August Revering & Catherine Heembrock
By
Mary Revering Guenther
Our father, August Frank Revering, was a wonderful, dynamic man, who came to California in 1923 for GOLD but probably 50 years too late! However as recently as 1987 there was an article in the Senior Citizen’s paper in Sacramento with this title: "Gold Fever! California is Still Loaded"-- besides other recent articles saying there’s gold still to be found!
Our Dad did obtain all the gold mining paraphernalia and would get an ounce of gold each trip. Unfortunately gold just wasn’t worth what it is today and was only $16 an ounce in the late 20’s and early 30’s. And we girls sure did envy the boys getting to go gold mining with Dad.
August Revering was born October 24, 1886, at Parker’s Prairie, Minnesota, in Otter Tail county. He had a good education for those days, as he had two years of College, attending a college run by the Jesuits in South Dakota. His future wife, Catherine Heembrock, was born July 20, 1892, at Dent, Minnesota. She was the oldest of 12 children born to Ferdinand Heembrock and his wife Anna Altstadt. Mother had obtained work as cook and baker at the only hotel in Dent, Minnesota. August was living at that hotel while working as Assistant Manager of the Lumber Yard in Dent. Mother fell heads-over—heels-in-lovewith him at their first encounter and Dad must have fallen in love with her, too, besides loving her delicious potato bread, for he soon proposed. They were married October 8, 1912, in St. Joseph’s Church near Perham, Minnesota.
Dad traded the new house he had built for Mother for the Ferdinand Heembrock family farm house near Dent and went into business with his brother-in-law, Andrew Morin, husband of Mary Heembrock, to try to make the farm pay. Seven of their ten children (Arthur, Irene, Jerome, David, Louise, Anna, and Johnnie) were born on this farm in Minnesota, though the seventh child lived only one hour and was baptized "Johnnie" by Grandma Revering. But the farm didn’t work out and that is why Dad looked Westward.
Dad felt he was capable of bringing his wife and six little ones to California. When he saw an ad in a Minnesota paper showing the flowering almond trees in Rio Linda, California, he bought the land, sight unseen, and brought his family to California. Mother was shy but a brave woman, who, in 1923, had to leave her family and friends and start anew with her husband and six children in a strange place at the will of her "Gold- fevered" husband. The family arrived in California with very little money left after buying the almond orchard. 1, Mary Magdalena, was born the next year on May 5, 1924, at home, in Rio Linda.
Dad soon found out that the orchard was a poor investment as the almonds were of many varieties and grades. So he had to give up on the almonds and moved his family to Del Paso Heights where he returned to his old carpentry trade and soon became a fine, respected contractor. He built many homes in Sacramento and vicinity. Most, if not all, are still standing and are in good style and condition today.
Another daughter, Kay (Catherine Mary), was born February 8, 1926, in Sacramento and our youngest brother, Buddy (August Joseph), also was born in Sacramento on February 14, 1929.
Mother was a marvelous manager. During the Big Depression when Dad had to take a job as a janitor at the County Hospital for just $80 a month, she managed to cook wonderful meals for 10, bake delicious bread in a "Dutch" oven outside, and still have money to give to Dad for the unexpected second collection at Church. Dad was very Mission-minded and we always had a lot of Catholic magazines coming each month. He taught us by his example to be generous to the Church. His example also probably influenced his oldest daughter, Irene, to join the Benedictine Convent in 1933.
Dad died in Richmond, California, at the early age of 58 from Peritonitis after an appendectomy. Mother died from cancer at the age of 75, almost 76, in Sacramento, California.