Photography all in the Family

I went to school with Karen Sherlock. Karen was an exceptional photography student. In her second year at MATC, she was hired by the Journal as a staff photographer. Over the years, I have always looked for the byline “Photo by Karen Sherlock” every time I got my hands on a newspaper.

It was about 1984 when those bylines stopped appearing. I wondered what happened to Karen. Brian Koshollek gave me the answer. Brian’s dad was also a photographer with the Journal. Turns out Karen was in Poland trying to get her family to move to America.

There are a lot of connections in the photo world – it’s a lot like a big extended family.
That was especially true in Brian’s family, with his dad at the Journal, and Brian working with us at Walgreens, and now it appears that there is another Koshollek on the staff at the Journal Sentinel.

Brian passed away in August of 1986 at the age of 29. I asked Bob Lehew about some of his memories of Brian.
Bob has graciously agreed to share his thoughts with us.
Below is Bob's email about Brian.

----- Original Message -----
From: Robert LeHew Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 12:37 AM To: Scott Sager; judy marino Subject: Re: Help me with Brian's Last name.

Hi Scott, Sure, Brian's last name was Koshollek. His dad was an award-winning news photographer for the Milwaukee Journal. There is another Koshollek on staff currently at the Journal. I don't know if they're related.

When Brian was younger he had a motorcycle accident, that is what was wrong with his right side. He had a scar that ran from his head right down his spine. The doctor who did the original surgery heard of a different surgery that he thought could restore some function for Brian. He [Brian] was apprehensive about having the surgery but his limited mobility really gave him grief, especially at work, so he had it. The way I heard it the doctor found a tumor or something in his neck at the C1/2 level. While trying to remove it something happened which left Brian paralyzed and ventilator dependent. He was in a orbiting bed for the last 12 months of his life. He shunned any visitors (although I do believe Kathy Gaulke saw him) except his parents and brother. He could only blink his eyes and move his tongue slightly.

He wanted to die [can't blame him] and almost succeeded. He developed a badly infected gall bladder and didn't tell the doctors about the pain. They discovered it anyway but he refused surgery. They couldn't operate until he was out [so he couldn't refuse and they could take life-saving measures] and did so but it was too late. His disabled body couldn't fight the infection and he died.

Brian was a very good friend of mine. The night before the surgery we had a couple beers in his van out behind WW. He told me he was scared. He also made me promise if things didn't work out not to visit him, to remember him as he was. I kept that promise.

Brian could drink, let me tell you! We would take off after work at 6am and hit The Filling Station up on Fon du Lac Ave where they had $1.00 pitchers until 10am. When it was finally time to go home he would stick his bad hand in his pocket and say "no worries, Cruiser knows the way home". He was so proud of that Toyota Land Cruiser of his. 1968 model with a Chevy 327 in it for an engine. Four speed stick (how he could drive, shift, turn that thing with only one good arm and no power steering is still a miracle to me).

He got stopped one night by the Cedarburg police for speeding. He told the cop his speedometer didn't work because the needle fell off. The cop bought the excuse but gave him a warning ticket for the defective equipment. He had 15 days to fix the speedometer needle. Brian figured the cops wouldn't test it so he glued a toothpick, which he painted blaze orange, to the speedometer face plate. It worked! The cop looked at his dash and tore up the ticket. Unbelievable.

He never confirmed nor denied any relationship with Kathy. They did everything together but that is no proof. He was quite a guy, always ready to help, always giving of himself.
He died at 29 and we're all poorer for it.

If you need anything else I'm here. Just ask; I remember lots of things about WW. After all, Donna Mack, Dan Knickelbien, and I were all hold-over's from the beginning of Photoland. That takes our experiences at 3712 W. Elm St. all the way back to 1976.
-Bob

----- Original Message ----- From: Scott Sager To: 'Big Bob LeHew' Cc: 'judy marino' Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 7:14 PMSubject: Help me with Brian's Last name.

Hey Bob,
For the life of me I can’t remember Brian’s last name. Can you help me? Do you have any other thoughts or stories or photos to share about Brian?
Thanks, Scott

Spelling - a family curse

My Dad had a pocket dictionary with him at all times. My older sister was so bad at spelling, that she had a story written about her in the newspaper. I would be lost with out spell – check. For me spelling is a family curse.

It helps to get the name right when you are trying to find long lost friends. Olsen or Olson is one example. Farrow or Farrell is another. I remember Rich telling us his name sounded like the ice cream parlor at Northridge – But It was spelled a little different.

Last night Judy and I were talking about this, and Judy said “Farrow – just like the ice cream place at Northridge."

Click for a story about Farrells

So I’m still confused… But then… I looked in my filing cabinet.

I found a file folder labeled Walgreens. In that folder I found some old copies of “Walgreen World”. That was the semi monthly company news magazine. It had articles about the company and other stuff… Like service awards. They printed your name in Walgreen World when you had reached an employment milestone… like 3, 5, 10 years of service.

In the March/April 1985 Issue I found this entry - "R. Fahrow 2600 Addison Chicago. "

It seems like that was the address of the Chicago lab.

I did more internet searching and I now feel reasonably sure I have located our "Fearless Leader."

“Yabutay, Chee-Chee Abutay!”

The spelling is probably wrong… I might have the phrase all wrong. I remember him telling us that there was no real direct translation.

Mike, Judy and Greg were trying to get the newest member of the film crew to teach them how to swear in his native language. “Vlado”, short for Vladimir was a student at UWM. I think Vlado lived in Elm Grove. Judy thinks Vlado was from Poland. Vlado taught me a very useful skill - how to tie up garbage bags with out using those silly little wire ties.

I not sure if any of us remember Vlado’s last name, and that makes it nearly impossible to locate him. I’m glad we have some pictures of him.

Why Photography is So Important.

I’m continuously surprised by all the things I have forgotten over the years.

I see that Donna and Darcie attended the first campout. I didn’t even remember them being there until I saw the pictures…. That is why photography is so important to me. Without old pictures we might never remember some of those things that happened a long time ago. We had such a great time on the first campout, that we had a second one a year later. Strangely, I don’t think I have any pictures from the second campout in the summer of 1983, only a very few memories.

Donna and Darcie were both holdovers from Photoland.

I first met Darcie at MATC when I was getting my associates degree in photography. Darcie graduated a year ahead of me I think. I seem to remember we both liked jazz singer Al Jarreau. The last time I saw Darcie I was in small claims court in 1997 I was sitting there, waiting for my case to be called and in walks Darcie. I’m sure she didn’t notice me. She was dropping off or picking up some paperwork. Darcie works with the clerk of courts office.

I think Donna ran one of the old Kodak printers at Photoland in the 70’s. I think her shift started at about 5-6 pm. I have lots of good memories of Donna. She gave me a ride in her old Gremlin once I always thought Gremlins’ were cool. She explained the meaning of Solidarnose to me. Donna had a Commodore 64 computer, the same model as I had. She set up a computer “get together” at her apartment and I got to meet her “hacker” friends. That was really cool. I remember going out a number of times with Bob, Brian, Kathy, and Donna in the early days of Walgreens. Donna was interested in relationship… and she found one… with Brad. My memory of Brad is a little vague. I think Brad may have had a day job working on cars or machinery. I remember there was a rumor around work that Brad and Donna were shackin’ up… For some reason I happened to go over to Donna’s apartment one day, and that rumor was… confirmed. I’m not sure exactly when Donna and Brad were married… ‘83 - ‘85 maybe… they are still together - must be around 25 years.


Up in the balcony of the “Gay 90’s bar in Dundee, a few miles north of Mauthe Lake.
From left to right - Donna Mack, Judy Steiner, Darcie Muckler, Scott Sager,Vlado ( I wish I could remember his last name) and Mike Olson. I had completely forgotten about this bar until I saw this picture from Mary Nowacki. (Thanks for another great memory Mary!)

The Party's On !

THE PARTY'S ON !!!

Judy has finalized the details with Sharon (could this be the same Sharon that used to tend bar back in the '80s ???) Mark Your calander, Set your alarm clock, Program your GPS.

WHAT: Reunion and informal get together.
WHO: Employees of Walgreens Photo Studio - Milwaukee
WHEN: Saturday July 18th 2009 3 p.m. till ???
WHERE: Rollies - 7751 N. Teutonia Ave. Milwaukee WI 53209 414-354-9827

Hope to see you there!!!

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Seeing this reminded me...

Seeing this picture reminded me of how much memory I have (apparently) lost over the years.

First off, this girl has her hand on my shoulder. That in itself is something I should remember... Getting touched by a girl was a rare and noteworthy experience for me back then. (OK I'll admit - still is a rare occurrence to this day)

So Who's that Girl? (cue Madonna)
I vaguely remember her.... or not.

I noticed that in these two shots she has on the same shirt - just barely visible above the coat zipper - so I'm guessing these were shot on the same day. I just don't seem to remember her at all.

But - straining my brain - has brought back another memory.

I remember someone else that worked with us for a short time on the film crew. I think she may have been a friend of Judy's. Her name was Char, short for Charleen.

Do you remember Char?

Networking via Picture Postcards

I've been kicking around the idea of sending out some post cards to let people know about the reunion and blog. For people that are harder to find - or where we don't have a phone or email - this could be a fun and practical way of contacting them.

I came up a few designs below - your thoughts, suggestions, comments, always welcome :)

Who Am I ?

I finally got my pictures digitized at Walgreens. They're not the best quality - but what do you expect from Walgreens anyway. So I'm looking through the pictures and there is someone I don't know. I should remember - he was on the film crew!!! Somebody please - clue me in!

One more question... Anybody remember Ron's last name?