The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • 19

section mug Sxmitmi ft Des MoineSj Iowa, Sunday Morning, January 7, 1973 CoevrNM, 171, Dt Molnw RMhtw nd Trlbun Company A Farmer Who Carves DYERSVILLE, IA. Nestled deep within the rolling hills and woods two miles north of Dyersville in northeast Iowa sets a small mobile home surrounded by towering pine trees which III I protect both an and animal from the biting winter winds that whip across the fields. A farmer and his wife live in that mobile home on 160 acres of rich, black soil that produces food for a large herd of feeder cattle. He is a 31-year-old, native Iowan who for the past few years has suddenly discovered another avocation woodcarving. He is Jack Becker, a tall and lean man with a thick thatch of black hair.

"I have great satisfaction 1 ik 1 jA I Jack Becker In working with nature. One discovers himself beautifying a piece of nature something that God gave us. So I treat it with great respect as I attempt to create an art form from a piece of wood." The woodcarver is gradually being recognized as a great talent although he has never entered art contests or wood-carving exhibitions. Becker is too busy farming during the summer art shows in the Midwest. Every spare moment he has after farming chores is devoted to his woodcarving, in a workshop which is located in a large barn.

Having had an interest in drawing all of his life, Becker started woodcarving five years ago when he and his wife were visiting an Iowa museum which featured hand-carved clocks. 4 i tTHIIIIimrt- r.r.. Frank Althoff, jr. 'Do What Can With What I've Got' 0N AW 1A. A MOBILE home in Onawa bustles with activity all day long and much of the night; yet its only permanent occupant is paralyzed from the armpits down.

He is Frank Althoff, 33. In back of his bed are banks of radio and telephone equipment and with it he serves as dispatcher for various law enforcement authorities while also maintaining a telephone answering service. Althoff operates with astounding efficiency, despite his severe limitations. He changes positions with the help of a bar suspended from the ceiling. His arms are partly paralyzed and his hands are completely paralyzed, yet he is able to push a button that moves a stand from under his bed to his bedside.

On the stand is a typewriter and Althoff has learned to use it to type his reports at the rate of about 30 words a minute. ALTHOFF says his philosophy is to "do what I can do with what I've got." On Memorial Day, 1055. four days before his sixteenth birthday, Althoff had been diving in three feet of water at Lewis and Clark Lake (then called Blue Lake) near Onawa, when he lost his balance on a slippery dock; hit the hard bottom with such force that he suffered his crippling injuries. "It was my own fault," he says. "And I'm rather glad that It was.

I think too much of me to get too hard on me and I've Dyrtville 1 DE5 MOINES "I just told myself that I had to have one of those and decided right then and there to start woodcarving," Becker explains. He then moved to North Carolina for six months to work as a pattern maker for a furniture manufacturer while he studied the Milti 200 SUNDAY REGISTER PHOTO BY GEORGB CFOLLA Hex S. Wood, missing- in action June 2, 1967, and "presumed dead" two months later. Mrs. Wood and her husband, Elmer Hujrh Wood, both think one of the pictured TOWs resembles their son.

Mrs. Erma Wood of Moulton looks at a 1970 picture of American I'OWs published in The Des Moines Register Dec. 23, 1972, to see how one of the men pictured resembles her son, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Gssiitiui fen POW Photo Provides Hope, Anxiety for Moulton Parents By Nick (Riglsttr SHI! Wrlltr) Copyrloht, 197.1, net Mnlne Rnqlsler and Trlbunt Company word and never told anything for publication about my son until now." The elder Wood and his wife operate a 95-year-old general MOULTON, IA.

In the 5'i woodcarving craft under two European woodcarvers living in North Carolina. "Then I returned to Dyersville and moved onto my nncle'g farm where I work with him and my father In farming over 300 acres. But now this woodcarving has become more than just a hobby for me." It is Becker's hope that someday he could earn enough by woodcarving that he could devote his total time to it, but until then, he discovers much personal enjoyment in his part-time woodcarving projects. On the farm, Becker has converted an old woodshed into a small shop which houses many of his carvings, 'including religious figures, historical personalities, and fictional caricatures. "People will stop by and I enjoy having them Just look at my work.

I do try to keep the prices at a reasonable rate so people can afford to buy something if they like and want it," he explains. "It's a good feeling because it's something you have made yourself. You can accomplish it on your own and you feel like a self-made man." Becker's religious figures Include the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, archangels, St. Joseph, Moses, and others. He has a dream "I want to do the twelve apostles and leave it to some church or museum.

My plans are to do one a year all life-sized and very realistic." The Iowa woodcarver calls himself a "realist," saying "I know that a lot of modern art takes on an abstract form, but I just feel that people need to see exactly what the artist wanted his work to be. In the tradition of the famous European woodcarvers. I use only one piece of wood to carve my object and I want it to be real so people know immediately what I wanted it to be." Referring to the lack of quality of woodcarvings in many of the tourist shops across the country, he notes, "There is too much commercialism in some of the woodcarvers. They'll carve fast only to get the money and they have a lot of tricks. They'll put hands in pockets so that they don't have to carve fingers or they'll have hair down over an eye to avoid carving another eye." Becker's method Is more deliberate.

"If it Is a small sculpture, I'll usually draw a pattern and then outline it on a piece of wood. Then I start to chisel it. But on the larger objects, I'll know what I want and I'll have a visual image of what I want it to be and I always know exactly what I want." The woodcarver started wilh just a standard set of chisels and notes, "That's all a person needs to start. Rut as you progress, you soon buy or make additional tools. I think I now CARVER Please turn to Page Two years since Navy Lt.

Cmdr. Rex Wood has been "missing in action and pre- store founded by his father on his parents have never really i 'tg and the player with the ball with his back to us has an ear just like our son's. "When he was young, his ears used to stick out and I tied a scarf around his head to keep them down. Lots of other people in town think it looks like Rex. Some think it's just wishful thinking on our part.

"The next day (Sunday, Dec. 24) there was a prayer service at our church and the minister led us all In praying the man in the picture is Rex. The whole town was in love with Rex. (Moulton, population 7fi.1, is in southeast Appanoose County.) "Even the way he cocked his head to one side shows in the picture. And when he was given up hopeK that somehow.

4 i somewhere he may still be alive. Moulton's main street. Wood also stores corn and beans for farmers. Wood, called Hugh by ev-erynne, is president of the 1 1 n-Udrll Community school board, president of the Farmers Co-operative Telephone Moulton fire chief and a lay preacher in the Methodist church. He Is a Drake University graduate with a major In accounting.

Mrs. Wood, the former Erma Inafed In the name of the two Wood sons. Rex Wood's brother, Hugh, died in 1968 at the age of 37. Seven Grandchildren The Woods have been married 43 years. With son Hugh, dead and son Rex missing and presumed dead, much of the Woods' attention is focused on their seven grandchildren, six of whom, ranging in age from 19 to 9, are children of Hugh, and live here.

The seventh grandchild, Susan, 10 years old Dec. 29, is the daughter of son Rex and frequently visits her grandparents here. Rex Wood was born June 25, 1934, and was graduated from Moulton High school In 1952. He was a basketball star in high school. In 195fi he was graduated with honors from Iowa State PARENTS Please turn to Page Twelve Rex Steward Wood, then 32, a Navy pilot on REX WOOD his third tour of duty in Southeast Asia, took off from his carrier in the Tonkin young nis left coliarnone was Gulf June 2, 1967, and never reached the appointed ren-devous with other planes taking broken and he always carried Voss of Exira, onre worked as a secretary in Des Moines for that shoulder higher than his right.

That's the way it is in the picture. "His best friend In town also the Langan Taper Co. Mrs. Wood was chairman of the Garrett Memorial thinks it's Rex." part in the mission. Two months Inter, Wood was declared dead by the Defense Department and his wife, Naomi, of Los Altos, stopped receiving his salary and instead was paid the full amount of his life insurance.

Wood's parents, Elmer Hugh Wood's father looked at an Library here when it opened in May, 19f9. Many of the books in the library have been do- enlarged copy of the picture and said: 'I've never seen anything like it. Of all the clues we have this is the best. "Every idiosyncrasy of his Wood, and his wife, Erma, both of Moulton, admit that sometimes the strands of hope the way he holds the basketball, the way his feet are. Of wear thin.

always been Just mad at the circumstances. The fellow who can point at someone else to blame is worse off, really, because he's got something to build an attitude of hate on." AFTER long hospitalization, Althoff was able to complete his studies for a degree from Onawa High School. He began to wonder what he could do with his life and then his doctor, Dr. Leo Gatikel, suggested he might be able to start a telephone answering service and discussed the idea with Vic Berrier, local telephone company manager who since has retired. Berrier thought it was possible and as a result Althoff sent out 30 letters to persons he thought might be interested in having his services.

He suggested a charge of $10 a month. He got just one reply, from Dr. William Garred, but it was a start. Today Althoff is the full-time dispatcher for the Onawa Police Department and also for several smaller communities in the area. He handles several volunteer fire departments.

The Monona County sheriff's office has its own radio department but Althoff takes over the work after regular hours, on weekends and on holidays. His clients also include four doctors, two druggists, a hospital, the Rural Electric Co-operative, a funeral home, the bank alarm service of the Onawa State Bank, an insurance agent, an airplane salesman, a trucking firm and two tank wagon services. FROM them all, he realizes "a pretty good income." But the nursing services he requires eat up much of his revenue. "A lot of people wonder why I live alone," says Althoff. "Well, I suppose the reasons are the same as with other people who live alone.

Having a 24-hour-a-day baby sitter might be cheaper but I'd be tired of having someone around all the time when I don't need it." Does he have girl friends? "I've had a little success in that area but when It comes to marriages, I have certain limitations that would have to be accepted," says Althoff. Althoff has one woman who comes to his mobile home every morning to bathe him; change, his bedding, give him therapy and serve his breakfast. She returns to serve him his other meals and, in all, works five to six hours a day, seven days a week. Another woman works two to three hours a day, three days a week, doing the heavy cleaning and the laundry. Althoff also has another woman on tap, to take over his radio and telephone networks when he wants to go downtown (he has a motorized wheelchair) or elsewhere for a change of pace.

His various household services cost between $400 and $500 a month. ALTHOFF also has a van that Is similar to the one used by Raymond Burr in the "Ironside" TV series-and, as a result, he has acquired the nickname of "Ironside" among his law enforcement friends. There's a lot of traffic in and out of Althoff's attractive mobile home. Members of the Onawa Police Department drop in every evening and state highway patrolmen come by to visit at least every other night. "It isn't often that time hangs heavy on my hands," he says.

"I watch TV some although there isn't much worth watching any more. I used to have a lot of time to read and I'd rather read four or five books a week, mostly non-fiction, but I don't have much time to read these days." SOMETIMES the radio work Is exciting. He recalls one time where he had to co-ordinate, more or less, a chase for a 19-year-old who was racing up and down Interstate Highway 29 in excess of 100 miles an hour and through Onawa at 90 miles an hour. The danger was so great that patrons of a drive-in theater and a bowling alley might be hit by the wild driver that a roadblock was set up to stop him. "He went through the roadblock at 100 miles an hour and his only injury was a small cut under the chin," said the man who was crippled for life in a fall from a slippery raft into three feet of water.

Read Gordon Gammack'i column daily In The Des Moines Tribune. 'You just can't give up all course, it's just a shot in the hope," said Mrs. Wood. "Some dark, but it sure looks like him from the back." times that's all we have left." On Dec. 23, another straw ap peared on the sea of hope hen Mrs.

Wood saw a picture in The Des Moines Register of I Hit- frjv i i i some American POWs playing basketball in a prison camp in North Vietnam. The picture I i was taken in 1970. Cautioned Parentj Before Wood left for Southeast Asia early in 7, he cautioned his parents that if he were taken prisoner they should not talk to the press or air their views publicly about the matter. "Rex told us that if the story got into the newspapers the enemy might take it out on him in prison camp," said the elder Wood. "And I have always kept my Recognize Ear "We hardly dare hope, but one of the basketball players, the one with the ball, looks like our son," said Mrs.

Wood. "We looked at the picture through the magnifying glass 1 it -j I I In Tomorrow Morning's Register All About Headaches Thomas Jefferson suffered splitting headaches. The visual distortions described in "Alice In Wonderland" resulted from headaches suffered by Iewis Carroll. Monday's Register will carry a report on headaches a half million Americans endure today. Tired of Bad News? So was Jeffe Overstreet of Costa Mesa, Calif.

He did something which brought him peare of mind. You'll read about it In Monday's Register. 7 i Elmer Hugh Wood, fil, and his wife, Erma, both think the basketball player with the ball in his hand in the 1970 picture of American POWs released last month by Hanoi resembles their son because of the way his ear sticks out and how he holds his head. Becker created this buccaneer from basswood by hand..