News

Whether it has been as the driver or an excited passenger, I have spent considerable time on the road traveling in (and sometimes on) all sorts of vehicles: cars, trucks, tractors, vans, go-karts, tour buses, ATVs, lawn mowers, and the occasional farm animal. And during that time, I’ve become an avid observer of how random travelers interact when they encounter one another.

Part 1 of Harold “Tee” Tiemann’s life of music told the story of a musical prodigy from La Grange who had dozens of performances under his belt before his teens and was leading his own orchestra in his teens. World War II took over his life but he kept up his performances on the distant shores of North Africa and Italy, His opening acts were the German Army as they had been driven from their conquered lands by the U.S. Army’s 36 Division of which he was a part of the military band. The band closely followed the front line action providing relief to the battle-weary soldiers. We left Harold Tiemann, now called Tee Tiemann, a moniker probably bestowed upon him by a fellow musician from La Grange, Zip Zapp. They performed just behind the front lines as the 36 and other Allies bulldozed their way through the Nazis trying to hold on to Italy.

Editor's note: Robert Besetzny, longtime co-chairman of the St. John Picnic, passed away last year. I interviewed him at the July 4 Picnic in 2019 for a story that appeared in the Fayette County Record. After a break for COVID in 2020, the picnic returned last year just a few months after Besetzny died. He was sorely missed, but the picnic carried on and it will again this year. Here’s the story that appeared in the Record: