Living the American Dream

 My dad passed into glory on Nov. 17.  I was there holding his hand as he breathed his last breath.  I was able to tell him that he was a great dad, the best I could have asked for and that I loved him and would miss him.  We were very close and saying goodbye is so difficult.


For those of you that don't know my dad, he lived the American Dream.  His name was Fred Carl Stolle and was born on September 30, 1928 to Heinrich and Gesiene Stolle in a small family farmhouse in Haschenbrok, Germany.  He was the middle child of five and enjoyed a simple childhood with two brothers and two sisters.  Growing up, Dad lived in the beautiful Neidersachen county, but the country of Germany was devastated by  depression like the rest of the world.  He often told stories of only having one pair of shoes and never getting to eat sweets.  Dad’s life revolved around school and helping daily with the family farm until Hitler came into power.  When he was 10 years old, he was automatically enrolled in the Hitler Youth program, which is similar to The Boy  Scouts.  They marched and played sports every Saturday.  Dad quickly became a leader and was sent to the North Sea to fortify the farms from Allied invasion.  While there, the officer in charge showed favor to my Dad, offering him the chance to enroll in officers school instead of being sent to the front lines.  Dad saw that 
God had a hand in his life and never forgot he most likley would 
have died if sent to the front lines. Fred soon found himself in 
officers school in Prague, Czechoslovakia learning military strategy.
 In the last days of the war, his commanding officer was ordered 
to send all boys to the eastern front in Russia with a Panzerschrek 
(a tank buster bazooka) and only one shell. Thankfully, Dad's
 commander didn’t obey that order and told Dad and the other boys to
 sneak home. Also, following his father’s advice “Whatever you do, 
never go to Russia”, he and another friend escaped and headed 
home on the train.  With all of the confusion in Germany, no one 
noticed them and they arrived home safely four weeks later.  He 
always said this was one of the smartest things he ever did.  

After the war, Dad went back to school and finished his six years of Latin and one year of English, making Abitur or graduation.  His father wanted him to become a veterinarian, but he had other plans.  He wanted desperately to leave his war-torn homeland for the land of opportunity.  Everything had been destroyed in Germany and Dad would have to wait five years to go to a university.  Unknown to his parents, Fred had applied for a visa to America when he was 16.  Once a week, he rode his bike 30 miles to talk to the American Consulate in Bremen. At the time,  America was only allowing scientists to come from Germany to America.  His persistence paid off and he was one of the first non-scientists to get a visa. He always thought that someone gave up their spot so he could go.  He was

 really proud of that fact. On August 25, 1949, his mother’s birthday...Dad 

left for America.  He was 20 years old.

Anyone coming to America in 1949 needed a sponsor.  Dad sent letters to

 Germans in America and asked if he could work for them on their farms in 

return for his airplane ticket to America.  A family in New Jersey accepted

 him and he worked for a year on a farm to pay off $346 - the cost of his 

ticket. Dad couldn’t speak much English and didn’t learn the language his 

first year in America because he lived with Germans.  After that, he moved to 

Long Island, New York moving from job to job - first a landscaper, then a 

button factory worker, a painter, a carpenter and finally a storm door and 

window installer.  His first job wouldn’t give him a paycheck until the next week and he only had 50 cents for food for the whole weekend.  He went 

to the farmers market and found the cheapest thing he could - bananas.  He ate bananas Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday until he got a paycheck.  Times were hard in the beginning because Americans didn’t like Germans.  Dad endured many snears, jokes and doors slammed in his face.  Because of his tenacity, he eventually, owned his own business in New York, a window and door installation company.  He was proud to have installed all the windwos and doors on Governor's Island.  He often spoke of the cold ocean air he endure while installing those windows. 

In 1950, Jane Ostertun came over from his hometown and they were married that year.  Dad adopted her son, Tony and they were a family.  Dad saved all of his money and bought his first house with a private beach in Long Island.  He continued to buy real estate throughout New York and 

worked very hard at this time with his pool construction company.

Dad loved America.  He took the nationalization test and passed becoming an American citizen on June 14th, Flag Day, 1956.  He was proud to be an American and always had a flagpole in every one of his eleven houses to show his patriotism - always flying the American flag.

Christmastime 1959, Dad and Jane took a vacation to California.  He got his first sunburn at the Rose Parade and vowed never again to live in a cold climate again.  He went back to New York, sold everything and moved west to Long Beach, California.  He purchased the Penthouse and remodeled it.  Originally Dad wanted to make his career in real estate, but found himself in the car business by accident.   After relentlessly grinding a sales manager on price when buying a new car, the owner saw great talent in him and offered him a job on the spot.   Dad had a knack for sales and in total sold 99,987 cars in his career, serving as the General Manager of Cormier Chevrolet for many years. He once was quoted saying “I have traveled the whole world.  I have won every contest with Chevrolet and have gone everywhere first class.  America is the best!” While living the American Dream, Dad did experience tragedy when in 1966, his wife Jane, died of bone cancer and Fred was a widower.

Nearly two years later, Dad was ready to marry again and went every day 

looking for a wife.  When he met, Diane Sliger, he was certain she was the right one.  He asked her to be his wife on their second date.  After a fewmonths of “grinding” my mom, Fast Freddie finally won and they were married on March 2, 1968 at high noon.  Later that year, I was born, their first child and then my brothers, Fred Carl the next year and Garrett Lenz the year after that.  

In 1970, my parents bought 42 acres of land in Valley Center, CA.  They 

cleared the brush, dynamited rocks, built roads, installed an irrigation network and began planting avocado trees.  They worked their ranch tirelessly and planted 4,200 trees themselves.  They went to the ranch on every day off Fredhad from Cormier and created their dream home - a custom adobe home with many arches.  Fred put thousands of hours and endless amounts of blood and sweat to build the ranch just they way they wanted it.

In 1982, the Stolle family joined the Long Beach Church of Christ and Dad accepted Christ as his Savior and was baptized.  He loved his church family and helping with the building facilities.   He and my mom taught a young a young married class

and was know to speak to the young group at graduation.

Tired of working so hard and feeling the need to relax, Dad retired from Cormier in 1994, sold the ranch in 2001 and the Penthouse in 2004 and moved to La Quinta full time.  Here he cherished life, traveled the world and loved their ten grandchildren with number eleven due in February.  He learned to play golf and slow down.  He still had continual “projects” around the house and loved to dance and be invited to a good party.  He kept up with his German family, visiting his homeland 52 times in his lifetime and last year, he got the pleasure of showing his grandchildren the farm he was born on and the land of his youth.

My dad will be remembered as bigger than life - with the best stories, the most energy and an unrelenting zest for life.  He was a man with incredible work ethic and sheer determination.  He stood for all that America is - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Many of you will remember his famous motto: 

 “Look your best, Do your best, Be your best!” 

  My Dad would want you to remember him that way!

Please pray for our family this weekend as we say goodbye to my Dad with a burial today and a memorial tomorrow afternoon.  He was loved so much that it will be so hard for all of us!  Goodbye Dad, I miss you already!