“Since our first daughter was born, it has been almost constant pain every day,” Mrs. Ebert said. “The pain is right out of this world. Every bit of my body hurts. I plan my activities around my medicine.”

One may think a woman who had been through 36 surgeries, had been close to death many times and experienced constant pain, would sit in a chair or lie in bed with others caring for her. Margie Ebert was quite the opposite, even as an octogenarian her house was immaculately kept and her person was as neat as a pin. She gaves her mother credit for pushing her as a child.

She married Howard Ebert on Aug. 8, 1941, a man who proposed to her on the first day of every month since January of that year. She finally accepted in August. The two of them, along with her older sister, went on a quest to find a doctor to perform a blood test.

“The fan belt kept breaking and each time Howard would fix it, it would break again,” she said while grinning. “Howard wouldn’t turn back because he was afraid I would back out.”

Howie and Rachel Van Rensselaer first appeared on this page in 1999. The father and daughter still enjoy preparing meals, but aren’t able to do it together as often since Rachel moved to South Carolina. Post-Journal Staff Photo

The threesome arrived at the doctor’s house at midnight. They were married a week later.

“The next morning I said ‘what have I done’ and it wasn’t a mistake. I was going to be the best wife and the best mother in the world. I made sure my kids had enough sleep and good food. I listened to Carlton Fredericks, a nutritionist on the radio.”

Even though Howard could not walk for the last 40 years of his life and his wife could only stand for a short time, they planted and cared for a very large garden.

“I would scoot on my rear end and Howard would crawl on his knees.”

He collected the baskets of vegetables his wife had filled, while riding his scooter.

The late Marjorie Ebert displays cakes and jars of canned goods like the ones for which she won blue ribbons at the Chautauqua County Fair for many years. Photo by Beverly Kehe-Rowland

The South Dayton woman estimated that she had not purchased a loaf of bread in 50 years. Not only had she baked all of the bread her family consumed over those years, she had baked a variety of baked goods to enter in the County Fair, as well. She won many blue ribbons for those and the bounty from her garden, which she had canned.

On my first visit to her home in February 2006, we decided to stay in touch because we had hit it off so well. She shared how she had longed to make a cookbook to pass on to her family and would mention it every time we had a telephone conversation and when I visited. After seeing how much it meant to her, I volunteered to type recipes and submit them to a company that printed cookbooks for fundraisers. Before we got started, a great niece heard the plan and stepped up, getting the family together to see this come to fruition. Margie passed away a few months after it was printed, about a year after we met. How I wish I had met her 25 years sooner. I have never known a finer lady.

Not only was Judith Cowles very gracious to let me into her home in April 2007, she did me a favor years later by being the school marm who gave out the third clue to the participants in a road rally I had planned for my husband’s high school classmates.

The seventh- and eighth-grade social studies and special education teacher moved from Jamestown to Clymer after retirement in order to enjoy the one room schoolhouse she had purchased and remodeled years before.

“I saw an ad that read, ‘own a piece of history.’ When I looked at it, I fell in love with it.”

She hired a carpenter to add a loft bedroom and closet by making a vaulted ceiling upstairs. They saved whatever they could, including the wainscoting and blackboards. The rich, natural golden color of the Douglas Fir plank floors came out after they were sanded. A cloakroom was adapted into a library and a second one was changed into a mechanical room. New wiring, plumbing, furnace and hot water tank were added, as well as a red pellet stove with a glass window in the door for viewing the fire on wintry nights.

She displayed several collections, including Jamestown High School memorabilia, vintage enamelware, cookie cutters, bottles and pottery.

One word describes Cheryl Doerfel — amazing. The busy mother had been traveling up and down the eastern states playing and singing country, gospel and bluegrass with her husband and ten children when I visited in June of 2007.

Her children ranged in age from 19 months to 18 years and Mrs. Doerfel was homeschooling all who had reached school age. She used cloth diapers until the last two babies were born.

Their music journey began when the mother, who knew how to play piano, had a desire to learn to play the banjo. Soon her eight-year old son, T.J., wanted the self-taught musician to teach him to play. He learned quickly. She then taught herself to play guitar. Soon her only daughter, Kim, decided to take a stab at violin, using a video as her teacher. The parents hired a violin teacher after they saw she was making a serious effort.

By this time, the family’s pastor had begun encouraging her husband, Tom Doerfel, to play by giving him an electric bass guitar and offering lessons. Doerfel soon replaced the guitar with an acoustic bass fiddle. As the younger boys got older, they expressed a desire to join the other members of their family in making music. Soon Eddy, Joey and Ben were taking lessons from a male teacher, who had a degree in Bluegrass music. Some of the younger Doerfels sang while their siblings and parents played.

“‘People would tell us ‘I don’t like Bluegrass music, but I like the kind you play,'” said Tom Doerfel. “We can play for church audiences or we can play where other people won’t. We’ve played at Ernest Hemingway’s old watering hole, Sloppy Joe’s, in Key West and as far north as the U.S. goes.”

The Doerfel Family took seventh place in the 2006 Society for Preservation of Bluegrass Music Association competition. At the time of my visit to their Springville, New York home in 2007, they had attended the International Bluegrass Association Convention for three years, where they were able to meet and play with their favorite musicians.

I learned they had been approached by the producers of Extreme Makeover to participate in a new show that hadn’t been named at the time of our meeting. They had also been approached by Wife Swap to which the parents clearly stated they would not take part.

The band is now based in Key West, Florida and includes some of the children’s spouses as well as some of the next generation of children. Ben, Edward, Joe and Kurt have started their own band called Fuel on Fire. They are Nashville recording artists who play and sing rockier music now, but often open with the bluegrass music they played with their parents.

Tom and Cheryl’s home sustained some damage last year from Hurricane Irma. As a contractor, Doerfel’s skills have come in handy as they repair the house.

I made two visits to the home of Howie Van Rensselaer, in 1999 and again in 2008. Rachel, his two-year old daughter was in the first picture. By the time I returned nine years later, she had been watching cooking shows with her father. The second article was titled “Like Father, Like Daughter” and featured the duo.

Rachel began baking with her GG, the late Gayle Kartman, when she was six years old, but her father was a little stricter with his daughter than his mother-in-law had been, as he wanted the recipes followed precisely. Rachel became more interested in cooking after taking a foods class in high school.

Van Rensselaer, the owner of Van Rensselaer and Son Funeral Home in Randolph, first became interested in cooking when his parents enlisted the help of live-in caregivers, Billie and Gene Remington, who had owned the former Cottage Restaurant.

“She (Billie Remington) had me help with all of the meals,” he remarked. “My mother, Judy Pauley, was a wonderful cook as well, as were both of my grandmothers.”

He helped his grandmother Van Rensselaer in the kitchen before he had an interest. Later, during his college years, he was required to take his turn preparing meals for himself and seven roommates. On occasion, he would help one of the roommates who owned a restaurant.

He enjoys creating his own dishes and according to his wife, Gretchen, prepares most of the family’s meals.

Since she graduated from college, Rachel works for Banton Media an advertising and marketing company in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Her younger siblings, Gage and Lucy have yet to show an interest in the kitchen other than to consume the food prepared therein.

I introduced myself to Marianne Blanchard in 2000 at a retreat held in Canandaigua, New York, after overhearing her mention Chautauqua Lake. When I learned she had taken several culinary classes and was the head cook at Chautauqua Lake Lutheran Camp, I asked her to appear on this page which took place in 2001.

Her passion for all things having to do with food prep came out in our earliest conversation. In fact, there was barely a time when we spoke over the phone or in person that she didn’t talk about food and her relationship with God.

I revisited this great cook six years later, in 2007, when I learned she had bought a video store in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania where she had added a kitchen where she made baked goods, dinners and from where she did a little catering. She loved Sister’s Sweet Town Video and CafÈ and the relationships she built while owning it. It was for this reason she added an outside wood-burning chiminea, where her customers and passersby were welcome to sit and visit.

“They may stay for 15 minutes or for three hours. Singles, couples and families feel welcome to linger. It’s a ministry in some ways. People can come with a broken heart or a concern and we’ll pray openly,” were her words spoken in 2007. “It’s like a bar without the alcohol. People come and hang out, like one of those small town places you see in a sitcom.”

She had created a safe, peaceful, homey atmosphere. Some picture albums and a picture tree containing photos of some of her customers were on display. She collected Bibles to give to anyone who wanted one.

“Kids stop after school for candy or ice cream. They offer to help take out garbage, rake leaves, etc.”

The caring woman sponsored a 12-year old Mexican girl for many years through Compassion International and had volunteered for the same organization. She enjoyed going on mission trips in an effort to make life better for others, volunteered at St. Susan Center and was a foster mother. She dearly loved her daughter, Lindsey, her son Jake and their families and her beloved husband, Dennis Blanchard, who she married on Dec. 31, 2008.

“My faith is strong and I will talk with anybody about it. I am who I am because of my relationship with Him. I pray I will lead by example.”

And lead she did, even after her death in 2013 at the young age of 53. She never lost hope that she would be healed of ovarian cancer but in her meetings with her pastor, she arranged to have him speak about salvation at her funeral. Even after her death, she shared her faith and led many friends and family members to Jesus Christ on that day.

I chose one recipe each from those shared by these wonderful contributors over the last twenty years.

Mousse-Filled

Cocoa Chiffon Cake

Margie Ebert

1 3/4 c sugar

1 1/2 c cake flour

2/3 cocoa

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 c oil

7 egg yolks, room temperature

§ c cold water

2 tsp vanilla

7 egg whites, room temperature

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 c sugar

Mousse Filling:

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

2 T cold water

1/3 c water

1/3 c cocoa

2/3 c sugar

1 1/2 c whipping cream or non-dairy topping, thawed

2 tsp vanilla

Chocolate Frosting:

3/4 c powdered sugar

1 1/2 c heavy cream or non-dairy topping, thawed

6 T cocoa

1/4 tsp vanilla

Combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and soda in a large mixer bowl. Make a well and add in order: oil, egg yolks, water and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Best egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Pour batter over egg whites, gently folding until blended. Pour into ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour and 20 minutes or until done. Invert cake over funnel until completely cool. Remove cake from pan. Slice 3/4-inch thick layer from top of cake being careful to leave one-inch thick walls and base. Cut a neat cavity in cake. With fork, remove the section of cake between the cuts. Spoon mousse filling in the cavity. Replace top of cake. Press gently in place. Combine powdered sugar and cocoa in small mixer bowl. Add cream and vanilla. Beat until stiff. Cover and chill. Frost cake. Refrigerate leftovers.

Book Store Red Lentil Soup

Judith Cowles

1 lg navel orange

2 tsp olive oil

3 onions, sliced very thin

1 tart apple, chopped

1 yam, chopped

4 carrots, coarsely grated

1-28 oz can plum tomatoes with juice

1/2 c apple cider

6 c vegetable broth

2 T tomato paste

2 T brown sugar

1/2 c dried barley

1 c dried red lentils

1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped

Zest and juice orange; set aside. In a large soup pot, heat oil. Add onions, apple, yam and carrots. Cook 10-12 minutes. Add the spice blend and cook 2 more minutes. Add all liquid ingredients plus tomato paste and brown sugar. Bring to simmer; add barley. Cover and simmer for 35 minutes. Add lentils and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Do not over-simmer; keep red lentils red and not mushy. Remove from heat and let rest a few minutes. Just before serving, add orange juice and zest and parsley. Bring to a simmer and serve hot.

Potato Soup

Cheryl Doerfel

6 potatoes, peeled and sliced

2 carrots, diced

6 stalks celery, diced

2 qts water

1 onion, chopped

6 T margarine

6 T flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 1/2 c milk

2 c cooked ham, chopped

In large kettle, cook potatoes, carrots and celery in water until tender. In another pan, melt butter and add flour, salt and pepper. Stir in milk. Add milk mixture to vegetable mixture and then add ham and heat through.

Howie’s 2006 Award Winning Chili

Howie Van Rensselaer

Olive oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 lg sweet onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 red chili pepper, chopped

1 can beer

1 lb ground beef

1 lb bulk sweet Italian sausage

2 T Emeril’s Essence

1 pkg chili seasoning mix

46 oz can tomato juice

1 lg can diced tomatoes

2 cans dark red kidney beans

2 cans chili beans

Saute garlic, onion and peppers in a small amount of olive oil. Add beer when vegetables are tender. Brown meat seasoned with Emeril’s Essence. Combine meat and peppers in a stock pot. Add seasoning mix, juice, tomatoes and beans. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer on low for 2 hours. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese.

Chicken Alfredo

Marianne Blanchard

Marinade:

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp season salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 T olive oil

2 T water

1 lb pasta

2 chicken breasts

1 c butter

1 3/4 c half and half

8 oz cream cheese

3/4 c Romano cheese

1/2 c parmesan cheese

2 tsp garlic powder

Mix marinade ingredients together and place in Ziploc bag or covered shallow dish with chicken breasts. Cook pasta according to directions. While pasta is cooking, grill or pan fry chicken over low heat. In medium saucepan, melt butter. Add half and half, cheeses and garlic powder, stirring constantly until smooth. Serve over pasta and sliced chicken breast.