Jane Vollmer's 'magnificent' adventure -
Jane Vollmer, now 84, spent a night in the cold woods last week in back of her empty-nest home across from the Menomonee River north of Marinette.
She'd bundled up in the evening to take a solitary walk and admire the fall foliage. She slipped on a log, fell and broke her shoulder. She couldn't right herself; too much pain. And her knees, surgically repaired, couldn't bear the strain of righting her. So she drifted in and out of consciousness the entire night in the chilled north woods. The rescuers summoned via 911 by finder son Alan, said Jane's body temperature had dropped to 54 degrees. Another hour and she would have been dead, they reckoned.
But the Vollmers are a very tough family.
Jane bore 11 children who were often more than a handful. Her rugged and feisty husband, my beloved friend, Bill died 19 years to the day that she took this nearly fatal fall. We SRNers were reminiscing about the Vollmers last night with our friends John and Cindy Helt. Fall foliage figured into that, too, for we were there for a fish dinner at the Fox & Hounds restaurant and then to spend pleasant hours with them in their Hogsback Road cabin in the town of Erin. Helt is the new pastor at St Paul's UCC near their Hogsback Rd. home. (See http://raccoonnews.blogspot.com/2009/08/sure-wish-i-had-that-car-now.html and search other entries in the SRN under 'Vollmer'.)
Our history with the Vollmers goes back over 27 years, when John became the minister, fresh out of seminary, at the Vollmer's old church, Friedens UCC, at 13th & Juneau MIlw. Thus, when I told the Helts about Jane Vollmer's mishap we were on common ground.
Sometime way back, Jane wrote out in pencil on a scrap of paper her recipe for pickled fish for Cindy, and last night while we were talking about her miraculous survival of this accident, Cindy said she'd once gotten the best recipe from Jane for pickled fish that she still uses! She immediately fetched it from her kitchen recipe archives and loaned it to us so it could be included in the raccoon news. It, below, is an historical document:
click to enlarge
Bill would catch the fish and Jane would fry them in a big cast iron skillet. Wall -Eyes fresh from the Menomonee River across their road, Twin Island. The fishing family (all 13) caught so many fish that they sometimes pickled them in jars.We spoke to Jane today about this. She is already home from the hospital and recuperating. She remembers writing that recipe out for Cindy so many years ago, and her heart was warmed to learn that her recipe is still in use.
Having told Jane we wanted to do this, we pass the recipe along to our SRN readers for their own enjoyment via this instrument, with Jane's blessing.
Jane related to me this morning on the telephone that a nearby neighbor has a collection of garden gnomes, and a friendly dog who often keeps a watch on Jane's comings and goings. "Wouldn't you know it, that darn dog never came around when I needed him!" But she imagined (?) that the gnomes were dancing around her, making her angry. All through the night they kept at it.
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This is an old photo of the Vollmer family. It has appeared in the SRN before. Jane was found in her nearly expired condition by son Alan, middle front row. Alan is the Vollmer's youngest. He lives close-by.
