Lemmens still independent at age 100

Agnes Polar Lemmens lives independently, works a garden plot and donates homemade rhubarb desserts to the Shawano County Historical Society’s annual Rhubarb Fest.

Not bad for someone who turned 100. When asked what she felt was the most exciting part of turning 100, Lemmens laughed and said: “Just to be alive!”

A celebration to honor her milestone was held Aug. 27 at the Pella Town Hall. Nine surviving children and their spouses, 24 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren, plus numerous nieces, nephews and friends, packed the hall with people, family picture boards and memories to document her legacy.

“This is so much fun to be here,” said Kathy Kreutzer, her oldest daughter. “So many of my cousins are here, but her generation is gone.”

In reply to a question about how she was doing, Lemmens said, “Doing good.” When complimented on the pretty floral top she was wearing, Lemmens smiled and said: “Well, I don’t want to be just sitting here.”

Lemmens met her husband, Peppen, when he returned from service in World War II and they married in July 1945.

“They had 10 children, five boys (including one set of twin boys) and five girls,” said Gloria Steinburg, the fifth child.

The couple’s first child, Philip, was born in 1946, and the other children arrived just about every two years after him.

“My brother, Randy, husband of Karen Lemmens, passed away earlier this year at the age of 63,” Steinburg said.

The remaining siblings range in age from 60 to 76 years old. Now spread across the country, as far away as Alaska, all were expected to attend the birthday celebration.

Square dancing was a favorite pastime for Lemmens and her husband.

“She loved dancing all of her life and her high school prediction was that she would become a dancer,” said Steinburg.

Instead, after high school, she attended Normal School in Merrill and became a teacher. She boarded with a family in Harrison, roughly 17 miles southwest of her family home in Antigo and taught for about three years.

Steinburg continued in her mother’s steps and taught school for a number of years. Lemmens also has granddaughters who are teachers.

The family moved to Shawano County in 1956. Lemmens and her husband were very active in the Shawano County 4-H and were instrumental in starting the Pella chapter. She shares her birth year with the start of 4-H in Shawano County, which celebrates its centennial this year.

“I can’t say I was with 4-H when they began,” Lemmens said with a laugh, “but I did join when I was 10 years old. I did sewing and baking then.”

The couple involved their children in the chapter, and acted as chaperones and took trips with the chapter for many years.

“In our later years with 4-H, my husband and I were involved with photography,” Lemmens said. “All my kids went through 4-H and graduated.”

She was active in Pep’s Shoe Repair shop on Main Street in Shawano, which her husband opened around 1970. She contributed to the success of the shop by doing miscellaneous sewing jobs for the business.

“During the war, I wrote to a lot of them (servicemen) because we were urged to do that,” Lemmens said.

Writing letters and enclosing personal notes in about 200 Christmas cards that she sent out each year was a passion for Lemmens.

“I like to keep in touch with people,” she said.

“Writing was integral to my mother’s life out in the country,” Steinburg said. “After each of us left home, she wrote us letters about her life and what was going on in the community.”

Photographs were also important to Lemmens.

“She took many photos and documented her life through them and through her letter writing,” Steinburg said.

Lemmens did a lot of walking in her life.

“She walked two miles every day,” Kreutzer said. “She would leave us in the dust, although her walking days stopped about a year ago.”

According to Kreutzer, her mother is still included when the five sisters have a “sisters retreat.” On their last excursion, they visited the town of Harrison, where Lemmens taught so many years ago.

Lemmens has been a member of the Shawano County Historical Society for many years. Kreutzer noted that she’s pulled back and hasn’t been very active in the past 10 years, although she still donates rhubarb desserts to the society’s annual Rhubarb Fest.

Even without a driver’s license, Lemmens was active in the Disabled American Veterans auxiliary chapter near her. She held posts as the secretary and treasurer. The chapter disbanded because membership dwindled as the participants passed away.

Genealogy is one of Lemmens’ passions. She has compiled information for both her family and for her husband’s family and is called on as the family historian, according to Steinburg.

Over the years, Lemmens’ children made sure that parties were planned for their mother every August, but none of them can compare to the special celebration for her centennial.