This story began long ago, 100 years ago today, when Momma was born on December 29, 1923, in a little house on 8th Avenue in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It had been the caretaker’s residence for the big house next door. It did not have running water and Grandpa had to go to the big house with a bucket. He always talked about how tiny she was and how cold it was that day – so cold that ice formed overnight on the water in the bucket.
The changes in those 100 years are so numerous as to be impossible to inventory. Momma remembers riding in Grandpa’s Model T and there is picture proof; their family got their first phone when she was eight, a party line when each household had its own set of rings. (Not unlike today’s customizable iPhone ringtones – the same but different.) A time when train travel was the norm, and it took 400 minutes from Chicago to St. Paul. Men on the moon and women in space.
A grand adventure took her to Washington, DC as a “war girl”. She lived with seven other young women all working for the war effort. It was while living at the 5506 House that she met a sailor from Alabama. Dad was stationed at Patuxant River, Maryland and while on switchboard duty he called the cousin of a friend. Instead of the cousin, Momma answered the phone and that serendipitous conversation became a lifetime.
If I give into the temptation to chronicle her life this will appear more like an obituary rather than a simple celebratory blog post – so just some highlights that will bring us to today.
Two children – My sister Mary Pat (1962) and me (1952); one grandchild, John Lac, a lovely assortment of nieces and nephews now counting into the greats, great-greats, and even the great-great-great generation.
Four houses – 1226 Vine, the red brick house on 14th Street, The 40 (now owned by good friends) and the lake house, Inseli.
Travel that took her to foreign places – Australia, Egypt, Greece, New Zealand, Switzerland, Venice, and the Virgin Islands. Visits from Swiss cousins brought family connections to Wisconsin. The first two to visit arrived in 1972, not speaking any English, and just last summer, we hosted ten cousins, all of whom spoke English which made easy laughter.
This weekend there will be a party but no ballons. The students at St. James School, where she volunteered in the library for 57 years, sang a birthday blessing; there are jars of Smuckers seedless raspberry jam customized with her picture; and there has even been TV coverage!
Happy birthday, Momma!
Knit+ Librarian 