Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Bittersweet

It's the most beautiful plant in the woods, and only those who know the wild lands of southeastern Minnesota well know where to find it. Ed always knew.

1 comment:

Pamela M. Miller said...

A comment e-mailed to Pam by Bill Hoffmeyer:

Good evening, Pam. I have been enjoying your family blog a lot since I became aware of it. I am Bill Hoffmeyer, and my wife (of 51+ years) is Jean Heitman. I met you and Chris at Fort Snelling Cemetery almost a year ago. I have taken the liberty to print some of the pictures from your blog, and Jean is putting them with the family tree she is in the process of up-dating.

Those pictures really bring back some memories. The picture of Ed with the bittersweet is just the way I remember him at work. We both worked at Swift, in South St. Paul, and he retired when the plant closed in '69. We didn't work in the same department, but we would see each other in the locker room or cafeteria. And he stayed with Jean's folks during the week, and went back to Lake City for the weekend.

Jean and I had the pleasure to have lunch with your Grandma Sprick and Ed once, probably in the middle to late '70's. Ed showed us his medals, and I remember how proud he was of the CIB (Combat Infantry Badge). Also the arrowheads. My dad had a bunch of arrowheads, but we lost them in a house fire in 1950. Your Grandma showed us a quilt she was real proud of, I think it had as its theme the U.S. bicentennial, and the Sprick centennial of arriving in America.

She had made a really scrumptious lemon meringue pie, and when Jean asked for the recipe, your Grandma says "Oh I don't have a recipe. I just put in some of this and some of that".

Another instance of 'small world'; our son Steve graduated from Hamline in the same class as your sister Cathy. I don't think they
knew each other, tho. Steve is now deputy commissioner of mediation
services for the state of Minnesota.

Enuf for now. Keep the pictures and stories coming. Bill Hoffmeyer