North Dakota
North Dakota sisters celebrate the 1950s through YouTube channel, book and proposed film
MENOKEN, N.D. — For many people, the Fifties conjures up flashes of Elvis Presley, sock hops and Dwight D. Eisenhower. However a few sisters initially from Menoken may quickly change our minds.
The Pfeiffer sisters are much less “Nice Balls of Hearth” and extra old school date balls as they share homespun recollections of their favourite decade in a twenty first century approach.
Jackie Pfeiffer McGregor and Janine Pfeiffer Knop are the authors of the e book “Whereas the Windmill Watched: A Slice of Rural America within the Fifties,” whereas internet hosting their very own YouTube present and making ready to hit the large display screen with tales of the postwar period.
The challenge began with older sister Jackie, now dwelling in Colville, Wash., jotting down tales only for the household. However in January 2020, Janine, who lives in Atlantic, Iowa, advised they work on a e book collectively.
“The entire objective in writing our e book was to honor our dad and mother, Jack and Eudora Pfeiffer, and the farming group of Menoken, N.D., wherein we grew up,” Janine says.
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The sisters needed to share tales of an idyllic time to be little women within the tiny city southwest of Bismarck.
“It was a decade in historical past when small farming communities thrived, not simply because that they had their very own faculties. They’d their very own gathering locations,” Janine stated. “It was a time when neighbor helped neighbor, we labored collectively, we performed collectively. It was only a time of group.”
That is what made the Fifties, for us, rising up in our explicit spot in North Dakota on the Nice Plains, so heartwarming and so memorable.
Janine Pfeiffer Knop, on the group really feel of rising up in rural North Dakota within the Fifties.
The e book is known as “Whereas the Windmill Watched” as a result of the sisters selected the windmill as “the sage observer of time,” watching over the women throughout their many adventures with 4-H (the place “the expectation was at all times to do our greatest”) to sporting attire made out of hen feed sacks and the time a fighter aircraft crashed into their farm area.
“We may have been beneath assault for all we knew,” Janine recollects.
Truly, in accordance with the Bismarck Tribune on June 12, 1954, the F-86D jet fighter from Ellsworth Air Pressure Base in Fast Metropolis, S.D., crashed within the Pfeiffers’ area after struggling mechanical failure. The pilot received out safely. Nevertheless it brought about fairly a stir for the Pfeiffers, who have been simply ending up their midday meal.
“I bear in mind seeing one thing go in entrance of the solar, then it was darkish,” Jackie says.
“I do bear in mind the sound of that aircraft and pondering that, in my very own little lady thoughts, that that is completely different and the aircraft sounds actually low. However by no means did we count on this crash. This growth,” Janine provides.
“Mother and Dad have been working out within the area and we have been left behind which was completely very scary,” Jackie says.
However the aircraft crash is certainly an anomaly within the e book. Many of the tales are candy, nice walks down reminiscence lane. They even embody a number of of their mother’s favourite recipes, together with the above-mentioned Previous Usual Date Balls together with Velvet Fudge and Baked Potato Sweet.
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The e book was the recipient of the 2022 Unbiased Press Award Regional Favourite. Nevertheless, the sisters aren’t resting on their laurels. They’ve launched a
YouTube channel known as The Fifties Enjoyable Chat
the place they go to with visitors about life within the decade.
“We had folks saying ‘You introduced so many recollections to my thoughts of the life that I lived.’ After which they begin speaking and so they begin sharing their recollections. And so Jackie and I stated we have to have a platform wherein child boomers can share their tales,” Janine says.
And the tales may additionally quickly be on the large display screen. The Pfeiffers are working with
Canticle Productions
to show their e book right into a film.
They’re at present within the means of elevating funds for improvement. In case you’re concerned about studying extra, go to their web site at
whilethewindmillwatched.com
. The sisters say proper now they aren’t benefiting from this financially. Their objective has been to advertise the ‘50s, their dad and mom and their hometown. They usually hope others may wish to take part.
“Within the Fifties, a lot good occurred within the nation, and particularly for rural America and the Nice Plains. It would simply be a narrative they wish to hear once more.”