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A Centenarian at Christmas

Dedicated to the sunshine of truth,

the moonshine of meeting deadlines,

and the starshine of Victoria.

8661 Deer Run Dr. * Victoria

952-443-2351

The Victoria GAZETTE

Victoria’s Corner Bar.  Nightly Specials and Menus.  952-443-9944

by Sue Orsen

         It had been five years since I last saw Ethel Ausink, when she wrote her final column for the December 2012 issue of the Victoria Gazette.

         She began her Christmas column that year with these moving words:  “I believe this is my most difficult and emotional column to write.  On November 27th, I was 95 years old and I think it is time to say farewell.”

         Ethel mentioned in that column that she had experienced a fainting spell the previous June and that doctors diagnosed a slight stroke.  “I am doing well, but need to slow down,” she wrote.  “So with this writing, I am bidding my audience adieu.  Thank you, Sue, for giving me the opportunity to voice my sentiments in your great paper.”

         Ethel’s column was a prominent feature in the Gazette every month for 13 years.  And so when I was invited to Ethel’s 100th birthday party this past November, 2017, I put the date on my calendar immediately and asked if I could do a story on her life for this Christmas issue of the Gazette.  My 100-year old friend agreed to an interview.  Two of her daughters, Corie Boyer and Joanne Tims, joined us and helped fill in the blanks when Ethel got tired.

         Said Corie, “When Mom was 90, she was the energizer bunny and was still doing her floor exercises every day!” 

         Today Ethel remains bright eyed and quite mindful of dates and details.  Her face is smooth and radiant, without blemish.  Her hair is buoyant.  Her vocabulary remains intact. She is fun and forthright.  We visited in a sitting area just down the hall from Ethel’s room at The Bee Hive in Excelsior.

***

         Ethel was born on November 27th, 1917, at home in northwest Iowa, on the family farm near the small town of Maurice.  Her parents were John and Wilhemina Hoekstra.  “It’s a Dutch name,” she said.  “My father was a farmer and my mother was a housekeeper.  If you’re looking for a label, my mother was a seamstress.  She liked to sew and she was good at it.  She made her own clothes and she made ours.  I am the oldest of three if you don’t count the miscarriages.  I had two younger brothers.”

         Ethel attended Maurice Elementary School and she recalled there were 30 kids in her class.  “Yes, it was a small community but there were a lot of kids in our age group at that time,” she said. 

         Then it was on to Maurice High School where she especially enjoyed reading.  “I’ve always enjoyed reading,” said the student of continual learning.

         How did those early years of the Great Depression affect Ethel and her family?  “There were things we didn’t do because of the Depression,” she replied.  “There was no prom or school dance, for example.  At home I milked the cows and sometimes I drove a team of horses.”

         “I graduated in 1935,” said Ethel.  “After high school I took odd jobs.  I helped in homes, especially when a mother was having a baby.  Then my uncle said he would help me go through college.  I went to a church college, Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.  My uncle wanted to be a help to me.  He was an educated man, a pharmacist on my mother’s side.”

         Corie and Joanne said that their mother took piano lessons as a young girl.  “Dad bought a piano for my mother,” stated Ethel.  “I took piano lessons from a lady in town.  My dad took me to town on Saturdays for the lessons.  Mom had a lot of responsibilities and she had migraine headaches and depression.  Mom depended on all of us.”

         Ethel didn’t say that she also took violin lessons and then played trumpet in the town band, but she wrote about those things when she was a columnist for the Gazette.

         “I had cousins in Lynden, Washington,” continued Ethel.  “They said I should come out and live there with them.  My aunt wanted to help me.  She realized I was poor.  My cousins said that there were lots of young men out there too.”

         Quitting her teaching job in Iowa, Ethel applied to be a teacher in Bellingham, Washington, near the home of her cousins, and was hired through the mail -- sight unseen, no personal interview, just her transcripts and credentials, which were very good.

 

THE REST OF ETHEL’S STORY IS IN THE PAPER EDITION.

December 2017