Day 20: Churches, Cemeteries, and Lois...

Day three in Fort Dodge...


Ths morning began early with a 9:00 visit to Fort Dodge Ward, Ames Iowa Stake... Now you would think that if you only had one ward for many, many, miles, and you had all the hours of a day to choose from to start the meeting, you would choose sometime after noon... but no... Scotty does not get to sleep in! But, Deb was happy!


After church, we drove to a small cemetery located next to The Old French Church.





Here we found the gravesite of Vernon Rodolph, Grandpa (Donald) Rudolphs little brother who died as an infant.





We then drove to Woolstock to see town that Donald was born and raised near... It is pretty impressive that he travelled the 30 miles from here to Fort Dodge to hang out with a pretty girl named Marcella Emilie Abel.





We then drove to the site where Deb's Grandpa and Grandma Rudolph's homestead and farm used to be... the home and farm is now gone, replaced with a huge field of corn and soybeans.


After, we drove to Cass Cemetery (thank you Garmin GPS) to visit their gravesite. It was a beautiful day.





Finally, I had the opportunity to finally meet Lois Ahrens... Marcella's cousin.

Lois' mother (Lydia) is Marcella's mother's sister (Dora).





We had a wonderful visit that lasted nearly five hours and included a wonderful meal that she prepared for us.


Many stories were told and recorded and she shared many photos and memories. She said that she and Marcella were more like sisters than cousins and she had so many nice things to say about their relationship.


We heard the story about their barbecue sauce and how it came to be marketed as "Cookie's Sauce"... yes it has been bottled and sold in stores all over the country for years...





I photographed the article that was placed in the newspaper when Lois and her husband Dick were interviewed about their infamous barbecue skills. The article featured her recipe for the sauce... and she said that someone copied the recipe and began to market it. Lois said it is an exact copy and to this day she buys it rather than making her own.





Jayson, the good news is that it is not even close to the sauce that has become J Dawg "Special Sauce". The genealogy of "special sauce" is secure... Marcella to Deb to J Dawg! I know from personnal knowledge that Marcella was mopping her sauce onto barbecued chicken long before Lois' recipe was revealed to the world in 1970.


The great news is that the apple does not fall far from the tree when it comes to the love of grilling and barbecuing and a sweet southern style sauce... regardless of the recipe.


As we were leaving, the treasure find of the day was when Lois decided to show us a set of photos that were hanging on the wall in one of the rooms in her beautiful home...












The wedding photos of Deb's great-great-grandparents Kehm (Marcella and Lois' grandparents) were in near perfect condition!











Tomorrow: Court houses and historical museums...