Everyone in our small town of San Pierre and neighboring North Judson knew the name of Jeannette Gertrude Wobith.
A vocal personality, and never afraid to share her opinion, her name and reputation remain as the definition of a fading classification: a hard worker with a heart of gold.
Jeannette who had moved in recent years to Mishawaka to live near her daughter, died on Jan. 15 at age 97, just a few days shy of her 98th birthday.
Her parents were Raymond and Mary Anastasia Hine, longtime members of our tiny All Saints Catholic Church at San Pierre. Jeannette was the oldest of five children, and now, only her brother Ray remains.
Jeannette had worked at the same small-town grocery store, Dolezal’s Supermarket, as I had during my high school years. However, Jeannette worked at the store two decades before my starting year in 1984.
However, her mom, known to all in town by her nickname “Stitch,” was still working as a cashier at the store when I began and helped “show me the ropes.” Jeannette opted to work in her later years at the A&P supermarket in North Judson and eventually retired from the A&P
In 1945, Jeannette married serviceman Frank H. Ono, and soon her son Terry and daughter Genelle were born. Frank and Jeannette were later divorced, and she then married Dorwin E. Wobith in 1962 until his passing in 1976.
Like my parents, she was an avid sports fan, especially the Chicago Cubs and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. My parents often sat not too far away from her in the same school gym bleachers for our North Judson Blue Jays’ basketball games.
In addition to being survived by her two children, her brother and her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Jeannette was preceded in death by both of her parents (father at age 68 in 1968 and mom at age 84 in 1994, her sister, Phyllis Lemke, at age 76 in 2005 her brothers, Bill, 89, and Larry Hine, 79, both in the past three years.
Jeannette spent countless hours volunteering, including her time with the American Legion Women’s Auxiliary and the San Pierre Alumni Association, the latter where she served as the dedicated secretary for decades. During my years as president of the San Pierre Alumni Association (as so many others had echoed before my time), it was always Jeannette “as the glue that kept the organization and annual dinner event together as a success” for the past 50 years.
She forever identified herself as a proud counterpart to the school’s bulldog mascot as a dedicated member of the class of 1944.
I worked closest with Jeanette during the past 30 years volunteering my shared time with her and others as a member of the Railroad Township Scholarship Board.
As this weekend welcomes the arrival of February and Groundhog’s Day, today’s rich and delicious moist cherry cake is the perfect “clip and save” recipe for later this month for menu observance of Washington’s birthday on Feb. 22 or even earlier Presidents’ Day on Feb. 17.
The recipe is from Jeannette’s archive recipe files from 1954 when it was published among the finalists for the 5th Annual Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. The recipe was dreamed up by Mrs. L. G. Wietor of Chicago who preserved the recipe from her own mother, describing it as “a cake of honor and distinction, according to my mother, and can be served as a rich coffee cake at breakfast time or a colorful dessert for evening meals.”
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@powershealth.org or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.
Candied Cherry Cake
Makes 10 servings
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
3 cups sifted Pillsbury’s Best Enriched Flour
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/2 cup candied cherries, chopped
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
5 unbeaten eggs
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
1. Grease generously the bottoms and sides of one 10-inch tube pan.
2. Cover pan with mixture of finely chopped nuts and dry breadcrumbs.
3. Sift together Pillsbury’s Best Enriched Flour and baking powder.
4. Combine candied cherries, grated lemon rind and 1/4 cup of dry ingredients. Then chop cherries finely.
5. Cream butter; add gradually and then cream sugar; creaming well.
6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
7. Combine sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and add alternately with the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
8. Stir in the chopped cherry mixture and turn the batter into the prepared pan.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 65 to 75 minutes in tube pan.
10. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out on rack to cool thoroughly.
