Bio: Simonson, Barbara - Holiday Recollections (1981)

Contact: Kathleen E. Englebretson
Email: kathy@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

---Source: Marshfield News-Herald (3 December 1981)

Surnames: Simonson, Eiche

Simonson, Barbara (Weyer)

Yes, holiday seasons are built on memories. Each year as the Christmas season approaches I find myself recalling and incident that happened each December during my high school years (Loyal High School).

Our youth club from church would go caroling to the homes of the Shut-ins of our town. That included my Grandmother's house as my uncle, who was muscular dystrophy invalid, lived with her. as we knocked on her door we were always greeted with a bright smile and an "Everyone, come in and close the door" greeting. So all of us usually 30 or 40 in number, would parade into her house, sometimes with snow-covered boots, to sing our carols.

It was upon leaving that I would always find myself truly amazed at how Grandma would stand there holding the door wide open while the could poured in. Any other time upon entering or leaving Grandma's house, it was always a hurried affair to get the door opened and closed. But not this night each year.

Now 15 years later and being a parent myself, I know that it was the love a mother has for her child that held that door so wide open in hope of bringing a little more happiness into her son's relatively short life.

Barbara A. Simonson and her husband, Richard, live at Route 2, Loyal. They have a daughter, Sara, 7. A native of Loyal, she works part-time in the dental office of Dr. W. M. Eiche in Marshfield.