Mom was born to John Henry and Frieda Bielfeldt and named Gertrude Emma Lena on March 24, 1916 in Plum Hill, Illinois, a small farming community where her parents “had a general store that sold all things” across from the church at the town’s crossroads. One of my favorite keepsakes is a chipped ceramic teapot, which like many others sold at the store had the following words inscribed in gold on its bottom …

J. H. BIELFELDT’S
STORE FOR THE PEOPLE
WHERE HIGH QUALITY AND
LOW PRICES ARE LINKED TOGETHER.
IT PLEASES ME TO PLEASE YOU.

Grandma Frieda was the church’s organist for 27 years and on one very special, snow blanketed Christmas Eve when Mom was four, she sang ‘Silent Night’ in German for the townsfolk at the church’s candlelight service. A few months later the family moved to Addie Ville, Illinois, a little larger farming community, where she learned English so she could start school. Her mother taught piano lessons and, according to Mom, ‘tried’ to teach her. While Mom never reached her mother’s level of accomplishment, she continued to play for pleasure whenever she could. When she was 12 the family moved to East St. Louis where she attended junior and senior high school before she and her family moved across the river to St. Louis. Her faith in God and love of singing led her to become an important part of several church...