There were some memorable things that took place in 1910.
The Boy Scouts of America were incorporated, the Camp Fire Girls organization was founded and the Earth passed through the tail of Hailey’s Comet. Along with these, there was another memorable thing that happened — Ada (Todnem) Schroeder was born.
Ada, who lives at Sunrise Village in Jasper, will celebrate her 99th birthday on Sept. 29. But when visiting with her you would never guess by either her level of activity or her looks that she’s one-year shy of 100.
“I don’t know, but when I was 80 people thought I was 70,” Ada said, when complemented about her looks. “I guess there is something about it.”
Her mother’s oldest sister had lived to be 101 years of age and her grandparents lived to be in their 90s.
Ada grew up in Marshall where she graduated high school. Then she went to college, which is where she said she became “hooked” on weaving and although eye problems have slowed her down some, she still weaves.
“In my first quarter of college I was taking a clothing class and in the middle of the quarter the project was we were to weave something so we would understand how material was made,” she said. “The loom was threaded and we had to tie on. Well, I got hooked then and there. That was way back in 1929.”
Ada decided then that she wanted to buy her own loom.
“At Christmas time, I had a little money in the bank but not much and at that time I could get a loom for $25,” said Ada. “I wanted to take out $25 so I could get a loom right away but my dad said no, you better save it because we don’t have much money. But then in March the bank went bust so I didn’t have the money. It wasn’t until I got my Extension job as a home agent that I got my loom. I started working in the fall and at the end of January, I ordered my loom.”
She is still using that first loom. The loom was a table model but when she was in woodworking she made a base for the loom.
She is well known in the Pipestone and Jasper area for her weaving and over the years has won many awards both locally and at the state level.
“Right now I’m out of warp for the loom,” she said. “Gayle was having Mike come and take it out and they will thread it for me. Isn’t it nice to have good friends?”
With not being able to see very well, Ada said she has to feel a lot and has to memorize the pattern because she can’t have someone sitting there telling her what to do.
“They’re quite similar lots of time,” she said of her current weavings. “But they go to different people. They are different colors so they look different.”
Not only does she weave the wool, she also spins and dyes the yarn. She uses mostly natural dyes from berries and even onion skins.
Ada worked for the Minnesota Extension Service for almost 40 years before she retired.
“I started under the WPA program,” she said. “I graduated in 1933 and in January 1934 I went up to work in Clearwater County. It was Clem Chase who had gotten permission for someone to work on WPA. Then in the summer I did 4-H work in that county and another county. In the winter I went back to WPA until the next spring.”
It was during the fall of her second year that the United States Department of Agriculture gave Minnesota a number of new positions for Home Agents and Ada qualified.
“So in 1935 I started out as a Home Agent,” she said. “I was just plain lucky. Eventually I came to Pipestone County.”
She commented that there were lots of changes during the almost 40 years she worked with the extension. “I’m glad I was in Extension when I was,” she said. “I worked hard but also had lots of fun doing my job.”
It was after she came to Pipestone that she met and married Helmuth Schroeder. The couple was married just a few days shy of 46 years when Helmuth passed away.
“I was older than he was and he always bragged that he married an older woman,” joked Ada.
