By: Joann Biren
Murray County News Staffwriter
From Wikipedia we find out: Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the United States, celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. It originated as a harvest festival. Thanksgiving has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789, with a proclamation by George Washington after a request by Congress. Thomas Jefferson chose not to observe the holiday, and its celebration was intermittent until the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, when Thanksgiving became a federal holiday in 1863, during the American Civil War. Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.
The word that most often comes to mind when Thanksgiving is celebrated around a table is gratitude. Let’s head to trusty Webster for that definition, also online. gratitude
noun grat· i· tude | \ˈgra-tə-ˌtüd, -ˌtyüd\ Definition of gratitude: the state of being grateful: THANKFULNESS
Now, we’ll head to Lindenwood in Slayton and talk to Kathy Dollander who gives us a definition of both Thanksgiving and gratitude, two words that can be easily combined and summed up in a one-word description (for her anyway); family.
Dollander has lived an amazing life, at 95 she can look back and realize the joys and sorrows made her who she is. She was born in 1923 on a farm place outside of Lismore. “It was about a mile from the cemetery, it’s not there anymore, the building site is gone,” she said from the comfort of her easy chair in the living room of her apartment at Lindenwood Assistant Living in Slayton.
“We moved closer to St. Kilian and lived there until I was about ten, I think. I went to school in St. Kilian, that was quite a few years ago!”
Kathy Dollander has never lost her sense of humor. It is a part of who she is and it can be quite contagious. Her laugh is musical and her eyes light up with a brightness that can make a dark room full of sunshine.
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