Easter 1975
Easter 1975
Hats Off to Nelle Goettel . . . Ackley's own hat maker by Vi Janssen:
I just came home from visiting a very good friend of mine, Nelle Goettel.I had told my husband I would be gone about an hour, but it was over two.And, believe it or not, Nelle and I didn't get our last discussion finished.Thinking of the coming Easter, and the revival of the hat for a complete fashionable costume, I asked how the first hats were made.Had making was Nelle's profession for many years.
When a teenager, if Nelle did not come home right after school, her mother knew that she had stopped at Roblin Millinery Shop, either to watch the trimmers, or help them fold ribbon bows.Before opening her own shop in Ackley she worked at Sheffield and then in Helkens Department Store, Ackley.
In 1910, she opened her own millinery shop in the W. H. Goettel & Son store.A facsimile of the card sent out to prospective customers is shown here.
It was printed by Gage Bros. & Co. of Chicago.This was the wholesale house where Nelle and her husband, Frank, went each year on buying trips.Nelle attended a workshop to learn the latest in hat fashion.Supplies of flowers were purchased there, along with velvets, (some was cut off bottom of page) frames were purchased in different sizes and shapes.These were covered with the velvets, silks, ribbons or lace, and then trimmed with flowers, feathers, and bows.Especially beautiful were the spring hats for Easter with their cascading flowers and bows.Many times a customer still wanted a hat or new trim the night before Easter.Sometimes there were hats still to deliver after the store closed.Some of these creations Nelle trimmed are still in existence, still to beautiful to be destroyed.
Hat making was just one of the many interests Nelle has.Bird watching and identification is a hobby she and her husband, Frank, shared.
Several years ago when visiting Nelle, we were looking in her bird book to identify a bird we had sighted.It was then I saw written on the empty pages both front and back, a record of when they had seen the first robin, wren, and martin each year.This record was started in 1918; a few years missing, but a perfect account for a quarter of a century (1940-64).
Were the robins on time this year?In 1957, a robin was seen Feb. 22, while the latest arrivals were on March 25 (Easter) in 1951, and March 28 in 1950.In 35 per cent of the years, the first robins were here between March 6 and up to spring's arrival, March 21.Yes, the robins were right on schedule.
Nelle, (as we all call her, not Mrs. Goettel), has enjoyed 95 wonderful years of giving as much as receiving.Many of us remember cozy porch suppers, picnics, fishing excursions, or rides through the wooded areas to spot the birds, the wild flowers, or the fall migratory ducks and geese.
Nelle has always been an avid bridge player.But don't think she's a pushover now!She's just as keen a player as ever.If you wonder about that statement, ask her bridge club members, or better yet take a couple of your (the rest was cut off the bottom of the page).