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Paul and Minnie
Paul was the first of the three sons of Julia to take the plunge. He had had an early, ill-fated romance with one of the Polish young women of the parish who, in love with another, had spurned his ardent
advances. Somewhat heartbroken but buoyant enough to recover quickly, as his sister Frances related many years later, he apparently decided to stay out of love, play the field, and break a few hearts himself ...
which he did with abandon. He was quite handsome, ”full of the devil,” and very attractive to the ladies, but he got most of his fun carousing with his male friends at dances and stag beer parties. Paul was
an outgoing, cheerful, fun-loving, gregarious sort, who loved to have people about him. He also loved singing, had an excellent tenor voice, and often could be heard harmonizing with his cronies. He
loved barbershop harmony, and sang the tenor and/or lead parts for many of the old popular songs of his day. He had learned a peppy Polish jig which he would "kick into" at the drop of a musical tone ...
especially after he had had a few drinks. He also ventured farther from home than the rest, even, as mentioned earlier, rooming in Minneapolis for a time while working for the Great Northern Railway. His
fast-fused temper notwithstanding, he got along well with people. They liked him, he liked them, and he simply found he was having too much fun to get lured into matrimonial ”bondage.” So he remained happily
single ...until he met ”Minnie.” Monica Thomalla had moved from the farm homestead of her parents, Frank and Mary Thomalla, at North Prairie, 25 miles up the Mississippi River, to take a position as
housekeeper for the Freeman family in the city's well-to-do ”Lower Town” section. She had spotted Paul at one of the Polish social functions (probably a dance) at the St. John Cantius parish meeting hall (which
stood at 15th Ave. and 3rd
St. North). She too loved fun, could dance well, was a good swimmer, played the fiddle, could draw pictures (especially of buildings and farm animals) remarkably well, loved to laugh, was a good mixer and had genuine warmth and care toward people. She was a devout Polish Catholic, was a talented seamstress who always kept herself attractively dressed, and she had a bright personality that made her popular with men and women alike. In her ”growing up” years on the farm, she was the ”tomboy” of the family and chose to spend her spare time outdoors, driving horses, hiking with the form dogs, and, when she was permitted, hunting with her brothers. Under their amused tutorship she became a veritable Annie Oakley ... a real crack shot with rifle and shotgun ... so that she knew how to stalk and capture her game, even as she ultimately knew how to handle the awkward boasts and macho conceits of evasive bachelors proud of their single estate.
Once having singled out Paul Edward Sakry as fair game, Minnie chose a church basket social to make her move. The dances, or socials, were part of the traditional practice of providing opportunities for
the young people of the parish to meet each other. Ethnic ties were still strong, and the general feeling still prevailed that good Catholic Polish boys should marry good Catholic Polish girls. The socials
did to a great extent accomplish this purpose. They certainly did in the case of Paul and Minnie. Once employed in St. Cloud, it didn't take Minnie long to gravitate from Lower Town to the Polish West End,
not only for social reasons but for church-going as well. She came to the basket social ”loaded for bear” (in true huntress fashion), garbed in the most beguiling dress she could put together, with a picnic
basket overflowing with tempting food morsels prepared by her own capable hands. Well, if these basket socials were indeed a very effective device for bringing together the eligible unmarrieds and pairing them off
during an evening of gayety and getting acquainted, I have nevertheless suspected that Paul appeared on the scene more for the good food and the adventure than for any serious ”coupling up.” Be that as it may, all
the young women would bring their baskets of food which they would auction off to the highest bidder. The man who thus got the basket also got the girl who came with it ... for the rest of the evening. A
girl could encourage certain swains of her choice to bid for her basket by focusing her ”come hither” smiles upon them ... and she also could stop the bidding at any time, regardless of possible higher bids, in the
event that the man she really wanted came along with a bid. Maybe she sensed that Paul was interested, and it certainly is quite likely that the looks she gave him indicated she
was interested. In any event, the vaunted bachelor made his bid ... and Minnie quickly had him in her basket. So lavishly did she pour on the charm that Paul hardly knew what hit him. From that moment on, his single days were numbered.
But it was high time. Paul was already 31 years of age when he walked down the aisle with Monica Thomalla in a beautiful spring wedding at Holy Cross Catholic Church at North Prairie on May 27,
1913, with Paul's brother John, and Monica's sister Emma Thomalla as groom and bridesmaid. A great celebration, which began on the church grounds, quickly moved to the Thomalla farm a mile away on the high banks
of the Mississippi river. There the Sakrys and Thomallas conjoined their families in the manner they best understood and most enjoyed ... old time dancing and fiddling (on a specially built outdoor platform), much
eating and drinking of beer, and many hours of laughing and joking and visiting. To the Sakrys of St. Cloud it was a very special occasion, for it came as
the first in a rapid series of events which culminated with all three of Adam and Julia’s sons married within nine months ... and well launched on a course that would assure posterity a strong and hardy
lineage of Sakry sons and daughters ad infinitum. Elsewhere in this history, we shall return to Paul and Minnie with a further account of their married life, their family, and a more complete account of their
habits, activities, and the kind of persons they were. For now let us return to the events of 1913. |
