April 20, 2019 – Kewaskum, WI – Today’s 1954 photo of Easter finery titled ‘Ready for church,’ is courtesy Jeanne Goeden of Kewaskum.
With Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday we’ll roll out a seasonal favorite of Easter dress memories.
“My grandparents were very poor. Very poor,” said Goeden. “My grandmother worked at the old Rosenheimer’s store, now the corner antique store in Kewaskum. She was in the sewing/material department and used left over pieces of material for our clothes.”
Volunteers working this past weekend at the Holy Trinity Women’s Social in Kewaskum shared memories of their Easter dresses including Betty (Schmidt) Hallen whose mother made her dress in the late 1920s when she was growing up in Hinsdale, Illinois.
“It was just my brother and I but we always had new shoes and a new hat for Easter,” Hallen said. “My mother was a good sewer and my dress was usually pretty fancy.”
Hallen, 87, described the bright print dress with ruffles and buttons up the back. “It made me feel just great because in those days you didn’t get that many new clothes.” Accessories, like a flowery hat with ribbons were acquired from Woolworths. “And you’d tie it on so it wouldn’t blow off,” she said. “I don’t even remember where we got the shoes but they’d be nice and shiny I know that.”
Above photo is of Kathy Keehn in her Easter dress and cowboy pail from 1953.
