Cliff Buchan
News EditorAlma Kauls, the matriarch of a Latvian immigrant family that moved from Europe to Forest Lake in 1949, has died. Kauls died at her home in Forest Lake Saturday night. She was 94.
In 1949, after spending five years in post-World War II displaced person camps in Europe, Alma and Teodors Kauls came to America with their six children and Almaís mother, Minna. They arrived in Forest Lake on Dec. 31, 1949.
It was the end of one story for the Kauls family, but the beginning of a new story and a new life for the family in America.
At the center of the story for Alma and Teodors Kauls was their six children and the 13 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren that followed.
ìShe hovered over her children,î said her fourth son, Zigurds.
ìIf you looked at her life, her devotion was to the family,î he said. ìShe was always a good example of hard work.î
It was that devotion that defined Alma Kauls in the years leading up to World War II when the family lived in Latvia, an independent republic on the Baltic Sea.
Latvia fell under Russian occupation in 1940 and many civilians like the Kauls lost all property under Russian rule. The German invasion of Russia during the war and the subsequent occupation of Latvia by German forces was a welcome break from the tyranny that Latvians endured under Russian rule.
But with the collapse of the Nazi forces in the German campaign to conquer Russia, Russian rule returned to Latvia. Many Latvians fearing for their lives fled their homeland for safe haven in Germany.
In 1944 the family left their home in Riga for the final time. Alma and sons Ted, Ivars, Ziggy and Juris had left for Germany in August of 1944. Teodors followed near the end of the year. The coupleís two youngest children, Andy and Mara, were born in Germany.
As World War II came to a close and the German war machine was defeated by Allied forces, the Kauls family survived in part, family members believe, with the help of a ìGuardian Angel.î The family managed to stay together by surviving injury and illness and close calls with Allied bombs.
During one air raid as sections of the ceiling were falling on the family, Alma Kauls gathered her four sons and covered them with her arms and body as protection, family members recalled.
ìHer biggest fear during the war was that someone would be killed and someone would survive,î her son Andy said.
As Allied forces closed in on Germany, the family, fearing the arrival of the Russians and the possibility of being sent back to Latvia, fled again, escaping this time to parts of Germany occupied by American forces. Teodors Kauls had escaped one date with Russian executioners in Riga and there was little desire to go back, family members said.
The family remained in what became West Germany until late 1949 when the move to the United States came about.
Making the move was far from automatic. The nine family members included Almaís mother, Minna, and finding a sponsor was difficult.
The Kauls family was one of the last families to be resettled. ìNo one wanted nine,î Andy Kauls said. ìWe found a way.î
The Norton Taylor family and Faith Lutheran Church in Forest Lake played lead roles in the resettlement process.
That the family was able to persevere is a testament to the drive and determination of the parents, the sons said.
ìThey had it so much harder than any of us,î Zig Kauls said. ìThey were much tougher.î
Life in America
Life in America was never taken for granted, family members said this week.
All six Kauls children learned a strong work ethic from their parents and grandmother. Education was strongly stressed and all six Kauls children went on to college and successful professional careers.
In addition to her duties in the home, Alma Kauls also worked to help support the family. She worked five years in a small machine shop in Forest Lake and worked another 20 years as a laborer at Honeywell where she retired in 1975 at age 65.
She spent more than a decade helping care for her husband who suffered a heart attack in 1970 and later went blind. Teodors Kauls died in 1988 at age 78.
In the final years of her life, Kauls devoted her time to functions at Faith Lutheran, the local garden club and senior citizen center and maintained her heritage by attending functions at the Latvian House in Columbia Heights.
ìShe blossomed after dadís death,î said her daughter Mara DeLong. ìPeople were important to her and she was caring. She tried to do things for the community.î
She also found time to travel. She took part in two church mission trips to Ecuador and visited Japan, the Holy Land and her native Latvia.
With her children grown, Alma Kauls also turned attention to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
ìSheís been our grandchildrenís best friend,î Zig Kauls said.
In the winter of 2000, as the family marked its 50th anniversary in the United States, the family established a $50,000 mission outreach fund through Faith Lutheran to assist families in need.
The family is requesting that in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to the Kauls/Taylor Mission & Outreach Fund of Faith Lutheran Church.
Funeral Details
Alma Mansons Kauls was born Feb. 16, 1910 near Riga, Latvia, the daughter of Minna and Arvids Mansons.
On. Dec. 31, 1933, she married Teodors Kauls Jr.
A funeral service will take place at 11 a.m., Friday, April 16 at Faith Lutheran Church, Forest Lake, with the Rev. Alton Knutson and the Rev. Phil Peterson officiating. Visitation is planned one hour prior to the service.
Alma Kauls is survived by children Ivars (Gloria), Zigurds (Nikki), Juris (Laura), Andris (Colleene), and Mara (David) DeLong; 13 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; sister Zelma Kalnare; many nieces and nephews; and sister-in-law Edith Kauls.
She was preceded in death by husband Teodors, son Theodors, Jr.; brother Janis Mansons; and brother-in-law Hermann Kauls.
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