Wildwood Press

  Two weeks before Christmas 1950, my pal Judy Sporer and I bundled up in our warmest coats, wound our scarves around our necks and faces, and trudged two miles in our Stadium Boots to Iron River to do our Christmas shopping. We each had a whopping $5 in our pockets. At Newberry’s Five and [...]

[Read more →]

This just in from the U.P. Snow, beautiful snow!

[Read more →]

Finally back home again after a wonderful Thanksgiving visit with family and friends in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan!  Of course, Thanksgiving is always a time for celebration in our family and so are the family birthdays that happen just about the same time each year. I was born on Thanksgiving day and my sister [...]

[Read more →]

IRONWOOD DAILY GLOBE: Published Sunday, November 18, 2007 4:25:26 PM Central Time By DIANE MONTZ Globe Staff Writer In the title story of her new book, Coralie Cederna Johnson writes: “Nobody wanted to go to Trout Creek. There was nothing there. Nothing but a lot of trees. Trees, trees and more trees.” Overlooking the forest [...]

[Read more →]

I love hearing from new friends! I just received this really nice letter from Judy Granlund Daft who says she enjoyed reading my first book, The Wishing Years, but even more so A Tree Grows in Trout Creek! Here’s what else she wrote: “Growing up 5 miles east of Negaunee, between Marquette and Negaunee on [...]

[Read more →]

Nancy and I were always ready to go over to Lenny’s Soda Bar after band practice! Nothing tasted better than a cherry coke for me and a lime phosphate for Nancy! Those were the days! Did you have a soda fountain in your hometown?

[Read more →]

The exciting news is that A Tree Grows in Trout Creek, my new book of memoirs—a collection of stories about growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan—is only one week old, but copies have already gone out to 31 out of 50 U.S. states! The author couldn’t be more excited! Book orders have been [...]

[Read more →]

Here’s some hometown news from Joanne Coffin Ilkin, an old friend from Stambaugh High School. To both preserve a family memory and give her daughter Pinar a gift at the same time, she wrote the following play: Real life characters: Cecelia: Joanne’s friend. Pinar: Joanne’s daughter. The action takes place at a 2006 All-School Reunion [...]

[Read more →]

For special events at school we dressed up to the hilt! A band concert was a reason to go shopping at Krom’s Department Store, Scott’s Smartwear or Irene’s Dress Shop for that new fancy dress. My favorite find was an iridescent blue-grey-pink full-skirted ankle-length dress. That dress went with me not only to a band [...]

[Read more →]

My favorite teacher was my 10th grade English teacher, Miss Helen Dunham. She was also our Thespian Troup drama director.  She took us on trips, worked with us on forensic pieces and opened new worlds of stage and theater to us! She was more than a teacher; she was a friend!

[Read more →]