OBITUARY Iron River Reporter June 25 1997 "Obituaries: Sylvia Lindquist"
BATES TOWNSHIP-Sylvia A. Lindquist, 95, died June 22 at the Crystal Manor in Crystal Falls.
She was born Nov. 16, 1901 in Crystal Falls, the daughter of the late Charles and Augusta (Johnson) Peterson. She graduated from the Crystal Falls High School in 1919 and received a teaching certificate from Marquette Normal College. She taught school in Crystal Falls, Bates and West Iron County. On August 21, 1929 she married Carl Lindquist and the couple made their home at Sunset Lake. He preceded her in death on March 9, 1993. She was also preceded in death by four brothers, Harold, Rubert, Bertal and Melvin Peterson; and by one sister Evelyn Easley. She was a member of the First Lutheran Church in Iron River, the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Priscilla Circle of the church. She had also been a member of the 20th Century Women's Club, the Sunset Circle, and the Order of the Eastern Star in Iron River. She had served as an assistant 4-H agent in Iron County for eight summers.
She is survived by a sister Elaine (Warren) Davis of Crystal Falls; and 15 nieces and eight nephews.
Visitation was held Tuesday, June 24 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the First Lutheran Church in Iron River.
Funeral services were held June 24 at 1 p.m. at the church with the Rev. Thomas Wickstrom, pastor, officiating.
Burial was in Bates Cemetery.
Langenberg Funeral Home of Iron River was in charge of funeral arrangements.
RURAL SCHOOL RECOLLECTIONS "I Taught At Several Rural Schools Including the Bates Mine" page 8
In Crystal Falls High School in the spring of 1919, the students who planned to go into teaching were sometimes called to take over teaching a class in the lower grades. One afternoon I was asked to teach a third grade class while the teacher attended a funeral. Another afternoon I taught a fourth grade class-quite an experience!
After graduation from high school I attended Marquette Normal Teachers College for six weeks. We had intensive training for first year teachers.
In the fall I went to teach at the Paint Lake School 15 miles from Gibbs City. A janitor from Iron River Central School took me to Paint Lake. Besides my luggage we had all the supplies for the school year with us. Past Gibbs City this road wasn't very good. In one place they had to remove a tree that had fallen across the road.
When we got to Paint Lake, Mr. Mason, the County School Superintendent, introduced me to the parents and their three children I would be teaching. They mentioned they had picked and canned 200 quarts of blueberries. Mr. Mason said that he knew what I'd be eating this winter. Before he left, he told me that whenever the mother went to Kenton, thirteen miles away, I should go with her even if it was a school day. It was a trip with horses and wagon and a stay in Kenton overnight.
Paint Lake School was over a mile from the home. The first week of school the children walked with me. After that I would go before them, sometimes carrying a gun I had been taught to use.
After the snow came in December, we had school at the family home using the dining room table for our desks. Sometimes during the noon hour the family and I played a card game called Pedro.
During the year I learned how to fish, how to use a gun to hunt, to walk on snowshoes and skis. In the fall of the year the daughter and I would go hunting partridge even though the season was closed. The mother surely knew how to prepare the partridge for a meal.
The younger boy finished 3rd grade, the older one 5th and 6th grades. The daughter took the required 8th grade examination and entered high school in Kenton in the fall.
On the night of Memorial Day the home was burned down so the school year had to end. The family went to an uncle's home to live. They took me to Kenton where I took a train to Sidnaw, Channing and then to Crystal Falls.
The next three years I taught at the Lind District. Each summer I went to Marquette Normal for six weeks. At the Lind School there were about 19 children. Not all eight grades had students each year.
I lived at home, carried my lunch, sometimes walked the 4 miles from home and sometimes my father would take me part way by horse and cutter or by a car. The families in the Lind District were very helpful and friendly. We started a 4-H sewing club for the girls. While the girls learned to sew, the boys did carving. Later at the Bates Mine School we also had a 4-H sewing club. In the spring the lower grades were dismissed at recess so the girls could learn to sew by hand and with the machine. The parents also raised money to buy a new Singer Sewing Machine. While the girls sewed, the upper grade boys did craftwork with the help of Dorothy Diele, the lower grade teacher. I remember one boy made a pair of miniature skis that were very, very well made. We also went to school many Saturday mornings so the girls' projects would be ready for 4-H Achievement Day held in Iron River or Crystal Falls.
When I left the Lind District, I went to school for a year. Then I went to the Bates Mine School where there were two rooms. I taught there for maybe 4 years and had the upper grades. We had both an art and music teacher combined. She would come once a week. I think she even put on a pageant that was very beautiful. The parents made costumes at both school districts and we had Christmas programs that were very well attended.
One year the people from my home area were coming up by sleighs on a sleigh ride to come to the program. We were going to give the program and the people weren't there. So we went ahead and gave it and just as we were through the people came. The children and parents said they would give it over, and they did. After the program we always served coffee and sometimes had a little dance. I think they gave the money to the Singer Sewing Machine fund by charging for the lunch served afterwards.
After Bates Mine School I married and after that I taught algebra at the Rogers school 5th through 8th. I started doing 4-H programs summers every year. I worked for four different county agents-Art Hagen, Art Otterbein, E. Wenner and Roland Kaven. Then I went to Iron River and taught 8th grade math, sewing, and cooking.
I taught at the Central School. That was the first year that the high school moved to the new building. I came to school and found all the books were on the floor in the hall. They had just moved things from other places so that was quite a trick to get everything organized for the first day of school.
I taught 18 1/2 years in all and retired in 1961.
~Sylvia Peterson Lindquist~
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "The Andrew Martinson Family" page 128 (excerpt)
Going to school for us was quite an ordeal. We could only speak Norwegian. We were very lucky that Sylvia Peterson Lindquist was our teacher because she spoke Swedish, so she knew what we were trying to say. I'll always be grateful to her for that.
Submitted by Halldes Martinson Nocerini
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "C. William & Selma Johnson; Bill & Selma Johnson Family" page 82 (excerpt)
The Bates School at the top of the Bates Mine hill was the center of many activities. Teacher Sylvia Peterson was one of the best, giving her students a wonderful foundation in the basics. Carl Lindquist was courting her at the time.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book page 314 "Bates Mine Location Memories of Eunice (Christensen) Hamacher" page 328 (excerpt)
Our school (Bates Mine School) was first through sixth. My teachers included Fifth and Sixth (Intermediate)-Sylvia A. Peterson.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Bates Mine School" page 203 (excerpt)
The Bates Mine School was erected by A.H. Proksch when the Bates Location was built, around 1917. Some of the teachers at the Bates Mine School included Sylvia Peterson (Lindquist).
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Memories of a School Teacher" page 223
The Christmas Program was a highlight of the year for students at the Bates Mine School. When Dorothy (Dicle) Purdy and I came to school on the Monday morning the week of the program, we were surprised to find that the fathers of the students had built a sturdy stage across the front of the upper grade room. The mothers supplied a curtain for the stage and also made costumes for the program songs and skits.
There was 'standing room only' on the night of the program. The stage was taken down during Christmas vacation so classes could be normal again. The stage was put up again the following two years.
During the spring months, the children in the lower grades were dismissed at recess time on Friday afternoons so that the older girls could learn to sew in a 4-H program. While the girls sewed, Miss Dicle worked with the boys on handicraft articles. The girls and I also met some Saturday mornings in order to get ready for Achievement Day. The girls fared very well in county competition in sewing and in project demonstrations.
The parents raised money to buy the Singer Sewing Machine for the girls sewing.
Some mothers sent for flowers for the teacher's desk many times. One kind I remember was the beautiful Cosmos Mrs. Berry sent every year.
~Sylvia (Peterson) Lindquist~
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Bates Home Extension Club" page 287 (excerpt)
The first records of the Home Economics Group (part of the Michigan Extension work) was an organizational meeting at the home of Mrs. Sylvia Lindquist on November 23, 1931, to study home furnishings.
The officers elected included Project Leaders-Mrs. Sylvia (Carl) Lindquist and Mrs. Anna (Ernest) Johnson.
The projects under Home Furnishings were: Selection of slip covers and upholstery materials, making of slipcovers and upholstering, removing paint and varnish, window treatment, picture hanging and flower arrangement. Achievement Day was May 19th.
In 1932 and 1933 a clothing project (part of the Michigan Extension work) was organized. There we learned of color in a costume and ideas for Christmas gifts, points on dress design, collars and sleeves, testing materials, fitting and finishing, dress accessories, and dry cleaning at home.
The Project Leaders were Mrs. Hilja (Ben) Langendorf and Mrs. Sylvia (Carl) Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Sunset Circle" page 288 (excerpt)
On September 13, 1954 a Home Demonstration Club was organized. The Sunset Circle began and became a part of the Michigan State Extension program in Iron County.
Chairmen through the years have included Sylvia Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Carl G. Lindquist: State Legislator 1941-1954" page 117
Carl was married to Sylvia Peterson from Crystal Falls on August 21, 1929. They had their 55th anniversary in 1984.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book page 314 "Bates Township Hall" page 314 (excerpt)
In 1963, a group of women from the Sunset Circle Home Extension Club approached the township board to see what could be done about the inconvenient kitchen and the lack of dishes and flatware in the Hall. Realizing the need for modernizing the area but not having the finances, the board accepted the proposal by the women to spearhead a drive to update the facility.
All clubs were either regular users of the hall or were groups whose memberships included civic-minded Bates residents. No one refused, though some groups had to initiate fund raising projects to fulfill their campaign pledges. The Sunset Circle led the way with a coffee klatch at the home of Mrs. Carl Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Banquet of the Century" page 358 (excerpt)
Those who addressed the gathering included Sylvia Lindquist and Agnes Anderson, retired teachers.
NEWS ARTICLE Iron River Reporter May 2 1990 "'Community Minded Woman' To Lindquist"
IRON RIVER-Sylvia Peterson Lindquist has been selected as the Community Minded Woman of 1990 by the Twentieth Century Club.
She will receive the award at the annual Michigan Week banquet in May.
She was born and went to school in Crystal Falls and obtained her teaching credentials from Marquette. Her first teaching job was at the one-room school at Paint Lake. While there, the people she lived with taught her to shoot and encouraged her to carry a gun as she walked to school. That way she could bring home, if not the bacon, at least some meat for supper.
She subsequently taught in the Crystal Falls, Bates Mine and Iron River schools and worked in the summers for the Extension department as assistant 4-H and Extension club leader.
In 1929, Sylvia Peterson married Carl Lindquist and traveled to and from Lansing with him during the 14 years he served in the Legislature. During that time, she was secretary of the House and Senate Wives Club.
She has been active in her church, having served as Sunday school and vacation bible school teacher and president of the Ladies Aid. She is presently a member of the Priscilla Circle and the WELCA. She belongs to the Sunset Circle and was treasurer of that organization for 15 years. She also belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star, Aerie 410 and is a 50-year member of the Twentieth Century Club.
NEWS ARTICLE Iron River Reporter Feb 12 1986 "Still Sweethearts After 56 Years" with photo (not shown)
BATES TOWNSHIP-About sixty years ago, Sylvia and Carl Lindquist were matched up for a date.
Last August, they celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary.
Hmmmm. Looks like the couple who played Cupid knew what they were doing.
"Oh, you can't blame them," mused Carl, 89. "They're both dead now."
While there appears to be some discrepancy about where the pair actually went on that first date, Sylvia and Carl agree that one of their early outings was to a Valentine's Day party at Stambaugh Elementary School.
That's when she was an elementary school teacher at the Rogers School in Bates, and he was working at the Bates Mine.
Was it love at first sight?
"I don't know," said Carl, his eyes taking on an elfin gleam. "You know, I was getting old." (He was 28.)
Sylvia, 84, recalled when she first laid eyes on him. It was in the Rogers School balcony during a lyceum performance in 1925.
"He asked to give me a ride home, but I told him I wanted to ride home with the people I came with," she said.
Carl finally won, though. Four years later, after a garden wedding, she rode home from her parents' Crystal Falls home as his bride. They took up residence in his folks' home at 607 Sunset Lake Rd., where they still live.
However, Carl, who doesn't consider himself much of a romantic, didn't forget the honeymoon. The newlyweds did it up right-they went to Niagara Falls.
"I remember we ate peaches and cream for breakfast every day," said Sylvia, grinning at her husband.
"Then we came home and went to work," Carl followed up in his pragmatic way.
While her work continued in the teaching profession, he gave up mining and helped his brother Walter run his parents' dairy farm.
"And sometimes, she cooked," cracked Carl.
Their lives took an adventurous turn when he, after occupying various local and county government posts, was elected to serve as a state representative in Lansing from 1941 to 1953.
"I was so glad when she came to Lansing with me. I needed her," said Carl, who sponsored with Rep. Al Richards of Marquette legislation to build the Mackinac Bridge.
Still, Carl said he was glad to get back to the Sunset Lake area where he loves to walk. However, he admits he has had to cut his daily 10-mile jaunt down to two miles. Both like gardening and reading.
Recently, he learned a new skill. When Sylvia fell and broke her hip in November, "I finally learned how to run the washing machine," he laughed.
"And boy, when she was in the hospital, you should have seen all the neighbor ladies cooking for me. Pies, cakes…"
Sylvia, who still uses a walker to get around, joined in the fun. "I didn't have to bake for two months."
It was easy to see that humor runs rampant in this marriage. Is that how they made it stick all these years?
"Oh, he does joke a lot. He's got a subtle sense of humor, and I appreciate it," says Sylvia. "We've always been happy, and we never quarrel."
Now that the Lindquists' golden anniversary has come and gone, you might wonder what milestones are left for the couple.
Why, their 60th anniversary, of course. Both Sylvia and Carl are looking forward to it four years from now.
This week, though, Carl has something else on his mind-Valentine's Day. If Sylvia can't go out for dinner because of icy conditions, he'll buy her a card and celebrate at home.
Yep….they're just a couple of old sweethearts.
OBITUARY of Carl Lindquist 1993 says he married the former Sylvia Peterson of Crystal Falls on Aug 21 1929 and the couple made their home at Sunset Lake.
INFORMATION from Edith Johnson Avise says Sylvia was her teacher at Bates Mine School in 4th-6th grades room where schoolwork was more serious. Excellent teacher. Tall woman, always very fair, unrattled. Gave good grounding in English, arithmetic, history; also was 4-H leader; did community-admired Christmas programs; went to library between classes each day to make big kettle of cocoa. Organized student Maypole dance.
BATES TOWNSHIP-Sylvia A. Lindquist, 95, died June 22 at the Crystal Manor in Crystal Falls.
She was born Nov. 16, 1901 in Crystal Falls, the daughter of the late Charles and Augusta (Johnson) Peterson. She graduated from the Crystal Falls High School in 1919 and received a teaching certificate from Marquette Normal College. She taught school in Crystal Falls, Bates and West Iron County. On August 21, 1929 she married Carl Lindquist and the couple made their home at Sunset Lake. He preceded her in death on March 9, 1993. She was also preceded in death by four brothers, Harold, Rubert, Bertal and Melvin Peterson; and by one sister Evelyn Easley. She was a member of the First Lutheran Church in Iron River, the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Priscilla Circle of the church. She had also been a member of the 20th Century Women's Club, the Sunset Circle, and the Order of the Eastern Star in Iron River. She had served as an assistant 4-H agent in Iron County for eight summers.
She is survived by a sister Elaine (Warren) Davis of Crystal Falls; and 15 nieces and eight nephews.
Visitation was held Tuesday, June 24 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the First Lutheran Church in Iron River.
Funeral services were held June 24 at 1 p.m. at the church with the Rev. Thomas Wickstrom, pastor, officiating.
Burial was in Bates Cemetery.
Langenberg Funeral Home of Iron River was in charge of funeral arrangements.
RURAL SCHOOL RECOLLECTIONS "I Taught At Several Rural Schools Including the Bates Mine" page 8
In Crystal Falls High School in the spring of 1919, the students who planned to go into teaching were sometimes called to take over teaching a class in the lower grades. One afternoon I was asked to teach a third grade class while the teacher attended a funeral. Another afternoon I taught a fourth grade class-quite an experience!
After graduation from high school I attended Marquette Normal Teachers College for six weeks. We had intensive training for first year teachers.
In the fall I went to teach at the Paint Lake School 15 miles from Gibbs City. A janitor from Iron River Central School took me to Paint Lake. Besides my luggage we had all the supplies for the school year with us. Past Gibbs City this road wasn't very good. In one place they had to remove a tree that had fallen across the road.
When we got to Paint Lake, Mr. Mason, the County School Superintendent, introduced me to the parents and their three children I would be teaching. They mentioned they had picked and canned 200 quarts of blueberries. Mr. Mason said that he knew what I'd be eating this winter. Before he left, he told me that whenever the mother went to Kenton, thirteen miles away, I should go with her even if it was a school day. It was a trip with horses and wagon and a stay in Kenton overnight.
Paint Lake School was over a mile from the home. The first week of school the children walked with me. After that I would go before them, sometimes carrying a gun I had been taught to use.
After the snow came in December, we had school at the family home using the dining room table for our desks. Sometimes during the noon hour the family and I played a card game called Pedro.
During the year I learned how to fish, how to use a gun to hunt, to walk on snowshoes and skis. In the fall of the year the daughter and I would go hunting partridge even though the season was closed. The mother surely knew how to prepare the partridge for a meal.
The younger boy finished 3rd grade, the older one 5th and 6th grades. The daughter took the required 8th grade examination and entered high school in Kenton in the fall.
On the night of Memorial Day the home was burned down so the school year had to end. The family went to an uncle's home to live. They took me to Kenton where I took a train to Sidnaw, Channing and then to Crystal Falls.
The next three years I taught at the Lind District. Each summer I went to Marquette Normal for six weeks. At the Lind School there were about 19 children. Not all eight grades had students each year.
I lived at home, carried my lunch, sometimes walked the 4 miles from home and sometimes my father would take me part way by horse and cutter or by a car. The families in the Lind District were very helpful and friendly. We started a 4-H sewing club for the girls. While the girls learned to sew, the boys did carving. Later at the Bates Mine School we also had a 4-H sewing club. In the spring the lower grades were dismissed at recess so the girls could learn to sew by hand and with the machine. The parents also raised money to buy a new Singer Sewing Machine. While the girls sewed, the upper grade boys did craftwork with the help of Dorothy Diele, the lower grade teacher. I remember one boy made a pair of miniature skis that were very, very well made. We also went to school many Saturday mornings so the girls' projects would be ready for 4-H Achievement Day held in Iron River or Crystal Falls.
When I left the Lind District, I went to school for a year. Then I went to the Bates Mine School where there were two rooms. I taught there for maybe 4 years and had the upper grades. We had both an art and music teacher combined. She would come once a week. I think she even put on a pageant that was very beautiful. The parents made costumes at both school districts and we had Christmas programs that were very well attended.
One year the people from my home area were coming up by sleighs on a sleigh ride to come to the program. We were going to give the program and the people weren't there. So we went ahead and gave it and just as we were through the people came. The children and parents said they would give it over, and they did. After the program we always served coffee and sometimes had a little dance. I think they gave the money to the Singer Sewing Machine fund by charging for the lunch served afterwards.
After Bates Mine School I married and after that I taught algebra at the Rogers school 5th through 8th. I started doing 4-H programs summers every year. I worked for four different county agents-Art Hagen, Art Otterbein, E. Wenner and Roland Kaven. Then I went to Iron River and taught 8th grade math, sewing, and cooking.
I taught at the Central School. That was the first year that the high school moved to the new building. I came to school and found all the books were on the floor in the hall. They had just moved things from other places so that was quite a trick to get everything organized for the first day of school.
I taught 18 1/2 years in all and retired in 1961.
~Sylvia Peterson Lindquist~
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "The Andrew Martinson Family" page 128 (excerpt)
Going to school for us was quite an ordeal. We could only speak Norwegian. We were very lucky that Sylvia Peterson Lindquist was our teacher because she spoke Swedish, so she knew what we were trying to say. I'll always be grateful to her for that.
Submitted by Halldes Martinson Nocerini
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "C. William & Selma Johnson; Bill & Selma Johnson Family" page 82 (excerpt)
The Bates School at the top of the Bates Mine hill was the center of many activities. Teacher Sylvia Peterson was one of the best, giving her students a wonderful foundation in the basics. Carl Lindquist was courting her at the time.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book page 314 "Bates Mine Location Memories of Eunice (Christensen) Hamacher" page 328 (excerpt)
Our school (Bates Mine School) was first through sixth. My teachers included Fifth and Sixth (Intermediate)-Sylvia A. Peterson.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Bates Mine School" page 203 (excerpt)
The Bates Mine School was erected by A.H. Proksch when the Bates Location was built, around 1917. Some of the teachers at the Bates Mine School included Sylvia Peterson (Lindquist).
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Memories of a School Teacher" page 223
The Christmas Program was a highlight of the year for students at the Bates Mine School. When Dorothy (Dicle) Purdy and I came to school on the Monday morning the week of the program, we were surprised to find that the fathers of the students had built a sturdy stage across the front of the upper grade room. The mothers supplied a curtain for the stage and also made costumes for the program songs and skits.
There was 'standing room only' on the night of the program. The stage was taken down during Christmas vacation so classes could be normal again. The stage was put up again the following two years.
During the spring months, the children in the lower grades were dismissed at recess time on Friday afternoons so that the older girls could learn to sew in a 4-H program. While the girls sewed, Miss Dicle worked with the boys on handicraft articles. The girls and I also met some Saturday mornings in order to get ready for Achievement Day. The girls fared very well in county competition in sewing and in project demonstrations.
The parents raised money to buy the Singer Sewing Machine for the girls sewing.
Some mothers sent for flowers for the teacher's desk many times. One kind I remember was the beautiful Cosmos Mrs. Berry sent every year.
~Sylvia (Peterson) Lindquist~
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Bates Home Extension Club" page 287 (excerpt)
The first records of the Home Economics Group (part of the Michigan Extension work) was an organizational meeting at the home of Mrs. Sylvia Lindquist on November 23, 1931, to study home furnishings.
The officers elected included Project Leaders-Mrs. Sylvia (Carl) Lindquist and Mrs. Anna (Ernest) Johnson.
The projects under Home Furnishings were: Selection of slip covers and upholstery materials, making of slipcovers and upholstering, removing paint and varnish, window treatment, picture hanging and flower arrangement. Achievement Day was May 19th.
In 1932 and 1933 a clothing project (part of the Michigan Extension work) was organized. There we learned of color in a costume and ideas for Christmas gifts, points on dress design, collars and sleeves, testing materials, fitting and finishing, dress accessories, and dry cleaning at home.
The Project Leaders were Mrs. Hilja (Ben) Langendorf and Mrs. Sylvia (Carl) Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Sunset Circle" page 288 (excerpt)
On September 13, 1954 a Home Demonstration Club was organized. The Sunset Circle began and became a part of the Michigan State Extension program in Iron County.
Chairmen through the years have included Sylvia Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Carl G. Lindquist: State Legislator 1941-1954" page 117
Carl was married to Sylvia Peterson from Crystal Falls on August 21, 1929. They had their 55th anniversary in 1984.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book page 314 "Bates Township Hall" page 314 (excerpt)
In 1963, a group of women from the Sunset Circle Home Extension Club approached the township board to see what could be done about the inconvenient kitchen and the lack of dishes and flatware in the Hall. Realizing the need for modernizing the area but not having the finances, the board accepted the proposal by the women to spearhead a drive to update the facility.
All clubs were either regular users of the hall or were groups whose memberships included civic-minded Bates residents. No one refused, though some groups had to initiate fund raising projects to fulfill their campaign pledges. The Sunset Circle led the way with a coffee klatch at the home of Mrs. Carl Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Banquet of the Century" page 358 (excerpt)
Those who addressed the gathering included Sylvia Lindquist and Agnes Anderson, retired teachers.
NEWS ARTICLE Iron River Reporter May 2 1990 "'Community Minded Woman' To Lindquist"
IRON RIVER-Sylvia Peterson Lindquist has been selected as the Community Minded Woman of 1990 by the Twentieth Century Club.
She will receive the award at the annual Michigan Week banquet in May.
She was born and went to school in Crystal Falls and obtained her teaching credentials from Marquette. Her first teaching job was at the one-room school at Paint Lake. While there, the people she lived with taught her to shoot and encouraged her to carry a gun as she walked to school. That way she could bring home, if not the bacon, at least some meat for supper.
She subsequently taught in the Crystal Falls, Bates Mine and Iron River schools and worked in the summers for the Extension department as assistant 4-H and Extension club leader.
In 1929, Sylvia Peterson married Carl Lindquist and traveled to and from Lansing with him during the 14 years he served in the Legislature. During that time, she was secretary of the House and Senate Wives Club.
She has been active in her church, having served as Sunday school and vacation bible school teacher and president of the Ladies Aid. She is presently a member of the Priscilla Circle and the WELCA. She belongs to the Sunset Circle and was treasurer of that organization for 15 years. She also belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star, Aerie 410 and is a 50-year member of the Twentieth Century Club.
NEWS ARTICLE Iron River Reporter Feb 12 1986 "Still Sweethearts After 56 Years" with photo (not shown)
BATES TOWNSHIP-About sixty years ago, Sylvia and Carl Lindquist were matched up for a date.
Last August, they celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary.
Hmmmm. Looks like the couple who played Cupid knew what they were doing.
"Oh, you can't blame them," mused Carl, 89. "They're both dead now."
While there appears to be some discrepancy about where the pair actually went on that first date, Sylvia and Carl agree that one of their early outings was to a Valentine's Day party at Stambaugh Elementary School.
That's when she was an elementary school teacher at the Rogers School in Bates, and he was working at the Bates Mine.
Was it love at first sight?
"I don't know," said Carl, his eyes taking on an elfin gleam. "You know, I was getting old." (He was 28.)
Sylvia, 84, recalled when she first laid eyes on him. It was in the Rogers School balcony during a lyceum performance in 1925.
"He asked to give me a ride home, but I told him I wanted to ride home with the people I came with," she said.
Carl finally won, though. Four years later, after a garden wedding, she rode home from her parents' Crystal Falls home as his bride. They took up residence in his folks' home at 607 Sunset Lake Rd., where they still live.
However, Carl, who doesn't consider himself much of a romantic, didn't forget the honeymoon. The newlyweds did it up right-they went to Niagara Falls.
"I remember we ate peaches and cream for breakfast every day," said Sylvia, grinning at her husband.
"Then we came home and went to work," Carl followed up in his pragmatic way.
While her work continued in the teaching profession, he gave up mining and helped his brother Walter run his parents' dairy farm.
"And sometimes, she cooked," cracked Carl.
Their lives took an adventurous turn when he, after occupying various local and county government posts, was elected to serve as a state representative in Lansing from 1941 to 1953.
"I was so glad when she came to Lansing with me. I needed her," said Carl, who sponsored with Rep. Al Richards of Marquette legislation to build the Mackinac Bridge.
Still, Carl said he was glad to get back to the Sunset Lake area where he loves to walk. However, he admits he has had to cut his daily 10-mile jaunt down to two miles. Both like gardening and reading.
Recently, he learned a new skill. When Sylvia fell and broke her hip in November, "I finally learned how to run the washing machine," he laughed.
"And boy, when she was in the hospital, you should have seen all the neighbor ladies cooking for me. Pies, cakes…"
Sylvia, who still uses a walker to get around, joined in the fun. "I didn't have to bake for two months."
It was easy to see that humor runs rampant in this marriage. Is that how they made it stick all these years?
"Oh, he does joke a lot. He's got a subtle sense of humor, and I appreciate it," says Sylvia. "We've always been happy, and we never quarrel."
Now that the Lindquists' golden anniversary has come and gone, you might wonder what milestones are left for the couple.
Why, their 60th anniversary, of course. Both Sylvia and Carl are looking forward to it four years from now.
This week, though, Carl has something else on his mind-Valentine's Day. If Sylvia can't go out for dinner because of icy conditions, he'll buy her a card and celebrate at home.
Yep….they're just a couple of old sweethearts.
OBITUARY of Carl Lindquist 1993 says he married the former Sylvia Peterson of Crystal Falls on Aug 21 1929 and the couple made their home at Sunset Lake.
INFORMATION from Edith Johnson Avise says Sylvia was her teacher at Bates Mine School in 4th-6th grades room where schoolwork was more serious. Excellent teacher. Tall woman, always very fair, unrattled. Gave good grounding in English, arithmetic, history; also was 4-H leader; did community-admired Christmas programs; went to library between classes each day to make big kettle of cocoa. Organized student Maypole dance.
OBITUARY Iron River Reporter June 25 1997 "Obituaries: Sylvia Lindquist"
BATES TOWNSHIP-Sylvia A. Lindquist, 95, died June 22 at the Crystal Manor in Crystal Falls.
She was born Nov. 16, 1901 in Crystal Falls, the daughter of the late Charles and Augusta (Johnson) Peterson. She graduated from the Crystal Falls High School in 1919 and received a teaching certificate from Marquette Normal College. She taught school in Crystal Falls, Bates and West Iron County. On August 21, 1929 she married Carl Lindquist and the couple made their home at Sunset Lake. He preceded her in death on March 9, 1993. She was also preceded in death by four brothers, Harold, Rubert, Bertal and Melvin Peterson; and by one sister Evelyn Easley. She was a member of the First Lutheran Church in Iron River, the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Priscilla Circle of the church. She had also been a member of the 20th Century Women's Club, the Sunset Circle, and the Order of the Eastern Star in Iron River. She had served as an assistant 4-H agent in Iron County for eight summers.
She is survived by a sister Elaine (Warren) Davis of Crystal Falls; and 15 nieces and eight nephews.
Visitation was held Tuesday, June 24 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the First Lutheran Church in Iron River.
Funeral services were held June 24 at 1 p.m. at the church with the Rev. Thomas Wickstrom, pastor, officiating.
Burial was in Bates Cemetery.
Langenberg Funeral Home of Iron River was in charge of funeral arrangements.
RURAL SCHOOL RECOLLECTIONS "I Taught At Several Rural Schools Including the Bates Mine" page 8
In Crystal Falls High School in the spring of 1919, the students who planned to go into teaching were sometimes called to take over teaching a class in the lower grades. One afternoon I was asked to teach a third grade class while the teacher attended a funeral. Another afternoon I taught a fourth grade class-quite an experience!
After graduation from high school I attended Marquette Normal Teachers College for six weeks. We had intensive training for first year teachers.
In the fall I went to teach at the Paint Lake School 15 miles from Gibbs City. A janitor from Iron River Central School took me to Paint Lake. Besides my luggage we had all the supplies for the school year with us. Past Gibbs City this road wasn't very good. In one place they had to remove a tree that had fallen across the road.
When we got to Paint Lake, Mr. Mason, the County School Superintendent, introduced me to the parents and their three children I would be teaching. They mentioned they had picked and canned 200 quarts of blueberries. Mr. Mason said that he knew what I'd be eating this winter. Before he left, he told me that whenever the mother went to Kenton, thirteen miles away, I should go with her even if it was a school day. It was a trip with horses and wagon and a stay in Kenton overnight.
Paint Lake School was over a mile from the home. The first week of school the children walked with me. After that I would go before them, sometimes carrying a gun I had been taught to use.
After the snow came in December, we had school at the family home using the dining room table for our desks. Sometimes during the noon hour the family and I played a card game called Pedro.
During the year I learned how to fish, how to use a gun to hunt, to walk on snowshoes and skis. In the fall of the year the daughter and I would go hunting partridge even though the season was closed. The mother surely knew how to prepare the partridge for a meal.
The younger boy finished 3rd grade, the older one 5th and 6th grades. The daughter took the required 8th grade examination and entered high school in Kenton in the fall.
On the night of Memorial Day the home was burned down so the school year had to end. The family went to an uncle's home to live. They took me to Kenton where I took a train to Sidnaw, Channing and then to Crystal Falls.
The next three years I taught at the Lind District. Each summer I went to Marquette Normal for six weeks. At the Lind School there were about 19 children. Not all eight grades had students each year.
I lived at home, carried my lunch, sometimes walked the 4 miles from home and sometimes my father would take me part way by horse and cutter or by a car. The families in the Lind District were very helpful and friendly. We started a 4-H sewing club for the girls. While the girls learned to sew, the boys did carving. Later at the Bates Mine School we also had a 4-H sewing club. In the spring the lower grades were dismissed at recess so the girls could learn to sew by hand and with the machine. The parents also raised money to buy a new Singer Sewing Machine. While the girls sewed, the upper grade boys did craftwork with the help of Dorothy Diele, the lower grade teacher. I remember one boy made a pair of miniature skis that were very, very well made. We also went to school many Saturday mornings so the girls' projects would be ready for 4-H Achievement Day held in Iron River or Crystal Falls.
When I left the Lind District, I went to school for a year. Then I went to the Bates Mine School where there were two rooms. I taught there for maybe 4 years and had the upper grades. We had both an art and music teacher combined. She would come once a week. I think she even put on a pageant that was very beautiful. The parents made costumes at both school districts and we had Christmas programs that were very well attended.
One year the people from my home area were coming up by sleighs on a sleigh ride to come to the program. We were going to give the program and the people weren't there. So we went ahead and gave it and just as we were through the people came. The children and parents said they would give it over, and they did. After the program we always served coffee and sometimes had a little dance. I think they gave the money to the Singer Sewing Machine fund by charging for the lunch served afterwards.
After Bates Mine School I married and after that I taught algebra at the Rogers school 5th through 8th. I started doing 4-H programs summers every year. I worked for four different county agents-Art Hagen, Art Otterbein, E. Wenner and Roland Kaven. Then I went to Iron River and taught 8th grade math, sewing, and cooking.
I taught at the Central School. That was the first year that the high school moved to the new building. I came to school and found all the books were on the floor in the hall. They had just moved things from other places so that was quite a trick to get everything organized for the first day of school.
I taught 18 1/2 years in all and retired in 1961.
~Sylvia Peterson Lindquist~
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "The Andrew Martinson Family" page 128 (excerpt)
Going to school for us was quite an ordeal. We could only speak Norwegian. We were very lucky that Sylvia Peterson Lindquist was our teacher because she spoke Swedish, so she knew what we were trying to say. I'll always be grateful to her for that.
Submitted by Halldes Martinson Nocerini
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "C. William & Selma Johnson; Bill & Selma Johnson Family" page 82 (excerpt)
The Bates School at the top of the Bates Mine hill was the center of many activities. Teacher Sylvia Peterson was one of the best, giving her students a wonderful foundation in the basics. Carl Lindquist was courting her at the time.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book page 314 "Bates Mine Location Memories of Eunice (Christensen) Hamacher" page 328 (excerpt)
Our school (Bates Mine School) was first through sixth. My teachers included Fifth and Sixth (Intermediate)-Sylvia A. Peterson.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Bates Mine School" page 203 (excerpt)
The Bates Mine School was erected by A.H. Proksch when the Bates Location was built, around 1917. Some of the teachers at the Bates Mine School included Sylvia Peterson (Lindquist).
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Memories of a School Teacher" page 223
The Christmas Program was a highlight of the year for students at the Bates Mine School. When Dorothy (Dicle) Purdy and I came to school on the Monday morning the week of the program, we were surprised to find that the fathers of the students had built a sturdy stage across the front of the upper grade room. The mothers supplied a curtain for the stage and also made costumes for the program songs and skits.
There was 'standing room only' on the night of the program. The stage was taken down during Christmas vacation so classes could be normal again. The stage was put up again the following two years.
During the spring months, the children in the lower grades were dismissed at recess time on Friday afternoons so that the older girls could learn to sew in a 4-H program. While the girls sewed, Miss Dicle worked with the boys on handicraft articles. The girls and I also met some Saturday mornings in order to get ready for Achievement Day. The girls fared very well in county competition in sewing and in project demonstrations.
The parents raised money to buy the Singer Sewing Machine for the girls sewing.
Some mothers sent for flowers for the teacher's desk many times. One kind I remember was the beautiful Cosmos Mrs. Berry sent every year.
~Sylvia (Peterson) Lindquist~
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Bates Home Extension Club" page 287 (excerpt)
The first records of the Home Economics Group (part of the Michigan Extension work) was an organizational meeting at the home of Mrs. Sylvia Lindquist on November 23, 1931, to study home furnishings.
The officers elected included Project Leaders-Mrs. Sylvia (Carl) Lindquist and Mrs. Anna (Ernest) Johnson.
The projects under Home Furnishings were: Selection of slip covers and upholstery materials, making of slipcovers and upholstering, removing paint and varnish, window treatment, picture hanging and flower arrangement. Achievement Day was May 19th.
In 1932 and 1933 a clothing project (part of the Michigan Extension work) was organized. There we learned of color in a costume and ideas for Christmas gifts, points on dress design, collars and sleeves, testing materials, fitting and finishing, dress accessories, and dry cleaning at home.
The Project Leaders were Mrs. Hilja (Ben) Langendorf and Mrs. Sylvia (Carl) Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Sunset Circle" page 288 (excerpt)
On September 13, 1954 a Home Demonstration Club was organized. The Sunset Circle began and became a part of the Michigan State Extension program in Iron County.
Chairmen through the years have included Sylvia Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Carl G. Lindquist: State Legislator 1941-1954" page 117
Carl was married to Sylvia Peterson from Crystal Falls on August 21, 1929. They had their 55th anniversary in 1984.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book page 314 "Bates Township Hall" page 314 (excerpt)
In 1963, a group of women from the Sunset Circle Home Extension Club approached the township board to see what could be done about the inconvenient kitchen and the lack of dishes and flatware in the Hall. Realizing the need for modernizing the area but not having the finances, the board accepted the proposal by the women to spearhead a drive to update the facility.
All clubs were either regular users of the hall or were groups whose memberships included civic-minded Bates residents. No one refused, though some groups had to initiate fund raising projects to fulfill their campaign pledges. The Sunset Circle led the way with a coffee klatch at the home of Mrs. Carl Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Banquet of the Century" page 358 (excerpt)
Those who addressed the gathering included Sylvia Lindquist and Agnes Anderson, retired teachers.
NEWS ARTICLE Iron River Reporter May 2 1990 "'Community Minded Woman' To Lindquist"
IRON RIVER-Sylvia Peterson Lindquist has been selected as the Community Minded Woman of 1990 by the Twentieth Century Club.
She will receive the award at the annual Michigan Week banquet in May.
She was born and went to school in Crystal Falls and obtained her teaching credentials from Marquette. Her first teaching job was at the one-room school at Paint Lake. While there, the people she lived with taught her to shoot and encouraged her to carry a gun as she walked to school. That way she could bring home, if not the bacon, at least some meat for supper.
She subsequently taught in the Crystal Falls, Bates Mine and Iron River schools and worked in the summers for the Extension department as assistant 4-H and Extension club leader.
In 1929, Sylvia Peterson married Carl Lindquist and traveled to and from Lansing with him during the 14 years he served in the Legislature. During that time, she was secretary of the House and Senate Wives Club.
She has been active in her church, having served as Sunday school and vacation bible school teacher and president of the Ladies Aid. She is presently a member of the Priscilla Circle and the WELCA. She belongs to the Sunset Circle and was treasurer of that organization for 15 years. She also belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star, Aerie 410 and is a 50-year member of the Twentieth Century Club.
NEWS ARTICLE Iron River Reporter Feb 12 1986 "Still Sweethearts After 56 Years" with photo (not shown)
BATES TOWNSHIP-About sixty years ago, Sylvia and Carl Lindquist were matched up for a date.
Last August, they celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary.
Hmmmm. Looks like the couple who played Cupid knew what they were doing.
"Oh, you can't blame them," mused Carl, 89. "They're both dead now."
While there appears to be some discrepancy about where the pair actually went on that first date, Sylvia and Carl agree that one of their early outings was to a Valentine's Day party at Stambaugh Elementary School.
That's when she was an elementary school teacher at the Rogers School in Bates, and he was working at the Bates Mine.
Was it love at first sight?
"I don't know," said Carl, his eyes taking on an elfin gleam. "You know, I was getting old." (He was 28.)
Sylvia, 84, recalled when she first laid eyes on him. It was in the Rogers School balcony during a lyceum performance in 1925.
"He asked to give me a ride home, but I told him I wanted to ride home with the people I came with," she said.
Carl finally won, though. Four years later, after a garden wedding, she rode home from her parents' Crystal Falls home as his bride. They took up residence in his folks' home at 607 Sunset Lake Rd., where they still live.
However, Carl, who doesn't consider himself much of a romantic, didn't forget the honeymoon. The newlyweds did it up right-they went to Niagara Falls.
"I remember we ate peaches and cream for breakfast every day," said Sylvia, grinning at her husband.
"Then we came home and went to work," Carl followed up in his pragmatic way.
While her work continued in the teaching profession, he gave up mining and helped his brother Walter run his parents' dairy farm.
"And sometimes, she cooked," cracked Carl.
Their lives took an adventurous turn when he, after occupying various local and county government posts, was elected to serve as a state representative in Lansing from 1941 to 1953.
"I was so glad when she came to Lansing with me. I needed her," said Carl, who sponsored with Rep. Al Richards of Marquette legislation to build the Mackinac Bridge.
Still, Carl said he was glad to get back to the Sunset Lake area where he loves to walk. However, he admits he has had to cut his daily 10-mile jaunt down to two miles. Both like gardening and reading.
Recently, he learned a new skill. When Sylvia fell and broke her hip in November, "I finally learned how to run the washing machine," he laughed.
"And boy, when she was in the hospital, you should have seen all the neighbor ladies cooking for me. Pies, cakes…"
Sylvia, who still uses a walker to get around, joined in the fun. "I didn't have to bake for two months."
It was easy to see that humor runs rampant in this marriage. Is that how they made it stick all these years?
"Oh, he does joke a lot. He's got a subtle sense of humor, and I appreciate it," says Sylvia. "We've always been happy, and we never quarrel."
Now that the Lindquists' golden anniversary has come and gone, you might wonder what milestones are left for the couple.
Why, their 60th anniversary, of course. Both Sylvia and Carl are looking forward to it four years from now.
This week, though, Carl has something else on his mind-Valentine's Day. If Sylvia can't go out for dinner because of icy conditions, he'll buy her a card and celebrate at home.
Yep….they're just a couple of old sweethearts.
OBITUARY of Carl Lindquist 1993 says he married the former Sylvia Peterson of Crystal Falls on Aug 21 1929 and the couple made their home at Sunset Lake.
INFORMATION from Edith Johnson Avise says Sylvia was her teacher at Bates Mine School in 4th-6th grades room where schoolwork was more serious. Excellent teacher. Tall woman, always very fair, unrattled. Gave good grounding in English, arithmetic, history; also was 4-H leader; did community-admired Christmas programs; went to library between classes each day to make big kettle of cocoa. Organized student Maypole dance.
BATES TOWNSHIP-Sylvia A. Lindquist, 95, died June 22 at the Crystal Manor in Crystal Falls.
She was born Nov. 16, 1901 in Crystal Falls, the daughter of the late Charles and Augusta (Johnson) Peterson. She graduated from the Crystal Falls High School in 1919 and received a teaching certificate from Marquette Normal College. She taught school in Crystal Falls, Bates and West Iron County. On August 21, 1929 she married Carl Lindquist and the couple made their home at Sunset Lake. He preceded her in death on March 9, 1993. She was also preceded in death by four brothers, Harold, Rubert, Bertal and Melvin Peterson; and by one sister Evelyn Easley. She was a member of the First Lutheran Church in Iron River, the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Priscilla Circle of the church. She had also been a member of the 20th Century Women's Club, the Sunset Circle, and the Order of the Eastern Star in Iron River. She had served as an assistant 4-H agent in Iron County for eight summers.
She is survived by a sister Elaine (Warren) Davis of Crystal Falls; and 15 nieces and eight nephews.
Visitation was held Tuesday, June 24 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the First Lutheran Church in Iron River.
Funeral services were held June 24 at 1 p.m. at the church with the Rev. Thomas Wickstrom, pastor, officiating.
Burial was in Bates Cemetery.
Langenberg Funeral Home of Iron River was in charge of funeral arrangements.
RURAL SCHOOL RECOLLECTIONS "I Taught At Several Rural Schools Including the Bates Mine" page 8
In Crystal Falls High School in the spring of 1919, the students who planned to go into teaching were sometimes called to take over teaching a class in the lower grades. One afternoon I was asked to teach a third grade class while the teacher attended a funeral. Another afternoon I taught a fourth grade class-quite an experience!
After graduation from high school I attended Marquette Normal Teachers College for six weeks. We had intensive training for first year teachers.
In the fall I went to teach at the Paint Lake School 15 miles from Gibbs City. A janitor from Iron River Central School took me to Paint Lake. Besides my luggage we had all the supplies for the school year with us. Past Gibbs City this road wasn't very good. In one place they had to remove a tree that had fallen across the road.
When we got to Paint Lake, Mr. Mason, the County School Superintendent, introduced me to the parents and their three children I would be teaching. They mentioned they had picked and canned 200 quarts of blueberries. Mr. Mason said that he knew what I'd be eating this winter. Before he left, he told me that whenever the mother went to Kenton, thirteen miles away, I should go with her even if it was a school day. It was a trip with horses and wagon and a stay in Kenton overnight.
Paint Lake School was over a mile from the home. The first week of school the children walked with me. After that I would go before them, sometimes carrying a gun I had been taught to use.
After the snow came in December, we had school at the family home using the dining room table for our desks. Sometimes during the noon hour the family and I played a card game called Pedro.
During the year I learned how to fish, how to use a gun to hunt, to walk on snowshoes and skis. In the fall of the year the daughter and I would go hunting partridge even though the season was closed. The mother surely knew how to prepare the partridge for a meal.
The younger boy finished 3rd grade, the older one 5th and 6th grades. The daughter took the required 8th grade examination and entered high school in Kenton in the fall.
On the night of Memorial Day the home was burned down so the school year had to end. The family went to an uncle's home to live. They took me to Kenton where I took a train to Sidnaw, Channing and then to Crystal Falls.
The next three years I taught at the Lind District. Each summer I went to Marquette Normal for six weeks. At the Lind School there were about 19 children. Not all eight grades had students each year.
I lived at home, carried my lunch, sometimes walked the 4 miles from home and sometimes my father would take me part way by horse and cutter or by a car. The families in the Lind District were very helpful and friendly. We started a 4-H sewing club for the girls. While the girls learned to sew, the boys did carving. Later at the Bates Mine School we also had a 4-H sewing club. In the spring the lower grades were dismissed at recess so the girls could learn to sew by hand and with the machine. The parents also raised money to buy a new Singer Sewing Machine. While the girls sewed, the upper grade boys did craftwork with the help of Dorothy Diele, the lower grade teacher. I remember one boy made a pair of miniature skis that were very, very well made. We also went to school many Saturday mornings so the girls' projects would be ready for 4-H Achievement Day held in Iron River or Crystal Falls.
When I left the Lind District, I went to school for a year. Then I went to the Bates Mine School where there were two rooms. I taught there for maybe 4 years and had the upper grades. We had both an art and music teacher combined. She would come once a week. I think she even put on a pageant that was very beautiful. The parents made costumes at both school districts and we had Christmas programs that were very well attended.
One year the people from my home area were coming up by sleighs on a sleigh ride to come to the program. We were going to give the program and the people weren't there. So we went ahead and gave it and just as we were through the people came. The children and parents said they would give it over, and they did. After the program we always served coffee and sometimes had a little dance. I think they gave the money to the Singer Sewing Machine fund by charging for the lunch served afterwards.
After Bates Mine School I married and after that I taught algebra at the Rogers school 5th through 8th. I started doing 4-H programs summers every year. I worked for four different county agents-Art Hagen, Art Otterbein, E. Wenner and Roland Kaven. Then I went to Iron River and taught 8th grade math, sewing, and cooking.
I taught at the Central School. That was the first year that the high school moved to the new building. I came to school and found all the books were on the floor in the hall. They had just moved things from other places so that was quite a trick to get everything organized for the first day of school.
I taught 18 1/2 years in all and retired in 1961.
~Sylvia Peterson Lindquist~
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "The Andrew Martinson Family" page 128 (excerpt)
Going to school for us was quite an ordeal. We could only speak Norwegian. We were very lucky that Sylvia Peterson Lindquist was our teacher because she spoke Swedish, so she knew what we were trying to say. I'll always be grateful to her for that.
Submitted by Halldes Martinson Nocerini
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "C. William & Selma Johnson; Bill & Selma Johnson Family" page 82 (excerpt)
The Bates School at the top of the Bates Mine hill was the center of many activities. Teacher Sylvia Peterson was one of the best, giving her students a wonderful foundation in the basics. Carl Lindquist was courting her at the time.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book page 314 "Bates Mine Location Memories of Eunice (Christensen) Hamacher" page 328 (excerpt)
Our school (Bates Mine School) was first through sixth. My teachers included Fifth and Sixth (Intermediate)-Sylvia A. Peterson.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Bates Mine School" page 203 (excerpt)
The Bates Mine School was erected by A.H. Proksch when the Bates Location was built, around 1917. Some of the teachers at the Bates Mine School included Sylvia Peterson (Lindquist).
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Memories of a School Teacher" page 223
The Christmas Program was a highlight of the year for students at the Bates Mine School. When Dorothy (Dicle) Purdy and I came to school on the Monday morning the week of the program, we were surprised to find that the fathers of the students had built a sturdy stage across the front of the upper grade room. The mothers supplied a curtain for the stage and also made costumes for the program songs and skits.
There was 'standing room only' on the night of the program. The stage was taken down during Christmas vacation so classes could be normal again. The stage was put up again the following two years.
During the spring months, the children in the lower grades were dismissed at recess time on Friday afternoons so that the older girls could learn to sew in a 4-H program. While the girls sewed, Miss Dicle worked with the boys on handicraft articles. The girls and I also met some Saturday mornings in order to get ready for Achievement Day. The girls fared very well in county competition in sewing and in project demonstrations.
The parents raised money to buy the Singer Sewing Machine for the girls sewing.
Some mothers sent for flowers for the teacher's desk many times. One kind I remember was the beautiful Cosmos Mrs. Berry sent every year.
~Sylvia (Peterson) Lindquist~
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Bates Home Extension Club" page 287 (excerpt)
The first records of the Home Economics Group (part of the Michigan Extension work) was an organizational meeting at the home of Mrs. Sylvia Lindquist on November 23, 1931, to study home furnishings.
The officers elected included Project Leaders-Mrs. Sylvia (Carl) Lindquist and Mrs. Anna (Ernest) Johnson.
The projects under Home Furnishings were: Selection of slip covers and upholstery materials, making of slipcovers and upholstering, removing paint and varnish, window treatment, picture hanging and flower arrangement. Achievement Day was May 19th.
In 1932 and 1933 a clothing project (part of the Michigan Extension work) was organized. There we learned of color in a costume and ideas for Christmas gifts, points on dress design, collars and sleeves, testing materials, fitting and finishing, dress accessories, and dry cleaning at home.
The Project Leaders were Mrs. Hilja (Ben) Langendorf and Mrs. Sylvia (Carl) Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Sunset Circle" page 288 (excerpt)
On September 13, 1954 a Home Demonstration Club was organized. The Sunset Circle began and became a part of the Michigan State Extension program in Iron County.
Chairmen through the years have included Sylvia Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Carl G. Lindquist: State Legislator 1941-1954" page 117
Carl was married to Sylvia Peterson from Crystal Falls on August 21, 1929. They had their 55th anniversary in 1984.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book page 314 "Bates Township Hall" page 314 (excerpt)
In 1963, a group of women from the Sunset Circle Home Extension Club approached the township board to see what could be done about the inconvenient kitchen and the lack of dishes and flatware in the Hall. Realizing the need for modernizing the area but not having the finances, the board accepted the proposal by the women to spearhead a drive to update the facility.
All clubs were either regular users of the hall or were groups whose memberships included civic-minded Bates residents. No one refused, though some groups had to initiate fund raising projects to fulfill their campaign pledges. The Sunset Circle led the way with a coffee klatch at the home of Mrs. Carl Lindquist.
BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY 1885-1985 centennial book "Banquet of the Century" page 358 (excerpt)
Those who addressed the gathering included Sylvia Lindquist and Agnes Anderson, retired teachers.
NEWS ARTICLE Iron River Reporter May 2 1990 "'Community Minded Woman' To Lindquist"
IRON RIVER-Sylvia Peterson Lindquist has been selected as the Community Minded Woman of 1990 by the Twentieth Century Club.
She will receive the award at the annual Michigan Week banquet in May.
She was born and went to school in Crystal Falls and obtained her teaching credentials from Marquette. Her first teaching job was at the one-room school at Paint Lake. While there, the people she lived with taught her to shoot and encouraged her to carry a gun as she walked to school. That way she could bring home, if not the bacon, at least some meat for supper.
She subsequently taught in the Crystal Falls, Bates Mine and Iron River schools and worked in the summers for the Extension department as assistant 4-H and Extension club leader.
In 1929, Sylvia Peterson married Carl Lindquist and traveled to and from Lansing with him during the 14 years he served in the Legislature. During that time, she was secretary of the House and Senate Wives Club.
She has been active in her church, having served as Sunday school and vacation bible school teacher and president of the Ladies Aid. She is presently a member of the Priscilla Circle and the WELCA. She belongs to the Sunset Circle and was treasurer of that organization for 15 years. She also belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star, Aerie 410 and is a 50-year member of the Twentieth Century Club.
NEWS ARTICLE Iron River Reporter Feb 12 1986 "Still Sweethearts After 56 Years" with photo (not shown)
BATES TOWNSHIP-About sixty years ago, Sylvia and Carl Lindquist were matched up for a date.
Last August, they celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary.
Hmmmm. Looks like the couple who played Cupid knew what they were doing.
"Oh, you can't blame them," mused Carl, 89. "They're both dead now."
While there appears to be some discrepancy about where the pair actually went on that first date, Sylvia and Carl agree that one of their early outings was to a Valentine's Day party at Stambaugh Elementary School.
That's when she was an elementary school teacher at the Rogers School in Bates, and he was working at the Bates Mine.
Was it love at first sight?
"I don't know," said Carl, his eyes taking on an elfin gleam. "You know, I was getting old." (He was 28.)
Sylvia, 84, recalled when she first laid eyes on him. It was in the Rogers School balcony during a lyceum performance in 1925.
"He asked to give me a ride home, but I told him I wanted to ride home with the people I came with," she said.
Carl finally won, though. Four years later, after a garden wedding, she rode home from her parents' Crystal Falls home as his bride. They took up residence in his folks' home at 607 Sunset Lake Rd., where they still live.
However, Carl, who doesn't consider himself much of a romantic, didn't forget the honeymoon. The newlyweds did it up right-they went to Niagara Falls.
"I remember we ate peaches and cream for breakfast every day," said Sylvia, grinning at her husband.
"Then we came home and went to work," Carl followed up in his pragmatic way.
While her work continued in the teaching profession, he gave up mining and helped his brother Walter run his parents' dairy farm.
"And sometimes, she cooked," cracked Carl.
Their lives took an adventurous turn when he, after occupying various local and county government posts, was elected to serve as a state representative in Lansing from 1941 to 1953.
"I was so glad when she came to Lansing with me. I needed her," said Carl, who sponsored with Rep. Al Richards of Marquette legislation to build the Mackinac Bridge.
Still, Carl said he was glad to get back to the Sunset Lake area where he loves to walk. However, he admits he has had to cut his daily 10-mile jaunt down to two miles. Both like gardening and reading.
Recently, he learned a new skill. When Sylvia fell and broke her hip in November, "I finally learned how to run the washing machine," he laughed.
"And boy, when she was in the hospital, you should have seen all the neighbor ladies cooking for me. Pies, cakes…"
Sylvia, who still uses a walker to get around, joined in the fun. "I didn't have to bake for two months."
It was easy to see that humor runs rampant in this marriage. Is that how they made it stick all these years?
"Oh, he does joke a lot. He's got a subtle sense of humor, and I appreciate it," says Sylvia. "We've always been happy, and we never quarrel."
Now that the Lindquists' golden anniversary has come and gone, you might wonder what milestones are left for the couple.
Why, their 60th anniversary, of course. Both Sylvia and Carl are looking forward to it four years from now.
This week, though, Carl has something else on his mind-Valentine's Day. If Sylvia can't go out for dinner because of icy conditions, he'll buy her a card and celebrate at home.
Yep….they're just a couple of old sweethearts.
OBITUARY of Carl Lindquist 1993 says he married the former Sylvia Peterson of Crystal Falls on Aug 21 1929 and the couple made their home at Sunset Lake.
INFORMATION from Edith Johnson Avise says Sylvia was her teacher at Bates Mine School in 4th-6th grades room where schoolwork was more serious. Excellent teacher. Tall woman, always very fair, unrattled. Gave good grounding in English, arithmetic, history; also was 4-H leader; did community-admired Christmas programs; went to library between classes each day to make big kettle of cocoa. Organized student Maypole dance.
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