Bertha and Marie

Way back in 1935 I went to school, in the third grade, with a very sweet girl ( a little Shirley Temple), by the name of Marie Visser. Her mother was a widow, living on a farm 1 1/4 north of Maurice, on Hwy. 75, with her 5 children. She had another sister, Bertha and 3 brothers.

One night ,after school, we visited Marie and stayed overnight. We were playing in the corn crib (most of us girls had playhouses in one of the cribs after the corn was out.) It was so funny-here came Ivan chasing Bertha with a pail of water. It turned out, it wasn't so funny. The hay stack was on fire. The fire truck came, saved all the buildings but lost the hay stack. In those day we still mixed baking soda in the water to fight the blaze.

The Visser's moved to Orange City a few years latter and I lost contact with them. While in College I met Bertha working in the GOLDEN RULE store. World War 11 was on, Bertha had a boyfriend in Germany. She was always so pleasant, and while working she'd be singing the top song of the day "Mares Eat Oats and Does Eat Oaks and Little Lambs Eat Ivy." Well, her boyfriend got killed. She became the Tulip Queen for the year and latter married a Van Gelder.

Marie married a Rowenhorst and lived on a home farm just out side of OC. I latter saw her in Meza, Az. while visiting Lois and Pete. Never saw her or talked to her otherwise in all that time.

Bertha past away at 88, in May. I, just on impulse, sent Marie a sympathy card and wrote a letter with it about old memories. GUESS WHAT? I got a telephone call yesterday and it was Marie. She appreciated that letter so and we just talked for a long time about old times. Since May she lost her great grandchild of, 8 mons. and she has had a lot of trouble and operations in regards to her gull bladder. She's fine now again.

Just that one telephone call made my day and days to come.