It was a quiet afternoon at Ray's Barber Shop, tucked in a downtown mall of antique shops on St. Germain Street across from the courthouse. So Ray Opatz put down his newspaper and offered up a history lesson:
His grandfather, Alex, emigrated from Poland and hopped off the train in Royalton and started walking 6 miles west, across the Mississippi River, toward Bowlus. That was back in the late-1800s.
"He looked right out of Tom Sawyer with a stick and all his stuff tied up in a bandanna," Ray said.
Alex met a farmer along the way and purchased a piglet.
"He told the farmer he was going to come back when he raised the hog and give it to him in exchange for his daughter, who was 15 or 16."
Those were Ray's grandparents. They had 13 kids. Ray's dad, George, "was the second from the end."
George worked the farm and lived until he was 91. Their 240 acres a mile and half north of Bowlus are still in the Opatz family, but they rent it out to a neighboring farmer. After all, farming isn't for everyone. Never has been for all the Opatz offspring.
"Three of my father's brothers — Roy, Sam and John — became barbers and so did their cousin, Jim."
