Hollies – "Hard Hard Year" (1966)

Can’t stay, there’s nothing here

It’s been a hard, hard year

From William Shakespeare’s review of 2 or 3 lines:  “A blog written by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Shakespeare was mostly right about my wildly popular little blog.  Foolishness abounds on 2 or 3 lines – it’s in my DNA.  But while playing the role of the court jester comes naturally to me, sometimes I try to be more than that.

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In the last 2 or 3 lines, I told you about the goings-on at the Key Club International district convention at the Glenwood Manor Motor Hotel in Overland Park, Kansas, which I and several of my high school bros attended in 1970.  (You can click here to read that post if you missed it.)

The Glenwood Manor Motor Hotel

You would think that a group of high school seniors that included the best and the brightest of our class would have behaved with a modicum of gravitas at such an affair rather than spending all our time engaging in immature shenanigans but – SPOILER ALERT! – we did not.  

And if yours truly didn’t rank #1 in our group in immaturity that weekend, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

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Our Key Club district encompassed Missouri and Arkansas.  While Missouri had more than twice the number of local Key Clubs than Arkansas did in those days, it seemed that an Arkansawyer always managed to get elected to the district governor post.  

(“Arkansawyer” – not “Arkansan” – is the correct demonym for residents of that state.  Click here if you don’t believe me.)

The Arkansas Key Clubber who was elected district governor that year was a young man named Jerry Riemenschneider, who hailed from Little Rock.  (Someone from Little Rock was elected district governor in 1960, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, and 1976.  Richard Daley could have learned a thing or two from the Little Rock Key Clubs.)

I have only the vaguest memory of Jerry Riemenschneider.  My impression is that he was a pretty conventional middle-class kid – a good student, a churchgoer, and someone who was probably well-behaved and polite to his teachers and other adults. 

In other words, he was a lot like me – except that he wasn’t an immature little wiseass like I was.  He took the Key Club district convention seriously – as he should have – while I didn’t.

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Bill Clinton was the first member of my generation – rather than my father’s generation – to be elected President of the United States.  

High-schooler Bill Clinton 

Clinton was from Arkansas, of course – and he was a natural-born politician through and through.  When he won the 1992 election, my thoughts turned to a less-well-known Arkansas politician of my acquaintance.

I called a friend of mine after the Clinton victory and said, “Do you realize that we’ve just elected Jerry Riemenschneider to be President?”

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While I was writing about our Key Club trip, I decided to do a Google search to see whatever happened to Jerry Riemenschneider.  His name was so unusual that I figured I could track him down fairly easily – especially if he had remained in Arkansas.

I didn’t expect to find that he had died earlier this year, although given his age – he was 71, just like me – that fact shouldn’t have come as a big surprise.

Jerry Riemenschneider’s obituary didn’t contain a lot of biographical information.  For example, I don’t know what kind of work he did.

I do know that he must have been a big fan of western movies because Monument Valley – where Stagecoach, The Searchers, and a number of other John Ford-directed classics were filmed – was apparently #1 on his bucket list of places he hoped to visit.  He and his wife did make it there before his death:

The Riemenschneiders in
Monument Valley, Utah

More significantly, I also know that he was married to the same woman for almost 49 years, and that he had three children and seven grandchildren.  

I’m going to share some of the comments about him that were appended to his online obituary.

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From his wife, Sharon:

It was love at first sight that night we met – when you knelt down beside my orange 4-4-2 [Oldsmobile] that night at the Twin City Drive Inn [in Sherwood, Arkansas].  

We talked for hours.  When you asked me to marry you five weeks later and I said yes, it was meant to be.  

We had a lifetime of deep and abiding love spanning 49 years. We experienced the joy of raising three beautiful children, Tim, Christina and Danny.  Now we have seven grandchildren and one on the way.  

We were best friends and always loved being together.  I always knew how much you loved me and we could not have loved each other more. 

I look around the house and I see you everywhere.  You built a lot of this house and you were so talented.  I know how much you loved it because we did it together.  

You were so sweet, patient, protective and proud of your family.  I could not have had a better husband and father for our children. 

My heart is so broken and the tears fall every day from missing you.  You are the love of my life , and I always knew I was of yours.  Until God calls me home too, and we meet again, I will always love you.

Your loving wife, 

Sharon

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From his son, Tim:

Kind.  Sweet.  Gentle.  Loving.  Selfless.  These are all words that were used to describe my dad this week as I informed people of his untimely passing.

As a kid there are many things that you take for granted – honestly probably everything.  Having three kids myself, I know and understand the selflessness that he showed and sacrifices he made.  

Dad unconditionally loved and supported his kids.  He was the ultimate family man.  Forget just being in the stands, he coached every team that I played on. . . . I have received many comments like, “Mr. Jerry coached me and I really liked him.” 

Everyone that he interacted with had a love and respect for him.  He was kind to everyone.  He taught us how to be better people, how to care and have a sense of pride in whatever we do.  

I watch my sister and brother.  They value family and are 100% invested in their kids and spouses the same way that Dad was with us.  That’s not by accident. He set examples that molded all his kids into what we are today.

You know what Dad?  You have set a standard that I can only hope to one day live up to.  You have showed me how to be a great husband and father.  One could aspire and hope to one day be referred to as kind, sweet, gentle, loving or selfless.  You nailed all of them and without trying.  I am heartbroken and will miss you immensely.  I will do my damnedest to make sure the Riemenschneider name continues to be synonymous with kindness, loving and selflessness.  

I love you Dad.

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From his daughter, Christina:

The loss of my sweet daddy is a loss of one of the best men I have ever known.  He was a true dreamer and storyteller and he always made sure that you knew how much he loved you.  There was not a day that went by that I ever felt unloved by him.  Ever. 

Jerry with his wife and daughter

He loved to tell stories about his police days, westerns, and most of all, his kids and grandkids.  He was always there and would drop anything to help you.  He loved so BIG.  He loved to create things and had an artistic side that I know I got from him.  He loved my mom so much and he passed just a few days before their 49th wedding anniversary.  

He was a fighter and battled innumerable health issues over the years, but this past year was different and so much harder.  He fought so hard and we fought so hard for him.  While we are completely and utterly heartbroken, I take comfort knowing he is healed and with Jesus.   Daddy, I hope you know how much you are loved and will be missed everyday.  Thank you for being the absolute best.

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From his daughter-in-law, Casey:

Jerry was my father-in-law for almost 21 years, and in all those years, he didn’t treat me like a daughter-in-law.  He treated me like a daughter. 

He gave Tim and I the gift of caring for our first-born son (and his first grandchild) for the first two years of his life until I was able to stay home to do it myself.  Everyone who knew him would always say, “He’s such a nice man!”  He was indeed the kindest, most patient, caring man I’ve ever known. . . .

He taught Tim to be the husband and father he is today by being such a fine example himself.  I will miss him terribly, but feel so honored to have called him family.

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Until today, Jerry Riemenschneider was just a two-dimensional stock figure in a fifty-plus-years-old anecdote about some of the nonsense I engaged in when I was a teenager.  All I really knew about him was what state he was from.

Jerry Riemenschneider

But now he’s a very real person to me.  He’s someone who left the only kind of legacy that matters.  

Someone whose life set a worthy example for those he knew.  

Someone who will never be forgotten by his wife and his children and his grandchildren and his friends.

Someone who will always be loved by them.

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The Hollies had a lot of hit singles, but I’m not sure they get the respect they deserve.

“Hard Hard Year” wasn’t one of their hits, but it’s a great song – at least until you get to the ending, which is jarringly abrupt.

Click here to listen to ”Hard Hard Year.”

Click here to buy the record from Amazon.