Montezuma’s Al Rabenold writes family history book

MONTEZUMA — Longtime former Montezuma educator and coach Al Rabenold recently put together a book sharing stories about his life, including the importance of family, memories of sports and love for the Montezuma community and school.

The opportunity to write the book was a Christmas gift in 2022 from his daughter, Marie Boulton, who wanted to give her father a chance to write down his memories for his family and friends to share and cherish.

“I wrote the book the way I like to read books,” Rabenold said. The chapters in “A Collection of Life Stories” by Al Rabenold are the questions that Rabenold answered when prompted by Storyworth, the company who he worked with to create the book.

Storyworth is a service that helps people capture and preserve personal life stories by sending weekly email prompts and compiling their answers into a beautiful hardcover keepsake. It's designed to help families document their histories, with options to add photos, write or voice record stories and customize the final book for a meaningful family heirloom.

“I had seen Storyworth advertised on Facebook and thought it would be a perfect gift for my dad,” said Boulton. “He’s a great writer and it would be a good way to get him to put our family history and stories written down so that we can treasure them for future generations.

“I picked out some of the questions to begin with, but after a while he began finding the questions to fit the stories he wanted to share. Being able to add pictures to each chapter made the stories even better. Our three children, dad’s grandchildren, have all read his book as well. Some stories they were already familiar with, but others were new to them.”

The questions in Rabenold’s book include what was your Dad like when you were a child?; What people have been the kindest to you?; What are your favorite memories of each of your children growing up?; Did you have a car in high school?; Outside of class, what were you involved with in college?; How did you choose your children’s names?; Be Like Mike? Or Be Like Mary? and Who was your Montezuma Mentor?

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Another chapter of Rabenold’s book is What were your grandparents like? Rabenold wrote, “Another good memory about Grandma Marie is paying me a quarter a week for sweeping the front walk of the Rabenolds Department store on the corner of North Third & Main. Once a week she would walk me to the State Bank, to deposit the 25 cents in the savings account she had opened in my name. After I had saved up $12, she and Grandpa Harry drove me to a major league baseball game in Kansas City to watch the Yankees play! What a treat!”

The Chapter Tell me about a great moment you had playing sports? started with “Baseball was my sport as a youngster and I remember being the bat boy for the Pony League boys who were all a year or two older. We rode the bus to New Sharon and late in the game, Coach Jerome Stripling told me to get the catcher’s equipment on! That was a surprise but I was ready.”

He also shared “After my playing days were done, I became a coach that provided me with so many wonderful opportunities. My favorites were coaching Junior High football with the late Coach Creswell and of course boys’ basketball. The pinnacle was winning the 1990 boys’ state basketball championship at Vets Auditorium with the help of Coach Digger Phelps and my high school basketball coach, Darrell Brand, with me on the bench. Son Scott was a freshman and earned quality playing time, so the father-son thing was another special time.

“But my favorite memory was as the clock was ticking down, we coaches looked over at our wives on the front row and saw their happiness. When the buzzer went off, rather than shake the hand of the opposing coach, I ran across the playing floor to Denise, giving her a big hug! The policemen held everyone else back but her. Then I sprinted back to shake the hand of the West Marshall coach. Coaching boys’ basketball at Montezuma was a family affair. Thanks to Digger, Coach Brand, Scott, Denise and daughter Marie, we have great memories!”

In the chapter, Do you remember Chris Street?, Rabenold wrote: “In the summer of 1992, over 90 campers, grades 5th thru 9th were treated to a special workout with the Hawkeye basketball star Chris Street at the Montezuma gym. To the delight of onlookers and coaches, campers Bret Grier of Monroe and Casey Hopkins of Troy, Missouri, “challenged” the 6’8” Street and Monte 5th grader Jordan Fraker to a game of 2-on-2. A former all-stater in three different sports while prepping at Indianola High School, Street played his role to perfection, making sure the boys had a wonderful and memorable experience.”

“I had a lot of tears when writing about my dad, John, and mom, Doris,” said Rabenold. “They trusted me so much. They were great parents. Growing up in the 1950s was so simple and safe. I could ride my bicycle all over town without Mom worrying about me. We didn’t lock our doors at night. My dad was a World War II veteran. I didn’t worry about anybody breaking in because Dad would take care of them. I was safe all the time and didn’t worry about anything.”

In the Chapter, What was your Mom like when you were a child?, Rabenold wrote, “Doris Marcene (Peppers) was a devoted, faithful wife to my father, John Rabenold. That is the first thing I think about regarding Mom. There was never any questions about her love for John. Dad had been shot down over the Baltic Sea during a bombing raid over Germany in 1944 with Mom receiving a telegram that he was missing in action. Dad was a prisoner of war for 13 months. Mom told me (she) never, never gave up in believing that her husband would someday return. Mom loved Dad every day.”

“As I wrote the book, I realized how blessed my life has been,” said Rabenold.

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