The Descendants of Ida Mae and Henry Faulkenberg

Henry Faulkenberg during World War II

Henry Faulkenberg, my grandpa, was born December 13th, 1924. He graduated from high school two years early and went on to serve in the United States Army during World War II. Shortly after his 20th birthday, he was in the Battle of the Bulge, which took place in Belgium not too far from Valkenburg, Netherlands. A few years after the war, he married Ida Mae LaGrange on August 20th, 1949 at Holy Cross Catholic Church in St. Croix, Indiana. My grandpa spent most of his life building barges at Maxon Marine in Tell City - wooden ones before the war and steel ones when he got back. My grandma, who was born in 1931, worked at General Electric for over three decades.

Holy Cross Catholic Church in St. Croix

Their oldest daughter is my aunt Barb (Barbara Ellen), born in 1950. After graduating as Perry Central High School’s valedictorian, she married Rod Spence in 1970 and then went on to graduate from Oakland City University. Today she is a retired Indiana school teacher. Their first daughter, Kelli, was born September 10th, 1977. Their second daughter, Lindsey, was born four years later to the day and passed away shortly thereafter. Like her mom, Kelli was a cheerleader at Perry Central, as well as class valedictorian. Today she is a Purdue graduate and the Vice President of WSP USA, an engineering firm that designs roads and bridges all over Indiana and beyond. She married Gavin McNamara in 2006, and their children are Addi (Adalyn) and Kellan, born in 2013 and 2016 respectively.

Henry and Ida Mae’s oldest son is my uncle Steve (Steven Patrick), born in 1952. In 1988, Steve married Katherine Austin, and the two of them live in the Nashville, Tennessee area today. Their foster children’s names are Ally, Mark, and Crystal. After graduating from Perry Central, where he was a standout baseball player and a member of the first football team in school history, Steve started working at Maxon Marine as well. For decades he not only built barges, but also inspected new ones and repair jobs in Indiana and Tennessee.

Henry and Ida Mae’s wedding day

My uncle Denny (Dennis Edward) is their third child, born in 1954. After graduating from Indiana State, you could say he followed in the footsteps of at least two of the lost Van Valkenburg brothers, who worked as road overseers in Virginia in the 1740’s. I say this because Denny spent some time as the Deputy Commissioner and CFO of the Indiana Department of Transportation. Today he lives in Indianapolis and serves as the President and CEO of APPIAN, a company that specializes in funding for transportation projects. He married Jill (Lillian) Brown in 1975. Their older daughter, Melissa, was born in 1979. She is a graduate of IUPUI and a grade school teacher in the area. Melissa and Jason Reeves got married in 2003. Their son Carter was born in 2008, and daughter Molly was born in 2011. Melissa’s sister, Ashley, was born in 1983. She graduated from Purdue in 2005 and married Derek Povinelli in 2006. Their daughters, Bentley and Taylor, were born in 2009 and 2011 respectively. Today Ashley works as a coder for a medical care company.

The couple on the far right are Steve and Katherine Faulkenberg. To the left are Denny and Jill Faulkenberg. Their daughter Melissa is in front of Jill. To their left are Steve and Tina Goffinet. To the left of them are Tony and Kathy James. Tony is holding son Tim. Melissa’s sister Ashley is in front of Kathy. To the left of Tony is Rod Spence. Wife Barb is to the left of him with daughter Kelli in front. To the left of Barb are Ida Mae and Henry Faulkenberg. Pam Faulkenberg is on the far left with husband Jeff and son Jordan in front of Henry.

My dad, Jeff (Jeffrey Joseph), was born in 1958. He is Henry and Ida Mae Faulkenberg’s youngest son. He played baseball, basketball, football, and ran track at Perry Central before graduating from Indiana State University, where he met my mom, Pam (Pamela Lorene) Graddy. They were married in 1981 in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. My older brother Jordan and I were born in 1986 and 1989. Our younger brother Brennan was born in 1992 and passed away a couple of months later in 1993. Jeff and Pam’s youngest son, Dylan, was born the following year. Jordan and I both graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where we played together on the tennis team. Dylan also played college tennis at McKendree University. All five of us live in Illinois, not far from St. Louis. Dylan and I are teachers, and Jordan is an accountant. Later this year, my dad will be inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Henry and Ida Mae’s fifth child, Kathy (Kathleen Ann), was born in 1963. She is an Indiana State University graduate and a retired Indiana school teacher, but before that she was another Perry Central cheerleader/valedictorian. She and Tony (Anthony) James were married in 1983. Their only son, Tim (Timothy), was born in 1987. Kathy and Tony’s daughters, Aubrey and Mackenzie, were born in 1990 and 1995 respectively. Tim and his brother-in-law David Welp were on back-to-back IHSAA Class 2A State championship basketball teams their junior and senior years at Forest Park High School. Aubrey, like her older brother, is a graduate of the University of Evansville, where she was a cheerleader. About a year after graduation, Aubrey married David Welp in 2013. Their daughters, Lily Mae and Mila, were born in 2016 and 2019 respectively. Tim married Sarah Young in 2015, and their son Augustine was born in 2020. Tim is a physical therapist, and Aubrey is a Family Nurse Practitioner. Kathy and Tony’s youngest daughter, Mackenzie is a CNA and Lily Mae’s godmother.

My aunt Tina (Martina Renee), the youngest child of Henry and Ida Mae Faulkenberg, was actually named after her godfather and uncle, Marty LaGrange, although she also had an uncle Martin on her father’s side. Born in 1966, not only was Tina a cheerleader and class salutatorian, she was also a member of the All-State Academic Team in basketball. I’m not going to do the research, but I think if you found every living American who had all three of those things on their high school resume, they could probably all fit in a mid-size sedan with seatbelts to spare. In 1994, Tina married Steve Goffinet at Holy Cross Catholic Church in St. Croix, Indiana. After decades of teaching alongside her sister Kathy at Ferdinand Elementary School, Tina is retired. For a few years, Tina and Steve lived in St. Croix, just across the highway from the house where Henry and Ida Mae lived for most of their lives. There are surely records out there that show in the 2000’s, the house was bought by a man named Steve Goffinet. Although this is true, it was not Tina Goffinet’s husband.

It might not be right for me to be the one who chooses the best anecdote of the generation above me, but here I go anyway. When my dad was in fifth or sixth grade and his brother Steve was a junior or senior in high school, the two of them went hunting with three of Steve’s buddies. My dad says they had two birddogs with them, but none of them were very experienced bird hunters. I’m hardly an expert, but I doubt many fifth graders are. Anyway, I guess at some point they came upon a grassy area with a bunch of quails and decided to spread out with two guys on the far left, one in the center, and two more on the far right, semi-surrounding the birds. According to my dad, the guy in the middle could see the four guys on the sides and vice-versa, but the guys on the left and right sides could not see each other.

My dad was on the right. So when Bob Ransome, one of the guys on the left, went to gather a quail he had shot, my dad was unable to see him. Right around this time, a quail or two started to fly up. My dad pulled the trigger, and the next thing he heard was Bob yelling, “Jesus Christ! One of you sons of bitches shot me!” When they got to Bob, he had one BB in his arm and two in his face not far from his eyes. On the way home, I guess my dad and Steve agreed to tell my grandpa it was someone else who shot Bob in the face - a pretty bold move in a town the size of St. Croix. Not long after they got back, my dad walked down the road to his Mamaw and Papaw LaGrange’s house, and Steve took off somewhere as well.

When my dad came home, my grandpa asked him who shot Bob Ransome. My dad lied, which resulted in my grandpa giving him the ass whipping of his life - arguably the only way to deal with an eleven year-old son who just shot someone in the face and then lied to your face about it. Of course my dad bawled all the way upstairs, where he found a note on his bed from Steve saying, “You better tell Dad the truth. He already knows.”