Students conducted interviews with family members, and some were able to gather additional resources and pictures to help tell their story. While there were many great stories written, not all will be published.
This project was a collaborative effort between students’ history classes with Mrs. Kruthoff and Mr. Armstrong, English class with Ms. Shabani, and their families. It was inspired by the original project that long-time English teacher, Mrs. Wiersema, made a tradition in her 8th grade class. Students enjoyed getting to know more about their families, and many were surprised to learn how interesting their families were. We hope you all will enjoy their stories, too!
Louise Eleanor Bielema
By Kassie Dornbush, 5A English, Mrs. Shabani, May 5, 2025
Do you know what it’s like to live on a farm your whole life? In her early life, Louise did lots of chores on the farm. In her adult life, she loved to travel and work in the fields, starting her own family. Later in life, she loved spending time with her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. Louise Eleanor Bielema was very loving because of her challenging beginning, her love for her family, and legacy left behind.
My maternal great grandma, Louise Eleanor Bielema, was born on November 21, 1930 in Newton Township, Illinois. Louise had blue-gray eyes and straight hair with bangs. Her parents were Peter and Florence. She had many sisters who were Frances, Dorothy, Pauline, and Ruth. In addition, she had one brother who was named Maurice. Also, Louise had a very strong bond with her sister Frances. They were best friends for their entire lives. One of her favorite memories as a kid was playing different games with her family. She lived on a farm with her family during her whole childhood and she was a kid during World War Two and the Great Depression. As a result, money was very tight growing up with the Great Depression and five siblings to care for. She often did chores like milking a cow on the farm to help out.
Louise walked to school every day and back. Fortunately, the school wasn’t far away and was called Beyer’s School. She went to a rural Whiteside County grade school. In school she was an average student, getting B’s and C’s. Math was definitely the hardest subject for her to be able to do on her own. She absolutely loved sports like softball. She played shortstop and was extremely strong. In addition, Louise could whip the ball like a boy. Her true best friend was her sister Frances because they always were together and got along extremely well for siblings. Louise was only six years older than Frances which helped them get along well. Louise graduated from Erie High School at the end of her childhood.
When Louise turned nineteen years old and started her adult life, she married Howard Bielema and took his last name. Howard Bielema was the only person she ever married in her entire life. Right after high school, she got a job at Volkmann Furniture store for only a little while. In addition, when she was done working at the Dolcamanne furniture store, she worked on her fields with her husband for the rest of her life. Louise had three children in total. Her daughters were Brenda and Marlene. Also, she had one son named Darrell who was a little person. A big hardship Louise had was when her son Darrell was diagnosed with polio. She stayed by her son’s side through all of his surgery’s. It took a huge toll on her knowing her son was a little person and that he got diagnosed with polio around the same time.
Louise’s favorite hobbies were baking and doing puzzles. Her favorite food for sure was pizza. She ate a lot of pizza. She worked on the farm with her husband and she loved driving tractors on the farm to help out. She also loved to unload corn into the bin and drove a gooseneck trailer of corn to town which most women wouldn’t have done back then. Moreover, Louise would have a garden and canned foods like meat and beans. Also, an amazing dish she made was vegetable soup. She loved to go to Julie’s cafe and sit at the farmers table. They would also always talk about anything. She would always pick her own cherries every year and hoped to get more cherries than the year before. Louise and Frances would often get together to process and freeze corn.
Louise would love to travel in her adult life. She had a travel trailer and would like to vacation in the south with it. One of her favorite vacations that she went on was going to the Netherlands. She really enjoyed it because she thought it was extremely beautiful. After every trip, Louise would bring home gifts to give to her kids and grandchildren who loved the gifts very dearly. On one occasion, she went to visit her granddaughter Amber in Arizona during the winter. They had a lot of fun together and had a strong bond. I found it very interesting that my grandma was in a bowling league. She loved to be active with traveling and hobbies. My great-grandma would sew different things. For example, she would sew doll clothes for all of her granddaughters because she loved them. She would also sew regular clothes for her children to wear like dresses for her daughters.
In Louise’s later life, she would spend her free time shopping and eating out with all of her amazing friends. She was the best grandma ever. A hardship she had was losing her husband and when her son was diagnosed with polio for his whole life. She would always tell Amber, “Don’t look backwards, look forward.” During Louise’s life, she lived in two houses and both houses were only two miles apart. Also, she loved to spend time with her kids, grandkids, and great grandchildren. In addition, she would also bake with her family and make the best pies ever. She made the best cookies too. I would spend almost every weekend at her house playing. She would randomly give out gifts just because she wanted to.
Louise died on October 10, 2017 and is deeply missed by everyone. She died in Iowa City. I was playing at her house when she suddenly became ill and had to go to the hospital. She died a few days later. Her family misses calling her to chat and ask her for advice.
In conclusion, Louise Eleanor Bielema was very kind hearted and caring because of her humble beginning and helping others, her hard work for her family, and being missed by many. In her childhood, she spent a lot of time with her siblings and playing sports. When she was an adult, she loved being with her kids through hard times. Even though she’s no longer here, we will always remember her playing games with us and baking many things. I wish I was able to spend more time with my great grandma before she passed and I will always remember her.
“The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor.
But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give.
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around.
It’s overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt.”
― Leo Buscaglia
