 Realizing the likelihood of being drafted following his graduation from high school, Melvin Stubinger of Lohman enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1961. He went on to serve with an artillery battery and also with a funeral detail while stationed in Hawaii. Courtesy of Jeremy P. Ämick The summer of 1961 should have been an enthusiastic period for Lohman area resident Melvin Stubinger as he had recently graduated from Russellville High School and prepared to embark upon establishing a career for himself. However, with the military draft a pervasive reality for men of his age, he realized there was an important decision he needed to make. “It was one of those situations where you knew that Uncle Sam was going to get you sooner or later, so I decided to go ahead and enlist to get it out of the way,” Stubinger explained. With a grin, he frankly added, “I decided to join the U.S. Army because I figured it was about the easiest branch of service to get into at that time.” Taking his oath of enlistment in St. Louis on July 29, 1961, the young recruit was soon aboard a bus and on his way to Ft. Leonard Wood for basic training. Several weeks later, he traveled to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma for advanced training in “artillery surveying.” “That was a situation where the Army decided they needed me in a specific job and that’s where they put me; I didn’t have any choice in the matter,” he affirmed. During the two months he was at the Oklahoma post, Stubinger and his fellow soldiers spent many hours in both the classroom and participating in field training exercises to learn how to operate a theodolite—a device that helped them complete the calculations that were provided to the gunners who directed the fire of large guns such as the 155mm howitzer. When his initial training was completed in December 1961, Stubinger was sent to San Diego and boarded a military transport bound for the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Upon his arrival, he was assigned to Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 13th Artillery located at Schofield Barracks—a U.S. Army installation established in 1908 to provide for a mobile defense of Pearl Harbor and the island. Settling into the routines of Army life, Stubinger recalls that his battery soon began a cycle of training exercises and maneuvers to maintain their respective proficiencies of firing and supporting the howitzers. “We would go out and practice firing the guns while set up in the middle of sugar cane and pineapple fields on Oahu,” Stubinger said. “There were many times when they had to limit the amount of powder they could use in the projectiles because sometimes there just wasn’t enough space to fire the guns at full capacity,” he added. Once a year, Stubinger further explained, the battery would conduct a month-long training exercise on the “Big Island” of Hawaii. They would load their equipment on LSTs and set up on lava fields, which was an open area that afforded them more space and less restrictions when firing the howitzers. While stationed on Oahu, Stubinger was also assigned to a funeral detail supporting the burial of veterans in the National Cemetery of the Pacific in the Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu. Some of these funerals, he explained, were not only for local veterans who passed away, but also for the internment of remains that were located of World War II veterans killed in Pacific battles. “The way the sound carried in the Punchbowl whenever they played Taps at a funeral just made the hair stand up on the back of your neck,” said Stubinger. “It was one of those experiences that you never forget.” During his tour in Hawaii, the young soldier also had the opportunity to visit Pearl Harbor and witnessed many remnants of the devastation that resulted from the Japanese attack in World War II. “You could still see oil slicks in the harbor because of the liquids leaking from the sunken ships,” he said. “There were a lot of buildings, including our barracks on Schofield Barracks, which still showed bullet damage from the strafing from Japanese airplanes.” In July 1964, Stubinger packed his few belongings and boarded a Navy LST (Landing Ship, Tank) bound for the West Coast. Upon his arrival back in the United States, he received his discharge papers from the Army and returned to Mid-Missouri. In the years that followed, Stubinger married, raised two children and completed a 34-year career with a local telephone service company. He and his wife, Joan, visited Hawaii in the early 1990s; however, it had become virtually unrecognizable to the former soldier. “The pineapple and sugar cane fields were all gone and even the parade fields we had at Schofield were covered with new housing complexes built for the military members stationed there,” he said. “Even along the highways, rows and rows of houses had popped up and I could no longer tell when we went from one town to another … it all just ran together.” Time may now separate the veteran from his initial experience as a soldier in Hawaii, but as Stubinger explained, there remain many poignant memories of his youthful military experience that will not diminish despite the passage of years. “The one thing I learned is that pineapples taste a lot better when they are ripe out of the field,” he chuckled. “But seriously, my time in the Army was important because it really made me grow up since I was on my own and the decisions that I made were mine to own.” He added, “And there was the prestige of being selected to serve on the funeral details in the Punchbowl. For me, there was nothing more important than making sure those who served received the appropriate final honors they had earned.” Jeremy P. Ämick writes on behalf of the Silver Star Families of America.  After completing his basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood in the fall of 1961, Stubinger traveled to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma for advanced training as an artillery surveyor. Courtesy of Melvin Stubinger
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 Pictured is the second church building of the German Evangelical Central Church in Jefferson City, now Central Church, is pictured on this vintage postcard. The church was responsible for planting the seed in 1903 of what became Friedens Church Brazito. As the oldest Protestant congregation established in Jefferson City, the German Evangelical Central Church—now known as Central Church—for many years served as a house of Christian worship for German immigrants who had been associated with two separate denominations prior to their relocation to the United States. It is part of a historical legacy linked to King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia who, in 1817, on the 300th anniversary of the Reformation, unified the Reformed (Calvinist) and Lutheran churches. This unification later inspired the immigration of Germans seeking religious freedoms, many of whom eventually settled in Central Missouri. “The German Evangelical Central congregation is a member of the German Evangelical Synod of North America, a church association which advocates the union of two branches of the Protestant church, the Lutheran and Reformed,” explained the Illustrated Sketchbook and Directory of Jefferson City and Cole County.” Although it was several years before official organization took place, the congregation of the German Evangelical Central Church, part of the Reformed movement, began to materialize in Jefferson City in 1850, the same year that a piece of property was purchased on a hill on the corner of Ashley and Washington Streets. The aforementioned book added, “The congregation at Jefferson City was organized … (in) 1858, but for more than two years was without a regular pastor, services being conducted at certain intervals by itinerant preachers. The meetings were held in private houses until 1859, when a plain brick church was built at a cost of about $1,500.” The first full-time pastor for the fledgling church was Reverend Joseph Rieger, who accepted the call in the spring of 1860. Funds were then raised to build a parsonage for the new pastor and his family, which was completed in late summer of the same year. Under the pastorate of Rieger, the congregation began to grow. In 1868, Rev. Edward Huber, a Swiss native and graduate of Eden Seminary in Marthasville, was appointed as an assistant to Rev. Rieger. “Rev. Rieger died at the parsonage, August 20, 1869, with his wife, daughter, and Rev. Huber attending him,” explained the Central United Church of Christ sesquicentennial history from 2008. Rev. Rieger, who had ushered the congregation through the tumultuous years of the Civil War and had helped found Eden Theological Seminary for Evangelical pastors, was interred in Central Evangelical Cemetery. His remains were moved to Riverview Cemetery in the mid-1960s after the expansion of U.S. Highway 54 consumed the cemetery property. In 1869, Rev. Huber was unanimously elected to succeed the late Rev. Rieger. As the years passed, many of those who identified as Lutherans, and who had been attending worship services at Central, left the congregation when Trinity Lutheran Church organized in Jefferson City in 1870. It was also during Huber’s tenure at Central that the church’s parochial school was erected in 1872. Rev. Huber continued to serve the Central congregation until 1874, but went on to receive widespread acclaim for seeking a reunification of German Protestants. “Rev. Edward Huber, formerly chaplain of the Missouri Legislature, hopes to see the day when the two branches of the Lutheran Church will be united, and is doing all within his power to bring about that end,” reported the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on August 20, 1899. Following the departure of Rev. Huber in 1874, several pastors came to serve the Reformed congregation for short periods. Pastor J.U. Schneider was welcomed to the church in 1888 and soon sought to plant the seed of a new congregation in an outlying community. Historical documents from Friedens Church Brazito explain, “…on September 1, 1889, the Reverend J.U. Schneider, who was then the pastor of Central Church, ‘was given permission to cancel one evening service of worship each month in order to enable him to try to organize a Christian congregation in Brazito.’” This endeavor did come to fruition under Pastor Schneider’s tenure at Central Church. A major milestone in church history arrived in 1891 when the congregation, which had experienced substantial growth, embarked upon the undertaking of erecting a new church. “… the contract for the new church was awarded to Mr. Fred Binder, the president of the congregation,” noted the Illustrated Sketchbook and Directory of Jefferson City and Cole County.” It continued, “With pardonable pride the congregation may point to its substantial and beautiful church edifice, which has been erected and furnished at a cost of $10,000.” A second parsonage was built in 1898 on the site of the previous one. Five years later, under the leadership of Rev. Charles Hoffman of Central Church, a new church was finally built and dedicated in the community of Brazito. The next century delivered many changes, such as the closure of the parochial school and the construction of a large Sunday school building with classrooms. The name of the congregation changed to Central Evangelical and Reformed Church following a merger of two synods in 1934. A second merger in 1957 resulted in it being renamed Central United Church of Christ. Buildings have since been demolished and new additions added in the interceding years, but the original sanctuary built in 1891 remains a piece principal element of the church campus. In more recent years, the congregation has undergone another name change and is now Central Church. The legacy of the congregation; however, remains steeped in a fascinating story of German immigrants once seeking to establish their religious identity in a foreign land. As Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Bucholz noted in the forward he wrote for the church’s 150th anniversary in 2008, “Jefferson City was a small, bustling town, the seat of state government, and a magnet for German immigrants and settlers… These folks decided to establish a church of their heritage and theological persuasion that they had known in their homeland.” Nodding to the past hopes for a bountiful future, he added, “May our current generation and our posterity continue to keep the faith so the question of the wisdom of the Proverbs will be answered affirmatively, ‘Will our faith have children?’” Jeremy P. Ämick is author of the upcoming historical compilation "Beyond the Moreau."  The contractor for the second church building of what is now Central Church was Frederick Binder, who was involved in the construction of many historical buildings in Jefferson City and the surround areas. Courtesy of Central Church ‘The grand cure’ - “Trader” Vic Witthaus known for more than seven decades as Centertown businessman3/12/2025  “Trader” Vic Witthaus, foreground, is pictured in the late 1950s while unloading appliances from a railcar in Centertown. His appliance store was located near the tracks and many of the appliances he sold were received via the railroad. Witthaus was active in the Centertown community and operated his appliance store until 1996. He died three years later at the age of 96, after having been a businessman for 77 years. Courtesy of Lucille Rosenmiller The childhood of “Trader” Vic Witthaus was marked with unfortunate circumstances such as losing his father at a young age. But his mother, who sought to provide for him the best life possible, worked to instill in him a strong work ethic that in later years resulted in his becoming a respected businessman in Mid-Missouri. Victor J. Witthaus was born on August 17, 1903, in Gasconade County, the grandson of a German immigrant. His father, Adam Edward “William” Witthaus, operated a delivery wagon in the Hermann area. But it was only a few weeks after celebrating his eighth birthday that Vic Witthaus and his mother were faced with an unexpected tragedy. “William Witthaus, the teamster, whose foot was injured seriously on the 19th day of October by a gasoline tank, the sharp edge of which fell up Mr. Witthaus’ foot as he was trying to unload the same at Hartke’s hardware store, died Monday as a result of his injury,” the Advertiser-Courier reported on November 1, 1911. His father was only 38 years old at the time of his death. Two years following his father’s death, Vic Witthaus’s mother married the widower Justin Cramer, a farmer. The family then lived for several years on a farm near Sandy Hook before making the move to Centertown. The young Vic Witthaus, who attended schools in the Sandy Hook and Centertown areas, was only 16 years old when he resolved to become a business owner. “He was just a young man when he concluded to venture into the grocery business,” noted the Missouri Observer on September 2, 1949. “So he begged his mother for enough money to get started. She didn’t dish out much money to him at that time as she had but very little confidence in his ability as a merchant, as his mind at that time ran only in one channel and that was fine saddle horses.” It was in May 1919 that young Witthaus, full of mercantile zeal and ambition, opened his first store in Centertown in partnership with Charles Higgins. In 1920, Witthaus sold his share in the business and the following year purchased the drugstore in Centertown from Pat McKenna. “We continue to sell clean groceries, fine candies, cigars, tobacco, drugs, toilet articles, etc.,” he advertised in the Central Missourian on December 30, 1921. “We extend New Year’s greetings to all our patrons. Yours for business—Victor Witthaus.” Though he may have been consumed with expanding his business, Witthaus soon found time for love and, in December 1922, married Amelia Hinkel at the home of Rev. R.L. Hood in California. The couple remained fully invested in the community they called home, becoming members of the Centertown Baptist Church. Witthaus continued to operate his store for the next several years although the business was moved several times to other locations within Centertown. Located near a major highway of the period and adjacent to the railroad tracks, he and his wife decided to embrace the traffic in the area and began serving lunches. In expansion of his mercantile endeavors, Witthaus later opened a store in Russellville. According to the Russellville sesquicentennial book from 1988, the store was “operated by O.F. and Virginia Stubinger (and) had two different locations on Simpson Street.” Not limiting his interests to the mercantile trade, Witthaus also enjoyed volunteering his time and being part of the local political landscape. “Vic Witthaus, Centertown merchant and former county Republican chairman, was named by the county court today as a member of the Cole County highway commission,” the Jefferson City Post-Tribune printed on January 3, 1938. “No salary is attached to the job,” the newspaper added. Continuing to stretch his legs in the local business arena, Witthaus purchased a service station in Centertown, and in 1942 moved it to another location. In the years that followed, he sold both the station in Centertown and his store in Russellville. With a history of buying and selling properties, he acquired a farm near McGirk in 1948 and embraced his enjoyment of raising prize horses. A new era for the businessman came in 1950, when he bought the J.R. Craig store building across the street from his own store in Centertown, opening an appliance business. He soon earned the nickname “Trader Vic” and often received shipments of new appliances via railroad delivery. The following year, he became partial owner of the Centertown Elevator and Farm Supply Store, selling his interest in the company several weeks later. However, his appliance store quickly became a booming business with people traveling from several surrounding counties to make purchases. “Vic Witthaus has just won a trip for two people to Nassau in the Bahamas,” the California Democrat reported of his success on July 16, 1959. “Witthaus achieved this all-expense paid vacation by outstanding selling of Philco products.” In addition to his business acumen and stellar reputation for making a fair deal at the Witthaus Appliance Store, he continued to raise award-winning horses. However, amid any success, Witthaus suffered a devastating blow when his wife of more than 57 years died in early 1980. Several months later, he married Della Swinney, who herself had been widowed several years earlier. The couple continued to manage the store for the next few years. In 1994, his second wife passed away and Witthaus kept the appliance store open for two more years, finally entering retirement in 1996 after 77 years as a businessman. He was 96 years old when he died in 1999 and was interred in the Centertown Cemetery. “Work is the grand cure for all the maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind – honest work, which you intend getting done,” said Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle in 1866. And it was the drive to get work done which came to define Witthaus’s extensive career in mercantile pursuits and in addition to his general longevity. As a nod to his legacy, he has left behind buildings in the Centertown community that to this day continue to house businesses. Jeremy P. Ämick is author of the historical compilation “Moments on the Moreau.”  |
AuthorJeremy P. Ämick is an award-winning author and historian dedicated to preserving music, military and local histories. Archives
July 2026
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