Maggie’s Story
For me everything shifts a little when someone I admire leaves this
world.
Maggie Just Herr passed away quietly the morning of December 5, 2015, just a month shy of her 96th birthday. Her son, Arlen, and little brother, George Just, were at her side.
Maggie Just Herr passed away quietly the morning of December 5, 2015, just a month shy of her 96th birthday. Her son, Arlen, and little brother, George Just, were at her side.
I chronicled Maggie’s career in Eviger Saatz (Everlasting Yeast): The Food Culture of the Germans from
Russia (2013) published by the Tri-County Tourism Alliance in North Dakota.
In an era of few women owned businesses, her story is a remarkable tale of
timing, hard work, some luck, but mostly a desire to be independent and provide
for her family. I think of her as a
force of nature, a quiet feminist, who was short in stature but tall in
ambition.
The following is excerpted from that story.
Maggie’s Café
An anchor in the community of Wishek, ND, for 58 years!
Maggie’s Café was a favorite eating place in Wishek, ND, for
58 years. In that time countless young people of the community got their first
job at Maggie’s. Many first dates and
Prom Dinners took place at Maggie’s. Bowling
banquets, board meetings and planning committees used the upstairs room -
always assured of good food and friendly service. Maggie’s was open for business through
Wishek’s Golden (1948) and Diamond (1973) Jubilee’s and the 1998 Centennial
celebration.
“I enjoyed it all so much, I would do the next one if could,”
Maggie said.
In 1943 Magdalina (Maggie) Just was a young mother seeking a
way to support herself and her young son in their community of Wishek, ND.
23-yr-old Maggie had spent several years in the employ of
the local banker, John Doyle and his wife Katherine, serving as housekeeper,
cook and childcare provider. The Doyle’s liked Maggie. She came to them with a strong work ethic and
a good nature. They entrusted her with their home and family – even taking her
on vacation with them. During her years with the Doyle family Maggie learned
household management and cooking from Mrs. Doyle that would become the
foundation for her years as a business woman in the Wishek Community.
Maggie had a “gift” with pie crust and cake baking. Her
cookies were unparalleled. Mrs. Doyle had a vision for Maggie long before
Maggie envisioned her own business future. With encouragement from Mr. and Mrs.
Doyle, Maggie opened a pastry shop in the Sheraton Hotel at 24 Centennial St.
North in downtown Wishek. The day Maggie
opened her pastry shop she had a total of $3 to her name to use for the cash
drawer. Before long, Maggie had a loyal
following and seized upon the opportunity to move across the street and open a
restaurant. When asked how she knew she
could succeed she replied, “Mrs. Doyle said I could do it!” With backing from
John Doyle at Security State Bank, Maggie borrowed the capital needed to get
started.
Long hours and childcare help from her family meant that
Maggie could work 18 hrs a day serving breakfast, lunch, supper and a late
evening crowd, often not closing up shop until midnight. Maggie could not afford to add a soda fountain
to meet the increasing demand for ice cream and soda until Doyle walked down
the street to Herr Mercantile, and bought one for the café. Maggie was allowed to make monthly payments on
her new addition.
“There were many
angels helping along the way. In the early years, I remember a week when the
Pepsi Cola driver came with a delivery and I didn’t have the cash on hand to
pay him. In an era when credit was unheard of, he smiled and said ‘You can pay
me next week.’”
After 41 years at the helm, ownership shifted to her sister Lorraine
in 1984 and Maggie was able to go back to her favorite thing - cooking and
baking with an occasional day off. Best
estimates are that in Maggie’s years in the kitchen she averaged at least 1500
pies per year.
When asked if she had any advice for future entrepreneurs,
Maggie said,” Don’t waste anything and don’t spend everything you make.” Smiling, Maggie added, “I tried always to do
that and I never went broke!”
*******************************************************
Maggie never knew her biological mother, Magdalina Haas Just,
who died at age 25 when Maggie was born. In her first year Maggie was cared for by her
father, August, and his parents until August married Albina Ketterling who,
Maggie said, “knew no bias and loved me as her own.” Maggie never forgot the
young mother who died when she was born and whose grave never had a marker. One
of Maggie’s final acts was to place a beautiful granite marker at her biological
mother’s grave at St Andrews Cemetery, rural Zeeland, ND.
Now Maggie has been reunited with both mothers and I’m
pretty sure they are all baking together.
