Proud Dutch Heritage

Dutch girl in wooden shoes, made in Austria

When you have grandparents (Dewey and Minnie Braaksma) who came from the Netherlands as teenagers, it instills a reverence in you for all things Dutch, like this wonderful little dolly in her wooden shoes and hair wound in copper curlers beneath a lacy Babushka.

She is from our doll collection and has no family heritage other than to bring a smile. The sentimental items that I treasure are memories, photos, and family mementos from Dewey and Minnie's 50th Anniversary celebration, passed to me at Minnie's death.

Several years earlier, Grandma Minnie and my Aunts Jane and Ann drove from Randolph, Wis., to Aurora, Ill., for a visit. When I gave them a tour of our house, Grandma Minnie spotted a coffee and tea service I had collected, stamped with a windmill and  "Made in Holland."  She loved it so that I sent it home with her, pleased that I had something she found so delightful.

Later my uncle informed me that when Minnie arrived home with the trophy coffee and tea set, he was put in charge of polishing it, and he polished and polished the pots, tray, creamer and sugar bowl, making every attempt to bring out a shine. Unfortunately, it was Dutch pewter, and no matter how long he polished, it never would twinkle and shine like silver. I could have saved him some elbow grease had I thought for a minute that Minnie was thinking my coffee set was sterling.

Something happened on that trip from Randolph that remains one of my favorite memories of Grandma Minnie. When I opened the door to welcome her into our home, Jane, Ann and Minnie were laughing amongst themselves, jabbering, and in the middle of this great story with Minnie standing barefoot in her stockings on my doorstep.

Turns out, for the road trip, Ann baked sandwich rolls and Jane brought Wisconsin cheese, and they stopped midway at a rest stop to eat a cheese sandwich. And, no doubt, there were home-canned pickles, too.

Well, Minnie didn't wear her shoes in the car as they traveled but instead carried them in a brown paper sack. She would pull them out and stuff them back in the sack, depending on whether she was in or out of the car. Unfortunately, the cheese and the rolls were in similar paper sacks. When they threw out their lunch sacks, Minnie also threw out her shoe sack, unknowingly.

So, when they arrived to Aurora and Minnie couldn't find her shoe sack, the light bulb went on and she realized she had tossed her shoes along with the leftovers. It was a mishap, and she took it with the same resilient good humor she did everything, and that is why I loved her so. I will always remember her standing at my back door, barefooted, and tickled because she threw out her shoes at a rest stop.

Whenever Minnie entered a room, you knew something good was about to happen ....