watch the bubbles and swim in that direction!  Every compartment on the ship always had two hatches. One could be opened and closed at will, this is the main hatch. The second hatch is the safety hatch. That hatch would always remain closed, but always unlocked. It is the way of escape!

The ship rode out the storm and eventually came out of it. That day they didn't need to follow the bubbles! As Christians,  our way of escape is to follow the Bible. The bubbles of God's Word will lead us to safety in our time of distress!

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

The Chicken Story

 Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was in a tavern in central Wisconsin, just a few miles south of Wautoma.  My wife and I were eating a chicken dinner with an elderly lady, seventy-two years old, but looking like she is twenty years younger. She was very nice and a bit plump. The chicken dinner reminded her of the chicken story.

With a sly smile she explained how that years ago, her and her now deceased husband, lived in Milwaukee, and had a small farm here in central Wisconsin. They would work and live in Milwaukee, then spend the weekends at the farm, a little over a hundred miles away.

At their country weekend farm, they grew vegetables, hay,  and chickens. One weekend,  when they were leaving back for home, they stopped at a McDonald's and a few stores before arriving home.  They spent several hours at the stores and a two hour drive home. While they were gone a neighbor looked after the little farm for the eggs that the chickens provided.

They unloaded the car, then went in for the night.  Soon, a neighbor knocked on their door. They answered, and the neighbor asked if they have any chickens.  After they said yes, the neighbor pointed outside. 

Out in their front yard was a chicken walking around!  Apparently,  a chicken had hidden underneath the car as they left the farm, and stayed there as they made their extra stops, the the two hour drive home to Milwaukee!

That goes to show us that we should never underestimate the prowess of a determined chicken! If only we could be as determined as that hen in life.  They guided the chicken into the garage and kept her there until the next trip to the farm.

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Tin Can Fishing

 Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was listening to my mother tell stories one afternoon about her ancestors in central Wisconsin.  She has very fond memories of her grandfather John.  He lived for about thirty years on the family dairy farm where my mother grew up.

She shared with me how after the evening supper, grandpa John would walk to the lake to get the boat ready and dig up some worms from the barnyard.  My mother would be in the house washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen.

When she was done, she would run down to the lake and get on the boat.  They were ready to go and row out to a good spot.  They both fished with fishing line tied to wooden poles.  No modern fishing poles back then in the 40's and 50's. But grandpa mostly just used a tin can for fishing.  It was also called "Hobo fishing."

Grandpa John would put a worm on the hook for my mother, and he used a daredevil lure.  My mother has that same lure framed and on her wall. When they caught a fish, and they always caught fish, sometimes many, they wrapped the fishing line on a tin can to reel in the fish.

That's how poor country people fished back in the day.  There was no need for all of the fancy equipment that they use today.  The simple ways still work!  If you enjoyed this story consider following this blog.

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Amish Driver

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

My wife and I were washing clothes at a washateria in Wautoma, a little town in Central Wisconsin. Another gentleman soon joined us. He was tall and slim and in his sixties. We soon started talking while our clothes were washing.

His name is Bill, just like mine. In fact, we have a lot in common. He is a missionary, attended Bible College, Bible Seminary, and is a minister. We have all of that in common! Once he started talking it was off to the races!

Bill is a missionary to the Amish people here in central Wisconsin. He does this by serving that community as a driver. He drives Amish men in his large pickup truck around the local area to there jobs. For being a  people who live very simply, the Amish can be a very complicated society. They don't believe in driving cars themselves, but it's okay to hire someone else to drive them around!

Some of them work at sawmills and farmers fields too far for their horse and buggy's, so they hire Bill and his big pickup truck to take them around the area to their job sites. That gives him an opportunity to witness about his personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

That kind of decision is up to the local Amish Bishops. In the Wautoma area there are four Amish bishops. There are many other ways that they can be different and complicated, that is one that Bill can interact, and let them know that they can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

Roop-Crappell Ministries

My Author Page

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Swimming In The Mediterranean

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was up in Wisconsin with my wife and mother, visiting my mother's family, who still lives up there. We were staying with my Aunt and Uncle, Jerry and Nancy Mankowski, who are still living in the old farmhouse.

One afternoon we are sitting around the kitchen table telling stories. Jerry was telling about his old Navy days back in the fifties.  He served on the destroyer USS Wadleigh, DD 689. Wild board that ship they went on a Mediterranean cruise.

They stopped in many ports throughout the Mediterranean when they were there. One of the places they went was off the coast of Israel and Lebanon. Country of Lebanon was having political issues. The USS Wadleigh was assigned to cruise, very slowly, at only five knots an hour, up and down the coast of Lebanon and Israel.

Those two countries are very small so going very slow is not a problem. While they're sailing up the coast, the captain ordered crew swimming! That means the crew can take turns jumping into the sea for a swim. Times of cruise swimming was very popular among the crew. It was also very rare for that captain to give that order. 

Uncle Jerry has a lot of stories from his Navy days, it seems it was a good memory for him. I can understand that I spent four years in the United States Air Force in the eighties, and I have lots of good memories from those days as well.

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

They Are Always Looking Up

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

My mother, my wife, and I flew  to Wisconsin, to spend a week with my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Nancy. They live in small town called Wautoma, in Central Wisconsin. They live on the old family farmhouse.

We were all sitting around the kitchen table and Jerry was talking about ice fishing. Ice fishing is a very big activity here in Wisconsin.

Because of ice fishing rules in Wisconsin is no more than three holes and one pole per hole. Well you have one hole in three poles. They guys around there always cut out three holes with one pole and one tip-up per pole. So one fisherman can only have three tip-ups at a time.

They told us that the game warden can drive the top of the hill, and from his car with his binoculars, look to see how many tip-ups you may have. If you have too many tip-ups, you'll get a big fine!

He told us they us live fish on the hooks, and let them flop around. He said the big northerns pikes that they like to catch, just sit at the bottom of lake and look up all the time. They're always looking up. Because that's where the sick fish go. When fish that are sick, they swim to the top of the lake to get more oxygen. Those big northerns will swim up and eat them!

So they put their bait in the water connected to a tip-up. When the fish swims up take the bait, the tip up will be pulled up. When you see your tip-up go from laying down, to straight up, you know you have a fish at the end.

You then walk over to the hole, grab the tip-up, and then hook the fish really good. Very slowly, pull on the line, and pull the fish up out of the water, and up through the hole. Then you're free to save the fish, or eat it on the spot.

Fisherman in Wisconsin have these little wooden shacks that are heated, have TVs, and radios, and they pull them on the ice. So while they're waiting for a tip-up, they can hang-out comfort. They have portable stoves for heating or cooking their freshly caught fish.

Have you ever been ice fishing? Can you tell us about it in the comment section? If you like these stories, and want to catch on again you can click on the follow button I could talk with the page.

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Care and Dying 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

Signs All Around

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was up in Central Wisconsin this summer visiting family and friends. I was with my mother and my wife. My mother was born and raised there and still has lots of family there.

We stayed with my Aunt and Uncle, Nancy and Jerry Mankowski. One day I was walking down to the old milk house with Jerry. We were going down to his windmill to drink some water. When he started telling me about his predictions for winter.

You said the berry bushes were full of berries. He said the bushes are all berries late in the summer, he'll know we'll have a cold winter this year.  You sit at the squirrels and muskrats are busy and late summer That's also a sign of a cold winter coming up.

Jerry also showed me the ants on the ground. He said look at the ends how they're building around the wall around their nest hole.  He said when the ants do that you can expect lots of rain coming up soon. He said that they are preparing for it now.

Jerry said you just have to look around and you can see the signs of coming rain or of a coming hard cold winter. He said the signs are all around you just have to keep your eyes open to it. Tell me the Indians did that for hundreds of years, the signs are there for us as well.

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

Cold, Sparkling, Clean Water.

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was just recently up in Wisconsin visiting my Aunt and Uncle in Wautoma, Wisconsin. Nancy and Jerry Mankowski live on the old family dairy farm there.

Jerry and I one morning we're walking out to the old milk house. Behind the old milk house, and the chicken coop, is a windmill he bought in Indiana and had shipped up to him in Central Wisconsin. He wanted to show me the windmill, and drink some water from it, since the water there is ice cold and very clean. He had the water tested a few years ago. They told him Jerry whatever you do don't get rid of this water. There's absolutely nothing in it except water.

Most people reading this will think that's kind of strange. But with all the decades of chemicals whether industrial are farm related. Most of the drinking water in this country has some type of impurities in it. This world is a world of chemicals! Chemical residue is in the city, as well as in the  countryside. Where I live we get a yearly report of what's in the drinking water. There's lots in our drinking water that isn't really water.

His report came in said that his water from that underground well is absolutely pure water! That windmill pumps up cold sparkling pure water. That stream of underground water runs north to south. It runs by the old farmhouse, close to the chicken coop, and then runs to Beans lake, A couple hundred yards away.

He filled up a canning jar of water and drink some. Then he gave some for me to drink. The water was absolutely ice cold! It was good and refreshing to drink! Water that is very rare today!

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

The Snapper And The Goose

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was up in Wisconsin visiting family and friends. My wife and I, and my mother, we're staying with my mother's brother, Jerry Mankowski and his wonderful wife Nancy.

One day we're sitting around the kitchen table telling stories. A favorite hobby of my Uncle Jerry.  Well the stories he told us was about the snapper turtle and the goose. That's because we had gotten on the discussion of whether snapping turtles, snap only at people.

Jerry said he was on his rowboat on beams lake going fishing. Jerry today lives in the old farmhouse. And things like is just the cross the hill. Jerry and Nancy, years ago, used to live in a log house on Bean's lake. He had a couple of rowboats, and he had a couple of dozen geese, that he had around to be watch dogs.

A flock of geese will tell you very quickly if some stranger is around. It will make a terrific noise! What day Jerry was on his rowboat fishing. When he saw a goose bobbing up and down and squawking! He couldn't understand what was happening, so it kept watching.

The juice got pulled under the water and then Bobbed back up again! This happened a couple of times until Jerry finally seen the intruder. He saw a very large snapping turtle briefly long surface of the lake. That snapping turtle was trying to pull the goose under the water to drown it.

Before Jerry could row over there, the goose was gone! The snapping turtle achieved his purpose, and pulling the goose under the water and drowning it. Jerry made the assumption that the turtle when then eat the dead goose.

I know that Jerry saw What he had seen. I personally know nothing of snapping turtles. I don't know what they just eat grass or they eat meat as well. Someone here is reading this story and knows, feel free to comment in the comment section.

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

Grandma And The Outhouse

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

My wife and I were up in Wisconsin, with my mother, to visit her family who still lives in the central part of the state. My Aunt and Uncle, Jerry Mankowski still live on the old family dairy farm.

One day while we were there, we were sitting around the kitchen table, with Jerry telling stories. One of the stories he told was from his childhood. Getting a whipping for bad behavior!

Uncle Jerry with a couple of his friends were in the lilac bushes next to the house. The old outhouse was behind the farmhouse and in view of the lilac bushes. One afternoon me saw her grandma walk out of the farmhouse and go into the outhouse.

They had a long piece of rope with them in a lilac bushes. If I like bushes with hollow inside and was the playhouse for all the kids. Jerry and his two friends quietly snuck out and wrapped the rope around the outhouse! They tied the rope together where Grandma cannot open the door to get out! 

Grandma was able to see who was guilty through the air holes of the outhouse! Grandma was a big woman It was able to push the door open against the badly tied rope. When grandma finally got free, there was now hell to pay!

Unfortunately for Jerry there is a willow tree close by, so Grandma always had the selection of dried willow branches to choose from! She calmly selected a very nice sturdy branch, and used it to get effect on Jerry's behind!

Even though Jerry got a really severe whipping that day, It was good for him. A good whipping  now and then, makes for a fine man later. Today, it is one of Jerry's treasured memories, and he still laughs about it today.

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

Dumpster Love

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

My wife and I, and my mother flew up to Wautoma, Wisconsin, to see my Aunt and Uncle, and other relatives my mother has of there.

We had a great time sitting around visiting, drinking coffee, and just enjoying everyday. One morning, my Uncle Jerry Mankowski, said he needs to go to the dump. He had a couple small bags of trash.

Tell me that the dump opens at eleven in the morning. He wanted be there by at least quarter till to get line. He said that there usually a long line at the dump. So I was kind of expecting dozens of people in line down the road.

We walk down to his pickup truck and throw a couple bags in the back. We drive down to the dump about twenty miles an hour. Tell me small country lanes that's probably fast enough. The dump wasn't very far away. Wautoma is a very small town in Central Wisconsin. 

We got there and we were third in line! When the dump finally opened, for the grand total of six cars line! Even though we were third in line it took us a grand total of ten minutes to be in and out! We waited at the gate longer than we were in the dump.

While we're driving around to the dumpster, Jerry tells me a story. He said a few years ago he was dumping the trash. The middle age to elderly lady pulled up behind him, to do the same. She struck up a conversation with him. She said she was looking for a boyfriend and want to know if he was interested!

He thought it was kind of funny that this woman was interested in him. I kind of laughed and said that's a great story. But to myself I told knew that this woman was just looking for a rich old man. She was looking for someone to leach money off. Small town problems same thing reflect big town problems.

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

A Pocket Full Of Suckers

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was up in Wisconsin this summer, visiting my Aunt and Uncle, Jerry and Nancy Mankowski. I still live on the old dairy farm, in the central part of the state.

Jerry was telling me that he felt very very sluggish for a long period of time. Then you can barely move around. So he went to the doctor to see what the problem was. At the VA clinic they gave him a lot of different tests.

The VA clinic gave him a complete physical and running a bunch of tests including blood test. They discovered that the problem was low blood sugar. Is blood sugar wasn't low all the time and it would just spite down at certain times of the day.

Dr showed him all the test results and charts. They didn't think he needed medication. The doctor told just to keep them suckers in his pockets!  They just told him when he feels a little sluggish to suck on a sucker to add a little sugar to his blood.

That's a nice homegrown remedy for an occasional medical ailment. If your blood needs a little sugar, A nice sucker should do the trick!  Don't need expensive medications, from multi-million dollar pharmaceutical companies. You just need to sucker now and then. But don't we all!

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

A Calf In The Snow

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

My uncle Jerry and I were sitting in his living room talking and telling stories. I went up there to visit family and friends this summer. My mother is from there and she still has lots of family there. I escorted my wife and my mother there also.

Jerry was telling me a story about how a neighbor cow had her calf. He said he always provided a warm place with straw or his cows to calve her young. Jerry said that was all wrong and he shouldn't do it that way. He said that makes the cows weak and sickly their whole life.

You said back in the day they would let the cows have their calves outside in the snow and the cold. He said by doing that the cows would grow up stronger and healthier. He said the cows that were born in the winter were always the healthiest cows that produced the most milk.

And he went on and said the cows born during warm weather always had health problems and didn't produce as much milk. My uncle Jerry grew up on this dairy farm and led this area as a life. He knows a lot about dairy farming. I'm from the city and don't know anything about it!

Weather this is true or not I do not know. But it does make a lot of sense. If you're born and grow up and harsh conditions you tend to be tougher and stronger. This is even the case with humans. If anybody has a pity on this please leave a comment in the comment section.

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

Falling To Her Death

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was up in Central Wisconsin visiting family this summer. My uncle Jerry took me to a little town called Wild Rose. There we ate burgers and beer at tavern called sluggers.

On the way back he pointed to a house and told me the story of how a woman died there. She lived alone she had no husband or family. She lived in this house with about a hundred acres. But she did have a neighbor behind her who lived on another farm.

This neighbor was an elderly man who also lived alone. This elderly man would several times a week check in on the lady. Especially the long cold winters of Wisconsin. Folks up there, in that part of the country, are still neighborly, and still strive to take care of each other.

One day this neighbor fell down the stairs going down into her basement! She had left her phone upstairs. When she fell and hit the bottom of the basement, she broke her back in three different places! She was completely paralyzed and could not move. She also had other injuries that were life-threatening!

The lady laid there for three days before she finally passed away! She was paralyzing could not move and she could not call anyone! For three days she laid there not knowing what would happen. It appears she could move her hands a little bit. Because she scribbled on the basement floor her last will and testament!

The elderly man who checked up on her finally came only to find her deceased. He immediately called the police and an ambulance! There they confirmed her death and discovered her last will and testament. She willed her entire property over to this elderly man who would occasionally check up on her.

The older man had his own farm and many acreage himself and had plenty of money. He didn't need this inheritance from her. What he did with the house and land I don't know. But always pays to be neighborly and nice to your neighbors. If I get paid in this life but most likely you'll get blessed in the life afterwards!

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

The Secret Bomb Shelter

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I and my wife with my mother was up visiting my Uncle and Aunt, Jerry and Nancy and Mankowski. They both are still living on the old family dairy farm. My mother still has a lot of family living in that area.

I was sitting down with my uncle, and he was telling me about the local news. He said that a couple of towns over, they had leveled a building, so that they could build a parking lot.

When they leveled of the building they found underneath something very interesting. They discovered an old nuclear fallout shelter that was constructed for the town. They built the shelter in the nineteen-fifties, to I'm sure, a great fanfare. But since that time it was slowly forgotten about, except for a few city officials. After the Cold War they sealed the shelter off.

After about thirty years everybody had forgotten about the shelter. That's until they tore down the building that was over it. That's when they re-discovered the long lost shelter that was underground. The shelter was full of dehydrated food stuffs, for the hundreds of people they planned on keeping safe in there for weeks at a time.

The city officials decided to just throw away all the dehydrated food, and fill in the old shelter with dirt! I just shook my head and told my uncle that I thought that was a great waste. But when word of the dehydrated food, most of it was taken by the local hunters.  But for just a little money, that could keep the shelter in place, and just put it in the parking lot on top of it.

It's just a little extra money they could have kept their nuclear fallout shelter! But these days you never know if you're going to need one! Both Russia and China are still threatening us with nuclear war! I thought it would be a good investment just to keep it around.

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

The Admirals Steaks

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was just up to central Wisconsin visiting family. My wife and I escorted my elderly mother there. My mother was raised there on a dairy farm. My Aunt and Uncle are still living there today.  My Uncle Jerry is my mother's older brother.

One afternoon, Uncle Jerry was telling me about his navy days. He served in the early fifties on a destroyer named the USS Wadleigh, DD 689. Named after the World War One admiral, George H. Wadleigh.

My Uncle Jerry's job was in the boiler room, and the engineering department in the bottom of the ship. One of those jobs was to maintain the temperatures of the food refrigerators and freezers. One of the items in the food freezers were steaks specifically for the captain of the ship, and the admiral of the fleet.

Once in a while when Jerry wanted to get in good with the cook, He would bring up a couple of the Admirals steaks to the kitchen. The cook with fry up the steaks, and Jerry and the cook with dine on the admiral steaks! Jerry said they always had plenty and didn't miss a few once in awhile!

The ships cook appreciated the gesture of a steak now and then, so my Uncle Jerry never went without eating a good meal on the ship during his cruise!  My Uncle Jerry has been out of the Navy for sixty-five years now, so I guess it's safe to tell the story!

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Care and Dy

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

The Escape From The Mob!

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was up in Wisconsin visiting my mother's side of the family. My aunt and uncle currently live on the old family dairy farm. They are Nancy and Jerry Mankowski. Both are in their early eighties, but both doing well.  You can read related posts called, "The booze runners" and "FBI crackdown," "The Pistol."

While I was there, my uncle Jerry started telling stories about the Al Capone days in Chicago. One of the stories was about Frank Mankowski, and him changing his name. He did this to hide from the mob!  This is what happened.

Frank Mankowski was a booze runner with his brother Ed. But Frank was more than a booze runner, he also was an enforcer for the Capone crime family!  Their sister Ann was a waitress for a very expensive Supper Club.  One of Al Capones men wanted to date Ann, but Ann didn't like him, so she to refuse his advances. 

Just after the famous St. Valentine's massacre, and the mayor calling in the FBI, Ann was beaten up very badly by the Al Capone man that she rejected! She was beaten up so much that Ann was a the hospital for a month! When Ann woke up, she was terrified of the man who attacked her!

But Frank apparently knew the man, and why he had attacked her. Frank calmly informed Ann not to worry about them. Frank said that he had "taken care of him!". Now remember, Frank was an enforcer for the Al Capone crime family, so that only meant one thing!

When Frank finally got Ann out of the hospital, just as the Feds were cracking down, they fled to California!  When Ann got settled down there, Frank took a slow boat around through the Panama Canal and up to New York City. That is when Frank Mankowski changed his name to Langowski. That was his mother's maiden name.

His mother was pregnant with Frank by another man before her marriage, so Frank was never really a Mankowski anyway. So, Frank changed his name and laid low in New York City for about five years! Frank would never reveal what he did in New York City during those years, that went with him to the grave!

After the five years, Frank bought a farm in central Wisconsin near his brother Ed. There they both lived as farmers, and a much quieter life!  He kept the name Langowski for the rest of his life.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Care and Life 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

FBI Crackdown

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I flew up to Wautoma, Wisconsin, to visit my aunt and uncle. They are Jerry and Nancy Mankowski. While I was there, Jerry told me many stories, here's one. Also other related posts are, "The escape from the mob," and "The booze runner,"  "The Pistol."

My grandfather, Ed Mankowski, and his brother Frank, both work for the Al Capone crime family, in Chicago, Illinois, in the nineteen-thirties. Ed was a booze runner, and Frank was also a booze runner, but also an enforcer. They also had a sister who worked as a dance hall girl.

Running booze for the crime family was one thing, but being also an enforcer for the Capone's was another thing altogether! Frank did a lot of the dirty work for the Capone's.

Just after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago, the Mayor called in the FBI to clean things up, due to the bad press. Everyone knew that they would soon have to lay low for awhile. 

After the massacre and before the FBI got settled in, a lot of score settling took place between the gangs of the city.  Frank got mixed up with that, and fled to California with his sister. Ed left in nineteen-forty-two to a farm in Wisconsin.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary