Bio: Schlinkert, Viola (100th Birthday - 2014)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Schlinkert, Guk, Kloehn, Garcia,

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co, WI) 3/12/2014

By Todd Schmidt

It has been a few months since Viola Schlinkert of Neillsville turned 100 years old. She was born Jan. 7, 2014 (1914). Due to the bitterly cold winter, Viola and her family decided to wait until Saturday, March 15, to throw a birthday bash at the American Legion Club in Neillsville. The event will be held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“I just hope its nice weather Saturday,” Viola said Thursday, sitting at the kitchen table in her own home in Neillsville. “People are coming from Illinois and Michigan.

Viola has no living brothers and sisters. Her husband Victor passed away in 1982. She has two daughters, Verona (Russell) Kloehn of Wautoma and Vanda (Frank) Garcia of Eau Claire.

Viola enjoys interacting with her five grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. She made the transition from a 90-minute telephone conversation with Vanda to reminiscing about her life.

Viola was born to Charles and Bertha Guk on the family farm east of Lynn. She had five sisters and one brother, who passed away from a heart attack in 1929 at the age of 29.

“I was the last one at home,” Viola said. “They all went away to the city to work. A few of them came home to roost later.”

Viola said she was “a jack of all trades” on the farm, doing cooking and cleaning, helping with field work and milking an average of 20 cows twice per day. Her parents purchased a milking machine the last few years she was at home on the farm.

Viola attended the Maple Grove country school east of Lynn through the eighth grade, walking two miles one way to get there. “On bad-weather days, dad would come with the horses and sled to pick us up,” she said. “Some days the school house was so cold we had to bring our lunch in so it didn’t freeze in the hallway.”

When she was age 17, her parents decided to take a trip to Illinois for a few days. Viola did the farm chores including the milking, plus she cared for three young nieces and nephews.

After eighth grade, Viola stayed home and worked on the farm. When she was age 19, Viola met her future husband at an old-time dance at the Silver Dome. They were married after a six-year courtship.

“We loved to dance,” Viola said. “I would still like to be able to dance today.”

Viola and Victor were married in 1940. They lived in Globe with his parents for the next 23 years. “We had the upstairs,” she recalled. “There was no outside stairway, so we had to go through their house to get upstairs. We didn’t think anything of it.”

Victor began hauling milk to the Condensery in Neillsville. Meanwhile, Viola was a steady helper with the farm chores. “I did a lot of hard work, including milking the cows and picking stones as we broke more land,” she said. “Who would put up with that today? Nobody”

She said they never took any trips and stayed close to home. Getting away was difficult due to the daily grind of the milk route and farming.

After Victor’s parents passed away, the family moved downstairs. They continued to operate the farm until Victor became ill. They sold the cattle and continued to live on the farm until 1982, when they move to the house in Neillsville. “This house was built by the high school construction class,” Viola said. “We moved here in May, and Victor passed away in July. He didn’t get much out of this place, but he was happy I had a decent place to live.”

Viola is proud that both of their children graduated from Neillsville High School.

Hard work on the farm and raising a family took up most of Viola’s time. She was able to do some volunteer activities with the ladies aid group at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Globe.

Family and friends threw a surprise party at the church for Viola and Victor to observe their 40th wedding anniversary. “That was really the last time, we celebrated,” Viola said. “It was kind of the end of it. We had 124 people there. We wrote everything down, who came and what we did.”

For many years, Viola kept up her home in Neillsville, which included mowing the grass and shoveling the snow. Viola credits her long life to getting plenty of exercise through hard work, eating three good meals per day and never smoking or drinking.

She decided on her own two years ago to sell her car. “I thought it was a good idea to give up driving before I hurt somebody,” Viola said. “At first I really missed it, when I looked in the garage and the car was gone.”

Due to macular degeneration, Viola now needs to magnifying glass to read. She does not need to take any prescription medications.

A while ago she lost her balance, fell and suffered a cracked pelvis. Viola developed pneumonia while she was in the hospital, causing her to be laid up for a week altogether.

“Now it seems like I spend more time being careful than I do working,” Viola said. She is still able to keep up with some specialty baking. She enjoys making coffee cake and at least 12 different kinds of cookies.

Last year Viola started baking a few months ahead of the holiday season. She put some of her delicacies in the freezer, so she would have plenty to hand out for Christmas.

“I really enjoy holiday baking, but I have the feeling that might be coming to an end one of these years,” Viola said with a smile.

(Place photo of Viola, sitting at the table, here)

Viola Schlinkert of Neillsville turned age 100 Jan. 7, 2014. She will be celebrating her birthday with family members and friends Saturday, March 15, at the American Legion Club in Neillsville.