Connie TerMaat 1929-2009

Cornelius John “Connie” TerMaat, age 80, of River Falls died Wednesday, June 10, 2009. Connie was born in Arpin, WI to Henry and Bertha TerMaat but grew up in Sheboygan, WI with sisters, Hattie, Margaret and Marion. There he developed an abiding love of Lake Michigan lighthouses and tugboats and an interest in the history of the Dutch American community in Wisconsin. Connie taught English at University of Wisconsin-River Falls from 1965 to 1989 including a stint as department chair. A voracious reader, he especially loved Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, John Updike, Peter DeVries, Patrick O’Brian, detective fiction and Winnie-the-Pooh. Friends and family looked forward each year to his witty Christmas letters. An avid vegetable gardener (at one time maintaining seven compost piles), he enjoyed puttering around with tools and scrapwood and converting his crops into wine. He was unfailingly loyal to the daily crossword, cookies, ice cream and the Chicago Cubs. He spent as much time as possible at the family cabin on Deer Lake in Burnett County fishing for crappies and watching for herons and loons. As a young man he won prizes for his poetry and continued to write both comic verse and meditations on nature. From his 1950 poem, “Prayer”: “We who must so soon depart the lake,/We ask for lights to lead us home./To guide us to that port where seagulls cry/And circling, sing not loneliness, but love.” Connie is survived by his wife of 57 years, Grace TerMaat of River Falls, children Chris (Nancy) of Naperville, IL, Martha of River Falls and Peter (Joan) of North Oaks, MN, and sister Margaret Eggebeen of Sheboygan. The accompanying photo was a favorite of his grandchildren Sara, John, Eric, Jason, Morgan, Mary and Max. Reading was Connie’s passion. Contributions in his honor may be made to the River Falls Public Library. Send your thoughts to memories@uptocode.com or post them to http://termaats.blogspot.com

Foster Cemetery

Here's a little slideshow of a hike I took out to Foster Cemetery. The Fosters were the founding family of River Falls. The oldest grave is for Eli Foster who was born in 1796 and died in 1856. A little more about the cemetery here. Mom says she remembers a cemetery clean-up day held yearly by Trinity Episcopal (which no longer exists). The cemetery, otherwise abandoned, is now an historical site. It sits on top of a hill overlooking Lake Louise and the lower dam with great views of the Kinnickinnic valley. A beautiful resting place.

For those familiar with the territory, here is a map:


View Larger Map




The prime view reminded me of this photo of Chris and I sitting on the Sioux burial mounds overlooking the St. Croix in Hudson in 1966. (There is now a sign asking that one respect the dead and not climb/sit on the mounds). I wonder if the Fosters aren't the only ones buried overlooking the Kinnick.

Weeding

Reading about the plans for a White House vegetable garden this morning I was especially amused by this bit,

Almost the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull weeds, “whether they like it or not,” Mrs. Obama said laughing. “Now Grandma, my mom, I don’t know.” Her mother, she said, would probably sit back and say: “Isn’t that lovely. You missed a spot.”

Go First Grandma! Anyway, the thought of the long-legged Obamas all out weeding reminded me of this iconic Angelyn Stevens photo, once blown up to poster size:


And this like-mother-like-daughter Grace Stevens homage:

Absquatulate

Assignment: Define absquatulate and use it in a sentence.
This word was a clue in a recent crossword Dad completed.
This picture which dates from the late 70s or early 80s, (maybe
Pete remembers) shows Dad and Pete working on a gargantuan
crossword puzzle which was a gift to Dad for Christmas or birthday.

Pete TerMaat: Most Improved Award

Mom included this picture in a round robin and wrote on the back:
"Peter's artistry. He took 3 shots, all with the same problem."
Actually, the Monet-effect is quite impressive! But I still
think Pete deserves some kind of 'Most Improved Photographer' award.
This is Mom and Dad by the flower garden in River Falls, that much
I can tell. Date and occasion unknown but I assume Pete was
going through some kind of clumsy teenage phase.

Happy Birthday Pete!

One year old
January 16, 1967

Sending Our Best Wishes for Christmas Your Way!

This mailbox is in our backyard and is a repository for gardening tools. I think thoughts of green, growing things should bring a little warmth to the long nights, no?

State of the Art

Previously, I featured a photo of Dad at work. Now here is Mom's workplace, the junior high computer room filled with state-of-the-art Apple IIe-s. For you technology nostalgia buffs, did you know that there is an entire website dedicated to the history of the Apple IIe? Nursing aides at the Kinnick Home and other random people about town still remember Mom as The Computer Lady. She made her mark as a technowizard for her time alright. Too bad we have no picture of her swapping cables or something.

Sunflowers

For those who are tired of winter already and want to look to greener times ahead, here is a 1992 photo of our farmer and his healthy crop of sunflowers.

Brad and Gracie in a Jolly Mood

This picture was taken on our back porch, so obviously not in the winter, but don't they look like a couple of Christmas elves?

Happy Halloween!

This somewhat surreal sequence of photos (numbers on the back) made spooky
by a camera with a light leak, appear to be from our first Halloween in
River Falls in 1965 when the neighborhood was alfalfa fields and constructions sites.
They star Bridget who was still really a pup at that time.
Perhaps they were taken by Chris?

The end of Sunset Lane.

Our house is on the left in the picture above.

Dad at Work

Dad's Office

(Trying to date this photo... looking at the shiny doorknob,
I'm thinking this was taken just as the department moved into the Fine Arts Building - 1972-3 - to 'celebrate' the move, but before Dad rated a window office?)

Gink-gone!

The day after I captured our glorious golden ginkgo at its peak
we had a freeze and...

Charlie Brown tree!
If there was indeed a single moment when this happened we missed it.

Gink-go!

I know you've all been waiting for a ginkgo tree update (you can see last year's pictures here). I've been waiting for this moment when I could record our little tree in its autumn golden glory.

I haven't experienced a midwestern fall in many years, so I am impressed at how many humble little trees are just sorta there 360-odd days of the year and then for about 48 hours they decide to be stars. Of course our little ginkgo is kinda sparkly all the time but in the picture below you can really see it holding its own amongst all the sugar maples. Those of you who were around for email exchanges about ginkgo lore may recall that the tree is rumored to drop all its leaves at once. So what we need now is a gingko-cam...

Headed South

A heron stalks its supper on the Kinnickinnnic. This solitary figure in the wilderness is a little deceptive. We are in "downtown" River Falls and traffic is heavy: to the right of the picture there were a few hundred very noisy geese.

Four Generations

I scanned this photo to share with Dad as he remembers it fondly. The young man is his Uncle Chris (Christian), his son John on his lap, with his grandfather, Jan Hendrik on the right and great grandfather, Christiaan on the left.

We couldn't quite replicate the four generations in the photo below (unless you count T Rex) but its a nice photo of TerMaat men and its interesting how Dad now looks like his great grandfather.

Garden at 636

Scenes from the garden at 636.

We had an indigo bunting visit our bird bath for a while this spring,
but that was before I decided to try taking pictures
through the sliding glass door. Here is our resident cardinal.
Next year I hope to get a picture of Mr. Indigo.

Here are a couple of my Dandelion Removal Assistants.

A baby bunny. Note that there is a blurry robin in the foreground
that is not much smaller than our little friend.

The lilacs did very well this year.
For more pictures of the flowers and critters in the garden
click here to browse or here to view a slideshow.

Pete in a Tight Spot

I am late in posting this for Pete's birthday, but I thought of this picture when I heard that Little Max had discovered the joys of tower building using these very same 'bricks' supplemented by some oatmeal boxes collected by Grandma. I don't know if there are currently any pictures of Max's 'tawa' building prowess-- or of his sisters walling him in, but I'm sure we can arrange some in the near future. This picture is from 1972.

Wren House

Here we present the wacky wren house and its occupants. The picture on the left shows the door knob "perch" slightly better, but obviously the wrens prefer the top of the shepherd's crook for singing their morning serenades. Feeding activity continues.

Wren's Egg

Mom has shared how a pair of wrens has moved into a crazy birdhouse visible from the deck (I'll try to get a picture of that some time when the light is on it). While doing a little yardwork in the vicinity, I noticed what I first took to be a berry but later verified was a wren's egg. The parents are still tending the nest and we can't figure any way an egg could have fallen out, so we speculate this one's fall is the result of some maternal miscalculation when out for a spritz in the nearby birdbath. Hard to believe an actual bird can hatch out of something this tiny!