Farm wife neighbor Mrs. Dolezal will be missed
From the Farm
A frequent and favorite name in my farm columns and published cookbooks is Donna Dolezal, fantastic mother, devoted church member and wonderful cook, and someone representative of all the perfect qualities of a farm wife and neighbor.
Donna passed away at age 79 last month on Sept. 23, after a bout with pneumonia and fighting a return battle with cancer.
Throughout the years, I’ve always enjoyed writing about the egg-farming Dolezal family and many weekends in my youth as a church altar boy right beside Donna’s sons — Bill, Tom and Lenny. Alongside by older brother David and my older sister Pam, I also spent many summers working in the fields with Tom and Lenny, just down the road at the expansive produce farm of our mutual neighbors and church friends Jerry and Dee Spenner. In later years, Lenny also trained me for my shelf-stocking and “bag boy” duties at the lone grocery store in our town, owned by the extended Dolezal Family.
Donna was married to Joe Dolezal, who passed away at age 80 in December 2015. He was one of nine children (Frank, Mary, George, Rudy, Norbert, Benjamin, Arthur, Ann, and Joseph). Joe, the youngest, was the last remaining of Frank and Bessie’s large farm family. Both Joe and wife Donna, with daughter Ann, are featured in photos in my second cookbook, along with the recipe for Donna’s Mile-High Cocoa Chiffon Cake.
Another signature recipe of Donna’s is her easy pineapple pie recipe, which I featured in a previous column and was a favorite highlight for her to serve at the ladies’ monthly church meeting luncheons. When my mom would join Donna working at the annual church bake sales, Donna’s cakes and pies were always a top seller. Donna used to say it was using “Dolezal’s Eggs,” as they were branded in the cartons sold in stores, which served as the key ingredient to assure her cocoa chiffon cakes would “rise” so high.
My mom and Donna served up many slices of pies and cakes together throughout the decades at church bake sales. Once her children had started school, Donna also spent a number of years working in the laundry department at Little Company of Mary Nursing Home in our small town San Pierre, until it closed in 2008. Donna always found time to volunteer her time with my mom and others for duties at church and school, including planning many school PTO Halloween parties, Christmas recitals and annual Easter egg hunts at the town park.
One story my siblings love to share is when our mom and Donna teamed together to plan the candy and prizes for one of the annual Easter egg hunts at the town park in the late 1970s. It has a humorous ending, which I’m sure did not seem funny at the time.
My mom was responsible for buying all of the chocolate bunnies and eggs the day before and kept them safely stored in the trunk of our family’s Oldsmobile. Unfortunately, the Saturday morning of the egg hunt (that next day) it was unseasonably hot. When Donna went to help our mom unload the chocolate bunnies, eggs and candies, they discovered a melted mess of clumped together confection eggs and melted and misshapen bunnies with drooping eyes and ears. While my mom was surprised and unnerved by the situation, Donna, as usual, kept her cool.
This time is also the same time of year when we used to have our annual church picnic, bonfire and hayride to the Pulaski County Game and Wildlife Preserve. Donna whipped up the best homemade hot chocolate to serve, always waiting to welcome back everyone from the hayride, which would arrive around dusk in the early evening chill.
Donna’s daughter Ann — who has all of her mom’s best attributes, including a calm demeanor, dedicated work ethic and the same warm and inviting smile — provided me with another of her mom’s favorite recipes for this time of year. Donna’s warm German potato salad is still a mostrequested menu-must in October.
The note included on the yellow and tattered old recipe card reads: “Great to serve with baked or boiled ham, baked spareribs or frankfurters.” And, like Donna’s spirit and dedication to her family and friends, her recipes will continue to be passed along and enjoyed by many.
Columnist Philip Potempa has published three cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.