William 'Willie' Sebastian Lustig

Obituary: Teutopolis Press - January 22, 1953

Wm Lustig dies; Father of Local resident.

William Lustig, 82, a prominent Jasper County retired farmer of the wheeler community, passed away at Mercy Hospital in Gary, Calumet, Lake, Indiana, USA at 2 am Sunday morning, January 18. He had been enjoying cards Saturday night before retiring. A short time later, he suffered a heart attack, and was taken to the hospital where he soon passed away. The body was brought to the Wright Funeral Home Monday morning where it remained until time for services.

Mr. Lustig was one of the pioneers of the Wheeler vicinity and was well and favorably known by most of the folks in this community. He leaves five daughters: Mrs Walter (Bertha) Westendorf of Gary, Indiana with whom he had been residing this winter, Mrs Frank (Ida) Repking, Mrs John (Elnora) Nelson, both of Gary, Mrs Joe (Della) Repking of East Chicago, Indiana, and Mrs Al (Florence) Dasenbrock of Teutopolis; two sons, Edward of the Wheeler community and Carl of Gary, Calumet, Lake, Indiana, USA. One brother, Mr. Jake Lustig of Terre Haute, fourteen grandchildren and ten great grandchildren also survive.

Funeral services were held at nine o'clock Wednesday at the Immaculate Conception in Dieterich, with the pastor, Rev Father Will officiating. Burial was in the parish Cemetery by the side of his wife who preceded him in death three years ago.

Pallbearers were Howard Wolf, Arthur Hetzer, Donald Meislahn, Ralph Emmerich, Dwight Mitchel and Victor Lidy.

Birth: Sep. 11, 1870 Richton Park Cook County Illinois, USA

Death: Jan. 18, 1953 Gary Lake County Indiana, USA

William Lustig was born in Richton Park,Illinois. He was baptized at St Ann's Church, which was a mission Church of St Laborious Church located in Steger, Illinois. St Ann's Church was located on Sauk Trail in what is now (1999) Park Forest, Illinois, USA. The Church was razed after a new Church was built in Park Forest The Cemetery, which was located next to the Church, still survives. It is located just west of Rich East High School. Bill's Great-Uncle, Maurice 'Moritz" Lustig, is buried there with several members of his family.

William and Elizabeth lived on a farm outside Wheeler, Illinois, USA. Bill, who grew up attending, St Joseph Catholic Church in Island Grove, changed affiliation to the Immaculate Conception Church in Dieterich after his marriage, since his wife's family attended that Church.

They built their farmhouse about 1910. In the cold cellar under their house, they had each of their girls set a handprint. In the 1980's, Ida's grandchildren were able to visit the farm and see their Grandmother's baby handprint.

Bill ran a grain farm using horses. His wife raised chickens and shipped the eggs to Gary, Calumet, Lake, Indiana, USA, where their eldest daughter, Bertha, sold them to her neighbors. Each week, a case of eggs would be shipped north while an empty case was shipped back to Wheeler.

Bill enjoyed smoking cigars. I learned to avoid sitting behind him in a car when the window was open because he liked to spit out of the window and the wind would, well you can guess what happened!

Since there was no refrigeration, they kept their butter in a gunnysack that they suspended on a rope into their cistern. A cistern was a dry well, which held rainwater saved from the roof of the house. It was important on farms to collect rainwater for washing purposes since well water was 'hard water while rainwater was 'soft".

As each daughter married, she left the farm to live with her husband. Their eldest son Carl moved to Gary and lived with his sister Bertha until he was married following the Second World War. Edward moved to Gary too for a short time, but soon returned to the farm where he stayed. Ed took over the farm when his parents retired and moved to Gary.