Jean and Roy Wunderlin family

              Jean and Roy Wunderlin
Roy Wunderlin was born Octob er 2, t903 in Harrison, Wisconsin. f ean Marguerite Wunderlin
was born |uly 31, 1907 in Kendall, Montana. They were the children of |ohn and Martha Boldt
Wunderlin.
Their father worked in the mining town of Kendall, Montana and Roy started school there. In
L910 the family moved to the homestead North of the North Moccasin Mountains on Plum Creek.
Roy and fean attended the Plum Creek, Dog Creek, and Box Elder Schools during this time. Times
were tough but the Wunderlins made the best of them. Roy was taken to the circus in Lewistown
by neighbors. He talked of elephants and the circus men putting up the tents. They used
sledgehammers as each man struck the stake in rotation with no one missing a beat. fean spoke of
a time when she and her good friend Lorraine Enloe were walking to school and the rattlesnake
came out. They killed the snake and sat down and cried until big brother Roy came. The girls
were about 5 at the time.
They had lifetime friendships with their homestead friends Bill, Evan, May fHerbert) Phillips,
Lorraine Enloe and Alice Kloss. They were good neighbors and well respected in the community.
Roy and Jean were always close and looked out for each other. Their father died when they
were on the homestead. Roy had to quit school and went out and worked as a hired man to
support himself. Jean and her mother went to live with the Lewis Hassler family where Martha
worked as a housekeeper. Mr. Hassler had lost his wife and was trying to run the ranch and raise
6 sons and 2 daughters the youngest child was a baby. The Hassler family was good to Martha and
fean. Lewis encouraged |ean to continue her schooling. jean graduated from the eighth grade in
Hilger. Martha became ill so the Wunderlin's moved to Mineral Point, Wisconsin to be closer to
their family. fean continued her schooling, graduating Valedictorian. ln addition to school fean
worked part time and Roy worked full time to support and take care of their sick mother.
After their mother's death Roy heard that the "Millionaire Kid's Place" was for rent. ln 1927
Roy came and rented the ranch 3 miles north of Hilger. fean joined him later that year. They
rented the ranch until they purchased the land. They lost the land twice because of crop failures.
However, they were able to enter into another contract by paying the taxes. Finally, the third time
in the forties after the droughts of the thirties passed they were able to make their payments and
the property became theirs. Roy spoke of putting up Russian thistles for hay and getting Slough
grass shipped in on the railroad from back east. During this time it was common for ranchers to
get together and ship 3 year olds back to eastern markets by rail. On at least one occasion Roy got
a freight bill because the cattle did not bring enough to pay the freight. In later years when he got
a check from his cattle he would comment jokingly that at least they paid the freight. As times got
better Roy and fean were able to increase the size of their ranch. He was a progressive rancher.
He installed drain tiles and irrigation systems to make the land highly productive. In addition to
his fine and gentle cattle, they raised chickens, pigs, horses, and always had dogs and cats even a
pet magpie. In the early days Roy farmed with horses and was known as a good horseman. jean
could make a delicious meal out of anything. No one was ever turned away from her table. Until
the time of her death the cookie jar was always full and kids of all ages were welcome to sample its
contents.