Arthur G Heuberger

By Karen Potts, eldest daughter of Arthur

Arthur Gilbert Harold Heuberger was born March 17, 1920, just outside of Shelby, Ohio, on the farm. His father was Charles Melvin Heuberger and his mother was Ida Eldora (Stackhouse) Heuberger.

Daddy was the middle child of a tenant farmer. The children were Melvin, Ross, Bertha, Helen, Arthur, Carl, Kate, Evejean, and Evelyn.

His earliest memory of working on the farm was following his Dad with a hoe. While his Dad cultivated the crops, he chopped the weeds his Father missed.

Those were the days of horse-drawn equipment and hard work. Dad and his brothers found something that they didn't know what it was when they moved to a new farm. Grandpa wanted them to clean out a medicine cabinet in by the horses. They thought they found some kind of medicine. So they crammed it between the boards of the corn crib. They couldn't get the stuff out of it so they lit a match to it so it would melt out. It was a dynamite cap, and it blew, putting a fragment of metal in dad's right eye. He had three more in his hand, and they didn't go off. He was in seventh grade at the time. He slowly went blind in that eye.

Dad quit school when he finished the eighth grade so he could help on the farm. His Dad figured with only one good eye that was all he could do. Gramps got Dad a certificate so he could work. Dad ran the farm so Grandpa could go do other jobs.

They didn't go to church much. Too much work to do. When they did go, only the kids went, and they walked to church. About a three mile walk each way. So they only went on good days.

At one farm the former tenants had made moonshine. It had tanks buried in the yard to hold the moonshine. There were pipes that went through the yard, under the barn and out to the back road, which was lower than the barn. They could drain the tanks while the revenuers were looking for the moonshine. So grandpa set up a still and made moonshine. They had three fifty gallon barrels in an upper bedroom to make it. This was during the prohibition. Some of his brothers minded the still. Grandpa said they could drink some as long as they didn't get drunk. Dad's sister Helen made beer and sold it. Grandpa got caught one night. He had to spend one night in jail. They brought a bottle of whiskey into the trial and asked Grandpa if it was his whiskey. Grandpa shook it and said no. The cops had drunk half of the whiskey and filled it with water. Grandpa was released. He went back to selling it the next weekend. He thought Dad's uncle, who also sold moonshine, was responsible for getting him arrested. Every Saturday night Grandpa went into town. Grandpa would sit in a pool hall, and when someone wanted a bottle, he'd send Ross or Melvin to go get it out of the car.

Dad stayed up a couple of nights with Ross to man the still. Dad would take naps, and Ross would wake him up when there was something to do. For a long time, Dad could tell you what it took to make whiskey.

After they moved northeast of Mansfield grandpa got a job hauling parts to the men putting up the big electric structures to carry the electric lines. He got paid for himself and his horses. He did that for a year and a half. During this time Dad ran the farm.

Dad took over the farm at age 16.

Service years

At the age of 21, he enlisted in the army. He didn't think that they would take him and he couldn't understand why they accepted him with his bad right eye. They had a hard time with him at the shooting range because he couldn't see out of his right eye to shoot. They would not let him shoot the way he had adapted to shoot a rifle. He ended up with only a pistol to shoot

Dad served as a Military Policeman in World War II. He rode on transport ships to bring prisoners to the US. He would work in the towns to keep the peace while the GIs were in town. He saw some rough time from some of the guys when they were drunk. He says he saw enough bad that he didn't want to be a police officer when he came home. He guarded a general and ended up in a villa in France.

He guarded the president when he was in France for a couple of weeks.

One time when he was on a freighter to France an enemy sub started chasing them, and they had to go below the equator before it quit chasing them. They sailed to Iran, then to a French island, and then to France. Military police patrolled the streets. All his friends got shipped off to the states, and he was still there. Finally, they called him in and told him to turn in his stuff. The next day they loaded him on a ship and sent him home. His army life did not last long when he got to the States. He was discharged. He was in the northern states, and the bus had to go south before it could take him home. So, he went to one of the southern states, and then after about six days, instead of a one day ride, he got home. It was a nasty ride. Smoke would make you look black at the end of the day. His Dad and Mom were so happy to see him.

Back home

When Dad got home from the service, Grandpa told him he had the farm for Dad to take over. Dad said he was done farming. Grandpa sold the farm and then he bought the property on Rome South Road. Grandma was sick then. Dad asked her why she hadn't seen a doctor. She said she did, but, the doctor didn't know what he was doing. They found her a new doctor. He came over twice a week to see Grandma and didn't charge them for it. He said she wouldn't last long. She lived about a year after Dad got out of service.

Cars were scarce after the war, so Dad bought a bicycle with a motor on it. It drove it to and from work at a gas station in Mansfield. One night an owl flew up over him and scared him senseless. He soon got rid of the bike.

He drove his Dad's car a lot. One night they were out drinking and some of them wanted to go someplace else. Dad was following his cousin, Gil, in the next car and Gil had been buzzing through the red lights. So Dad thought he would go through this one too, but Gil didn't. Gill had no brake lights, so Dad ended up hitting him. It banged up the radiator. Dad told Grampa he would fix it when he had a job. Grampa said don't worry. Grampa drove it that way for quite a while and then got a new car. Dad didn't get to fix it.

Uncle Joe got Dad the job at Tappan Stove Company. Dad ended up working at Tappan until we left Ohio. He worked there twenty-two years before going west.

Dad had 3 Edsels. He would only drive one about a year and then get a different one. He was hard on them. All his buddies wanted to race him all the time. His mama didn't like for Dad to race. He tried not to, but his buddies wouldn't let him alone till he beat them. He could do 90 miles an hour in second gear.

Meets Mom

Dad's sister Helen lined on Harker Street, and mom’s family move in next door. Helen told Dad he had to meet her new neighbor. Helen set up and date for them, and they went out. Later she set up another date, and they went out again. They dated a few times and then went steady through the winter. He was 32. They were married on July 15, 1951.

Dad smoked a pipe. He had three different types of tobacco he mixed to smoke. About a year and a half after Dad married Mom, Helen and someone else told him that he couldn't quit. So he took the tobacco and threw it into the yard and quit.

Raised Dashhounds

Dad raised dashhounds when I was a child. He raised them for 3 or 4 years before he quit. He sold quite a few. He had 3 females he bred and 1 registered male.

Dad farmed a field at the old house on Rome South Road. He raised corn in the spring. He also raised potatoes. In a low section where it was swampy, he raised cucumbers. I remember racing the tractor across that field as a child. He had a 2 acre garden at the new house.

Doctor's kept telling Mom and Dad to bring me to Arizona. I was sick a lot in the winter because of my asthma. Mom and Sherry had a rough time with the move. We made three trips out here in the summer to see what it was like in the summer. We traveled several states as we drove back and forth. Once Dad got out here he was never going back to that cold.

Arizona

We stayed with our cousins, Leonard & Louise when we first got to Arizona. She introduced us to tacos and Lucky Wishbone. Louise drove a black VW Bug. It was the first one I had ever seen. Mom and Dad found us a place to live. They settled on a trailer park, The Flying H, on the northwest side of Tucson.

Fire Department

Dad joined the Flowing Wells Fire Department while he was managing the trailer park. This was a volunteer fire department. He worked his way up to chief.

He sold his trailer park in 1977 and moved to Catalina, just north of Tucson. He worked as a construction worker for a while, but it was not for him. He later got a job building mobile homes. After he retired, for the third time, He and Lucy traveled and spent a lot of time in Northern Arizona at a place called The Ranch.

In his later years, he enjoyed doing projects around his property and helping his neighbors. He joined the John D. Squires VFW Post # 7399 and was their Quartermaster.

Dad passed away quietly in his sleep on the morning of February 25, 2019, just 20 days short of his 99th birthday. He is survived by his daughters, Karen Sue (David) Potts and Sharon Lue (Budd) Whitney; Grandchildren Arthur James (Patty) Potts, Allen James Potts; Buddy (Gretchen) Whitney, Michelle Whitney; Great-Grandchildren Elizabeth Lunabelle Potts, Aurora Davina Potts, Christopher Lastatte Heuss, and LilyAnna Sunshine Whitney.

Services are Monday, March 4th, at East Lawn Mortuary. Visitation is at 11:00 A.M., Service is at 11:30 A.M., The interment at 12:00 P.M., and a luncheon at the mortuary at 12:30 P.M. In lieu of flowers donations can be sent to First Alarm Foundation.