Christmas
REMEMBRANCES OF CHRISTMASES PAST: Delphine Danovsky remembers Christmases on the farm
By Renee Bettendorf CONNORSVILLE – Delphine Danvosky was born in 1932 and grew up on a dairy farm north of Connorsville, she was the middle child in a family of seven children. In her family, kids were taught how to milk cows at the age of ten. Delphine remembers being excited to learn how to…
Read MoreREMEMBRANCES OF CHRISTMASES PAST: Gust Fehr: “We were never bored at Christmastime. There was always something to do.”
By LeAnn R. Ralph COLFAX — Colfax resident Gust Fehr grew up in the Towns of Auburn and Cooks Valley north of Colfax in Chippewa County during the years of the Great Depression and World War II. While the Fehr family may not have had much money, as was true of many families at the…
Read MoreREMEMBRANCES OF CHRISTMASES PAST: Pastor Timothy Vettrus: “We moved to Colfax on Christmas Eve day in 1954.”
By LeAnn R. Ralph COLFAX — Christmas in Colfax is one of Pastor Timothy Vettrus’s earliest memories. Reverend Vettrus is the pastor at First Lutheran Church of Arland in Clayton and lives in Prairie Farm. His father, Reverend Ole Vettrus, was the pastor at the Bethany Brethren Lutheran Church in Colfax. “We moved to Colfax…
Read MoreREMEMBRANCES OF CHRISTMASES PAST: Dale Rostamo: “Our Christmases were pretty simple. I miss those days.”
By LeAnn R. Ralph COLFAX — For Dale Rostamo, who grew up on a farm northeast of Colfax, Christmases at the Running Valley school were always something special. The Running Valley School was located east of Colfax on county Highway A, a picturesque school built of locally-quarried stone that was demolished in November of 2021.…
Read MoreChristmas around Boyceville and Glenwood City – 2021
REMEMBRANCES OF CHRISTMASES PAST: Darlene Peterson: Christmas was simple “and everyone was happy, that’s the main thing.”
By Missy Klatt Darlene Peterson, nee Wienke, was born on a dairy farm in Forest during the depression. However they moved to Gilman when she was about a year old. Her and her family which included younger brother, Dewey lived there for about ten years before moving back to the Wilson area. Being that it…
Read MoreVisits with Santa in Glenwood City and Boyceville – 2021
REMEMBRANCES OF CHRISTMASES PAST: Don Leier: one year getting a coloring book and color crayons, and he thought that was a lot
By Missy Klatt Nonagenarian, Don Leier is a relative new comer to Glenwood City, moving here in 2003 with his wife Genevieve, a couple of years after his daughter and her family moved to the area. Don grew up in lower St. Paul and had lived in the Cities till his move here. Don was…
Read MoreREMEMBRANCES OF CHRISTMASES PAST: June Stack remembers thinking Santa was weird, kind of strange, she had never heard of him
By Missy Klatt June was born six miles north of Glenwood City, the youngest of five children born to Leon and Camilla Swanepoel. Leon and Camilla emigrated here from Belgium but it took a while for both of them to get here along with June’s oldest brother, Bill who was also born in Belgium. June’s…
Read MoreREMEMBRANCES OF CHRISTMASES PAST: Ruth Schutz: Santa was in school but we had a Christian Christmas at home
By Missy Klatt Ruth Schutz was born in 1928 to August and Lena Schutz, the oldest of an “all girl” family. She grew up on the family farm south of Boyceville on County Rd. K with her sisters, Alena, Ardy and Alievia. Sadly another sister, Audney died when she was eight and a half months…
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