Born and raised on her family’s farm in Vickery, Ohio, Constance Irene Yetter grew up in the world of gardening, canning, sewing and 4-H.
“Life on the farm was a combination of hard work and a lot of fun,” recalls Constance who, at 91, attributes her longevity to a healthy lifestyle that started when she was very young. “Summers were spent planting, harvesting, enjoying the beaches of Lake Erie and having fun at Cedar Point amusement park. Winters were always fun because we loved sledding and ice skating.”
The daughter of Ernest and Mildred Yetter, Constance and twin sister Carol were the fourth and fifth children in a family of six kids. The family’s youngest member, Kathy, came 10 years later. Ruth, Ernest and Shirley were the three older Yetter children. While all five of her siblings remained in Ohio where they raised their families, Constance’s life took a very different path.
“In 1950 when I was a college student studying education at Bowling Green State University, I met Army soldier Leo L. Schlosser through a mutual friend at a barn dance,” Constance recalled. “We danced a little, talked a lot and got acquainted. Leo was from North Dakota and was in the area visiting his sister, Helen, before heading to Korea to fight in the Korean War.”
The two continued their friendship by corresponding through letters while Leo was away, and were married in April 1953. Shortly after their marriage, Leo was sent back to Korea for a second deployment. While there, the couple’s first child, Dana Marie, was born in Bellevue, Ohio. Constance Schlosser and the baby lived on the Yetter farm for seven months. From there, they were off to Japan, Leo’s next assignment right out of Korea. That’s where their second child, Cheryl Jean, was born in 1955. After 18 months in Japan, the couple, with two young children in tow, headed to Kentucky for their next military assignment at Fort Knox where they welcomed a son, Richard Leo, in 1956.
“So, there I was, a young Army wife with stair-step kids, away from home, raising three young children while teaching elementary school,” Constance said. “It was a whirlwind lifestyle, but a lot of fun. Leo and I really enjoyed being parents and raising our three children. Money was very tight on his Army pay, but we managed to come up with creative ways to make ends meet. I made clothes for all three kids and myself and Leo supplemented his income by working part time at a gas station.”
Life in Rawalpindi, Pakistan
After three years in Kentucky, the family packed up their belongings and prepared for Leo’s next military assignment, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
“When we arrived in Rawalpindi in the summer of 1959, there was no available housing, so we stayed in a hotel for six weeks,” Constance recalled. “Leo worked with the Pakistani Army as part of an American advisory group. There were only eight American families in Pakistan the two years that we were stationed there.”
Constance describes life in Pakistan as a “fascinating experience.”
“We saw nomadic tribal people traveling in caravans on camels, water buffalo pulling wagons, shopped in open street bazaars, experienced crowded cities with no traffic control and learned about the country’s customs. Everywhere we traveled, the people were very friendly to Americans, and we never felt threatened or thought we were in danger. It’s very different there now, which makes me sad.”
In 1960, while still in Pakistan, Constance and Leo celebrated the arrival of their fourth child, Kenneth Alan.
Living in a Third World country with almost no modern-day conveniences, families had to boil their water before drinking it, fresh fruits and vegetables were soaked in a solution of water and iodine, bread was made from scratch and fresh meat was nearly nonexistent.
Supplies were shipped through the state department once a month and picked up at a local airport. American families were provided with C-rations to help stretch their groceries.
“I was cooking for a family of six under some pretty unique challenges, which forced me to be very creative with my meal preparation,” Constance recalled. “With plenty of seasoning and fresh vegetables, even C-rations tasted pretty good.”
Wanting to learn about the country and its customs, the family went on day trips all over Pakistan.
“We traveled up the Khyber Pass to the Afghanistan border, which was guarded by armed, unsmiling Afghani soldiers,” Constance recalled. “Leo took lots of amazing pictures during our excursions.”
The family also saw a very young Queen Elizabeth when she came through Rawalipindi while on a tour of Pakistan and the surrounding region.
“She was riding in a convertible, wearing a bright blue hat, waving at throngs of cheering people,” Constance said of England’s young queen. “A friend of Leo’s arranged for us to stand on a balcony overlooking the street that her motorcade passed through, and we were able to get photos of her as she went by. Seeing her was one of the highlights of our time in Pakistan, something we will aways remember.”
The Schlosser family lived in a three-bedroom house with a large walled yard that was kept mowed by Pearl the burro.
“Pearl was a fun family pet that the kids enjoyed riding around the yard,” Constance said. “We also inherited a pet goose who loved admiring himself in car bumpers and we had a cute little shaggy dog named Nutmeg. When we left Pakistan in 1961— after spending two years in the country — all of our pets were placed with American families.”
From Pakistan, Leo was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, for one year, then received orders for Germany.
Experiencing Germany
The family’s next stop was Munich, Germany, where they remained for a little over a year before relocating to Augsburg.
“We lived in Germany for four years and visited countries all over Europe while there,” Constance said. “With four children stuffed in a station wagon full of camping equipment, we traveled throughout Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands and camped everywhere we went. Leo taught the kids how to fish from fresh-water mountain streams. It was the best fish ever.”
While living in Augsburg, the youngest member of the Schlosser family, Kathy Irene, was born in 1965. The family left Germany a year later when Leo received orders for a place called Fort Huachuca.
“We weren’t sure what to expect, especially after falling in love with Germany,” Constance recalls. “We knew we were going to the Arizona desert, so leaving beautiful Germany was one of our more difficult moves. But when we arrived here in 1966, we were pleasantly surprised and knew this is where we wanted to stay.”
More deployments …
In less than a year after the family’s arrival at Fort Huachuca, Leo received orders for his third deployment to Korea.
“At that time, families were not allowed to live on Fort Huachuca if the military spouse was deployed, so we moved into a partially finished house in Whetstone that Leo had started to build. We had dogs, cats, horses, chickens and rabbits, just like my family’s farm in Ohio, and that kept all of us busy.”
Armed with her background in education, Constance eventually started working as a substitute teacher for Tombstone School District, and continued to teach for the district for 38 years.
After returning from Korea, Leo was reassigned to Fort Huachuca for about 18 months, promoted to command sergeant major and was deployed to Quang Tri, Vietnam. At the time, Quang Tri was considered Vietnam’s most heavily war-impacted province.
“Raising five children and worrying about Leo while he was in such a dangerous area was terribly stressful,” Constance remembered. “I made it my mission to keep a positive attitude and smile through that time so our kids could live normal lives without worrying about their father.”
With their mother leading the charge, all five children stayed busy with school, chores, 4-H, and local horse shows.
Leo returned from Vietnam in 1972. He resumed working on the unfinished house he had started before his Vietnam deployment and retired from the Army, with Fort Huachuca as his last military assignment.
The five Schlosser children attended school in the Tombstone district and graduated from Tombstone High School. Constance continued working as a substitute teacher until she decided to retire when she was 77 years old.
“I loved teaching elementary school kids and really enjoyed being a substitute teacher,” she said. “I taught three generations of kids, and to this day, I’m greeted by adults, some with grandchildren, who remember me from my teaching days.”
After 48 years of marriage, Leo died very unexpectedly in 2001. Ten years later, in 2011, the family’s middle child, Richard, died of cancer at 55 years of age.
Constance visits both gravesites every birthday, holiday and anniversary.
She has two grandchildren, Joseph Schlosser, who works for the town of Huachuca City, and Rikki Marie (Schlosser) Anderson, who lives in Minnesota and works as a pharmacy technician. Her only great-grandchild, Vance, lives in Minnesota with his mother, Rikki Anderson.
“My faith and family make me happy, complete my life and keep me strong,” said Constance, who is a member of the Sierra Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Vista. “I feel blessed that I have such a wonderful church family and children who take such good care of me.
“My life as a military wife was a rewarding experience and something I would never change.”