Winnie Kern

Winnie was born on a farm, just north of town in 1908-went to
school in the community and at 16 years of age started with a
threshing rig. As he says, he was low man on the crew, so was in
charge of the ‘machine’. Or shall we say separator, it was
not until 2 years later that he left the farm for good and got a
job in the Reindel and Schreiner Lumber mill in town. That job
lasted for 40 years. The mill was powered by a hundred horsepowered
steam engine and it was Winnie’s job to keep everything in good
operating condition. Along with this, he found time to help a
threshing company run their steam engine for ten or eleven years.
What better background could a steam man have?

The mill operation closed in 1967 and Winnie became a shop
mechanic at Weiss Farm Equipment until 1974, when he retired. This
retirement, per se, didn’t last very long. However, it did give
him time to do some things in his home workshop such as building a
grandfather clock and some long-planned for furniture.

One of the many items Frankenmuth is famous for is eating. And,
a couple of the largest eating establishments are owned by the
Zehnder Family. It seems that Tiny Zehnder has, of late years,
become more and more aware of heritage – or history.

And because he is definitely a ‘doer’ he started putting
things together. In about 1975 he purchased from a neighbor farmer
a Port Huron steam engine, a Baker separator, a McCormick binder,
and an Oil-Pull tractor. Everything wasn’t all ready to go. The
steamer needed considerable tender loving care. They got Ansel
McGurk from Flint to do the boiler work and the rest of the
restoration was done by newly-retired Winnie Kern. Really, I
don’t believe that Winnie ever planned on a rocking-chair
retirement. The threshing outfit performs every year at a threshing
day or two at the Zehnder Farm where many neighborhood folks come
to help, look, and at noon, eat. This plus several appearances at
the Saginaw County Fair. Then for several years the engine was used
on a sawmill at the Frankenmuth Bavarian Festival. And always the
man in charge is Winnie Kern.

Back to the threshing – as most readers well know – after the
binder comes shocking of the wheat. And a laborer in that section
with experience beginning in 1924, is Frieda Kern, wife of Winnie.
She grew up on a farm near Frankenmuth. In fact, her great grandpa,
John Conrad, was one of a group of 13 of the original settlers of
the area.

Sometime in the late seventies, the idea for a covered wooden
bridge across the Cass River and behind the Zehnder’s
Restaurant was jelled. Parts of the bridge could best be obtained
locally and sawed locally. So, Tiny Zehnder bought a used Meadows
Mill from Renco Co. in Lapeer, Mich. After Winnie completed the
restoration, the mill was set up on the Oscar Huber farm and the
sawdust pile started. One item the bridge needed was 22,000 special
shingles for the outside – each inch thick and 36 inches long. Took
a bit of looking around for the native cedar until Oscar found just
the right stand at Hillman. Actually, they sawed cants on the
sawmill and finished on a band re-saw that Winnie had put in good
running order. The bridge is complete and beautiful now. I would
suppose that many readers of this story have driven over it by this
time.

Right now it would seem that Winnie could get down to regular
retirement – but not so. A group of Frankenmuth folks purchased an
old flour-mill from West Branch, a nearby town, with the idea of
tearing it down and moving it home to the banks of the Cass River.
This to be run by water power. The project isn’t completed as
yet though the machinery is all moved and – same fellow in charge
of the operation. Seems there was no end of work to re-do the
machinery to like-new condition. Winnie is still at it – the metal,
that is. A good share of the wood parts of the mill needed
stripping of old varnish and re-varnishing. Frieda to the
rescue.

Even as I write this, wintertime here in Florida, they are both
busy in the Kern basement – getting the parts ready. If all goes
well I assume the reassembly will begin this summer. And so goes
the retirement of Winnie Kern – steam man – sawmill and
thresherman-mechanic-and a tremendous rebuilder of our history and
heritage.