My Visit To America....Part5

Visit to Estherville Iowa

Wednesday March 14 was the day I was due to talk to Sara Beth’s class of sixth-graders at Armstrong-Ringsted School.

The class was doing a unit on Ireland and the Wright family thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of my visit and have me talk to them about Ireland. A great idea, but like all such things, the sacrificial lamb is the last one to know. Well in truth, I did know about it from the onset, but what I didn’t know was that there would be three reporters there from the local newspapers to record the event. Judy had tentatively told me that “well there might be one reporter there. Just might perhaps”. In the event there were three with pencils and note books at the ready to record my every utterance.

Our plan was that Judy, Tom and I would drive to Estherville, Iowa on the Tuesday where we would meet up with Adam, Sara Beth and their three children, Joseph, Kallsen, and Parker at the Wellness Community Centre where Kallsen and Parker were taking their regular tumbling class and later have dinner with them at their home. Meeting this family was another event that I had greatly looked forward to, but first there was the drive through part of the beautiful state of Iowa to get to Estherville.

Welcome To Iowa

The drive through the Iowa countryside was a great experience. There are few roadside hedges as we in Ireland know them, just the road running through acres and acres of open rolling snow covered farm land as far as the eye can see on either side. Here and there this scene is broken by groves of conifers which surround the beautifully constructed farm houses and their accompanying farm buildings.

Iowa Farmhouse and Farm Buildings

My Irish farming friends may be interested in some farming statistics about Iowa: It has about 107,000 farms. The size of the individual farm averages about 313 acres (127 hectares). In 1952 Iowa became the first state in the nation to produce a billion-dollar corn crop, although its surpluses sometimes contribute to depressed farm prices. Iowa ranks at or near the top among the states in the production of corn, soybeans (rich in oil that provides many other products), hay, oats, and hogs (pigs to us) and in the marketing of grain-fed cattle. The state annually produces more than a billion bushels of corn. Much of it is used to feed livestock.

Dairying, which provides valuable milk and butter, is an important industry in the north-eastern part of the state. This area is often called Little Switzerland. Iowa also ranks high in the production of sweet corn, popcorn, and sorghum.
Of the many famous people that came from Iowa, it is worth noting that it was the home of two men – much loved in Ireland – John Wayne and Glen Miller.

A Unique Iowa Farm Building

We arrived in the town of Estherville, just at night fall and proceeded to the Wellness Community Centre to meet the next branch of the Wright family.
Although I had never spoken to Adam and only briefly spoken to Sara Beth on video, due to the many pictures and videos I had seen of them, meeting them in person for the first time was just so normal and held no apprehension whatsoever. There were hardly any need for introductions and we were soon involved with Kallsen and Parker in their activity.

Joseph and I were old friends as we had spoken to each other many times on video. He’s such a nice pleasant young boy (incidentally, I feel great pride in the fact that we share the same name).

We arrived at Sara Beth’s school on Wednesday where I would talk to her class about Ireland. When the class of boys and girls was finally assembled, Judy introduced me by relating to them, of course, who I was, how I came to be there. When she told them how she and I became friends through the medium of a senior chat room and how our friendship later came to encompass our two families, one little guy in the class displayed his approval with an exclamation of Kool!! Kool!! He was really impressed with the chat room bit. Lol.

With Judy’s introduction and her enthusiastic supporter in the audience, going Kool!! Kool!! I thought anything after this will be a “walk in the park”. What a warm-up session it was. Any trepidation I had went out the window.

Judy’s introduction was marvellous. She was so impressive with her knowledge of Ireland and when she wrote the Irish phrase ‘Céad Míle Fáilte’ on the board and explained its meaning, she stole the show. Based on Judy’s introduction and the fact that they were already doing a unit on Ireland, I thought the best approach was to invite them to ask any questions they may have about Ireland. I was delighted to see the hands shoot up. We were off to a flying start!

First I told them a little of the history of Ireland and showed them on the map where I lived. Then the questions ranged from Irish holidays, typical Irish food, (Do you have a McDonald’s in Ireland?), Irish sports, Irish fashion (Do the kid’s dress like us?). And of course the inevitable question about leprechauns (I think that one came from one of the reporters).

I told them as much as I knew about the history of St Patrick and how we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. It being only three days before St Patrick’s Day, and the fact that celebration of the day has a strong tradition in this area, I had brought a good supply of St. Patrick’s Day badges. Those were warmly received by everyone present.

St. Patrick's Day Badge. GOAL is our national charity that provides assistance to victims of man- made and natural disasters worldwide.

All in all, the session went very well and it got very good coverage by all three of the media present. It was comforting though to have Adam present. Any awkward questions that arose from the reporters that I didn’t feel comfortable in answering, or that Adam felt wasn’t part of the agenda, he kicked them to touch with a question of his own. What a guy to have on your team! Thank you Adam!

Well soon it was over and unfortunately, as Tom had to get back to work, we had to say an early goodbye to Adam, Sara Beth, Joseph, Kallsen and Parker. But I would be fortunate to have many more meetings with this family at Tom and Judy’s home before my holiday came to an end.

Sara Beth

Before the Class of Enthusiastic Students

With Sara Beth and Her Pupils

Interestingly, there is a strong Irish connection to Estherville. Estherville is the county seat of Emmet County. Emmetsburg is a town in that county.

In the mid 1800s, migration from Ireland to America was at its peak. After arriving in New York, many Irishmen worked their way west. Six such families, attracted to the fertile land of Northwest Iowa, established a frontier Irish colony in Palo Alto County on the banks of the Des Moines River near the present site of Emmetsburg. In later years, they were joined by other Irish immigrants homesteading throughout several townships within the county. Later, a town was platted and named Emmetsburg in honour of the Irish Patriot, Robert Emmet, who in 1803 was executed by the English government in Ireland’s fight for independence. A statue of Robert Emmet, one of Ireland’s most venerated heroes, stands in the Palo Alto County Court House square. The culture and customs of the Emerald Isle were preserved in the area. One such custom was the observance of St. Patrick’s Day. The festivities have grown from a small group of men marching down Main Street with the Coat of Arms and green derbies to a gala three-day celebration that includes a variety of activities to please people of all ages.

The link to Ireland was further reinforced in 1962. Negotiations between the Emmetsburg Mayor and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland, resulted in a joint proclamation officially declaring the two as “Sister Cities.” Through this declaration, they agreed to join together in the rejoicing and celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.