SIGEL — The longest relationship most people will have is with their siblings. That is definitely true for the Wolke siblings of Sigel.
The five sisters and two brothers are between 79 and 94 years old. Despite their age, they remain mentally sharp and physically active.
“It’s remarkable, actually,” said Steve Wolke, who is the son of one of the siblings, Paul. “They’re doing pretty well.”
They also remain close-knit, with four of them living on the same street in rural Sigel, where they grew up.
While the house they grew up in isn’t there anymore, the family nursery they all worked in is. Their parents, Paul T. and Regina (Moran) Wolke, started Wolke Nursery in the 1930s. It was a branch of Paul’s father’s large fruit tree business and included ornamental trees and landscaping plants.
Norbert Wolke, who lives near Montrose, recalls working in the orchard and nursery with his brother, Paul Jr., and their grandfather and father. They started driving tractors at a young age. When they were 12, Norbert recalls them driving a McCormick-Deering 10-20. The International Harvester started with a hand crank and had manual steering.
“He’d crank it, and I’d choke it, and one of us shifted, and the other would drive it, and we would go out and work all day,” he said. “You couldn’t shift gears and hang on the steering wheel and hold the clutch in at the same time.”
Norbert Wolke, now 92, still has that tractor and others. He’s been collecting tractors, including toy versions, for 60 years – a hobby inspired by his childhood.
“Never had any toys when I was a kid. That’s about all we had was tractors at home to drive,” he said.
The siblings spent much of their childhood and teenage years in the nursery and orchard.
Coming out of the Great Depression, they were like most people at the time.
“It was a very difficult time for everybody, making their money stretch,” said sister Shirley Lawrence.
Another sister, Linda Hume, noted that even though they were poor, they didn’t realize it at the time.
“My Mom and Dad were very dedicated. They taught us how to work before they taught us how to eat,” she said.
Norbert Wolke recalled long days working in the orchard with no time for play.
“We worked hard all the time. All of us,” said Norbert.
But when they were working, they were together and got along.
“We never did think of it as work. It was just, we were all together and done things together and achieved it,” said Hume.
They grew up in a small house, which resulted in close sleeping quarters. The two boys had their own room, while the five girls shared one, which meant they had to find creative sleeping arrangements. Hume recalls an Army cot and couch she and one of her older sisters slept on in the living room. She also recalls sleeping on kitchen chairs at times.
“My Mom made a lot of comforters, so we had a lot of comforters to sleep on,” she noted.
Hume, the youngest sibling, remembers wanting to join her brothers and sisters at school when she was 4, which she sometimes did. It was a 2-mile trek to the one-room schoolhouse that the children shared with another family.
“I walked without my parents knowing to school several times, and the teacher said I could just go ahead and stay,” she said.
As they got older, the siblings didn’t stray far from their homeplace, all living within a 7-mile radius. Several of their children have also kept close by.
Paul Jr. took over the nursery and continued to live on the same street, where he still lives. Today, the nursery is operated by his sons, Steve and Monte, along with Steve’s wife and three children. Steve and Monte also live on the same street, as does Monte’s son.
Over the years, the siblings said they have always been able to depend on one another for whatever was needed.
Lawrence and the oldest sibling, Norma Jean Brown, who also live down the same street from each other, used to take turns carpooling their children to Cumberland school, which was 17 miles away.
Hume also liked having her siblings on the same street. Until she got married a few years ago, she lived in the house their parents built in the 1970s. The couple now splits their time between their home near Willow Hill and the homeplace
“It was neat being close by. Sometimes we don’t see each other every day, but then we know that this one and that one is around,” she said.
Lawrence said her siblings still keep in close contact.
“I don’t think a week goes by I don’t talk to most of them on the phone if I don’t see them in person,” she said.
That includes her younger sister, Wanda Beard, who also lives down the road from her.
“I talked to her twice yesterday,” she said. “Wanda was my best friend growing up, as well as being my sister.”
The siblings all stay active, whether it’s picking pecans, as Norbert Wolke did recently, or walking several miles a day, as Brown and Beard do. Brown, who is 94, and Beard, who is 85, walk together every day if possible.
“They walk a good ways,” said Lawrence.
“And that’s the nice part of it too, that everybody is walking, talking, and being active,” she added.
Steve Wolke attributes their longevity and good health to a lifetime of “clean living.”
Lawrence agrees.
“We don’t drink or smoke,” she said.
A trait their parents instilled.
“They were just very hard workers,” she added.
Lawrence is appreciative of her family and feels fortunate to be able to see her siblings without having to travel clear across the country.
“I probably got one of the best families in the world,” she said.