Tuesday, October 17, 2023
These are many of Dave Bohlken's memories of cousin Tom.
When my mom decided that I and twin brother Dan were old enough to have a friend spend the night, we always chose Tom. Our get togethers included , the massacre of frogs in Kitty Creek, putting chickens to sleep, building hay bale forts, shooting pigeons. At an older age, we had many floats down the Maquoketa River.
I next spent a good amount of time with Tom as a room mate while going to the University of Iowa.
Our paths crossed less in the following years.
In the mid to late 1970s I became interested in winter camping. I spent several weekends staying in Hank Jacob's and Steve Nagel's cabins. These trips included trekking to Tom's on Saturday to watch the Iowa basketball team play.
In early 1982 Tom said let me show you where I want to build a cabin. He had picked a spot on his 100+ acres. and thought the many smaller white oaks in the area would make good logs for a log cabin. He got seriously hurt (leg) later that spring and I decided to build the cabin with myself and work buddies from Iowa City (where I now worked). I thought if nothing else, it would give me the opportunity to spend more time with Tom. Tom helped as much as he could. He and Mike planed the oak planks which became the floor and gables. Everything else was done by me and whoever I could recruit from Iowa City. Over the years the cabin has been enjoyed by myself, my friends, my kids (Matt and Cait), their friends and anyone I could talk into cabin camping. Most importantly, Tom enjoyed it. It was good to visit him the weekends we were at the cabin.
