by
Ben Wesley Rengstorf
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Everyone’s DNA is at least 99.9%
similar.
Humans spent ¾ of our history
(140,00 years) exclusively in Africa.
The first people left Africa when
the climate was probably pretty
nice, about 60,000 years ago.
BEN WESLEY
RENGSTORF
FRED
EDWARD
RENGSTORF
SHERRY
ANN TESKE
IVERNA
LUCILLE
MARTEN
LYDIA
RUTH
GADOW
FRANK
ALBERT
MARTEN
BERNHARD
ALBERT
TESKE
MATHILDA
BRUNKOW
HERMAN
TESKE
MYRA IRENE
BRUNS
FRIEDA
NOTHWEHR
FRED A.
BRUNS
WESLEY
WALTER
RENGSTORF
MARIE
BODE
FRED
RENGSTORF
 Where did you go to school?
 Woah. That’s a big question. First, I went to
elementary school Warba, in Northern Minnesota.
Then I went to middle and high school in Cosmos and
Atwater and Grove City (3 towns combined). After that
I went to Luther College in Decorah, IA. Finally, I went
back to get my teaching degree at the University of
Minnesota in Minneapolis.
(Has anyone else ever noticed that Lake Superior
looks like a pointing hand?)
Warba Elementary
School; K-5
Cosmos, Grove City,
and Atwater; 6-12
Luther College in
Decorah, IA; Bachelor’s
Degree
University of Minnesota;
Master’s Degree
This map on the world wide web
 What were your favorite things to do as a kid?
 I have always loved to play baseball. We would play
baseball pretty much every day in the summer. We
would even play on the road in the winter when the
snow was covering the field.
 I also lived on a lake, so we would go swimming a lot.
Sometimes we would find clams and crayfish to use for
fishing. Those poor clams.
 Were you ever in the news for anything?
 One time our first grade class did a Chinese New Year
dance with a big dragon we made. That was in the
paper.
 I was in the paper for sports stuff with baseball,
basketball, and football. A few times my name was in
the headline for good plays that I made during the
game. That’s about it.
 How did your family come to live in Onaga, Kansas?
 My Mom and Dad's grandparents homesteaded there
from Germany.
 Both Iverna and Ben's grandparents came from
Germany (Ben's Grandpa came from what was
Germany then but Poland now) and I think through
Ellis Island, not up the Mississippi.
Onaga, KS sometime prior to the 1920’s. A bird’s-eye
view of the town and looking north down Main Street.
Main Street (Now called
Leonard Street) in 2006.
 What world events had the most impact on you growing up?
 The Korean and Vietnam War. I checked and I wouldn't
have remembered anything about the Korean war as it was
over in 1953 (I was born in 1954) but Uncle Vernon had
been there and I'm probably remembering more of the
"cold war" stuff. I remember going to Abilene every year to
the museum about Pres. DD Eisenhower, our KS boy. Then
of course the Vietnam war was during my HS and early
college years. I dated a guy who served there, really messed
up, as were many who went over. I have to admit I was
pretty self-centered in those days and wish I had been more
aware and into knowing my world at that time.
 Of all the things you learned from your parents, which
do you feel has been the most valuable, and why?
 They taught me strong family values, being active in
church and school, and to work honestly at what you
do. It has made life worth living and fun!