Uhlenkamp family remembers family on Memorial Day
By RACHAEL JAEGER
Staff Writer
Alivia Uhlenkamp, 15, and a member of the V.F.W.’s Junior Veterans of Foreign Wars in Waldorf, traveled with her family from Green Isle to attend the Memorial Day service at the Community Center. Following the program, she laid a wreath she made at the grave of her great-grandfather Gerald Kipp, who is buried at the First Lutheran Cemetery.
Every year, the Legion arranges to lay a wreath at one grave in the community cemetery and one in First Lutheran’s; the two cemeteries are next to each other with only a road between them. The wreath at the grave is symbolic of laying one at all veterans’ graves.
This year Gerald, buried in First Lutheran, and Jerry Treynor, buried at Waldorf Community Cemetery, were selected as recipients for the wreaths; last year Robert Kipp, Alivia’s grandfather, and Jerry Stencel were the recipients. Since Alivia is a junior auxiliary member at the Legion, she’s been able to participate in laying these wreaths for the last two years.
Three years ago, Alivia designed ceremonial wreaths for a 4-H project to honor grandfather Robert and his service after the second world war with the fifty-sixth armored infantry battalion.
Pam Uhlenkamp, Robert’s daughter and Alivia’s mother, once lived just south of Waldorf, and faithfully attended the community’s Memorial Day service for many years. She moved away in 2000 when she went to the University of Minnesota to study agricultural education. Since her job took her to Sibley County following her graduation, she has lived elsewhere ever since.
Gerald died when Pam was a senior in high school. She described, however, that he stressed the importance of Memorial Day all through her childhood. In observance of his feelings, she played Taps during his funeral.
During the 2021 Memorial Day program, Pam and her cousin Julie Tesch noted how tattered and worn the memorial wreaths looked; the two speculated they were probably around fifty years old. Together they came up with the idea that replacing the wreaths would be a good 4-H project for Alivia.
“She talked to my mom, who is an auxiliary member, about what should be in [the wreaths],” Pam continued. Artificial blue roses and red poppies were selected as decoration.
Robert was drafted at the tail end of World War II and never served in battle. Instead he was sent to Giessen, Germany, where he was part of the communications team and also trained as an artillery specialist. He spent most of his time rebuilding the community electrical infrastructure, including tasks like putting up telephone poles.
Pam remembered that during her childhood, her father seldom took any days off from his job as a milkman delivery driver, but was always sure to have Memorial Day set aside to remember, honor, and give back to the veterans who sacrificed for their families.
Growing up with that example never left Pam, so, although she never served in the military herself, her children participated in the Memorial Day program with their grandfather until he died on January 1, 2023. The family has continued their Memorial Day program tradition. This year her son Oliver read the tribute dedicated to Prisoners of War (POW) and those Missing in Action (MIA).
Just in the last three courses of her recent history in school, Alivia learned about wars and their significance. Knowing that she had great-uncles and grandfathers who served in these wars prompted her interest in her own history. Based on information she was able to gather from official scanned documents which described Gerald and Robert’s services, Alivia was able to put together a short memory book about them.
Although Gerald died before Alivia was born, Alivia became interested in her history when Robert shared his military experience with her.
“He was only in training and reserves, so he never had to serve in action as the war ended,” Pam said, speaking of Gerald’s service and adding that he played a part in the cleanup of the war efforts at the military base in Texas.
When Alivia created the memorial wreaths identical to each other, she intended to give one to Robert, who didn’t know what she was doing at the time. She took it as a 4-H project to the Sibley County Fair in August 2021. When she presented the wreaths and her memory book to Robert, he found it deeply meaningful.
“He was always a marcher, a gunman, and he would do funeral services,” Pam said.
Pam and her children fondly recall what a character Robert was, doing their best to keep his memory alive. Robert had one-liners he liked to use that now they sometimes take turns surprising each other with. Robert also had some plastic pink flamingos in his yard that he moved around the yard whenever he mowed.
“My dad had a big personality and knew everybody,” Pam said. “He was a social butterfly and he was kind of a goofball. We miss him.”