NEW ULM — Wisconsin resident Christine Heckmann's telephone calls to centenarian Erna Zahn throughout the past year often were answered with a request for a daughter-mother visit at Oak Hills Living Center in New Ulm.
Heckmann would remind her mom of the coronavirus pandemic and safety restrictions at Zahn's residence.
“She'd respond with 'There was an epidemic when I was child. We had a grocery store and Dad would make deliveries to a family that was sick. We never got sick. God kept us safe.'”
“Mom was referring to the Spanish influenza epidemic in 1918. Her trust in the Lord is what's kept her throughout an epidemic, the Great Depression and raising six children," said Heckmann, the youngest sibling in the Zahn family.
Zahn's 113th birthday was Wednesday. She is Minnesota's oldest resident and is noted as No. 10 on the nation's eldest list.
A photo Erna Zahn took on a road trip with a girlfriend shows Mount Rushmore with only George Washington’s head completed. Washington’s face was dedicated on July 4, 1934, and the entire monument was completed in 1941.
Tuesday afternoon, on the eve of a big celebration with lots of media coverage in Sleepy Eye where Zahn went for pie, she was the guest of honor at a quiet gathering in a family member's home.
During the Tuesday visit Heckmann enjoyed the first face-to-face contact with her mother since October. Zahn's son Ron and her daughter Marley Kuckhahn also were at the get-together.
"Her memories are not as clear as they used to be. She recognized me and my husband right away, though, and Bruce even had a face mask on," Heckmann said.
"Mom likes to tease, and when my husband made a wisecrack, she got a kick out of that. It was so nice to see her laugh. When I told her a couple of her nephews from Green Bay and the Twin Cities were coming to visit on her birthday, her face lit up right away. She hasn't seen them in two years."
Lots of relatives brought well wishes to Zahn during the afternoon party Wednesday at Sleepy Eye Coffee Company.
"Four of five generations of her family were represented. I am a grandmother who has a grandmother who is living," said granddaughter Bethel Boeder, 53, of New Ulm.
"Music has always been a big part of our family. Although my grandmother was never a musician, she would come to our recitals all the time," said Boeder, who is an adjunct piano instructor at Martin Luther College.
Zahn's late husband, Meilahn, accepted a call to the college in 1962. The couple moved from Wisconsin and he served as music professor and department chair in New Ulm until 1975.
Erna Zahn and her husband, Meilahn, on their wedding day in 1935.
Boeder's mother, Kuckhahn, 79, of New Ulm, fielded most of the questions media asked this week. Her husband, Richard, also lives at Oak Hills. Visiting restrictions have eased at the care facility now that all three have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Zahn, who is hard of hearing, sometimes uses a pocket-size sound-amplifying device during family visits. Until recently, conversations with her were restricted to extremely close spaces by the length of cord on the device's headphones.
"When her pastor came to give her Communion, he said, 'I think I have an extension that can fix that,'" Kuckhahn said.
"Mom can't see that well, so we've been reading all of her birthday cards to her," Heckmann said, adding that mailed greetings are again pouring in as they have for the other 12 birthdays Zahn celebrated as a centenarian.
Heckmann said her mother always added a special frosting to her children's birthday cakes — Seven Minute Frosting. The six Zahn kids were allowed one big birthday party — with classmates invited — when they turned 8.
"In our family, there were six kids and no money."
In a 2020 Free Press interview prior to a drive-thru event on her mother's 112th birthday, Kuckhahn hoped for 2021 celebrations where hugs and smiles were shared in person. Earlier this month, she was able to serve both her mother and spouse Easter dinner at her table.
Erna Zahn enjoys a piece of apple pie with cheese at her 113th birthday party Wednesday.
Wednesday's guest of honor ate apple pie with cheese at her coffee shop birthday party, where popular tunes from throughout Zahn's long lifetime were sang by Cindee Krzmarzick, Oak Hills’ life enrichment coordinator. A tidbit of Zahn family lore with origins in Wisconsin offers this advice about dessert, “Apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze.”
Zahn told The Free Press, via daughters Heckmann and Kuckhahn's help, that she had no plans for travel adventures beyond Wednesday's outing to Sleepy Eye; however, a ride on the back of a horse was not out of the question.
A note to anyone preparing to send a present: Zahn said she needs no gifts since she has enough to last 20 years.
Zahn became the state’s oldest person in December 2019 when a 112-year-old St. Anthony woman died. Prior to moving to Oak Hills, Zahn lived in an apartment until she was 109. She did regular aqua exercises until she was 97 and drove a car until she was 96.
The Link LonkApril 15, 2021 at 05:30AM
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Oldest Minnesotan celebrates 113th birthday with pie in Sleepy Eye - Mankato Free Press
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