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Note: Psssst!
Capital Times :: Local/State :: 3A
Tuesday, February 9, 1993 Compiled by The Capital Times staff
A belated happy birthday is due Thora Barsness, the matriarch of Black Earth. She officially marked birthday number 104 Saturday and 16 family members dropped in for her party Sunday. Off they went to the Firehouse Restaurant in Prairie du Sac and The Art Works gallery in Spring Green.
Longevity runs in her family. Among those attending the party was her sister, Viola Dybdahl, a mere 90. ``I enjoy living. I look forward to every day and staying as active as possible. It would be nice if everyone could live to be a centenarian, and enjoy my good health,'' she said Monday. While she wears glasses and a hearing aid, a cane is not necessary. ``I don't need it yet,'' she said with good humor.
Barsness is among the oldest of Dane Co.'s residents. She was born on a nearby town of Vermont farm in 1889. She married Edwin Barsness in 1921 and has lived most of her life since in the same house in the village of Black Earth. She served as a resource for the recently published ``Black Earth, A History,'' showing a particular penchant for recalling dates and events. She's also active with church, senior citizen and family activities.
A 1907 graduate of Black Earth High, she prepared a lengthy history for the 100th anniversary of the Black Earth Alumni Association last year.
Barsness recalls the heyday of train service through Black Earth to Madison, catching the 8:30 a.m. eastbound, then catching the 4:30 or 11 p.m. run back after ``a long, tiring shopping day.''
When a class of second-graders dropped in with birthday cards last Wednesday, she told them of viewing the community's most noteworthy fire, the destruction of the Patron's Merchantile Exchange store in 1933. They found it hard to believe she was born before Black Earth had telephone service.
``I remember when they made the first call to Mt. Horeb. It was quite an event,'' she told them.
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