|
Chanhassen * 952-934-5659 |
|
Leuthner Well Company Victoria * 952-443-2582 |
|
Laser and Electrolysis Chanhassen 952-474-7474 |
|
Dine in Downtown Victoria * 952-443-2858 |
|
MACKENTHUN’S Gourmet Meats Victoria * 952-443-1841 |
|
St. Bonifacius * 952-446-1338 |
|
Holy Family Catholic High School Victoria * 952-443-4659 |
|
Island View Dining Waconia. 952-442-2956 |
|
Buying or Selling Victoria? Call Nan Emmer. 612-702-2020 |
|
Headlines and bylines |
|
Front Page Feature Story |
|
From the Editor |
|
Addie’s Drawing |
|
Letters to the Editor |
|
Victoria Moments |
|
Hook Line & Sinker |
|
Calendar of Events |
|
Click here to Advertise |
|
the Gazette |
|
Return to Home Page |
|
Order paper Gazette |
|
Notes and Quotes |
|
The Scoop at City Hall |
|
Home Page |
|
The Victoria GAZETTE |
|
by Sue Orsen Her 90 years of life included the hardships and joys in a century already long gone. She was born in 1896, became a teenager in 1910, married in 1917, bore ten children, reared nine of them to adulthood in the 1920's and 1930's, lost her husband in 1968, died peacefully herself in 1986. There are those who remember well the life of Ida Diethelm, none more so than two of Ida's daughters, Elizabeth Diethelm, 86, and Julianne Wartman, 77, both of Victoria. Elizabeth and Julianne agree that the life of Ida Diethelm is perhaps best captured in the word "mother." As with other vocations, a mother is what a mother does. "It's not what they say, it's what they do," and, likewise, in remembering their mother, Elizabeth and Julianne remember how their mother lived and worked at home. "Mom was a very quiet humble person, very kind," said Elizabeth, who contributed most to this story of days gone by, as Julianne, nine years younger than her sister, listened with interest. It is true in other families, as well, that siblings separated in age by a decade or so, have different memories and stories to tell. "Mom was born on a farm near Waconia," said Elizabeth. "Her parents were Henry and Mary Wirtz and I believe they also had nine children. Mom was the second youngest. When she was eight years old [that would be in 1904], the family picked up lock, stock, and barrel and went up to Canada. They could homestead up there and get a place for nothing." Elizabeth remembers some of her mother’s stories. "They went to Canada by train, and Mom and her sister who was 9 or 10 sat together in one car of the train, a cattle car with cattle. There was only supposed to be one person per car and when the train stopped part way, they were found out, but the conductor allowed them to stay together. When they finally got to Canada, Mom’s older brothers helped build the family a house. There was nothing there when they arrived. Not all of the kids went to Canada. I know Mom's older sister Emma didn't go." Emma, who came to figure prominently in the life of her little sister Ida, had stayed back in Minnesota, got married, moved to Victoria, and became the mother of Celeste Rhoy who became Celeste Aretz when she married Jerome 'Chub' Aretz. It is not a coincidence that there is a Rhoy Street in Victoria today. As a matter of fact, Julianne resides just off Rhoy Street, which is located in the vicinity of the original Rhoy farm. Some readers in Gazette Land can recall where Father Bob White first lived when he came to Victoria in 1996 but may not be aware that it was the house where Celeste lived most all of her life, even after marriage, Emma's home. Today it’s a paved church parking lot. "While growing up in Canada, Mom always said she wanted to go home to Victoria, that her sister Emma wanted to see her," said Elizabeth. "That may have been a white lie in order to get back home, the only lie she ever told. Mom was 16 when she returned to Victoria, and she lived with Emma. Celeste was Mom's niece but she came to think of her as a sister because they finished growing up together.” Ida soon met a young Victoria man named Anton Diethelm. Said Elizabeth, "Whenever I asked Mom how she met my dad, she'd always say, 'I bet it was at a dance.'" Anton was a son of Michael and Mary Diethelm who farmed just down the road from the Rhoy family – south, near the entrance to Deer Run, on a gravel road that came to be called County Road 11 as well as Victoria Drive. There is also no evidence today of the Diethelm farm, although memories have been preserved in the naming of Diethelm Park and Rhoy Street.
|
|
May 2011 |
|
Elizabeth Diethelm and Julianne Wartman, sisters, and daughters of Ida and Anton Diethelm. |