Minnie Plueger celebrates 100th birthday 2006

PLUEGER EILERS, WEBER, PECKS, OLSON, SCHULZ

Posted By: Janet Schuldt, Volunteer (email)
Date: 1/19/2012 at 16:16:06

Le Mars Daily Sentinel, Le Mars, Plymouth, Iowa, USA Wednesday, April 19,2006

Minnie Plueger celebrates 100th birthday

BY BEVERLY VAN BUSKIRK,Lifestyles editor

When Minnie Plueger's granddaughter asked her if she felt like 100 years old, Plueger quickly replied, "No, I feel like 16." She probably had several similar questions Monday during the birthday party that celebrated her 100th birthday on April 17. Minnie Plueger has made her home at Good Samaritan Village (Brentwood) for three years, and before that lived in an apartment in Le Mars on her own for several years. "I never dreamed I would live to be 100," she said. "I don't feel like I'm 100." "It's nothing special," she quipped. She was born April 17, 1906, in Tallula, Illinois, the last of 10 children of Henry and Tena (Eilers) Weber. There were six boys and four girls, and Minnie is the only one to make it to the century mark. When Minnie was only 11 months old, the family moved to the Brunsville area. Her mother died when she was quite young, and Minnie went to stay with her married sister and her husband, Gert and Dora Pecks just outside Brunsville, while her father worked as a hired hand on farms in the area. She attended Sunday school and confirmation classes at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Brunsville. She attended country school through the 8th grade. She walked to school (about a mile) unless it was very cold, then travel was by horse and sled or wagon. By the time she was 13, she was cooking meals for her father and farmers who helped him out on farmland he eventually acquired.

Minnie met her husband, Fred Plueger, while visiting one of her sisters, who was married to Fred's brother Bill. The couple were married Sept. 2, 1924, at her home. They farmed in Preston and Johnson Township, and raised three children, Arlene, Gladys and Stanley. There were no modern conveniences back then and no electricity. Food was kept cold in an icebox and kerosene lamps and gas lights provided light during the night time. Washing clothes was hard work, she indicated with, a back and forth motion of scrubbing. Later she had a washing machine with a motor.

Minnie raised chickens and sold eggs to the produce. She used an incubator to hatch baby chicks, as well as having setting hens (the "old clucks"). Later she purchased the baby chicks for her flock.

Milking cows was another regular chore on the farm. She also planted a large garden, providing a variety of vegetables for the family and kept her busy canning and preserving. Along the way there have been a few changes, technology being one. "Phonographs were something when they came out" she said. Then came television. "We didn't know enough to get away from it," she laughed. Telephones have changed, too. "We had a hand-crank phone," she said. By turning the crank, one could connect with the local telephone operator, who would assist one with making their call. "I think three long rings was ours" Minnie recalled about the party line telephone. "It's all together different how." She stayed on the farm for a bit after her husband died Nov. 5, 1985, following a farm accident. She then moved to an apartment in Le Mars, where she lived until about three years ago, making the move to Brentwood. She keeps active in activities at the care center, playing bingo and having a place in the bell choir. She walks with the aid of a walker, in spite of having a broken hip several years ago. She maintains her membership at Christ Lutheran Church, Grant Township, rural LeMars, which she joined following her marriage.

Her family includes daughters, Arlene Olson of Le Mars and her late husband, Willie; Gladys and Lester "Bud" Schulz of Merrill and daughter-in-law Helen Plueger of Le Mars. Her son Stanley died in 1995. She also has a granddaughter Kim Plueger and a grandson Kelly Plueger, both of Le Mars. All were able to celebrate her special day with her Monday.