Socializing with neighbors important to residents 80 years ago

Socializing with neighbors was an important part of life in Dodge County 80 years ago, and Cecile Fossum, at age 99, has good memories of neighborhood gatherings.

Cecile is a native of Vernon Township, born in 1923. Her parents were Lewis Lee and Anna Michael Lee, and their farm was near West St. Olaf Church, where Cecile still attends services. Her mother played the piano, and Cecile learned to play it as well, with no formal lessons.

Her parents often had neighbors in, and she and three older brothers picked up musical skills by being around others who played. Cecile’s brothers learned to play the fiddle, and in the evenings after supper, her mother would say, ‘Now you go in and play, and I’ll wash the dishes.’”

Cecile married Lloyd Fossum, a neighbor, in 1941. Lloyd played the fiddle, and the couple became well known for their musical entertaining.

“We would reach out to neighbors to come on over,” she said. People would come over after the milking was done and the calves were fed, and some of them brought their musical instruments. “Sometimes we would roll up the rug and dance,” she said. “It wasn’t on a schedule, just whenever it worked out. We couldn’t do it at busy times, like when the crops were going in or being harvested.”

The coats would be piled on the bed, Cecile said, and everyone brought their children along, so as it got later, the little ones would get up on the bed among the coats and fall asleep. The music would go on until 11:30 or so, and then food would be served. “It would depend on what I had on hand,” Cecile said, “sandwiches, cookies, cake. They’d be hungry, some of the farmers didn’t have time to eat between chores and coming over.”

After refreshments, the music would start up again, sometimes lasting until 2 or 3 a.m. “Then they had to milk again at 4 a.m.,” she said, “but they were younger then, they could do that.”

It was also 60 or 70 years ago that a different activity started. Cecile invited a friend to come over for coffee to celebrate her birthday. The two had so much fun that they continued to get together, and as time went by, more people joined them at the Fossums’ home in Vernon Township. Eventually the group wanted to do it every week, Cecile recalled, and the gatherings, known as the Birthday Breakfast Club, got so big they ended up moving to the Boston Cafe in Kasson. The Boston became Daniel’s, and the group kept meeting.

Covid interrupted the gatherings, and when they were able to get together again after the pandemic precautions ended, they started meeting at Uncle Mony’s Restaurant in Hayfield once a month on Tuesday mornings. One of the socializing neighbors, Bob Senjem, said it was so much fun they should do it twice a month, which they agreed to. Cecile chuckled and said, “Then he suggested three times a month, and we thought that was too much!”

The Birthday Breakfast Club continues to meet twice a month.