A Day to Celebrate!

2-year-old Grace

Today, April 23, 2020 seems the perfect day to begin this celebration of Grace's life and memories! 95 years ago today, 23 April 1925, Aunt Grace entered this world and the Zielke family, the third child born to Reinhold and Martha Zielke. I'll admit, her birthday has always been easy for me to remember. I could say it's just because she's so memorable and I love her so much, but the fact that she was born the exact same day as my mother's sister (which was apparently exciting to my dad as well, since he had to wake Grace up to tell her about it after he found out) probably had a bit more to do with it. The fun part was, according to my mother, one of my grandmothers said it was a beautiful, sunny spring day with the birds chirping, while my other grandmother said it was a miserable day with a late season snowstorm! Perspective, I guess.

So, let's take a little walk through the years to see how she's changed, or not, through the years and learn about just a few of her birthday memories.

Young Grace

Aunt Grace says that for the most part, birthdays in the Zielke family were just like every other day of the year, but with a cake! There was still school and there were still  chores to be done. The exception to this was her sixth birthday when she got to have a real birthday party! She still remembers walking all over town to hand-deliver all of the invitations to her party to the kids from her school class. She doesn't recall gifts from her classmates, but does remember her main present was a prayer book. She specifically remembers playing Pin-the-Tail on the Donkey and assumes there was some rope jumping and Hide-and-Seek going on. How about party favors or gifts for the guests? Aunt Grace thinks the winners of the games got some candy!

A vintage 1930s Pin the tail
on the Donkey game

Now, fast forward ten years. Grace is sixteen and it's just another day. She remembers that a few days before, she and her friend Norma went to Aurora on "the Dinky." The Dinky was a train that made two round trips between Streeter and Aurora, Illinois each day. Norma needed to go to "the dime store" (for you younguns readin' this, "the dime store" always referred to the local "five and dime," usually a Kresge's or Woolworth's store which were the precursors to Kmart and Walmart) to pick up some anklets for her cousin.

Ladies Ankle Socks
aka Anklets

Some of you might think of Norma as a down right liar, 'cause those anklets were NOT for her cousin; they were for her good friend Grace who was there when she bought them! Sneaky girl! But, it was for a purpose. So, now it's April 23, 1941 and Grace is asked to babysit for the Zentmyer family. It wasn't unusual for her to care for this family of 6-7 kids, but this day the parents weren't getting home and they weren't getting home and there was no food in the house and, doggone it, Grace was getting hungry! Being raised by Grandma, she was used to a solid three meals a day AND she still needed to walk home before she'd get any food! Well, the Zentmyers finally got home and by the time Grace had walked from their place to the farm, she was tired, grouchy and STARVING!!! All she was thinking about was getting something to eat when she opened the door to an enthusiastic "SURPRISE!" from her family and closest friends, including Norma with those anklets. Unfortunately, Aunt Grace doesn't remember much more about her special surprise party. (She may have been too focused on what there was to eat...) She does, however remember her two gifts. Those anklets and an expandable bracelet with her initials that was given to her as a group gift from everyone. She says she suspects that Mary Ellen was somehow a part of acquiring the bracelet and bringing everyone in on it.

Grace: Senior Year

Now, we need to fast forward A LOT, because Aunt Grace doesn't know I'm writing this special birthday post and she didn't volunteer information about any of her other birthdays. Nan and Jeanine were kind enough to react immediately to my last minute idea and supply birthday pictures that they have of her birthdays through the years, but I'm afraid I don't have the back story behind the pictures that will follow. So, if YOU happen to have any stories or information about the pictures below OR about any of her birthdays between 1941-2020, I hope that you'll share those memories in the comments below OR on the Zielke Zone post that links to this blog. (Note: Zielke Zone is a private group on Facebook so only family members invited are able to see it.)

Grace and the Grandkids 1986

The photo above captures Aunt Grace around the age of the younger Zielke cousins, meaning MOST of us are already older than she is here and some who already have children growing close to this age! So, here she is celebrating her 61st birthday with Todd & Jill Phillips, Nikki Mecum, Matt Creviston, Lisa Phillips and Leah Mecum in 1986. Nan shared her surprise at the fact that Todd was wearing a hat in this photo. Apparently Grandpa (aka Uncle Austin) didn't approve of gentlemen wearing their hats in the house!

1989 "Kiffy Cake"

It's my understanding, that Nan would frequently get cakes baked and decorated by our cousin, Marilyn Kifowit and her husband Jim. Delicious and creative, it sounds like these Kiffy Cakes were always a hit.This particular Kiffy Cake was to celebrate Grace's 64th birthday and granddaughter Jaclyn's 2nd!

1993 March/April Birthdays

Moving ahead 4 more years, Grace celebrated her birthday with 3 other family members! Jim Mecum (Apr 11), Jaci Creviston (Apr 18), Nikki Mecum (Mar 29) and Grace.

#69 in 1994

Aunt Dorothy joined the party in 1994 along with foreign exchange student, Marjanna Nikula and, of course, Grace's girls! The hairstyles change, but somehow these ladies always look the same! This is probably one of the last family photos to include Aunt Dorothy as she passed away a few months later.

#70 in 1995

A great family couples shot above with Jeanine & Steve, Kathy & Roger, Grace & Austin, Nan & Ray, and Marcia & Jim to celebrate Grace's 70th birthday in 1995.

Grace & Marge 1995

A special family day to celebrate Grace's 70th birthday included time with Aunt Marge.

#75 in 2000

The turn of the century brought Aunt Grace to 3/4 of a century herself!!! Her photo cake sported the well-know family photo of Grace at 2 years old, with older siblings, Helen and Ray.

#90 in 2015

Fast forward again fifteen years to Grace's 90th birthday celebration!!!  I was fortunate enough to attend this one myself with my son, Barton, and his little family. What a wonderful day that was with so many "Zielke" cousins in attendance to celebrate our family matriarch!

Grace's Garden of Love 2000

A special part of the 90th birthday celebration was "Grace's Garden of Love" which featured art and photos of her great-grandchildren!

2019 Easter/Birthday Celebration
L-R: Lincoln, Landon, Grace, Taryn,
Grayson, Oliver & Lucas

Last year, 2019, the family celebrated Grace's Birthday on Easter Sunday (April 21). An interesting bit of birthday/Easter trivia is that her birthday has only fallen on Easter Sunday one time in her life and that was her 75th birthday in 2000. The next one will be in 2079!

Now it's 2020! Another milestone birthday reached and, as usual, her girls made sure she was well loved and appreciated!

18 Signs from 18 Greats

The girls began plans for the celebration months ago when they reached out to friends and family, asking us all to send an email with a special memory or two of Aunt Grace. The goal was to gather 95 memories for 95 years.

Masked & Safely Distanced

Plans had to be altered somewhat when everyone realized this birthday would be memorable for a different reason! No one could have foreseen that this birthday would be in isolation due to the Covid-19 virus; that no one would be able to go into her home or be able to give her a special birthday hug, but rather see her sitting alone on her porch, behind her birthday barrier with her masked friends and family maintaining "social distancing!" 

A Royal Wave to Friends and Family

In spite of all that, Aunt Grace took it all in stride and enjoyed the love and attention showered on her for the past week!

Greats, Mackenzie & Jason enjoy
birthday treats on the lawn!
(Rumor has it that Mackenzie helped
her Grandma Nan make those treats!)

As I did my video chat with her on Tuesday to add to my collection of her memories for this blog, she was excited to share with me all the attention she had already received for her birthday. She gave me a virtual tour of all the cards, emails and flowers she had received already, but I don't think she knew what her girls still had in store for her! 

Birthday Parade past her house!

Probably one of the most exciting events of the day was the 40-50 car parade, led by the Harvard Police and Fire Departments with signs, honks, waves and tons of well wishes!

I'm not usually one who is at a loss for words, but I truly can't come up with words to express how much Aunt Grace means to me and I suspect, many of my cousins feel the same way. I will say, however, that I have truly loved and appreciated how, over the last ten years, I have been able to renew my relationship with her, that my children have had an opportunity to get to know her and that, through her, we will all get to know more, not just about her life, but also the lives of our parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents. I thank you, Aunt Grace for trusting me to write your stories for generations of Zielke-Staffeldts to come! With that, I'll close with this video from your birthday celebration and add my wish for God's blessings to you! With lots of love!