Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Blaney, Steinberg, Schoenherr
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 5/12/2021
Former Neillsville Resident Lydia Blaney Turns 100 (2021)
Lydia Blaney, who grew up on a farm in Glove and lived many years in Neillsville,
turned 100 years old on May 6. Submitted photo
By Valerie Brecht
Lydia Blaney, who has spent much of her life in the Neillsville area, turned 100 last week.
Lydia was born to Erich and Pauline (Steinberg) Schoenherr on a farm in Globe on May 6, 1921. She was in the middle in a family of nine. She grew up learning the value of hard work from working on a farm. She remembers having a party-line telephone where she had to listen for three rings to know the call was for her household and people could listen in on each other’s calls.
At around age 14, Lydia contracted rheumatic fever and her tonsils were so infected they grew together.
“I had to get up in the middle of the night and eat a ice of bread or something to get them parted so I could breathe. Finally, my mother said, ‘you got to get to the doctor.’ You didn’t go to a doctor unless you were about dying. And lucky we had a telephone,” she said.
Lydia recovered from her illness and went on to graduate from Neillsville High School. After that, she moved to Chicago and worked as a nanny, and for Guardian Electric where she tested parts for walkie-talkies, among other tasks.
“I would work 12 hours a day, six days a week,” she said.
She said she got so tired that she almost fell asleep while standing doing her hair.
It was at Guardian Electric that Lydia met her husband, Lewis Blaney, who working as a supervisor there. They were married on Dec. 19, 1942. Shortly after, Lewis was drafted into the U.S. Army for World War II. He went to training near San Francisco, CA before going to Europe.
“I wanted to go there but he said there’s no place to live because it’s all picked up already with everybody there because f the war. All the wives, they all wanted to be by their husbands. I stayed home in a little apartment and I was expecting a baby,” said Lydia.
Lydia and Lewis’ son Larry was born Dec. 3, 1943 in Chicago.
Lewis served in the infantry under Ge. George S. Patton, taking part in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. “When he came back from the war, he just wasn’t quite the same,” said Lydia.
After military service, Lewis returned to Guardian Electric for a short time. Lewis and Lydia’s son Lon was born April 15, 1945. The had two other children as well, a son Lyndell and a daughter, Lisa. Lewis moved the family to Neillsville in the late 1940s. He rented a farm from his brother. Lydia, being a farm girl, taught her husband a few things.
“He didn’t know how to milk or anything and I just said, ‘Keep going, keep going. I’m not going to milk all the cows.’ And I said, ‘You’ll learn it.’ The one cow didn’t like him at all though … and I had to milk her. She’d just kick him out. We had a lot of experiences,” said Lydia.
They were only in Neillsville a few years before they moved to Kenosha and settle there. Lewis became a carpenter. He retired in 1981, and he and Lydia returned to Neillsville in 1985.
Lewis passed away on Oct. 26, 1997. He and Lydia were married almost 55 years. “He was such a good man,” said Lydia.
After her husband passed away, Lydia’s sister got an apartment for her in Neillsville. In her later years, she volunteered with the Memorial Medical Center Auxiliary thrift store. She also enjoyed playing cards with the Neillsville senior citizen’s group. She lived in Neillsville until recently. Three years ago in March, she moved into assisted living in Neillsville. After it was announced that Sunset Gardens Assisted Living and Care & Rehab – Neillsville would be closing with the new hospital opening. Lydia had to move. She moved into Traditions Assisted living in Thorp in April.
Lydia said she was surprised she made it to 100.
“When I moved to the assisted living there in Neillsville, I figured maybe I would last a few months and I would be gone, because I had lot of trouble breathing, with my throat and things. And I had oxygen for a whole year there. Then I could get off of it. I’ve been breathing pretty good, but I’ve still got throat trouble,” she said.
She also broke her hip around 10 years ago but is able to get around OK. All her siblings have passed away. Her sons, Lon and Larry also passed away.
Lydia’s son Lyndell lives in Denver, CO. Her daughter is married to Paul Ibisch, who pastors two Lutheran churches in the Fox Cities area east of the village of Fremont.
Family members along with residents at Traditions celebrated Lydia’s birthday on May 6. Member of Lydia’s church, Immanuel Lutheran in Globe, also came and sang some of her church favorites for her in the chapel. She enjoyed cake and received many cards and well wishes.
