Gladys Ione EIKEN

   Cause of her death was Congestive Heart Failure (days).

   Another name for Gladys was Ione EIKEN.

  Death Notes:

LARSON, GLADYS IONE
Date of Birth: 15 Sep 1909
Place of Birth: MINNESOTA
Mother Maiden Name: NORDGARRD

certid# 1988-MN-004262
Date of Death: 19 Feb 1988
County of Death: HOUSTON

  Noted events in her life were:

• Notes: confirmation: Highland Prairie, Norway Township, Fillmore County, MN. but her brother, Norman, was confirmed at Southfork

• Notes: lefse making. On Ione making lefse. At first, before we had electricity (Before 1941) she fried (baked) the lefse right on the top of the wood cooking stove. No cooking oil was used. The stove had a large flat place. It was my job to split wood into small sticks so she could control the heat. Later she got an electric Bethany lefse grill. I don't know when that was but likely after 1945. Between the wood stove and the electric lefse grill I don't know. I don't even know when we got the electric cooking stove but it may have been 1941.

Lefse makers usually have a flat lefse turning stick to flip the lefse over to cook both sides. Rolling the lefse flat is the main problem. Some took pride in having thin lefse. A special rolling pin with many groves around the circumference helps. The lefse mix wants to stick to the rolling pin and flour has to be added. A cloth covered surface is used as the rolling area. I am not a good lefse roller.

[Bruce Larson, 2006]

Ione's lefse recipe as recorded by Verna Larson

Peel and boil 10 pounds of Wisconsin Russet potatoes

Rice and mash with potato masher adding two sticks of margarine as you rice and mash. Add plenty of salt as you mash.

Recipe
4 cups potato and margarine mixture
1 ¼ cups of flour
Mix well, make into balls & rest them on a floured cookie sheet or pan until ready to bake. Cover with a cloth to keep them from becoming dry.
Roll out and bake at 500°
Cool between cloths to keep from drying out.

Notes by Bruce
Butter instead of margarine is more traditional.
The rolling out is the hardest part. More flour makes it easier.
Some lefse makers prided them selves on using as little flour as possible.
Yvonne does not add "plenty of salt".
Yvonne "rests" the balls in the refrigerator over night.
Once I ate too many fresh lefses and got sick. I couldn't eat lesfe for a couple of years. This made Diane and Sondra happy.

• Occupation: automotive and department store, ca 1930, La Crosse County, Wisconsin, USA. In the 1930's, Clifford and Ione worked at "the gage" (Electro Automotive) in LaCrosse, WI. Ione also worked and at the Doerflinger's Department Store.

Gladys married Clifford Stanley LARSON, son of Oliver John LARSON and Martha Helen RICHARDSON, on 26 Aug 1929 in Houston County, Minnesota, USA.¹ (Clifford Stanley LARSON was born on 5 Jan 1904 in Preble Township, Fillmore County, Minnesota, USA and died on 6 Dec 1986 in Houston County, Minnesota, USA ³.) The cause of his death was metastatic carcinoma of the prostrate.

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Notes: love letters, Bef 1929, Preble Township, Fillmore County, Minnesota, USA. Cy [Carroll LARSON] said that Clifford & Ione would send "love" letters to each other. One time Ione had a note for Clifford that she had Cy deliver "And she watched me all the way to the Larson farm". It was written in some kind of code. As far as I know, neither one knew shorthand. Maybe it was Pig Latin? Also they had a "mail box" on top of a big rock across the river. I think I can still find the right rock.

[Bruce Larson, 2006]