Growing Up with a Preacher Man
Rev. William "Lester" Howard (1929-2021)
Mary Eulalie McLean Howard (1933-2021)
Dad's Best Friend, Bill Kretchmar (1920-2006)
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by Carolyn Ann Howard
As a child, I didn't understand the dynamic a lot of relationships, especially when it came to my dad. You see, Dad didn't have friends. He, as a pastor, felt he couldn't really have "friends" per se, because he was a pastor. Growing up with Dad, even as a child, I witnessed his mental health struggles. I always thought it would be good for Dad to have a best friend. He did have one, though; he just didn't label Bill as his best friend. Because he was a pastor, and he felt he couldn't have friends.
Bill, along with his wife and family, were hometown treasures of our little resort town of Monticello, Indiana. The Kretchmars owned "The Frosty Mug" drive-in where root beer flowed freely into frosty mugs, and it was good root beer, too. It's never really been my thing, but something was different about the root beer at The Frosty Mug!
Frosty Mug was started in 1954 by Bill Kretchmar and his father-in-law, Louis Barton. I don't know why the Bartons and the Kretchmars decided to move from Hammond, Indiana to Monticello around the time they started the restaurant. I never wondered about that. Ever. Until now. Isn't it funny the things we take for granted? Especially as children. But they did move to Monticello, and I'm ever so grateful to have known them.
Perhaps their move had something to do with the First Baptist Church of Monticello, which was started about the same time as the restaurant. Click on photos to enlarge
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| 1963 letter from Bill to my dad Carolyn Ann Howard Family Collection |
We were with the Kretchmars a lot. I remember that their house on the east side of Monticello, Indiana, had a laundry chute. That was so cool. I couldn't find this home's address using Ancestry, but I was pretty sure I could remember where it was. Sixty years ago, this house was spectacular.
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| Bill & Ruth's first Monticello home Courtesy Google Maps Proper attribution given |
When Dad first came to Monticello to be the pastor of the First Baptist Church, they were meeting in a little storefront close to Bill & Ruth's home, on the east side of Monticello. Bill was the "moderator" in the church service, so he sat in the front of the church with Dad, facing the people. He led the congregational singing as well and sang special music quite a bit. More than once, he sang "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," moving my dad to tears every. single. time.
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| Front row: Dad, me, Mom, maybe Wanda King, Mrs. Geier. Loucille Cole is in this one as well. Carolyn Ann Howard Family Collection |
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| Bill & Ruth's dream home Monticello, IN Google Maps with proper attribution |
I remember this home well. In this home, Ruth would make "purple cows" for us, which I believe I always declined. There was a Hammond organ, or something like a Hammond organ, and over it was a beautiful family picture of Bill and Ruth with their children and with Ruth's mother. The second story overlooked the Tippecanoe so beautifully. And that living area was all glassed in, so you could see for miles around.
We would visit every July 4th, and I would watch the fireworks on their upper deck. I watched them by myself, which, watching them by yourself as a child is pretty boring. My parents would be inside the home with the Kretchmars, talking about who knows what. Grown up stuff like the restaurant business or the church business.
Something else I remember is that Ruth was always dressed to the nines with perfect make-up and hair. By her vanity, affixed to the wall, was a print of a painting. It was one of those where you can see two different things. One view was a beautiful woman sitting at her vanity looking at herself in the mirror. The other view was that of a skeleton head, and the caption "All Is Vanity." It spoke volumes to me as a young girl growing up in a legalistic household. Cosmetics were bad. Looking nice was bad. That's unfortunately what I took away from the picture, thanks to my filters. I wonder, though, what the sketch meant for Ruth.
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| "All Is Vanity" By Charles Allan Gilbert Fair Use |
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| L to R; Ruth Kretchmar, Sharon Tolley, Edie Miller Howard Family Collection |
When I was young, a singing group from Pomona, California, did a concert at our church. They were called The Overtones, and I was star struck. They were so good. And the after party? It was at Bill & Ruth's big house on the river. These are the things that were taken away from Mom and me when Dad moved us to Evansville. It was a huge deal to be on the "in" with people like Bill & Ruth Kretchmar. That party. It was amazing. And so much fun to party with all these cool cats!
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| The Overtones Fair Use |
Another fun memory that so many of us from Monticello have were the steamed cheeseburgers at The Frosty Mug. Once the day center was opened up at First Baptist, these steamed cheeseburgers were on their menu, as well! Someone even posted recently on Facebook the recipe.
After we moved to Evansville in 1977, Bill & Ruth came to see my parents. I know it was around Christmastime, because, as a musician, I used to play piano for a lot of Christmas parties. I was playing a party and then after that went to Mom and Dad's to see Bill and Ruth. This is crazy, because it was probably 11 p.m. Fast forward to present day, and I need to be home on the couch by 6:00.
They probably came many times to visit my parents, and I'm just smushing all their visits together into one. It's a five-hour drive from Evansville to Monticello, though, and it's not a fun drive, either.
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| Ruth Kretchmar, Me, Mom, Dad at First American Baptist, Newburgh, IN Howard Family Collection |
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| Mom, Dad, Bill Kretchmar at First American Baptist, Newburgh, IN Howard Family Collection |
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| Dad, Stephanie, Mom, Bill, and Me at my parents table, 1997 Don't judge my hair lol Howard Family Collection |
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