ASD Teachers

Our office has been very busy lately with both phone calls and people coming in regarding the Autism Fundraising Walk on Saturday, April 20, 2013.  With over 230 people registered already, including teams from all the schools and many new faces, we are confident that the Walk will raise much needed funds to support the two Autism Summer Camps the HHH currently offers. There is still time to register for or donate to the Walk so please call us at 507-433-4243 or visit our website for more information. 

The Autism programming has grown and succeeded for the past few years because of passionate and 

specially educated professionals who have spent many hours planning curriculum, designing 

schedules, and organizing outings.  Erin Dilley, Ellis Middle School Autism Resource Specialist and 

All Access Communtiy Explorations Co-Director writes of her experience, “I really have enjoyed my 

13 years working with students on the autism spectrum in the school system. I have seen over the past 

few years working with ASD programming at the HHH that students are being taught valuable skills at 

school, and our ASD programming gives them a no pressure, dynamic, fun environment in which to 

begin to generalize those skills.  There is no other way I would rather be spending my summers.”

Another key staff person in our Programming is Karianne Bachmeier, a Special Education Teacher at Southgate Elementary.  She writes, “I am committed to working with individuals with autism because they are not only brave and honest people, but they can be such an asset to Austin. Their unique talents and perspectives always make me see life in another way, and they deserve to have the chance to be themselves, stretch their boundaries, and find a place in our community in a caring and supportive environment.”

In the late 1890’s, the city of Toledo, Ohio, had a dedicated and caring teacher much like Erin and Karianne.  Miss Helen “Nellie” Ann Hormel, George A.’s youngest sister taught there for five years.  Although she died at age 25 of Tuberculosis, she was described in her November 8, 1899 Austin Daily Herald obituary as having an ”indefatigable ambition to please and to extol [her students] making her greatly esteemed in her chosen profession.”  Teaching is a true gift and we are fortunate to have so many dedicated people working with us.  Nellie sounds like she would have been a fine addition to our staff as well.

Autism Awareness at HHH

Tuesday, April 2, is the sixth annual United Nations World Autism Awareness Day.  This specially designated day was first recognized in April of 2008 to increase the awareness of Autism in the world.  So what does this mean to the Hormel Historic Home?  That is a question I have been asked, and one I have asked of others, often over the past few months.

I have learned that the occurrence of Autism, a group of complex disorders of brain development, is 1 in 88 children; although that number is being tested and many feel the actual rate is much greater.  Autism appears 4 to 5 times more often in boys than in girls, and it occurs across all demographics and all races.  The cause is somewhat of a mystery but both genetic and environmental factors have been found to contribute to its diagnosis.  These are the basics and I am grateful to have a team of specially educated professionals working with me who are teaching me more everyday.

Throughout history the HHH has served the community in many ways, as the Hormels wanted when they gifted it to the YWCA in 1927.  Following is a description of a 3-part seminar held at the YWCA as reported in the March 14^th, 1929 paper:

“The interesting subject of ‘Heredity and Environment’ will be the first subject taken up by the child study class which begins Wednesday evening, April 3^rd(1929) at the YWCA.  Subjects in addition to the first one are ‘Bases of Action’, or the mechanism which controls human behavior, ‘The Beginnings of Nervousness’ and ‘Fear and Anger’, or how a child’s personality is affected by his emotions.”  The article states the class was open  “to all who are interested in the rights and the welfare of the child, whether he is a precious and sometimes a puzzling member of one’s own family, or one of the many who in the future may have a hand in shaping the affairs of the times of his own day.”

Although the classes described are not specifically talking about Autism, the idea of offering programs to help families and children is not a new one for the HHH.  And the fact that parents often need assistance in knowing how to raise their children is not unique to today.  I am proud that the Home continues to be utilized in a manner that can help people navigate the complexities of parenting.  For more information on the Autism Programming supported by the HHH please visit our website at www.hormelhistorichome.org.

Young John Hormel

After both the Hormels and the Deckers immigrated to Buffalo, New York they became part of the intimate German-American community.  John George Hormel and Susanna Wilhelmina Decker met there and were married on December 28, 1856-he was 26 and she, just 20.

I enjoyed reading of John and Susanna’s youth and characteristics in the following passages from In Quest of Quality by Richard Dougherty.

“When gold was struck in California in the forties, John George, then 19, was eager to head west to seek his fortune.  His parents (Christian and Elizabeth) dissuaded him, pointing out the uncertainties and dangers of the long and perilous journey across the wild and unfamiliar country to the Pacific coast.  He acquiesced to their wishes, but still felt a strong wanderlust…he managed to get a manual job on a freight and passenger boat that plied the Mississippi all the way to New Orleans.”

“These were impressionable times for John. Born with a good mind, he had, in addition, the advantage of having been brought up in a home founded on solid Christian principles.  It was a broadening time in his life.  After a period when he worked as a riverboat hand and at other temporary jobs, John returned to Buffalo and found steady employment in a large Buffalo tannery.  Starting at the bottom, he learned every job thoroughly; he also studied commercial bookkeeping at night.  Because he was very active in the work of the Buffalo German Reformed Church and was looked upon by his associates as a young man of sterling qualities, he was chosen one of its elders, despite his comparative youth.”

Of Susanna it is written in Dougherty’s book, “She had learned English at school in Germany.  Subsequent schooling in Buffalo made the second language a permanent possession.  Susanna took over much of the care of her younger brothers, and steadily developed into a capable household manager.  A measure of her worth is the fact that she was engaged as a servant while in her teens in the Buffalo home of President Millard Fillmore.  She was a thoroughly reliable and mature woman for her years when she married John Hormel.”

Perhaps Susanna’s son, William Henry (George A.’s brother), writes of her the best, “When Father, as a young man, won her heart, he won the most beautiful treasure of life for all of us as a family.”

I am hopeful my sons will write something similar of me someday….