Small-town Bea was a favorite ‘aunt’ to all
Remembering the life and legacy of Starke County’s Bea Amm.
While favorite personalities are a part of every neighborhood, whether city or rural, small towns have a way of transforming an extra special personality into someone everyone seems to know and remember.
For our small town, the name Bernita Marie Amm — simply called “Bea” or “Aunt Bea” to almost everyone throughout Starke County — is the name, face, and especially that trill voice, known to all, whether it be from across the farm cornfields, near and around Bass Lake, or just at the local post office or grocery store.
Bea, at age 98, died Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020 at Parkview Haven care facility in Francesville, Indiana, just a month away from what would have been her 99th birthday Oct. 18. I joined my family to attend her funeral services this weekend.
Aunt Bea was born in our small town of San Pierre. Her husband Edward, also from our area, had died much earlier, in November 1973 of the age of 59. The couple’s only child, son Bruce, died just a year ago in August 2019 at age 69.
In the 1950s, Bea and Ed owned a very small, but popular rural pub called English Lake Tavern. She would tell stories of “her politeness to patrons who had just a little too much to drink.” In addition to the tavern, the couple also raised and bred dachshunds.
“Bea was such a wonderful person,” said friend Beverly Dolezal.
“She never knew a stranger, and never forgot her friends. I remember square dancing at their
English Lake Tavern during the early 1960s with the Joe and Dorothy Hewitt group, and it was always a fun time.”
In later years, Bea worked as the office manager with the nuns at Little Company of Mary Hospital in San Pierre.
She said her best friend and “sidekick” was always her pal from school days (who was also eventually her sister-in-law and neighbor) Dorothy (Amm) Paulsen. I recall from my own youth, many stories from when Bea was on the same bowling team, with
not only her niece, Carol (Paulsen) Yost, but also with my own mom Peggy, and her twin sister, my Aunt Patty, for their teammates. Even though they bowled on the ladies’ night league at our small town “8-lanes only” Countryside Lanes in San Pierre, their team often fared well at the huge bowling alleys where they played both regional and state bowling competitions.
When I interviewed Bea in October 2001 about her favorite memories and recipes, she told me she believed more young peo
ple should be active in the 4-H program.
“If we had more boys and girls in 4-H, we’d all be eating a lot better as adults, because more people would know how to garden, cook and bake,” she told me.
“There are still recipes that I learned when I was a girl in 4-H that I’ve continued to use for decades. I don’t mean to sound corny or old-fashioned, but I grew up with my parents out in country and I would walk two and half miles to get into town for our 4-H meetings, and I can tell you
it was worth every step.”
She said autumn was her favorite season.
“I love a nice beef roast with potatoes as a reason to use the oven on a cool day,” she said.
“And when you get to fall and the garden is ending, it’s nice to know there’s still all of those great veggies and fruits canned and frozen from during the summer.”
While Bea didn’t garden in later years, she said her nephew Tom Yost and his gardens, right next door and filled with ripe watermelons and fresh broccoli,
added to her life’s blessing.
“I also love baking, and have an old-time and alltime favorite cookie recipe my mom had from the 1930s,” Bea said.
“I know the cookie recipe name as a ‘Milwaukee Special Cookie,’ but I’ve also heard them called ‘Russian Tea Cookies.’ By either name, they are the best.”
Bea’s zest for life is summed up in her favorite toast: “Here’s to those who love me well, the rest of ‘em can go to hell!”
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four 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, P.O. Box 68, San Pierre, IN 46374.