PRAIRIE NEEDLES – Poems and Drawings, By Helen Sather Pederson

PRAIRIE NEEDLES – Poems and Drawings

By Helen Sather Pederson
58 pages
6” x 9”
Softbound
$7.95
ISBN 0-942323-27-0

A special, intimate look at growing up on the prairie during the Great Depression is presented with generous servings of both heart-warming nostalgia and witty humor. As the title poem concludes: “And Dakota’s sons who are far away still feel the sting of little darts, and are brought again to thoughts of home by prairie needles in their hearts.”

AUTHOR BIO: Helen Sather was born March 23, 1920 to Andrew and Marie Sather at their farm home six miles southeast of Wildrose, North Dakota in Big Meadow Township. She has one sister Margaret who is two years older. Their lives took a tragic turn in 1925 when their father died suddenly following a threshing machine accident at the age of 45. Left alone, their mother had two small children to raise and a farm to run, and adding to everyone’s problems, soon came the Dust Bowl days and the Great Depression.

At the age of 11, Helen’s very first poem was published in The Williams County Farmer’s Press and some of her later poems also appeared in other farm publications and newspapers.

She graduated from Wildrose High School as Valedictorian in 1938, and while recovering from surgery, she wrote a weekly column in The Williams County Farmer’s Press. This youthful endeavor was called Living With Life and also contained some poetry from time to time. Later, Helen began to do part-time work through the N.Y.A., a government program that provided jobs for teens during the Depression years, and at the beginning of World War II, she worked for The Williams County Selective Service Board in Williston, North Dakota. In March of 1943, she was married to Kermit Pederson of Ray, North Dakota. They were married in Tucson, Arizona where he was stationed with the 15th Air Force. To this union were born four children: Anne, David, Mary Ellen, and Marjorie. David was killed in a power line accident in Williston at the age of 31, leaving a wife and two children. Besides the three daughters and their husbands, there are now eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Most of their married life was spent in Ray, where their children grew up and where she later worked as a postal clerk. Today, Helen resides in Williston, where they have lived since 1978. Her husband Kermit, passed away in 1989. Along with her writing, Helen also enjoys painting, and in recent years some of her work has been displayed at various art shows in Williston and in surrounding communities.