Verna Mude to celebrate 100th birthday on December 23
Verna Mude, who will get 100 candles on her cake Saturday, joins an elite group who have lived and worked here for an eventful 100 years. These centenarians represent a generation who have experienced and shaped the most amazing century. They grew up in years of deprivation, served their country during wartime, made marriages that lasted, and raised their families in periods of extraordinary change.
Centenarians are certainly a group of astounding individuals, each with their own particular rational for his or her longevity. Mrs. Mude never gave much thought about living to 100 years and has no secret for longevity, but figures it might be that she has “worked hard.”
Born Dec. 23, 1917, in Willow Lake Township, Redwood County, to Henry and Elsie (Trebesch) Rosenau. Verna grew up with seven siblings — brothers Emil, Wilbert, Art (Swede) and Otto, and three sisters, Violet Krebs, Leona Wog and Arlene Vogel. She attended country school for eight years and then went to work assisting various families in the community with housekeeping.
During a visit to a family in her community she met Elvin Mude. It was love at first sight, and they began dating. They went dancing on most of their dates. “I loved to dance,” Verna fondly recalled. They were married May 29, 1941, at Zion Lutheran Church in Sanborn.
Their wedding day was a day to remember. There’s an adage that says if it rains at your wedding it’s a sign of abundance and a long, happy marriage. “It rained so hard that day that the road was flooded,” Verna recalled during a recent interview, and when the newlyweds drove to the home of her parents at Dotson, southwest of Springfield, after their wedding dance, the car that was carrying their wedding gifts broke through the wooden planks in the bridge. “The car was held by its bumpers and that kept it from going into the water,” she said. The wedding gifts were saved. Pictures in the family photo album shows the newlyweds in their wedding clothes in the midst of water puddles.
The couple lived for a short time in a small trailer house that they moved from farm to farm while Elvin worked for farmers in the community. The couple lived near Sturm’s Lake southeast of Springfield several years when Elvin worked for Matt Schumacher in the trucking and gravel business. Elvin served with the Infantry Medics during World War II. After his military service, the couple farmed in Charlestown Township near Sanborn for many years. They raised two daughters, Arliss Petersen and Darlene Trapp, both now living in Springfield; and two sons, Marvin, who is living in Wichita, Kansas, and Gary, who is deceased. Verna worked on the farm and helped with chores that included milking cows and feeding pigs. She raised a big garden, and did lots of canning, baking and cooking. The couple retired in 1972 and moved to Springfield. Verna went to work in the laundry at Springfield Community Hospital for a number of years. “I enjoyed working there,” she said.
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