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A free Palace presentation to celebrate Women's History Month includes Esther Williams... -
Esther Wiliiams in later years -
Esther Boxing -
Friday, March 25 there will be a free showing of "Her Own Story: A Montage of Benton County Women" The presentation will be held at the Palace Theater from 4:30pm - 5:15pm
Vinton's beloved Esther Williams ("not the swimmer," she was quick to add) worked for the Cedar Valley Times her entire adult life. She knew everything that ever happened in Vinton and she could tell hundreds of stories about life here early in the last century.
It may surprise you to know those stories did not die with her. Like nine other Benton County women, she shared her life on tape 25 years ago. This month you can catch a glimpse of their lives on the big screen at the Palace Theater.
The Vinton Branch of the American Association of University Women chose and interviewed the women on audio tape in 1985. The individual women's stories runs about 40 minutes each. The tapes and two photos of each subject were assembled in note books given to their home town libraries and the Iowa State Historical Library in DesMoines.
The tapes, about 40 hours all together, were later transcribed with a grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities. A very condensed print version of the ten life stories was published and placed in the libraries as well. Participating interviewers and photography editors included Lois Banse, Ann Harrison, Dee Hensing, Jane LaGrange, Bill Meigs, Lauretta Rice, Meg Walker, Julie Zimmer.
To celebrate women's history month, "Her Own Story," a video montage distilled from ten taped life reviews, will air at the Palace, Fri. March 25, from 4:30 to 5:20. The event is free to the public.
The ten women who shared their stories on tape are now deceased, but not forgotten. They are:
Jennie Koch Beck, Keystone/Belle PlaineBess Shurtliff Burrows, Belle PlaineNira Primmer (Narber, Knapp) Geiger, VintonFreida Brehm Geiken, VintonRuth Congwar Mumford, Fremont TownshipDorothy Wiegand (Pollock) Salle, Mt. AuburnAlvena Selken Schroeder, rural KeystoneAllegra Bush (Grady) Schueler, Van HorneGertrude Smith, (Cayton, England) rural Vinton
and, of course, Esther Williams, Vinton.
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We can find a way to show the program again, and/or make the DVD available to groups and individuals.
Let us know what you would suggest (in general) as a good time to air the program. Wouldn't it be great if we could show it on local cable access channel??
The montage we are showing is just 35 minutes, it blends all ten women into one video presentation and is representative of their experiences, not identifying individual experiences.