Zona with her brother Sheldon in front
of the house where she was born.

Contents

1. The House Where I Was Born
2. Frederick and Louisa and Their Children
3. The Kuehn Family
4. Grandpa and Grandma Schwandt
5. Extraordinary People
6. My Spinster Aunt
7. A New Home
8. County Line School
9. The Great Depression
10. Miss Luedtke
11. October Night
12. The College Years
13. Ah! Colorado!!
14. Texas!!
15. Life Takes a Turn
16. Howard Visits Wisconsin
17. Life "On Hold"
18. Magic Valley of Texas
19. The Phelps
20. Vignettes
21. A Proper Lady (Ida Schwandt Schraeder)
22. A Working Team
23. Mabel Alone
24. The Schwandt Family Touched My Life

Acknowledgements

Thistles Cut, Ironing Done is the memoir of Zona Schwandt Justiss. She writes of her early years surrounded by the families of her Wisconsin German parents and grandparents, evoking a way of life that is all but gone—of farming with horses, of teaching in a one-room school, and of Sunday afternoons visiting with extended family.

She continues with an account of the first half of her own life, including the story of her "love at first sight" romance that continues after sixty years. Zona Justiss now lives with her husband, Howard, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Without starched shirts and dresses there is less ironing to do, but when she sees thick patches of tall thistles on Tennessee roadsides she wishes for a corn knife in her hand.

These written accounts are primarily for my children and grandchildren, who may be interested in noting the differences between ways of life in bygone years and life in their world. It may be that their sense of who they are will be amplified.

I have tried to give a sympathetic as well as honest picture of these extended families. The values they upheld still shape my life.

Zona Justiss
Nashville, Tennesee
1991

Zona Justiss died of Parkinson's disease in 2008. Sandra Collins' eulogy gives some intimate insights into Zona's personality and character.

Thistles Cut, Ironing Done: A Wisconsin Heritage is copyright © 1991, 2004 by Zona S. Justiss. Web edition by All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to make one printed copy for personal use only.