MRS. ERIC PETERSEN MEETS MOTHER WHOM SHE HASN’T SEEN IN OVER 43 YEARS
So Much To Talk Of: So Little Time For It All

Mrs. Eric Petersen, who lives near LeMars, was pleasantly surprised on Wednesday morning last week, when her mother, whom she had not seen for 43 years visited her at her farm home.

“I was so shocked,” commented Mrs. Petersen, “that I forgot to ask lots of questions and in so short a visit we didn’t get to talk about many things.”

Mrs. Petersen, nee Vera Mavis of Des Moines, lost her father when she was an infant and was placed in an orphan’s home, with her six brothers and sisters. When she was six years old, Mrs. Petersen was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Albert Kowalke then of Hinton.

The Kowalke family had eight boys and wanted a little girl. Four years after Vera came to live with them, a daughter, Edna (Mrs. Eldon Schoenrock) was born.

The Kowalke and Petersen families lived on farms only a few miles apart, so the meeting and marriage of Eric and Vera. Mrs. Petersen said she has a sister in Des Moines, a sister and brother in California, and a sister in Texas, all of whom were adopted by a different family while they were young. She has never heard from her other sister and brother.

Accompanying Mr. and Mrs. Fred Mavis (her mother and step-father, who now lived in Granby, Missouri) were an uncle and aunt who live in Des Moines.

Mr. and Mrs. Albert Kowalke, Sr., live in Leeds and the home place is farmed by Albert Kowalke, Jr.

~Source: The LeMars Globe-Post, Sept. 13, 1954