Vickie was born on
April 3, 1953.
Today would have
been her 73rd birthday, but she never got a chance to celebrate it.
She died of a
heart attack on January 14, 2020, just prior to the start of the COVID pandemic.
https://www.twincities.com/2020/01/22/victoria-kiekhafer-66/
Vickie shares her
birthday with Eddie Murphy (1961), Jane Goodall (1934), Alec Baldwin (1958), and
Marlon Brando (1924).
Ironically, her
mother (Margaret Lennartson) also died in January, Margaret died on January 16,
and my wife and I flew to Minnesota to attend both her funeral and Vicki’s funeral
8 years later.
Although Sharon and
I both grew up in Minnesota, we had forgotten how COLD Minnesota can get in the
wintertime.
It was close to
zero outside when the funerals were held, but the weather was even colder when
Sharon’s father, Richard Lennartson, was laid to rest.
The actual temperature
at the Fort Snelling cemetery was minus 25 degrees. On the same day, the town
of Tower, Minnesota hit -60. To use a military term, that was cold enough to
freeze the balls off a brass monkey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_monkey_(colloquialism)
Vickie was one of
the three daughters born during the marriage of Margaret Reif and Richard
Lennmarton, and they all got along well.
Sharon’s sister
has been a snowbird in Mesa for roughly 8 years, and Vickie and her husband Chet
also wintered there a few times.
Over time, the sisters
developed different interests.
Although Donna and
her husband liked to fish, they were not as zealous as Vickie and Chet, who went
to a resort in Rainy Lake every July for more than 25 years.
Their grandfather,
Bill Reif, owned a resort in Balsam Lake, Wisconsin, so the girls spent many years
at the lake when they were growing up.
Although Sharon
did go fishing a few times, her passion, even as a young girl, was reading. She
still reads close to 100 books a year.
Donna and her
husband Rick both worked at the same job for roughly 40 years, which enabled
them to qualify for defined benefit retirement plans, which are very rare
todays. That pension allows them to enjoy a comfortable retirement at a resort
in Mesa, Arizona during the winter months.
Donna’s gift is being
a “social butterfly”. She and Rick frequently play card games, and both are
very active in church activities. Donna is also a creative person, and the
greeting cards that she produces are better than most of the cards you would find
in a Hallmark store.
Like Donna, Sharon
is a master of organizing things, but her main interest is still reading books.
Sharon is the most
liberal of the three girls, Donna is the most conservative, and Vickie was more
in the middle.
Although Sharon has
never had trouble making friends, she had a special bond with Vickie, who she
talked to almost on a daily basis.
Regardless of who
you are, your siblings frequently wind up being good friends as we all get older.
I never had a brother, but am still close to my sister, who is a retired nurse.
Mary could well be one of the main reasons why our daughter eventually became a
nurse as well.
If you are
fortunate enough to have siblings, spend as much time with them as you can,
since you never know when your time with them will come to an end.
