It seems the month of May is always a time for me to reflect back to the past. On May 28, 1985, my first column appeared in the Shawano Evening Leader, as it was known at that time. Unless my math fails me, that would mean that I have written this column every week for the past 30 years.
That seems a long time for me to do this, and even longer for you, my loyal readers, to read these simple words. Not much is profound here, just a lot of real-life stuff that has happened to me or to others I know.
I had parents who were both born in 1900, Pa in Milwaukee and Ma in Shawano County. What divergent stories they told as I was growing up. Pa talked about silent movies and fishing for carp with potatoes, and, of course, the ghost in the bakery they worked and lived in. Ma, on the other hand, talked about heating her curling iron in the kerosene lamp and putting hot bricks in the wagon to keep their feet warm when they went to the old country church, known as St Paul, Stoney Hill.
All of these things have made it into my columns at one point or another, plus stories of my own upbringing on a Waupaca County farm, my attendance at a one-room country school, which was located right across from the cheese factory that picked up our milk, the Maple Grove Cheese Factory, which was a co-op. I was too young to really remember how the business end of that worked. I know the men attended meetings, but the whole family was involved.
Our tightknit neighborhood got together to help each other with farm work, plus for birthday parties and the like.
When I began writing the column, my two older sons were out on their own, but the younger son and daughter were attending school in Tigerton. My farmer husband was a shy man, and I learned not to be too specific on names, as they wished to be private.
Those years on Lehman Valley farms brought lots of fodder for the column. Barn cats, shed cats, just plain too many cats most of the time, but most of my readers loved my cat stories. Then there were the dogs, none of which seemed to live as long as we felt they should. However, we loved each and every one, and while their antics got us angry at times, they also provided more columns for me.
There was the snake on the back door, and bats in the washer, twice. Sometimes a mouse or mice would invade. The cattle ran amok in the garden, on the road, or in the barn at times, usually when we had planned to go somewhere.
Farming can be a hard life, but seldom is there a dull moment, and I learned to laugh through most of it, and turn it into a column. There were serious columns also, surgeries, deaths in the family, but through it all we laughed, and cried, and being able to put things down on paper is great therapy for me.
This Memorial Day weekend we especially remember those who served in the armed forces, to keep this country safe and free. I have family members who have served and some still serving. I thank them for their service.
I also want to remember this column, and those who have been reading it, for being so loyal. It amazes me when people ask if I am the lady in the newspaper? Do I really look like my picture?
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