Christmas

By Cara L. Dempski CONNORSVILLE — Virgil and Pat Schoonover, ages 85 and 84, have seen and enjoyed many family Christmases, but there are specific things each remembers from their childhoods and life as young adults. The Connorsville couple, who celebrated 65 years of marriage this October, sat down recently to share special memories of…

By Cara L. Dempski GLENWOOD CITY — Rosella Maes reached 100 years old on November 1, 2016. That means she has seen 100 Christmas celebrations. What does she remember the most? “The beautiful decorations,” she stated. “There were lights and greens.”

By Cara L. Dempski  BOYCEVILLE — Lorraine Blodgett of rural Boyceville has seen a lot gifts, light, and fun spread out over a century’s worth of Christmases. The former teacher and widow of the late Percy Blodgett still lives on the farm she and her husband bought in 1946. She has fond memories of Christmas…

By Cara L. Dempski GLENWOOD CITY — Ella Rassbach grew up just four miles south of the village of Ridgeland, near what are now highways 64 and 25.  While her father, Nels Delegard, was of Swedish ancestry, he grew up and lived in a Norwegian community in that area, and married a woman named Hannah…

By Cara L. Dempski GLENWOOD CITY —  Dorothy Mitch, age 91 of Glenwood City, opened the interview for this story by stating there were not many things she could remember about Christmases past. She then spoke about many of her favorite memories of past celebrations, and talked about her father’s love of music, the decorations…

By Cara L. Dempski GLENWOOD CITY — Helen Best, at the age of 92, still takes pride in making Christmas gifts for her family. The Glenwood City resident proudly showed off a photograph of one of her great-granddaughters wearing a hat Best made for Christmas nine years ago. “Her mother said she didn’t take it…

By LeAnn R. Ralph COLFAX — When Shirley Rasmussen was growing up, Christmas would not have been Christmas without the main course: lutefisk and lefse.  Shirley is a resident at Ridge Crest Manor, the Community Based Residential Facility at the Colfax Health and Rehabilitation Center. On the day the Colfax Messenger came to talk to…

By LeAnn R. Ralph COLFAX —  When Ron Peterson was growing up in Colfax 70 years ago, what he remembers is the spontaneity at Christmas time. “We always did a lot of Christmas caroling. We kids would do that, kind of spontaneously sometimes. Or if the Methodist choir was going around, and there were a…

By LeAnn R. Ralph COLFAX — Marlene Johnson grew up in Colfax on Johnson-Olson Road. Marlene was one of the Olsons for whom the street is named, and her husband, Ray Johnson, is one of the Johnsons for whom the street is named. When she was a youngster, Marlene said her family always had a…

By LeAnn R. Ralph COLFAX —  Marion Nichols says what she remembers most about Christmas when she was a youngster was Christmas programs at school — and milking cows.  Marion, who grew up in the Town of Wheaton, came from a very large extended family and had 43 first cousins. She has lived in the…