The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, March 08, 1985, Image 12
By CATHY RIELY Reporter The horrors of war are in comprehensible to most people, with their only knowledge stem ming from the media. But the hardships of war are very real to a local woman who has become a successful restaurant owner de spite facing many adversities. On May 11, 1944, in the first of many air raids, a bomb dropped on Trudie Adams’ home in Germany, killing her husband and destroying her house. She was left a widow at 26 with three children. Adams retrieved one painting and some books from the debris. She packed the books in boxes and put them on a train but the books never made it. “I was never sure if something happened to the train or if the books had been confiscated,” Adams said. “Some of the books had been banned.” The painting of Mary and the infant Jesus is the only belong ing she has from her home in Germany. The painting is dis played on the wall of The Black Forest Inn, the restaurant she now owns and runs. Adams bought the restaurant in 1976 because she had invited some friends over for dinner and they said she was such a good cook she should open a restaurant. “And do you know what?” Adams asked. “The very next day I opened the paper and saw this place for sale.” The restaurant is practically a one-woman operation, with Ad ams doing everything from the cooking to the bookkeeping. A typical evening has one person helping in the kitchen and one waiting tables. The restaurant is located 20 miles east of College Station, on Highway 30 between Carlos and Roans Prairie. The restaurant is in the front part of a house which sits on several acres. Ad ams lives in the back. Adams attributes her success at Finding customers, despite her location, to good food and good service. She makes the food from scratch, even down to the mayonnaise for the salad dress ings. The sign out front states that the food is “continental cui sine” and the restaurant has an extensive wine list. Adams was born in Wiesba den, Germany on April 24, 1917, but when she was six her family was forced to move to Saarbruecken. They lost all their money during the inflationary years of 1921 and 1922 and had to start over. Adams took university prepa ratory courses in high school, but was forced to give up her college plans when her parents divorcea. At 19 she went to work to support her family. Adams and her brother and sister lived with their mother. She was the oldest child. “That made me responsible for everyone,” she said. In 1938 Adams married “her first and only love.” She met Hans Adams at a ball when she was 16 and they dated for six years before marrying. When her first child was three months old, the Adams moved to a sec ond floor walk-up. “With no water and no gas — which was difficult with a child,” Adams said. Shortly before her husband was drafted and sent to Poland in 1940, Adams found out she was pregnant with their second child. Her husband received a medical discharge and arrived home the same day she came back from the hospital with their baby. Adams’ parents died in 1940 and she took in her aunt and sis ter. She went back to work to help support her family. Marines^ Wire looking for a few good men. Captain M. McGrath 846-8891/9036 Good Food Live Music Great Fun imsonRye, Mighty Joe Young, Skyline. (Bluegrass), Dr. Rocket, Sugar Minott, Joe Ely. $ 1.75 Pitchers Every Sunday 4410 College Main 846 1812 -4r “1 couldn’t ask my husband to support my family,” Adams said. “Not that he wouldn’t have, it’s just that he didn’t make enough money.” After her husband was killed in 1944, Adams sent her chil dren and her aunt to stay with a relative, and went back to Saar bruecken. From there she held a variety of jobs, from digging ditches to doing American sol diers’ laundry. “I’ve done everything,” Ad ams said. “Except for prostitu tion.” Adams said the ditches she dug were for a wall of fortifica tions on the Siegfried line. “The Americans were 18 miles away and we could hear their artillery,” she said. “They would fly over us and drop bombs in the area where we were digging.” It was when a woman was killed near her that Adams de cided to leave. “I decided I didn’t want my kids to be orphans,” Adams said. “So one night I got on a man’s bicycle and took off to my chil dren.” It took her two days to travel the 100 miles. Soon after that, the war ended and she came to America. Adams had married an American soldier she met while working at an air base in Ger many, so they went to Indiana where his mother lived. “The second day I was over here I had a job,” Adams said proudly. Two months later her hus band got a job in Bryan, and they moved here. They were di vorced five years later. Adams worked as a technician at A&M from 1955 until 1977. To help make ends meet she worked as a waitress at nights and on weekends. She also went back to school, and although it took 10 years she now has a de gree in modern languages.^ The Inn’s sign and white fence say it all. PLANNING A WEDDING? Call our professional wedding consultants who can assist you with everything. \ • Bridesmaid’s luncheons, rehearsal dinner, and receptions. • Floral arrangements, wedding cakes and photographers. • Decorated ballroom for receptions. • Special room rates for wedding party and complimentary honeymoon suite. Get our free Wedding Planner when you visit us for a guided tour of our facilities. Brookhollow HILTON INN 2504 North Loop West Houston, Texas 77092 713/688-7711