Norine was a hardworker, resourceful, and
thoughtful. In a 1990s interview, she talked about growing
up during the Great Depression
|
I don't think that
children nowadays have nearly the imagination to make do
with nothing like we did. I mean, well, they still play with
boxes, but we did a lot of things without all the toys they
have now. It seems like the minute a new toy comes out, the
children have it, while we hardly ever had any toys. We
couldn't afford them because we were raised in the
Depression. I had one doll, and my mother made clothes for
it. That was my big entertainment; everything was centered
around this doll. Things just aren't that way anymore. I
think maybe they're losing something by not having to create
some of their own entertainment out of nothing. |
Norine gardened, walked the beans, learned the computer long
before computers were user-friendly to do the office work for
the Reigelsberger Pioneer Seed business, and hosted the annual
customer appreciation barbecue. Yet when asked if she considered
herself to be a farmer, she replied, "Not really."
Norine had a cadre of loyal friends, especially the women she
walked with in town, and knew the latest in community news. She
was "there" with significant support for family, friends, and
others in the community; active at Saint Margaret's Catholic
Church; and a leader in many service organizations, including a
leadershp position with the Iowa Federation of Women's Clubs.
She was an assistant 4H leader in the early 1960s and helped a
neighbor girl learn to kill and dress three chickens for the
county fair, even though neither Norine nor the girl had
previous experience and needed to read the 4H instruction manual
while, at the same time, trying to do the task at hand.
Norine was an excellent seamstress and cook–known for baking
and sharing caramel and cinnamon rolls that would bring high
dollar bids at local fundraising auctions. Her rolls also earned
a blue ribbon at the state fair in 1984 and were once known as
Chuck Offenberger's (the Des Moines Register's "Iowa Boy"
columnist) favorite rolls.
Norine had an artistic flair as was evidenced in her choice
of wardrobe and home furnishings. Also, she designed both the new
house that was built on the farm around 1970 and the new house with pink
door on Oak Street in Rolfe where she and Joe moved in 1992,
when Mick and Sue Reigelsberger moved from Rolfe out to the family farm.
obituary
You may find further information about the
Reigelsberger family in a
chapter from Helen Gunderson's book, The Road I
Grew Up On. There is also another
chapter that includes oral history comments by
Norine, Joe, and other residents of the
road.
