Ellrene Caroline Pinkham

Ellrene Caroline ( Klosterman ) Pinkham

Ellie grew up on the family farm in Wyndmere, North Dakota with her sister and three brothers. Her father died suddenly on Christmas Eve, 1928, when she was eight years old. Her two elder brothers kept the farm going, even though they were both still teenagers. Ellie helped her mother take care of her youngest brother, Bill, who was less than one year old. The family farm is still in existence today, and has been passed down intact to her baby brother Bill and his descendants.

Mom graduated from Wyndmere High in 1938, the president and valedictorian of her class. Her elder sister Eleanore, who was married by then, helped Mom to attend Valley City Teachers' College in Valley City, North Dakota. At that time, between the Great Depression and the War, North Dakota was eagerly seeking teachers for both the city schools and the rural one-room schools. Ellie taught in both kinds, for six years.

One of her assignments, in a one-room country schoolhouse, led her to find room and board with a nearby farm family north of Wyndmere, the Pinkham family. Although the Pinkham's had a total of ten children living here and there, they took the schoolmarm in to bring in some extra cash. She said that even though she was a cash-paying boarder, she shared a room and a bed with two of Dad's sisters.

Mom taught in Park River, Barney, MacLeod, and Wyndmere. She also taught in South Dakota for a year, living with her brother Jim and his wife Ruth, who was also a teacher.

Ellie traveled to the Seattle area with her sister and some other girlfriends during the war, working in the airplane factories there. In 1942 the Pinkham family got a call from Dad, who had been serving on the battle cruiser USS Northhampton when it was torpedoed and sunk in the South Pacific. He said that he was safe, and recovering from his injuries. The next day they received a message from the Navy saying that Vernon was missing in action. Fortunately, they had gotten his personal message first !

As the war wound down, people started returning to their home towns, to try to rebuild normal lives again. Dad went to Chicago for his VA job training, and on completion heard that there were construction jobs in Denver. Since Dad's brother Warren was already here in Denver working for an insurance company, this seemed like a good place to start. Dad and his brothers Warren and LeRoy knew that there would be no place for them on the family farm. Warren ended up in Kansas City, LeRoy went on to California, but Dad liked Denver. He somehow convinced Ellie to come here, too. They were married at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, downtown, in 1948.

Mom and Dad's early married life was probably a lot like life at home in North Dakota – which is to say, not a nickel to spare ! They bought the house on Raritan Street in 1951 with Dad's VA benefit. Our little family of five moved into the first "new" house either of them had ever lived in – it must have seemed like a palace at the time. By the time there were eight of us living in the three bedroom, one bath "palace", I'm sure that Mom probably had a different word to describe it, although the one bathroom was at least indoor plumbing. Raising a large family in close quarters is clearly a Pinkham family tradition.

I remember many Easter Sundays in the church across the parking lot, with the boys dressed up in their shirts and ties (if they had a tie) and the girls all arrayed in our matching dresses that Mom had sewed for us. I'm sure that Mom and Dad were both very proud of us, on our best behavior and looking so fashionable. One year when we traveled in our station wagon to North Dakota for a family vacation, the cardboard box containing all our "Sunday Shoes" that was tied onto the roof of the car, came loose and disappeared. Mom was distraught, and wasn't about to let us attend Sunday mass in the little Wyndmere church wearing our dirty tennis shoes. So we all went to the big city of Wahpeton and got a new pair of dress shoes. Where THAT money came from is one of Mom's little secrets, one that she is still keeping!

Mom and Dad stayed in that house until all the children were grown and gone. They both seemed to enjoy the yard and later had a good sized garden in the back. Dad passed away in 1989, and although Mom stayed there for a few years, it was more than she needed, and she sold the house and moved into an apartment. She lived independently until she was 89 years old, and always wanted to take care of everything herself. It was hard for her to delegate !

She told me once that the best thing about being single was not having to cook any more. She had apparently had enough cooking with all the family at home and always hungry. She didn't consider herself to be a good cook, but we always thought that she was ! Her lasagna recipe remains a family tradition that we still carry on at our large Christmas Eve gatherings. And although her German farm relatives in North Dakota never quite understood the "green chile" thing, we all strive to continue to make green chile as well as she did.

Ellrene was preceded in death by her husband, and her son Dana.

Ellrene is survived by her brother Bill, whose family still maintains the Klosterman family farm in Wyndmere. She has countless nieces and nephews, both from the large Klosterman clan and the even larger Pinkham side of the family. Many of those are still living in and around the Wyndmere area. We managed to convince her that she could attend the family reunion planned for last June. She wouldn't fly, so her granddaughter and I drove her and all her oxygen equipment the 800 miles from Denver to Wyndmere. And although there were some "issues" with her oxygen equipment enroute, we convinced her that the Marines had her back, and that she would be fine. She actually enjoyed telling all the relatives about our "perilous journey"! There were 83 cousins, nieces, nephews, and various other relatives there. And although we don't claim blood relation to Elvis, we have the picture of herself and the King that was taken there !

She is survived by her five children. She treasured her sons-in-law and her daughters-in-law. She has seven grandchildren. Four of those grandchildren are married and raising their families, bringing nine great-grandchildren into our family. She was intensely proud of those loving families. Three of her grandchildren are college graduates, one of them in medical school. As she was the only college graduate in her generation, she was very proud of them and never missed an opportunity to brag a little to her friends. One of Mom's granddaughters is a military veteran, continuing the tradition of service of her father and grandfather. One of Mom's great-grandsons is today serving with the Army, recently returned from deployment to Afghanistan. We're sorry that he couldn't be here today with us.

Mom always enjoyed gatherings like this. She always liked to keep us close, close to her, and close to each other.

Recitation of the Rosary, led by Deacon Art Vigil, Thursday, 7:00 PM; Memorial Mass, celebrated by Fr. James Purfield, Friday, 2:00 PM; both services will be at All Saints Catholic Church, 2559 So. Federal Blvd., Denver. Private Family Interment, Ft. Logan National Cemetery, at a later date.

Those who wish may make memorial gifts to Hospice of St. John, 1320 Everett Ct., Lakewood, CO 80215.
Diane Pinkham Zieroth