Eunice has had a good life. As a child she enjoyed family life on a farm. Having seven siblings, they always had someone to do things with. They lived in a good neighborhood. They knew all our neighbors and visited them regularly and they helped them with butchering cows and pigs for their meat supply. They helped in the summer with threshing wheat and filling the silo with ground corn for the animals in the winter.
Going to high school was a challenge and Eunice had many friends and good teachers. She worked for her Home Economics teacher baby sitting and cleaning. College became possible at Concordia Teacher’s College, River Forest, Illinois, because Eunice found jobs, babysitting, cleaning houses and waitressing. She was able to keep her grades good. In the middle of her college years, she took a job in a one room school in the mountains of Colorado, Westcliffe. Terrific experience! Then Eunice went back to Concordia Teacher’s College for one and one-half years. She finished her degree in three years and three summers. Then Eunice was called to Hope Lutheran Church, Levittown, Pennsylvania, to start a Lutheran School at Hope Lutheran Church. All went well and after three years they had 100 plus students and were building a school. Then Eunice got a call to start a Girl’s School in Papua New Guinea. She accepted the call, but it was hard to leave Levittown, so many friends, etc.
Eunice spent the summer at Mission School at Concordia Seminary, Clayton, Missouri and getting ready to go to Papua New Guinea. All went well and they soon had girls in school even though the tribes wanted them to stay home so they would marry and bring a good bride price. After three years. Eunice could go furlough for six months. She took a year and taught six months at Bethesda Lutheran School, Jennings, Missouri.
Then Eunice went back to Papua New Guinea to St. Paul’s Lutheran High School where their first girls were going to high school. After three years a young man from Australia, Ray Hausler, came to work in the Mission and they liked each other very much and decide to get married after Eunice finished her second term. So, Eunice did not go home on her six-month furlough but got married and kept teaching. After a year they traveled to the United States, and Australia to meet each other’s families for six weeks. A joyful trip! Then back to St. Paul’s Lutheran High School to teach. Eunice got pregnant and their daughter, Paula, was born. The next year she got pregnant again and their daughter, Charla, was born. After five years they decided to leave the Mission Field and live in Australia. Ray had gotten to enjoy teaching, so he needed a degree in Education. He had an Apprenticeship Degree.
So, the most favorable response was from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois. This was good as it was near Shattuc, Eunice’s home. So, they came back to the US and she got a teaching job at Hoffman, Illinois and their daughters stayed at her sister, Wilma’s house. They went to school at Trinity Lutheran School, Hoyleton, Illinois.
Then after two years Ray graduated with a teaching degree and got a job at Delavan, Illinois, teaching Industrial Arts, in high school. A year later, Eunice started a Lutheran school at Lincoln, Illinois, especially for their daughters. It grew quickly and after two years they needed space, so they proceeded with building a school. It is a beautiful school, with eight classrooms, gym, lunchroom, office for principal and teachers, art room and theatre room. It was a very wonderful but challenging undertaking. It is Zion Lutheran School, Lincoln, Illinois.
Then Ray didn’t get his citizenship soon enough, so they moved to Hoyleton again to Eunice’s sister’s farmhouse. Ray did carpenter work until he got his citizenship and then a job at Centralia Correctional Center. Eunice got a job again at Trinity Lutheran School, Hoffman, Illinois, and their girls were in school again at Trinity Lutheran School, Hoyleton, Illinois. They went to Nashville High School and then on to the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois. Paula graduated with a degree in Architecture, and Charla with a degree in law. Ray built them a house in New Minden, Illinois, when they lived at the farmhouse. This house was blown away with a tornado in 2013, and they rebuilt it. They are still there. Eunice retired in 2002 and spent a lot of time taking care of their grandchildren in Chicago. Ray retired in 2001. They keep busy helping people and the church. The purpose of Eunice’s book and life is to help people see Jesus.
