By MYRNA FAUSKA
It was 8:32 p.m. on Palm Sunday, April 10, 1938, at Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul, Minn. Dr. Morris Lax had just delivered a baby girl to Herb and Grace Zirk, and her 9-year-old sister promptly named her Myrna. Eighty years later, as I write this column, I am amazed that I have reached the eighth decade of my life. I always thought 80 was old. After all, 80-year-old women didn’t wear blue jeans or sweat shirts, and they certainly didn’t do some of the things that I do. Even farm wives wore dresses as they worked in the house and in the barn. I managed to wear a dress on Easter Sunday, but that was the first one I’d worn since I attended a wedding in November. However, I will continue to wear jeans and T-shirts as I get used to this new age. Now on to more interesting items.
At the top of Zirk Hill, Jerry Zirk keeps too busy to be lonely after mother went to her new home with the Lord. On Monday he drove to Madison to have lunch at Chi Chi’s with some of his former coworkers. When Wednesday came, so did his brothers, Randy and Bruce, with spouses Sue and Julie, to write thank-you cards. On Thursday, Mike Schumann of Reedsburg stopped in, and Tricia Townsend Zirk and son Connor also visited. On Friday, Jerry brought a gift of treats to the residents at Milestone Assisted Living in memory of his mother Evelyn.
On Tuesday afternoon, Chad Ottum stopped at the Fauskas for a visit. I had just gotten home from working at the spring election at Glendale Town Hall. On Thursday, Dave’s sister Darlene Martalock came from South Ridge with some old pictures of their parents and grandparents and other relatives. We spent a few hours trying to identify some of the people. It’s times like that when we miss our parents the most, as they would know who was who.
Ron and Arlene Garvens were in Madison on Wednesday for the Cross-Town Violet Club meeting, where Arlene presented the program. On Friday evening, they picked up Jim and Mary Parkhurst and went to Elroy for supper at Valley Inn.
Layla Marty participated in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for elementary students at Royall High School on Saturday. Her group won one out of three games. These Marty kids are becoming good athletes.
On Monday, Lynette Vlasak and Sally Dana were at Miller Park in Milwaukee for the Brewers’ opening-day game. Although they had won three games in pre-season, they lost their opener. The gals had a good time anyway. On Tuesday, Sally worked at the Glendale Township spring election. On Thursday, Sally lunched at the Kendall Senior Dining Center, and then attended the St. John’s Ladies Aid meeting at the church. On Friday she was back at the dining center for lunch.
After the late fall last year, the Lord is blessing us with a late spring now. The pussy willows are braving the cold and peeking out of their branches, but we haven’t seen much sign of early flowers yet. The robins have had three snows now, so perhaps the weather will begin to cooperate as the month progresses. In spite of it all, we continue to thank and praise our Lord for the many blessings He bestows on us continually. As an old man was heard to reply when asked what his favorite Bible verse was, he said, “And it came to pass.”