Aunt Ann Meekma, the Braaksma Martha Stewart of Wedding Cakes

Wedding cake is a Braaksma family tradition. Growing up, I loved when Mom and Dad attended a wedding because it meant waking up to wedding cake on my pillow. 

My parents always flew solo to weddings. My brothers and I stayed home and, fortunately, stayed out of mischief. I always thought the reason they didn't take us is that family wedding celebrations involved a keg of beer. Wild guess. Not sure.

At that time, we lived in Badger, Wis., and family weddings were in Randolph or other Wisconsin nearby hot spot.

On those celebrated occasions, Mom would bring home a slice of wedding cake for each of us children. My brothers and I would be in bed, asleep, by the time they returned home. When I woke up, voilá, wedding cake on my pillow, wrapped in a fancy napkin with silver edging and the names of the bride and groom in silver with little silver wedding bells!

The cake always seemed familiar - layers of white cake, frosted with sugary, white frosting, and decorated with little pearl and silver, filigree balls. Most likely, because of waking up to wedding cake, my favorite cake to this day is white cake with yummy vanilla flavoring.

It was my lucky day when I discovered the source of that mysterious wedding cake. It was revealed to me during a summer stay at the Meekma's, Sam and Ann, my uncle and aunt. I was an honored summer guest at their dairy farm in Randolph.

On the fateful day, Aunt Ann was rushing around, shooing me and my cousins out the door and into the car for something important. Time was at its essence as it always is on the farm because there is so much to do with the cows, chickens and pigs, but this time was different. I sensed it immediately. We were not on farm time but on clock time, hurrying to meet a deadline.

I was trailing Aunt Ann around the house like a puppy, caught up in the excitement of the adventure, when all of a sudden as we were nearing the door she stopped in her tracks, turned, and exclaimed, "My gosh. I almost forgot!"

She rushed to the basement over to a huge freezer against the wall. It was a chest freezer, hinged at the back, that opened like a giant flip-top, frozen treasure chest. Aunt Ann chucked open the lid, dove both arms down into the freezer, and popped back up holding a tiered wedding cake that looked like a pyramid of frosted heaven.

I was in awe! I had never seen anything like it. Instantly, Ann became my super-woman. She had magically baked and decorated a wedding cake for some lucky bride and tucked it away in the freezer like hidden gold, on the eve of the wedding day. It was as if she were the cake fairy. I never saw her bake it or decorate it. It simply magically appeared in her freezer.

When I looked at that tower of glistening white fluff with little pearls and silver balls, I knew I had found treasure and the source of those luscious slices of wedding cake that appeared on my pillow when my parents returned from a wedding in Randolph. Aunt Ann was the Braaksma Martha Stewart of wedding cakes.

Some day, I am going to bake and decorate a cake as close to the ones I remember, wrap a slice in a fancy paper napkin, and slowly eat it with a glass of milk. Sweet memories.

Grandma Minnie, and How I Was Christened Patricia Ann

Grandma Minnie, Dad and me

Me at six months

As a child I let it be known to my mother that I thought my name was rather plain and I didn’t like it. I was always called “Pat” and not “Patricia” or "Trish" or "Trisha." Why wasn’t I one of those lucky girls with a pretty name?

Mom was always great at handling my complaints. She told me how lucky I was to have my name. As she explained it to me, Dad was overseas in the Army and Grandma Minnie was at her bedside when I was born. Mom described Minnie as very persuasive, which I knew to be true.

Minnie was insisting that Mom name me in part for the Queen of Holland (Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria, Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 1890-1948) and wanted me named “Wilhelmina Henrietta Braaksma.”

Mom said that “Patricia Ann” was the first name that popped into her mind and at that critical moment, she said to Minnie, “I’m calling her “Patricia Ann.” End of story.

“Now aren’t you glad,” Mom said to me, sure she had done the right thing. However, after hearing that story, I was always wistful of the name that might have been, “Wilhelmina Henrietta Braaksma."

Mom, Dad and me, Madison, Wis.

Grandpa Dewey, Dad (John Dewey) and me, Madison, Wis.

Dime Store photo of mom and dad, dad on furlough and mom pregnant with me.

Family Lore: I learned to walk in Minnie and Dewey’s tavern, thanks to the floor-level stainless coolers. I would walk, grabbing the handles as I pulled myself along, handle to handle, starstruck by my reflection in the stainless doors.

Minnie and Dewey were amazing grandparents, but they fell short in the eyes of the Dutch Anglican church when they bought a tavern and were excommunicated from the church.

I was Minnie's second granddaughter and the daughter of John Dewey Braaksma Sr., Minnie's oldest son. The first granddaughter was Alice Faye, daughter of Sam and Ann (Braaksma) Meekma. Alice Faye, according to Mom’s Family Lore, was named after movie legend Alice Faye.

Alice Faye Meekma

Alice Faye was a year older than me and of course, I loved being her playmate. Alice was the cousin I spent the most time with because when I visited Uncle Sam and Aunt Ann summers on their farm in Randolph, WI, Aunt Ann gave Alice watch over me. I tagged along on her many farm chores – calling the cows, feeding the chickens, slopping the hogs, playing in the barn, milking the cows, shucking corn – oh, those were the days.

I love this photo of Alice wearing her gold locket and bracelet. Mom noted on this photo that Alice Faye was wearing my blue jumper, but I remember all of the dresses Aunt Ann had sewn for Alice and how I got to wear those dresses when I went to church with the Meekma's.
It's apparent as you look into her eyes that Alice Faye's confident nature made her a great playmate. She was brave and adventurous. She had piano lessons, played trumpet in the high school band.
She went on to graduate from college, married a wonderful man, raised a beautiful, young family and then suddenly, she had an aneurysm and was gone.  She died on my birthday in 1984. Just thinking back on that dreadful day when we heard the news, I was at a loss then and am at a loss now, sure we were meant to grow old together and missing my friend.