From squeal to squeeze: Part 2

Hans Hohrman didn’t remember the photo that brought him to the attention of a local reporter.

She described it: It was Hans and his identical twin brother Herman, wrangling one of their show pigs on the opening day of the Steele County Free Fair.

He nodded at the mention of them wearing light-colored cowboy hats.

“Yeah, we wore those, but I just don’t remember it,” Hans said.

He can definitely be forgiven; after all, the moment was captured 67 years ago, then printed in The Steele County Photo News. As a 14 year old, he likely didn’t spend a lot of time with the newspaper.

Under the headline “Twins Go From Squeal To Squeeze,” the brief caption told readers, “in the morning, (the twins) made sure that their Chester White pigs were entered in the fair, and then Tuesday night they appeared on the grandstand talent show with an accordion duet of old-time music.”

Some things never change.

Hohrman was at the 2022 SCFF every day, playing “old-time music” on his accordion in the lobby of the Four Seasons Centre from 4 to 8 p.m.

And to humor that reporter, he gamely got into a pen in the Swine Barn and knelt beside a pair of York pigs – he first thought they were Chester Whites – shown by Grady and Lexi Steckelberg, of Blooming Prairie.

All that was missing was a light-colored cowboy hat, and Herman.

“We were close, really close,” Hans said. Herman died in 1988, at just 47.

They were identical, but there were a couple of ways to tell them apart.

“We were parked in the middle of the corncrib, and we had an old wagon that had the big steel wheels,” Hans said. “We were down there, and the wind blew a door shut,” catching Herman on its path.

“It put a notch in his ear,” he laughed, and sure enough, you can just make it out in that photo from 1955.

“And I’m an unusual guy, too. I was born with two thumbs on this hand,” Hans said, holding up his right arm. “I think I was 9 years old when they took it off. Once I got rid of the thumb,” it was the scar that people could spot.

The pair, along with their sister, Janet (Hohrman) Vaith of Owatonna, grew up on a farm of 160 acres. Shortly after the twins graduated, the family moved to a 240-acre farm just a half-mile down the road.

The boys spent about six years in 4-H, which led them to the fair every year.

“It was fun,” Hohrman said. “One morning we came out here to the fairgrounds: No hogs. Where’d they go? They were on the fairgrounds; they got out and were running around, so we had to get them back in” the hog barn. “They were just taking a tour of the fair.”

Though neither twin stayed in farming, they did stick with music.

“My accordion playing kept me busy,” Hohrman said. “I’ve been playing since I was 9 years old, either as the Hohrman Twins, or the Hohrman Trio. My sister played the guitar and sang.”

He also remembers the talent competition mentioned in that old copy of the Photo News, mentioning it before he saw the yellowed clipping.

“We played at the talent show here one year, and won it. We went up to the State Fair.”

And how did they do there?

“Uhh, we didn’t win,” Hohrman said with a smile.

He worked for Josten’s after high school, where the secretary of his department caught his eye.

Her name was Karen Rysavy, and she and Hans were married “one month short of 56 years” when she died in August 2021. It’s been a difficult year, he said.

Karen played the accordion, too, taking lessons after hearing her husband and brother-in-law play. She learned to play, then put it away, Hohrman said; he still has it.

Hohrman has been coming back to play in the Four Seasons Centre lobby since 2007, and said he plans to continue the tradition, “as long as I’m able.”

He nods and speaks to people as he makes his way through the big building, running into at least one relative.

“Even though Karen and I didn’t have kids, we have lots of family,” Hohrman said. “Family’s really important to me, especially now.”