Remembrances of Christmas Past – Kathie and Jim Irwin: Homemade dill pickles, ribbon candy and a box of chocolates

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By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX — Kathie and Jim Irwin both graduated from Colfax High School in 1965.

Kathie, who was an only child, grew up on a farm north of state Highway 64, and Jim grew up on two farms before his folks purchased the Southside Tavern in Colfax.

Kathie attended Plainview School until eighth grade and began attending Colfax High School as a freshman.

“I was sweet on her in our sophomore year.  We had to double date because I couldn’t drive yet. Then we went our separate ways.We got married when we were 24,” Jim said.

“I remember my mother saying that there was never any money at Christmas. But I had gifts. He will tell you the same story. There was no lack,” Kathie said.

Music has always been a big part of Christmas for Kathie.

“At Plainview School, we went from one room to three rooms by the time I was done. I remember that Mrs. LaRue got me playing the piano for music for the Christmas programs early on. When I got into high school, I was playing the piano for the Sunday school programs,” she said.

“After we came back from getting married and moving away, then I became church organist and played for Christmas services and for the choir,” Kathie said.

Kathie also has played at the nursing home in Colfax for the residents.

“I enjoy that very much,” she said.

Before Kathie started playing for the Christmas programs at Plainview, she’d had some piano lessons, although she says “not a lot “of piano lessons.

“In high school, I started taking piano lessons from Mrs. Alms,” she said. 

As for playing the organ at church services, “I never had any organ lessons, so I’m a ‘left-footed peddler,’ with my right foot on the brakes — the volume,” Kathie said with a smile.

Kathie also remembers the Christmas trees when she was growing up as being something special.

“Our Christmas tree always had colored lights and icicles. Very ornate and very pretty,” she said, noting that she does not recall being allowed to hang the tinsel on the tree.

“The tinsel always had to be just so,” she said.

Farmers Store

For Kathie when she was growing up, Christmas meant time spent with family.

“We would have Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Gilberts. She would always have lutefisk and lefse. She made lefse. She made lefse to sell at the Farmers Stores around the area. My grandpa would haul them to the different stores because she didn’t drive,” Kathie recalled.

“She made a lot of lefse. I don’t know how much they charged, but it was really good lefse. Of course, I would be prejudiced, I’m sure!” she said.

For the uninitiated, lefse is a flat Norwegian pastry made out of potatoes that is often served spread with butter and sprinkled with sugar.

A certain number of Messenger readers will recall there was a Farmers Store in Colfax that was located in the building where the Commercial Testing Lab is located today. There were other Farmers Store locations around the area as well.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve for Kathie involved going to her grandmother and grandfather’s house. 

“We had Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa’s. There often would be a doll under the Christmas tree for me to unwrap … and I would probably get pajamas. (Pajamas) were more practical. And maybe a book, because they knew I was a reader,” Kathie said.

And, of course, what would Christmas be without homemade dill pickles?

“My cousin Jon Gilberts and I would sneak pickles off Grandma’s table — I know she put them out there on purpose for us to snitch. She had really good dill pickles, too,” Kathie said.

“We would gather in the living room and sing some Christmas carols. It was a good family time,” she said.

Kathie says she is not sure if she really liked lutefisk when she had it at her Grandma and Grandpa’s house, “but I grew to love it.”

“Jim has grown to love (lutefisk), too. But he always does say he would eat anything with butter. Even a tire if it has butter on it,” Kathie said.

Kathie says that her husband  “has always made Christmas even better than it could be.”

Lefse

Over the years of doing Christmas story interviews, the Colfax Messenger has become aware that there are many opinions about the proper way to eat lefse.

“We did not put sugar on our lefse, either, it was always just butter,” Kathie said.

Kathie says she and Jim have learned how to make lefse together.

“I roll, and he fries. It goes lots faster and it’s lots easier when I’ve got a good helper,” she said.

“I bought some lefse at the bake and craft sale [recently at the Grapevine]. And they were so perfect! I don’t how they get them so perfect,” Kathie said.

Treats

A paper bag of treats was an important part of Christmas, too. 

“I don’t recall that we got gifts at our school and church program, but we always did get a bag of some treats. Nuts. Ribbon candy. And fruit. An apple. Maybe a popcorn ball. It was good. It was special,” Kathie said.

By now, readers may have noticed, if they did not know it before, that Kathie spells her named with an “ie.”

“When I started eighth grade, I changed my name. From Kathleen to Kathie — with an ‘ie.’  Mrs. Grogan, my teacher, said ‘what is this?’” Kathie recalled.

“I had been reading a book and saw ‘Kathie.’ I thought, when I get into high school, I will be a ‘Kathie’ and not a ‘Kathleen.’ My dad never, ever, for sure never called me Kathie. He had named me Kathleen. I was always Kathleen to him,” Kathie said.

Albertville

Jim started out growing up on a farm in Albertville.

“Early on, I went to Frazier school over by Albertville. Then later we moved to the farm out by the radio tower, then I went to Eighteen Mile Creek until I was a freshman,” Jim said.

“When I worked at the bank for 21 years, we got invited to quite a few things. We would have pork, sauerkraut and dumplings. Then coming back home, we’d have lutefisk and lefse,” he said.

Even in a small, local area, ethnic foods can vary.

“I did not grow up with dumplings,” Kathie noted.

Jim retired as Chief Executive Officer of Peoples State Bank in Bloomer in April of 2008. He worked for Peoples State Bank in Bloomer for 21 years and worked in the banking industry for 36 years. 

Jim has one sister named Cheryl. 

“One thing I remember, my mom, as she aged, told my sister how poor we were and how difficult it was at Christmas time in particular,” Jim said.

“And how sorry she was,” Kathie said.

“And how sorry she was for that. So my sister and I look at each other, and we think that we were well-to-do. We had two pairs of shoes. We had one for school and playing, and one pair for church. We had a gift under the tree every year,” Jim said.

“It was interesting that’s what Mom thought. She lived to be eighty-eight and a half. The last year or two, she started talking about that. My mother was Elizabeth Irwin,” he said.

Santa’s shoes

One early memory for Jim at Christmas involved his Uncle Jim

“When we lived in Albertville, Uncle Jim came in dressed like Santa Claus. I am maybe four or five years old. And I say, ‘Santa, you have shoes just like my Uncle Jim!’” Jim said.

Jim says he does not recall if his Uncle Jim had any reaction to him noticing that Santa’s shoes were the same as his Uncle Jim’s shoes.

“Santa just put gifts under the tree as far as I remember. Jim was never married. He was quite a character,” Jim said.

Black Jack

Just as they were for Kathie, school Christmas programs and church Christmas programs played a prominent role for Jim as well.

“When I was growing up, having parts in the school and church programs was a big part of Christmas,” he said.

“Kathie and I sang in a madrigal, and a friend of mine and I sang a duet one time of ‘All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth’ and I had Black Jack on my two front teeth,” Jim said.

Black Jack was a black chewing gum flavored with licorice, anise and ginger.

A madrigal has different parts for different voices with different music for each stanza of lyrics.

After Jim and Kathie were married, Jim noted that he sang with the Dunn County Barbershoppers, too, along with Dr. Harlan Earnhart of Colfax.

Christmas sweets

Another part of Christmas for Jim was going to his Aunt Bernice’s house.

“We would go my Aunt Bernice’s for Christmas Day. She was my dad’s sister. They lived by Menomonie. The farm was where Dunn County Electric is now,” he said. 

“Aunt Bernice would have big layouts and a monstrous meal. She had a separate table for sweets. And boy did we eat,” Jim said.

“Fattigman, krumkake and rosettes,” Kathie noted.

“Aunt Bernice was really into Christmas. She and her neighbor were Mr. and Mrs. Claus, and they would go to nursing homes,” he said.

Jim has a Christmas connection, too, with chocolate candy and his sister.

“My sister, Cheryl, she would taste all the chocolates. We would get a big box of chocolates for the family at Christmas,” Jim said.

“She would taste [a piece of chocolate]. She would take a bite out of it, and if she didn’t like it, she would put it back in the box. I would have to eat the rest of them I suppose. She was six years younger than me,” he said.

Christmas Eve

When the Irwins lived above the Southside Tavern, Christmas included an extra-special aspect — something that continues to affect Jim and his sister to this day.

“For 15 years, my folks owned and ran the Southside Tavern, which is now the Outhouse. We lived above that for those years. More or less while I was high school and then college and then when I was in the military. And then I got married after that,” Jim said.

“A big thing that really affected Cheryl and I for the rest of lives was on Christmas Eve. The bar closed early, and there were normally some bachelors there. Maybe three or four. And they had nowhere to go,” he said.

“So my mom and dad would tell them to come upstairs and join us for Christmas dinner. Mom would have gifts wrapped for them, and they would have a gift under the tree. They could open a gift and enjoy Christmas,” Jim said.

“That carried on for Cheryl and I, about caring for people. That helped me in the bank business, and she was a banker, too, for a while and a teacher. That sunk in and was really meaningful to us,” he said.

Nativity scene

Another aspect of Christmas that was always meaningful for Jim and his sister involved a nativity scene.

“Between the tavern and the Inland Lumber Co. [just north of where the Outhouse is located now] there was a row of pine trees, and up against the pine trees was a very large manger scene,” Jim recalled.

“That was very meaningful to my sister and I. They always put that up. I don’t know if it was the village. I think maybe it was the lumber company,” Jim said.

“On Christmas Eve, we would go to Colfax Lutheran for midnight service,” he said.

“We didn’t have Christmas Eve service at our church when I was growing up. I suppose because our pastor had two or three churches,” Kathie said.

“The only Christmas I was not home, I was in Vietnam. Because of some health problems, I just happened to be in the rear [of the crowd] when the Bob Hope show was there in Cu Chi. I got to see Bob Hope,” Jim said.

Jim served in the Army infantry in Vietnam.

“Later, in February, that was about half-way through my tour in Vietnam, I could go anywhere for R&R, and I decided to meet my parents and my sister in Hawaii. My sister and my mom had never flown before, so that was quite the get-together. It wasn’t at Christmastime, but it was relative in my mind,” Jim said.

Christmas today

Nowadays, family gatherings are even bigger part of Christmas for Jim and Kathie Irwin

“Through the 53 years, Kathie and I have made every effort to be together at Christmas and with our family,” Jim said.

“In December — and we have been doing this for many years — we get together with 80-plus relatives in Wisconsin Dells. We are leaving for that tomorrow [the day after the interview]. Those are cousins on my mother’s side. We have always been quite close My mother had three sisters. One had 11 children, one had 13, one had five. We only had two [Jim and Cheryl]. All four sisters had a son graduating from high school the same year I graduated,” Jim said.

The Irwins have three sons who live within an hour away. Two of them are within six miles. One lives in New Richmond. 

“The two near us have farms, but they don’t farm. They rent the land out. But we have a lot of hunters in our family,” Jim said.

“Because of those three sons, we have three daughters-in-law. So we did get our daughters! Then of course, the 10 grandchildren. Two of them are married. We have one great-grandchild a year and a half old and another great coming (soon). We are at 21 in our family,” Jim said.

“Our immediate family of 21 — sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchild — will be getting together in December, too,” Jim said.

“And they’re all bringing food!” Kathie noted with a grin.

“I told them at Thanksgiving that I am very proud of all of them,” Jim said.

The Irwins’ oldest son, Timothy, is a software consultant with a software consulting group. He moved back to the area from North Carolina and now works out of Menomonie. 

Timothy bought the Melvin Mork farm, Jim said.

Their middle son, Dave Irwin, is a dentist in Bloomer.

Their youngest son, Christopher, works in research at Medtronic.

He is working with robotics for surgery, Kathie said.

The robot can do finer work than the surgeon can. Christopher has traveled to Washington, D.C., to do presentations for the process of obtaining government approval, she said.