One of the faithful readers of this blog, Jeri Nowak, is the daughter of Fritz and Leona (Kath) Novak. Her mother Leona was the daughter of William and Anna Kath, who lived just a mile outside of Tenney. There were 12 children in the William Kath family. That’s a lot of Kaths (or….as they were known in that time….the KATES)!
Jeri mentioned that her mother’s sister, Esther Kath, one of those 12 children, worked at the old hotel in Tenney at the Turn of the Century, making pies for its patrons. The hotel, which burned to the ground in 1924, served as a matchmaker for Miss Esther and her husband-to-be. At the time Esther was working at the hotel a young gentleman, George Weiss, who had grown up in another community, came to Tenney to visit his parents. His parents were the proprietors of the hotel at the time. That visit provided a spark that lasted a lifetime for Esther and George. Allan Weiss, son of Esther and George, do you have any more to add to this story?
I seem to recall in my research that a man named Vitalis once owned the old Tenney Hotel. The building not only housed the hotel, but also a saloon, barber shop and pool hall. It stood on a street which was, in the very earliest years, the actual “Main Street” of Tenney. That street ran PARALLEL to the railroad tracks and was also the location of the livery stable, an ice house and two grain elevators. It was named "Main Street" because it was the first street in town. As one pictures a street scene from the late 1800s and early 1900s, it makes sense that a hotel would be located just across the street from the train depot, along with a livery stable and ice house. Somewhere I have a photo of my great grandfather, John P. Polifka, standing in front of the livery. When I find it, I will post it to this blog.
In the early 1910s, buildings were built on the street we all now think of as "Main Street" (actually, it is "Concord Avenue"!), which runs perpendictular to the railroad tracks. The businesses on the old Main Street eventually all burned down or disappeared in some fashion, and the new Main Street became the town's main drag. This street eventually boasted the presence of the Town Hall, Fire Hall, Tenney Church and parsonage, Post Office, Larson Store, Wittman Garage, and other Tenney landmarks such as the town pump.
Given that the hotel burned to the ground in 1924, I am doubtful that any readers of this blog would recall the hotel itself, but do you have any Tenney Hotel stories?
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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Friday, August 8, 2008
Tenney Things
In the greater scheme of things, it’s not the THINGS that make a difference in our world. But at the same time, sometimes it’s THINGS that serve as reminders of the truly important things. I am a picture-taker and love to make scrapbooks and reminisce about the things that those photos represent. I guess it’s just the story teller in me that makes me enjoys such things.
Do you have Tenney THINGS? Throughout the course of my Tenney adventure, I have heard a few of you talk or write about THINGS that you have from Tenney or that remind you of Tenney. An email from my mother’s cousin, Muriel Lee (Edner) Fagan, whose name appears on the Tenney Quilt, told of a few treasured THINGS that she has which remind her of Tenney and thus, her childhood. One is a velvet dress that she wore, as a toddler, to her aunt Audrey Polifka’s wedding to A.N. Larson in 1930. Another is a postcard she received from her beloved Grandpa John Polifka (my great grandfather) from Chicago’s World Fair in 1933, complete with 1¢ stamp. She also remembers a pencil box that her Grandpa John bought for her, noting that “I’m sure it cannot be as magnificent as I remember.” Both Muriel Lee and my mother have spoon jars from the Tenney Hall. Two doilies handmade by Tenney stalwart Gertie Kapitan are tastefully framed and hang proudly on my mother’s bedroom wall. A painting of a stag that hung on the wall at the bottom stair landing in Grandma Helen’s house in Tenney now hangs on the wall in my parents’ home. And perhaps my mother’s most magnificent Tenney possession is the old organ face from the organ that stood on her Grandma Helen Polifka’s porch—refinished and made into a display shelf for her collection of floe blue dishware.
I spoke of Grandma Helen’s organ in THE TENNEY QUILT, indicating that not much music was produced on that organ once it hit Grandma’s porch. It came from my great great grandma Emma Ready’s farm and was parked on the John and Helen Polifka porch for decades. Though I would prefer to visualize a happy scene on a summer evening with Grandma and Grandpa and the kids and grandchildren gathered around the organ singing “Yankee Doodle,” or perhaps “The Old Rugged Cross,” I am afraid the reality is much less idealistic. From all accounts, the organ was used primarily as a dust collector, bread cooler, and probably a jungle gym for the grandkids. When it was finally relegated to the shed, Grandma Helen, in her thriftiness, broke the darn thing up and used the ivories as markers in her vegetable garden. Thank goodness the organ’s front face was salvaged, eventually to find a place on my mother’s living room wall.
Polifka family lore tells of Grandma Helen selling Grandpa John’s old mail wagon for $10, a sum of money which made Grandma feel as though she had won the lottery. You see, Grandpa John Polifka was Tenney’s first postmaster, the guy who established Tenney’s 26-mile rural mail route and the first rural carrier. What a thrill that would be now to have that mail wagon.
I have a few treasured Tenney possessions myself. My cousin, Neil Polifka, sent me an old baking powder can with a metal cover on it, in which several holes were punched. Al Manthie, as chief keeper of the Town Hall, used this can to shake the sawdust onto the floor in the Town Hall before the dances. Because of that little self-fashioned sawdust applicator, many a foxtrot, waltz, and two-step were made an effortless slide across the Tenney Hall dance floor. I have previously made mention of a war ration book I have from Grandpa A.N.’s store in Tenney, and my mother has several things that were once in the A.N. Larson Store. My sister has an old wooden bench that sat in the store in Tenney for customers to sit down and try on shoes and boots. On the back of the bench was a red circular logo of some sort which my uncles, Andrew and Ralph Larson, used for target practice at least on one occasion, as evidenced by the tiny BB holes.
The one Tenney THING I l
ong for is the big black Bible from the old Tenney Church (shown in photo). This Bible was given to the church in memory of my great great grandmother, Emma (Mrs. John J.) Ready, from her children—my great grandmother Helen (Mrs. John) Polifka, Ray (and Esther) Ready, Vesta (Mrs. Ray) Gore, and Blanche (Mrs. Edgar) Waite. The inscription in the front of the Bible appears on the second photo. It was presented to the church on October 11, 1942, the year that Emma died. As renovations to the former church happen all around it, this Bible still sits on the pulpit, slowly succumbing each 
year to the wind, dust, snow, rain, humidity, heat, and cold that make their way through the unprotected [former] sanctuary. Surely this treasure will someday either just disappear as so many other Tenney treasures, or it will disintegrate and fall apart from neglect and exposure. How I wish I could change the course of that Bible’s remaining history!
What Tenney things do YOU treasure?
Do you have Tenney THINGS? Throughout the course of my Tenney adventure, I have heard a few of you talk or write about THINGS that you have from Tenney or that remind you of Tenney. An email from my mother’s cousin, Muriel Lee (Edner) Fagan, whose name appears on the Tenney Quilt, told of a few treasured THINGS that she has which remind her of Tenney and thus, her childhood. One is a velvet dress that she wore, as a toddler, to her aunt Audrey Polifka’s wedding to A.N. Larson in 1930. Another is a postcard she received from her beloved Grandpa John Polifka (my great grandfather) from Chicago’s World Fair in 1933, complete with 1¢ stamp. She also remembers a pencil box that her Grandpa John bought for her, noting that “I’m sure it cannot be as magnificent as I remember.” Both Muriel Lee and my mother have spoon jars from the Tenney Hall. Two doilies handmade by Tenney stalwart Gertie Kapitan are tastefully framed and hang proudly on my mother’s bedroom wall. A painting of a stag that hung on the wall at the bottom stair landing in Grandma Helen’s house in Tenney now hangs on the wall in my parents’ home. And perhaps my mother’s most magnificent Tenney possession is the old organ face from the organ that stood on her Grandma Helen Polifka’s porch—refinished and made into a display shelf for her collection of floe blue dishware.
I spoke of Grandma Helen’s organ in THE TENNEY QUILT, indicating that not much music was produced on that organ once it hit Grandma’s porch. It came from my great great grandma Emma Ready’s farm and was parked on the John and Helen Polifka porch for decades. Though I would prefer to visualize a happy scene on a summer evening with Grandma and Grandpa and the kids and grandchildren gathered around the organ singing “Yankee Doodle,” or perhaps “The Old Rugged Cross,” I am afraid the reality is much less idealistic. From all accounts, the organ was used primarily as a dust collector, bread cooler, and probably a jungle gym for the grandkids. When it was finally relegated to the shed, Grandma Helen, in her thriftiness, broke the darn thing up and used the ivories as markers in her vegetable garden. Thank goodness the organ’s front face was salvaged, eventually to find a place on my mother’s living room wall.
Polifka family lore tells of Grandma Helen selling Grandpa John’s old mail wagon for $10, a sum of money which made Grandma feel as though she had won the lottery. You see, Grandpa John Polifka was Tenney’s first postmaster, the guy who established Tenney’s 26-mile rural mail route and the first rural carrier. What a thrill that would be now to have that mail wagon.
I have a few treasured Tenney possessions myself. My cousin, Neil Polifka, sent me an old baking powder can with a metal cover on it, in which several holes were punched. Al Manthie, as chief keeper of the Town Hall, used this can to shake the sawdust onto the floor in the Town Hall before the dances. Because of that little self-fashioned sawdust applicator, many a foxtrot, waltz, and two-step were made an effortless slide across the Tenney Hall dance floor. I have previously made mention of a war ration book I have from Grandpa A.N.’s store in Tenney, and my mother has several things that were once in the A.N. Larson Store. My sister has an old wooden bench that sat in the store in Tenney for customers to sit down and try on shoes and boots. On the back of the bench was a red circular logo of some sort which my uncles, Andrew and Ralph Larson, used for target practice at least on one occasion, as evidenced by the tiny BB holes.
The one Tenney THING I l
ong for is the big black Bible from the old Tenney Church (shown in photo). This Bible was given to the church in memory of my great great grandmother, Emma (Mrs. John J.) Ready, from her children—my great grandmother Helen (Mrs. John) Polifka, Ray (and Esther) Ready, Vesta (Mrs. Ray) Gore, and Blanche (Mrs. Edgar) Waite. The inscription in the front of the Bible appears on the second photo. It was presented to the church on October 11, 1942, the year that Emma died. As renovations to the former church happen all around it, this Bible still sits on the pulpit, slowly succumbing each 
year to the wind, dust, snow, rain, humidity, heat, and cold that make their way through the unprotected [former] sanctuary. Surely this treasure will someday either just disappear as so many other Tenney treasures, or it will disintegrate and fall apart from neglect and exposure. How I wish I could change the course of that Bible’s remaining history!What Tenney things do YOU treasure?
Monday, August 4, 2008
That Zum Mallen House Again
A while back, I posted a photo of a home that was in Tenney at some point, and asked for input from my wonderful Tenney readers to find out if they knew where this house sat in Tenney. Obviously, it is not there anymore, and there were no clues in the photo to determine its location. A gentleman from New Jersey related to the Zum Mallens had sent this photo to me, thinking I may know something about it (I didn’t). It was the home of Christ and Helen Zum Mallen. Helen was a cousin of Annie (Mrs. William) Kath.
After posting the photo on this blog, I heard from Dawayne Novak, saying this Zum Mallen home looked like the one that used to sit on the east side of Tenney, just to the northeast of the Highway 55 gravel road entrance to Tenney. If that is indeed the place, in later years it was the house of Dawayne’s aunt and uncle, Ernest and Verna Jacklitch. Some of you may remember that Ernest and Verna later moved to a home west of the Larson Store and south of the Tenney School.
If any of you Tenney people out there think this may be the home that Ernest and Verna Jacklitch once lived in on the east side of Tenney, please let me know.
After posting the photo on this blog, I heard from Dawayne Novak, saying this Zum Mallen home looked like the one that used to sit on the east side of Tenney, just to the northeast of the Highway 55 gravel road entrance to Tenney. If that is indeed the place, in later years it was the house of Dawayne’s aunt and uncle, Ernest and Verna Jacklitch. Some of you may remember that Ernest and Verna later moved to a home west of the Larson Store and south of the Tenney School.
If any of you Tenney people out there think this may be the home that Ernest and Verna Jacklitch once lived in on the east side of Tenney, please let me know.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Fritz's Accident
A recent story I wrote in this blog about the railroad and its importance in Tenney sparked a few Tenney railroad memories from Jeri Nowak, the daughter of Fritz and Leona (Kath) Novak. Jeri vividly remembers riding with her dad as a young child to the elevator to unload harvested grain, where she remembers seeing Jack O’Laughlin working. Mr. O’Laughlin was a popular, well-respected guy in Tenney, and has been mentioned as a part of many Tenney stories I have heard over the past few years. What are your memories of the O'Laughlins?
A different Tenney train story brings up much less pleasant memories. At Christmas time in 1937, Jeri’s dad Fritz was bringing his sister-in-law and her children home to Tenney after they’d spent the evening at the Novak home in the country. It was snowing. He dropped them off at their home in Tenney and was leaving town to return to his own home. There was a train going through town at the time, so Fritz waited for the train to go by. When he thought it was clear, he proceeded across the tracks.
What Fritz didn’t realize was that the train was actually still there. The snow prevented him from seeing that the part of the train in front of him was a number of empty flatbed cars going by. The train hit Fritz’s car and dragged it about a half-mile before the car detached from the train. Luckily, he had already dropped off his sister-in-law’s family, or they certainly would have been hurt or killed. Fritz, alone in the car, was injured quite seriously, with a broken leg and a major face injury caused by the steering column going through his cheek. Now that’s a train story that would make an impression on a young girl.
In the process of doing research for the Tenney book, I read a LOT of Breckenridge newspapers for the time period of the 1920s and 30s. It seems as though train wrecks or car-train wrecks occurred at an alarming rate during that time period. The crossing in Campbell, in particular, seemed to be the scene of many a wreck. While the railroad was the lifeblood of Tenney and Campbell, it also left many scars.
A different Tenney train story brings up much less pleasant memories. At Christmas time in 1937, Jeri’s dad Fritz was bringing his sister-in-law and her children home to Tenney after they’d spent the evening at the Novak home in the country. It was snowing. He dropped them off at their home in Tenney and was leaving town to return to his own home. There was a train going through town at the time, so Fritz waited for the train to go by. When he thought it was clear, he proceeded across the tracks.
What Fritz didn’t realize was that the train was actually still there. The snow prevented him from seeing that the part of the train in front of him was a number of empty flatbed cars going by. The train hit Fritz’s car and dragged it about a half-mile before the car detached from the train. Luckily, he had already dropped off his sister-in-law’s family, or they certainly would have been hurt or killed. Fritz, alone in the car, was injured quite seriously, with a broken leg and a major face injury caused by the steering column going through his cheek. Now that’s a train story that would make an impression on a young girl.
In the process of doing research for the Tenney book, I read a LOT of Breckenridge newspapers for the time period of the 1920s and 30s. It seems as though train wrecks or car-train wrecks occurred at an alarming rate during that time period. The crossing in Campbell, in particular, seemed to be the scene of many a wreck. While the railroad was the lifeblood of Tenney and Campbell, it also left many scars.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The 1909 Tenney Cyclone
This past Spring, I had the opportunity to speak at the state Medical Assistant conference. It was a unique speaking engagement. I mean, what does THE TENNEY QUILT have to do with Medical Assistants? Well, as it turned out, it was one of my best events ever in terms of book sales, and it received great reviews. The gist of my presentation was to relate the characteristics of many of my Tenney women to the characteristics that these Medical Assistants needed as part of their jobs and in the process, told the stories of the Tenney women.
Some days after that event a young woman named Holly, who had purchased a book after my presentation, sent me an email and told me an interesting story. She had purchased two books, figuring that her 78-year-old mother would be interested in reading the book. When Holly presented the book to her mother as a gift, her mother thought that the name “Tenney” sounded familiar. A while later that day as Holly was still visiting at her mother’s home and her mother had been paging through the book, Holly heard a gasp. Her mother had just come upon the “Voss” name in THE TENNEY QUILT. She quickly went and rifled through her father’s (Holly’s grandfather’s) postcard collection and returned with two old past cards.
The two postcards contained photos of a debris-strewn Voss farm, both with identical inscriptions: “BUILDINGS ON VOSS FARM WRECKED BY CYCLONE MAY 20, 09. TENNEY, MINNESOTA.” Apparently when Holly’s grandfather was a boy, he collected postcards. That boy’s father (Holly’s great grandfather) traveled the state as did so many young men, working the fields at planting or harvest time or both. He sent postcards to his young son when he was away from home. He had most likely worked at the Voss farm during the 1909 time frame. Holly’s mother had looked through this postcard collection many times, so the names “Voss” and “Tenney” had stuck in her mind. Have any of you heard stories of this storm? There are several members of the Voss family on the quilt and if I remember correctly, some of them lived somewhere between Tenney and Tintah. Or was it Nashua? Members of the Voss family who appear on the Tenney Quilt are Mathilda/Tillie (Kath) Voss, who was the wife of Herman Voss, Tillie's two sons, Harry and Ed Voss, Harry's wife Anna (Ann) and son Delmer.
I thank Holly for sending me images of the postcards, accompanied by this fascinating story. (I was not able to post the photos to his blog due to the format in which the photos were sent to me). I am amazed at the number of people whose lives are connected in some way to Tenney. Even those folks with no apparent connection to Tenney sometimes find a connection, such as Holly did, in a most unusual way!
Some days after that event a young woman named Holly, who had purchased a book after my presentation, sent me an email and told me an interesting story. She had purchased two books, figuring that her 78-year-old mother would be interested in reading the book. When Holly presented the book to her mother as a gift, her mother thought that the name “Tenney” sounded familiar. A while later that day as Holly was still visiting at her mother’s home and her mother had been paging through the book, Holly heard a gasp. Her mother had just come upon the “Voss” name in THE TENNEY QUILT. She quickly went and rifled through her father’s (Holly’s grandfather’s) postcard collection and returned with two old past cards.
The two postcards contained photos of a debris-strewn Voss farm, both with identical inscriptions: “BUILDINGS ON VOSS FARM WRECKED BY CYCLONE MAY 20, 09. TENNEY, MINNESOTA.” Apparently when Holly’s grandfather was a boy, he collected postcards. That boy’s father (Holly’s great grandfather) traveled the state as did so many young men, working the fields at planting or harvest time or both. He sent postcards to his young son when he was away from home. He had most likely worked at the Voss farm during the 1909 time frame. Holly’s mother had looked through this postcard collection many times, so the names “Voss” and “Tenney” had stuck in her mind. Have any of you heard stories of this storm? There are several members of the Voss family on the quilt and if I remember correctly, some of them lived somewhere between Tenney and Tintah. Or was it Nashua? Members of the Voss family who appear on the Tenney Quilt are Mathilda/Tillie (Kath) Voss, who was the wife of Herman Voss, Tillie's two sons, Harry and Ed Voss, Harry's wife Anna (Ann) and son Delmer.
I thank Holly for sending me images of the postcards, accompanied by this fascinating story. (I was not able to post the photos to his blog due to the format in which the photos were sent to me). I am amazed at the number of people whose lives are connected in some way to Tenney. Even those folks with no apparent connection to Tenney sometimes find a connection, such as Holly did, in a most unusual way!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
We All Need A Break Once In Awhile
Pardon my hiatus from writing recently; after a crazy winter and spring season of book events, I enjoyed a few months off but am now ready to ramp up the schedule and hit the road again. With that will come more Tenney connections and more stories and more blog writing.
Not that I have been sitting around painting my toenails all summer….I enjoyed a trip to Hawaii with my husband, daughter and two-year-old granddaughter in June, visiting our son and daughter-in-law who live in Honolulu. We just returned from our annual Grand Marais camping trip. Nearly every weekend in between, we have had a family event of some sort, with lots of visits from our sweet little granddaughter and her mom and dad. Oh – and I work full-time, too.
I was very excited to hear a song on the radio at some point this summer entitled, “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.” It sort of captures the essence of my life and my schedule over the past year. Well OK, over the past 52 years. I’ve decided that’s my theme song. Truly, when I get home from work late in the afternoon, there are so many fun things to do that I don’t know where to start. Unfortunately, I also don’t know when to stop. Staying up is way more fun than going to bed.
The break in the book activities over the summer allowed me to reflect on a very satisfying year. When I published THE TENNEY QUILT, I really didn’t know what to expect. I figured I would have no problem selling the book to those who have a direct connection to our little town of Tenney. But beyond that, I really had no clue—though in my humble opinion I felt that the book did indeed have an appeal beyond the confines of Wilkin County. As it turns out, no matter where I go or to whom I speak, people are interested in the stories of Tenney’s early women and their lives.
I’ve done about 25 book signings and speaking events since the book was published last November, from church groups to college groups to women’s groups to libraries to quilt shows. I am aware of about 30 libraries that circulate the book. It is available for sale in several retail outlets as well as online at amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Borders Books, and a host of other websites. I considered it a victory to get the book in to the Bookstore at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul, and am now getting some speaking engagements in the Twin Cities and beyond. Later this summer and fall I will be speaking to groups in Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. So the circle of interest is widening. Sales have been good, but books aren’t flying off the shelves like they were in the beginning, and I’m definitely not getting rich. I keep putting gas in the car, I speak at no charge, and can’t resist the temptation to give books away now and then. But whenever I get a chance to show people the Tenney Quilt, tell its story, and talk about the women who made it, people are interested. They love the story, and they think about their own mothers and grandmothers and the small towns where they grew up. And they buy books. What fun it has been!
While it is a kick to take the Tenney Quilt on the road and talk about it to anybody who will listen, by far the best part of this whole experience has been the connections I have made with people who have a soft spot in their hearts for the little town of Tenney. People tell me that the book brought back so many memories—a treasured childhood, a cherished grandmother, a simpler place. Roller skating in the Town Hall. Hearing the sound of the train whistle on a hot summer night. Getting a drink of water at the town pump. Buying a penny gumball out of the machine at the Larson Store. Bringing the cream to town.
And at many of the book events, I have seen people with a common past making connections with each other. The Tenney Gathering on May 10 still defies words for me. Yes, the weather was miserable and yes, the old Tenney Church was not exactly the Holiday Inn Conference Center. There was more nose-dripping than at a pre-school sledding party. But I still get such a warm feeling when I think of the looks, the conversations, and the embraces that I witnessed that day. In Elaine (Manthie) Streyffeler’s words, “I still get shivers thinking of that day in the old Tenney Church…all the people that I hadn’t seen for years….” To think that the words that I chose to put on the pages of that book brought people together that hadn’t seen each other for years…and talked about things that were so pleasurable to them…wow, I wonder if the wonder of that day will ever diminish for me.
I want to thank those of you who have told me stories about picking up the telephone and calling your cousin in another part of the country and saying, “You gotta read this book!” Or telling me about a guy who hardly EVER sits down a reads a book, but who sat down and read THE TENNEY QUILT from cover to cover, and then couldn’t stop talking about it. Or telling me about reading the book to an elderly friend or family member and trying to describe to me their words or the look on their faces as they listened. Can you imagine how good that makes me feel?
So……..it’s been a good year. This time last year I was putting the finishing touches on the book and getting things all set up with the publisher, sweating bullets about getting the darn thing published prior to the Christmas season. A lot has happened, and THE TENNEY QUILT has had an effect on an awful lot of people. Thank you for letting me transport you to a place that was good to think about for awhile.
In my next blog entry, I’ll talk about a few of the Tenney stories I’ve received from my readers over the course of the last several months.
Not that I have been sitting around painting my toenails all summer….I enjoyed a trip to Hawaii with my husband, daughter and two-year-old granddaughter in June, visiting our son and daughter-in-law who live in Honolulu. We just returned from our annual Grand Marais camping trip. Nearly every weekend in between, we have had a family event of some sort, with lots of visits from our sweet little granddaughter and her mom and dad. Oh – and I work full-time, too.
I was very excited to hear a song on the radio at some point this summer entitled, “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.” It sort of captures the essence of my life and my schedule over the past year. Well OK, over the past 52 years. I’ve decided that’s my theme song. Truly, when I get home from work late in the afternoon, there are so many fun things to do that I don’t know where to start. Unfortunately, I also don’t know when to stop. Staying up is way more fun than going to bed.
The break in the book activities over the summer allowed me to reflect on a very satisfying year. When I published THE TENNEY QUILT, I really didn’t know what to expect. I figured I would have no problem selling the book to those who have a direct connection to our little town of Tenney. But beyond that, I really had no clue—though in my humble opinion I felt that the book did indeed have an appeal beyond the confines of Wilkin County. As it turns out, no matter where I go or to whom I speak, people are interested in the stories of Tenney’s early women and their lives.
I’ve done about 25 book signings and speaking events since the book was published last November, from church groups to college groups to women’s groups to libraries to quilt shows. I am aware of about 30 libraries that circulate the book. It is available for sale in several retail outlets as well as online at amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Borders Books, and a host of other websites. I considered it a victory to get the book in to the Bookstore at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul, and am now getting some speaking engagements in the Twin Cities and beyond. Later this summer and fall I will be speaking to groups in Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. So the circle of interest is widening. Sales have been good, but books aren’t flying off the shelves like they were in the beginning, and I’m definitely not getting rich. I keep putting gas in the car, I speak at no charge, and can’t resist the temptation to give books away now and then. But whenever I get a chance to show people the Tenney Quilt, tell its story, and talk about the women who made it, people are interested. They love the story, and they think about their own mothers and grandmothers and the small towns where they grew up. And they buy books. What fun it has been!
While it is a kick to take the Tenney Quilt on the road and talk about it to anybody who will listen, by far the best part of this whole experience has been the connections I have made with people who have a soft spot in their hearts for the little town of Tenney. People tell me that the book brought back so many memories—a treasured childhood, a cherished grandmother, a simpler place. Roller skating in the Town Hall. Hearing the sound of the train whistle on a hot summer night. Getting a drink of water at the town pump. Buying a penny gumball out of the machine at the Larson Store. Bringing the cream to town.
And at many of the book events, I have seen people with a common past making connections with each other. The Tenney Gathering on May 10 still defies words for me. Yes, the weather was miserable and yes, the old Tenney Church was not exactly the Holiday Inn Conference Center. There was more nose-dripping than at a pre-school sledding party. But I still get such a warm feeling when I think of the looks, the conversations, and the embraces that I witnessed that day. In Elaine (Manthie) Streyffeler’s words, “I still get shivers thinking of that day in the old Tenney Church…all the people that I hadn’t seen for years….” To think that the words that I chose to put on the pages of that book brought people together that hadn’t seen each other for years…and talked about things that were so pleasurable to them…wow, I wonder if the wonder of that day will ever diminish for me.
I want to thank those of you who have told me stories about picking up the telephone and calling your cousin in another part of the country and saying, “You gotta read this book!” Or telling me about a guy who hardly EVER sits down a reads a book, but who sat down and read THE TENNEY QUILT from cover to cover, and then couldn’t stop talking about it. Or telling me about reading the book to an elderly friend or family member and trying to describe to me their words or the look on their faces as they listened. Can you imagine how good that makes me feel?
So……..it’s been a good year. This time last year I was putting the finishing touches on the book and getting things all set up with the publisher, sweating bullets about getting the darn thing published prior to the Christmas season. A lot has happened, and THE TENNEY QUILT has had an effect on an awful lot of people. Thank you for letting me transport you to a place that was good to think about for awhile.
In my next blog entry, I’ll talk about a few of the Tenney stories I’ve received from my readers over the course of the last several months.
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