Little Milk Company Lasted Six Decades

Editor’s note: This is the second part of an essay written by Werner Blaser. The first part was in the Saturday Chronicle.

While on the Wasp, I kept busy. I was on the Wasp boxing team and I had my clarinet with me too. My job was to burn the trash. Everything was burned as we could allow nothing to go overboard. In August 1945, we brought a lot of Marines aboard and their mission was to invade the Japanese mainland.

On Aug. 7, the day after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, I was burning trash. The anti-aircraft guns started firing like crazy. They practiced almost every day, but this was different. I ran up the ladder to the flight deck and everyone was running to the fan tail. We had just shot down the last Kamikaze of World War II. Then, on Aug. 9, 1945, the second atomic bomb was dropped on Japan and a few days later, the war was over.

We headed east for Pearl Harbor and ran into a typhoon. It was so rough, you had to watch that you weren’t blown into the ocean. Then we lost 70 feet of our flight deck in the heavy seas. In Pearl, they fixed our flight deck and sent us off to the Panama Canal. We got liberty there and it was sure nice to see people again.

Then it was off to Boston and we attended Navy Day. We spent a few days in Boston and it was nice even at Scaly Square. Our next stop was Bayonne, N.J. They put bunks eight high in the hanger deck for Italian prisoners of war we were taking back to Italy. Our last stop was Norfolk, Va., before heading out to Naples, Italy, to exchange our Italian troops for U.S. troops to bring back home. We did get to stay in Naples a few days and it was there that my boatswain’s mate on the ship never showed up. To this day we don’t know what happened to him.

I was discharged from the Navy on June 4,1946, and was hitchhiking home. At the brewery in Tumwater a man picked me up. His name was Ray Mc-Kenna. He asked my name and I told him. He asked if I was related to Leo Blaser and I admitted it. We talked all the way to Chehalis and he said if I ever needed a job come to see him. I thanked him and told him I was going to work for Tacoma Milk Producers, which I did for about three months. I was let go because former drivers were coming home from the war and they got their jobs back. So I just took some time off for myself.

Fritz and I were living in a small park place in Puyallup and I had a Ford Model A Roadster. I met an Indian and we became friends. He was a good mechanic and was good at keeping the Model A running, We took off for his home in Devils Lake, N.D. I met his folks and then left for California. It was a long trip by myself, but I finally made it to Newark. While there I helped Louie Steiner put in silage. After a while I started back to Washington and got home just before Thanksgiving.

I took time to see Ray McKenna about the job he mentioned and he put me to work. I started on the Woodland route once a week picking up cream to make butter. When I got home I had a truckload of 10-gallon cans of cream. I also had the Rochester- Oakville route three days a week and the town route, which consisted of stores and hotels; it kept me busy.

 I didn’t work there too long as I wanted to go into the dairy business for myself. I started in 1947 picking up retail customers for dairy products home delivery. I also delivered ice to homes because, in those days, everyone had an ice box. I got my milk from Bill Gibson, who had a bottling plant and also had three routes. He delivered to Packwood, Raymond and small stores in Centralia.

One morning I noticed the Packwood truck was sitting in the yard and no driver could be found. Gibson just gave me his list of all his customers and now I had three routes and our retail home delivery. Charlie and Fritz joined me and we were in business. We didn’t have any money but we had ambition

By 1953, we were doing well enough that the three of us went to Severns car dealership in Chehalis and bought brand new Buicks. Mine was yellow with a white top, Charlie’s was red with a black top and Fritz’s was mint green with a white top. It was such a news story it made The Chronicle when we picked them up.

This little milk company, Blaser Bros., lasted in the family more than 60 years. It wasn’t easy, but it worked. We rounded out the dairy business in 1957 by purchasing the dairy farm from Ma and Pa and kept that until we sold it to the airport.

I always wanted to make music. It just was in my blood. It came from my father, I guess, because he played a Swiss accordion very well. My first band was with Charlie and Fritz. We played on the Basket Fillers program in the Chehalis Elks lodge and on KELA radio. The announcer for that program was Vince Elliot. We also played at Pe Ell, Frances and at lots of house parties.

In 1949, I bought a bass fiddle from Chehalis Music. My sister, Elsie Spahr, even learned to play it. The bass player from the Bill Moses band quit and I got the job. We played at Playquato, Camp 5, Lone Yew Grange and on the radio. I played with several different groups and many individuals over the years. The Trends, George Lohr, Bill Lohr, Kenny Tinkham and Julian Middleton come to mind.

With these musicians we played lots of proms and fine dance music. I also played with the Gene Fleming band for a while. He had a family band that was modern dance music. I was able to play Dixieland on the clarinet but mostly played the bass.

I started to practice a lot on the clarinet and soprano sax for Swiss music. Bette Jo could read music pretty good and she helped me. My neighbor, Bob O’Neil, also helped me out. In 1955, started to play for the Swiss under the name Werner Blaser Swiss Band. My musicians then were Charlie Steiner, Fritz Blaser, Fritz Wolfisberger and later Joe Burgi Sr. By 1957, Bette Jo played piano and then along came the young ones. Now, the band has lasted three generations.

In fact, it was music and playing in the band at Playquato that brought Bette Jo and me together. It was New Year’s Eve 1951 to 1952 at just about midnight that I noticed her. I asked one of the other band members who that girl was with the pedal pushers on. He told me it was one of the Guenther girls. Sometime after midnight I had another band member take over for me on bass and I went out to ask her to dance. She accepted and while we were dancing she said, “Hey, you haven’t given me my new year’s kiss yet.” I obliged, made a date then got married on Aug. 16, 1952. From that New Year’s Eve kiss and marriage, our children came along.

Doug was born in 1954, Joe 1955, Don 1961 and Julie 1968. At this time, we have eight grandchildren.

It’s been a great journey and I do miss all of those, family and friends who have passed on before me. I hope to have several years left to enjoy and create new memories with and for the extended family my brothers and sisters have left me.