George Henry Lidke

He was born on a farm near Idalia, Colorado, on June 23, 1916 to Emil and Emma (Steen) Lidke. George served in the United States Army during WWII. On August 16, 1941, he was united in marriage to Maxine Sellers.

Maxine preceded him in death and so did his granddaughter, Lisa Craft.

He is survived by his children, Joan (Paul) Craft, Don (Martha) Lidke and Dave Lidke; grandchildren, Lori DeZengremel, Jeff Lidke, John Craft, Michael Lidke, Danielle Lidke-Prow and Sara Lidke Thrall; great grandchildren, Sarita Lidke, Michael DeZengremel, Jack DeZengremel, Payton Craft, Ailey Craft, Matthew DeZengremel, Brooke Lidke, Chase Lidke, Beauxfrey Prow and Aria Lidke.

A visitation will be held from 9-10am, Friday, January 16, 2015 at the Olinger Crown Hill Pavilion of Reflection with his funeral to follow at 10am, also at the Pavilion of Reflection. There will be military honors at Arvada Cemetery, 5581 Independence St., Arvada, CO 80002 following the funeral service. Following the graveside service, there will be a reception at Crown Hill Reception Hall.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations in George’s name to the Lisa Marie Craft Memorial Graduate Scholarship, CSU Foundation, P.O. Box 1870, Ft. Collins, CO 80522-1870.

THOUGHTS WHILE ON A HIGH COLORADO MOUNTAIN

October 1993 – George Lidke

Oh Lord, I stand in awe and wonder as I ponder on what I see,

I see the stately mountain ranges across the miles from me.

I see the aspen, pine, and spruce, and around me rocks abound,

The water seeps from out the hill, in tiny droplets to be found.

Each droplet joins the many more as they flow merrily along,

They join as one and roll away, their music like a song.

These waters grow in size and usefulness as they flow toward the sea,

And surely that's a message sent down from You to me.

The seasons go by one by one, and even we can’t know,

When they will return, the hour they come and then the hour they go.

The cold will come, the snow will fall, the rain return and the flowers grow,

It's snowing now, I need but know that flowers bloom 'ere next year’s snow.

In all that lies within my vision, as well as all the rest,

There is beauty, grandeur, and order, and order is the best.

There is order in all Thy works we see, and not a lot of fuss,

And surely there is a lesson here sent down from You to us.

I feel so very small up here, I wonder will You see or care,

But then I feel we are all equal parts of Thy great plan we share.

A plan that seems to never change, and we must live within this plan,

Yet free to choose, and free to do whatever that we can.

Your eye is on the sparrow, the elk, the deer, the bear,

They are equal in Your eyes I think, and so are men, I dare.

There is fairness in Your plan to all, no special favors do we see,

And surely that's a lesson sent down from You to me.

I think of things I've done to those I love, I feel the shame,

I think of things I haven't done, and know that I'm to blame.

But looking out at all I see, Thy world at this point of time,

I know no one can change the past, it's the future that is mine.

I need to grow, to learn, to understand, to be the best I can,

But still accept my weaknesses, my equality to every man.

I've thought so much as I stand here, but what have I learned upon this hill?

It may be that like all men born, I know so little of Thy will.

Then why do we with our small minds, think we should preach about Thy will?

Why not admit we do not know, and search for truth on every hill.

There is little each of us can do to change the world of which we are a part,

But we can search, and love, and learn, and surely that's a start.

So what to do as time goes on? I wonder where is the way?

Go on. Keep stepping toward the light! Each step is its own new day.

George Henry Emil Lidke was born at home in 1916 on a farm near Idalia, Colorado – the sixth of seven children. Woodrow Wilson was President, World War I was raging in Europe, Panama Canal had just opened, women couldn’t yet vote, here were no radios, no TVs, the Model T was only 8 years old, and the 18th amendment prohibiting the sale of liquor would soon become law (1917).

His father’s (Emil Carl Lidke) family immigrated to America in 1882 from Pomerania a region in historic Prussia and part of the former German Empire located on the south shore of the Baltic Sea and northeast of Berlin. This area is now divided between Germany and Poland. His mother’s (Emma Marguarata Steen) family immigrated to America in 1894 from Lubeck, Germany, northeast of Hamburg.

George went to school in a one room school house. Classes were small – 2 to 5 people per class with one teach for all 8 grades. In George’s words:

“Our library consisted of a large Webster’s dictionary and one set of reference books. I believe the reference books were a set of “The Books of Knowledge.” There was no such thing as a choice of courses to take. It was standard. As I recall, we had reading, writing (penmanship), arithmetic, one period a week of social studies (usually reviewing current magazine articles furnished by the teacher), geography, and history. While not formal classes, considerable emphasis and time was spent on religion and patriotism. Fortunately all of the students usually went to St. John’s Evangelical church which was adjacent to the school house, both setting right out in the country two miles east and two miles south of Idalia. I do believe that for a great many of the adults of the community, patriotism, religion, and arithmetic were felt to be the most important subjects, with the emphasis in the order given.”

George lived through 17 Presidents: Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama. As his life-long family history document details, he witnessed countless historical events. Following is a list of many that he wrote about in the family history:

World War I

Influenza epidemic

18th Amendment started Prohibition

First radio broadcast

19th Amendment granting women the right to vote

U.S. refusal to join the League of Nations

Roaring Twenties (women’s skirts went above their knees)

The Scopes trial

Formation of the Army Air Corp

Charles Lindberg’s flight from New York to Paris

Henry Ford’s Model A

Amelia Earhart flew the Atlantic

Stock market crash

The Great Depression

Opening of the Empire State Building

Capone’s conviction on tax evasion charges

Formation of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the WPA

Gold Standard was dropped

21st Amendment ended Prohibition

Hitler’s coming to power and the spread of Fascism across Europe

World War II and the Holocaust

Pearl Harbor

Rise and fall of organized labor unions

Jackie Robinson – the first Negro in Major League Baseball

Social Security established

The Marshall Plan

Formation of the United Nations

The rise (and fall) of Communism

General Douglas MacArthur

Korean War

J. Edgar Hoover and Joseph McCarthy

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed for espionage (found guilty of passing atomic bomb secrets to the USSR)

The Cold War

Color TVs and automatic dishwashers!

The first Civil Rights law granting Negroes the absolute right to vote

Racial unrest throughout the South

New states: Alaska and Hawaii

John Glenn – first American in orbit

Cuban Missile Crisis

Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech

The Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama

JFK assassinated

Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated

Passage of Civil Rights laws barring discrimination in voting, jobs, and public accommodations

Establishment of Peace Corps and Job Corps

Vietnam War

Los Angeles Watts riots

Malcolm X assassinated

Medicare established

Martin Luther King assassinated

RFK assassinated

My Lai massacre and conviction of Lt. William Calley

Kent State

Conviction of Charles Manson and his followers for the murder of Sharon Tate and six others

26th Amendment lowering the voting age to 18

Nixon went to China

Governor George C. Wallace shot

Watergate

Roe vs. Wade

Nixon impeached

Nixon resigned

End of Vietnam War

200th anniversary of U.S. Independence Day

Big Thompson flood

Vietnam draft evaders pardoned

63 Americans taken hostage in Iran

Mt. St. Helens erupted

Reagan shot

Sally Ride became first American woman in space

Space Shuttle Challenger exploded

South African Apartheid ended

Iran Contra scandal and Oliver North granted immunity for his role

U.S. invasion of Panama to overthrow Noriega

Black Monday – 1987 Wall Street crash

Exxon Valdez oil spill

S&L industry went belly up

First Persian Gulf War to liberate Kuwait

Clarence Thomas confirmed for Supreme Court

LA riots and beating of Rodney King

First World Trade Center bombing

Branch Davidian raid in Waco, Texas

Oklahoma City bombing

O.J. Simpson found not guilty!

55 mph speed limit repealed

Paula Jones, Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky, impeachment of President Clinton

First government shutdown

Ted Kaczynski found guilty of bombings in California and New Jersey

Columbine High School shootings

Supreme Court decision electing George W. Bush President

9/11

Enron

Second Persian Gulf War to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq

Asian tsunami kills 200,000 people in Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka

Military operations in Iraq & Afghanistan

First Black President of the U.S.

Bernie Madoff convicted of fraud

Earthquake in Haiti kills 100,000

Arab Spring

Putin wins election again and again and again

Aurora theatre shootings

Hurricane Sandy wrecks the east coast

Prince William marries Kate Middleton