Local Thanksgiving holiday tradition coming to an end after 22 years

by David M. Johnson

Pumpkin pie, turkey, family gatherings and afternoon football are common features of an American Thanksgiving Day celebration. Family and friends eating home-cooked food, sometimes recipes for this special day being passed down from generation to generation just for this special occasion.
Thanksgiving Day is not only considered a day of thanks and a holiday, it has evolved into a family tradition for numerous families that is embraced and cherished. But there are times that the family cannot get together on this special day due to other commitments of others or situations that deny a gathering for the holiday.
Locally, that issue was resolved when a family, along with help from friends, organized and offered their time and services by providing the venue necessary to address the absence of the intimate family gathering. Rich and Ann Schulte of Waukon and their family volunteered their time to give others that offering for this special day by cooking and serving the dinner for those who desired to experience that Thanksgiving Day tradition of turkey and the trimmings associated with it.
Kenneth and Betty Brandt of Waukon first started serving that dinner for the Thanksgiving holiday, with Rich Schulte providing support. “It lasted about four to five years, then the Brandts experienced some health issues so they had to quit. It skipped a year, then I decided to continue it about 18 years ago,” remembers Schulte, who wanted to do something for the community and decided this was the best way to satisfy his desire to provide that service.

END OF AN ERA
It appears that this 22-year tradition will cease to exist after the most recent Thanksgiving Day, as Schulte has made the decision that the time was right to discontinue his participation. “I’m going to be 76 years old in March, and because of other things I just thought it was time to quit,” observed Schulte.
Although he will still continue his catering business, the Thanksgiving endeavor was beginning to overwhelm Schulte and his family. “When it first started, there were 60 to 70 people served," he recalls. "This past dinner we served 160, and it appears it was going to continue to grow.”
What kind of effort was involved in providing such a meal? Well, first there was the meal preparation. Schulte would start at noon the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. His daughters would begin baking pies the next day, 10 pumpkin pies and 10 pumpkin-pecan pies, with the “Methodist ladies” providing seven apple pies.
Besides the assorted nuts, popcorn and mint assortments, the cooking involved two roasters of mashed potatoes, two gallons of gravy, a roaster of corn, four regular cans of cranberries, a roaster of squash, and, beginning at four o'clock the morning of Thanksgiving, 91 pounds of turkey and 27 pounds of ham were cooked on Schulte’s grill. Besides these offerings, 33 pounds of macaroni salad, a gallon of bread and butter pickles, five “batches” of punch, four dozen tea rolls with butter, 10 pounds of cheese curds, plus an angel food cake for diabetics were also on the menu.
Clean-up would finally finish up at noon the following Sunday. Year after year, most of the food was eaten, as witnessed by Schulte and those who assisted. They would eat after everybody left and the leftovers were usually just enough and not much more.
The annual meal would begin Thanksgiving Day at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Waukon at 11:30 in the morning, carry-outs initiating the dinner followed by the meal being served to the public at noon, with dinner usually being finished at or around one in the afternoon. Donations were given at the door which usually covered expenses.
This year, a family of 18 was served and an individual from Owatonna, MN traveled the furthest, but most of the dinner was served to singles or couples, with smaller groups here and there. “We wanted a chance to serve those people that, for one reason or another, were by themselves or there was only two living at home. When you have a situation like that, nobody is going to cook a big meal, so that was the purpose of this meal; for people like that,” Schulte added when looking back at this experience.
When asked if any others were inspired to implement this dinner in other communities, Schulte replied that a dinner is also served in Lansing and, although his involvement in the dinner was not the catalyst, Waterville has also had individuals serving Thanksgiving Day dinner to the public.
Looking back, Schulte only observed one problem with the dinner, and that was when parties were not confirming reservations or that people would not RSVP, many times showing up for dinner without the RSVP. Schulte said that it is difficult to prepare a meal without knowing how many people will attend. Each year this problem was escalating to where it was becoming very difficult to plan and organize.
One part of the dinner preparation that was not a problem was getting people to assist. Usually needing about 11 to 12 people to work at the dinner, one year a high school girl showed up and volunteered her time. She returned for three more years, which warmed Schulte’s heart, showing there are a lot of good people out there. Another positive with the dinner was the many pats on the back and a numerous thank yous shared by those experiencing the holiday dinner. “This appreciation made it worthwhile and that will make it more difficult to retire,” reflected Schulte.
Schulte hopes someone will pick up the mantle and continue this tradition. He does not really care if it is an individual, family, groups of people or organization that would volunteer to prepare the dinner. Schulte would help the first year to get the ball rolling, but then excuse himself after that. This gentleman wants those who would consider doing this endeavor to know that it is rewarding, hard but not difficult work.
After seeing that the dinner was encouraging more and more people to share their time in this event, Schulte said that if anybody does choose to become part of this holiday tradition, they will not see a lacking of numbers. The trend has shown that more and more people are willing to share in becoming part of this dinner, a successful local social event one could be truly thankful for.