Mom's musings

Mom (Alverna Sprick Miller, July 23, 1924-April 24, 2006) would have been 86 this week. To mark the occasion, here are three of her poems published in the Winona State University newspaper's literary edition when she was a student there in the early 1940s. World War II was raging, the Great Depression was underway, the family farm was going bankrupt and her pa, Claus Sprick, was near death. The pensive tone and subjects of these pieces reflect those hard times, but they also reveal the dreams of a bright, hopeful young woman. (Click on each image to make it larger and easier to read.)