Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

This Rolfe Homecoming pin belongs to my sister, Clara, who was in the same graduating class as Sharon. When this pin was sold at Homecoming time in 1958, Clara and Sharon were juniors; I was yet to turn three years old.

This post includes the fourth (of a total of five) segment of a conversation I had last spring with Sharon (Wickre) Rickard, Rolfe High School class of 1960.

To listen to Sharon elaborate about many topics, including her success selling Homecoming pencils in the early 1950s, click on the following link. This segment is 6 minutes long. SharonWickreRickardDPart4

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Sharon is shown here in front of the office at Climax Mill and Feed, later known as Climax Feed and Grain, in Rolfe, Iowa. (Even later, the office location behind Sharon became the Farmers Co-op grain elevator office.) The mill was purchased by her parents, Barbara and Henry Wickre, in 1944. Can't you just see this little girl selling those Homecoming pencils in Rolfe's "beer joints" in the early '50s?! (Click on photo to enlarge.)

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Last spring Sharon and I talked about former Rolfe Public Library personnel. This image is of page 219 of the 1981 Pocahontas County History. When Mother (Marion Gunderson, lower right in the above image) retired in 1998 after working 35 years at the library, Bette Brinkman became the library director followed by Karen Kerns. Penny Tilden is the current director. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

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Sharon and several others mentioned that the Rolfe Public Library used to be at the location of Rolfe’s current post office (shown on the map posted with the third segment). From there, in 1954 the library’s collection was moved to the building pictured above.

One octogenarian said he thought, but wasn’t sure, that before it was at the post office location, that the library was in the basement of maybe the “old bank building” in Rolfe. If you have a tidbit or a lot of information specifically about that, or in general about the former libraries, if you would email that information to me (at mariongundersonart@gmail.com) or comment below, it could help satisfy inquiring minds. (When a person offers information to me via personal communication, I do not include it on the blog unless I have permission from that person.)

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To navigate to the posts that include the first three segments, click on these links: first segment (9 1/2 minutes), second segment (7 minutes) and third segment (6 1/2 minutes).

(Click here to go to Louise Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

Tags: Barbara Wickre, Climax Feed and Grain, Climax Mill and Feed, Henry Wickre, Sharon Rickard, Sharon Wickre

This entry was posted on August 16, 2010 at 1:31 pm and is filed under Iowa, Rolfe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.