Wildwood Press

Finally back home again after a wonderful Thanksgiving visit with family and friends in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan!  Of course, Thanksgiving is always a time for celebration in our family and so are the family birthdays that happen just about the same time each year. I was born on Thanksgiving day and my sister […]

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IRONWOOD DAILY GLOBE:
Published Sunday, November 18, 2007 4:25:26 PM Central Time
By DIANE MONTZ
Globe Staff Writer
In the title story of her new book, Coralie Cederna Johnson writes:
“Nobody wanted to go to Trout Creek. There was nothing there. Nothing but a lot of trees. Trees, trees and more trees.”
Overlooking the forest for a single tree, Johnson’s Finnish […]

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I love hearing from new friends! I just received this really nice letter from Judy Granlund Daft who says she enjoyed reading my first book, The Wishing Years, but even more so A Tree Grows in Trout Creek! Here’s what else she wrote: “Growing up 5 miles east of Negaunee, between Marquette and Negaunee on […]

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Nancy and I were always ready to go over to Lenny’s Soda Bar after band practice! Nothing tasted better than a cherry coke for me and a lime phosphate for Nancy! Those were the days! Did you have a soda fountain in your hometown?

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The exciting news is that A Tree Grows in Trout Creek, my new book of memoirs—a collection of stories about growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan—is only one week old, but copies have already gone out to 31 out of 50 U.S. states! The author couldn’t be more excited!
Book orders have been received […]

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Here’s some hometown news from Joanne Coffin Ilkin, an old friend from Stambaugh High School. To both preserve a family memory and give her daughter Pinar a gift at the same time, she wrote the following play:
Real life characters:
Cecelia: Joanne’s friend.
Pinar: Joanne’s daughter.
The action takes place at a 2006 All-School Reunion in Iron River, Michigan.
CECELIA:  […]

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For special events at school we dressed up to the hilt! A band concert was a reason to go shopping at Krom’s Department Store, Scott’s Smartwear or Irene’s Dress Shop for that new fancy dress. My favorite find was an iridescent blue-grey-pink full-skirted ankle-length dress. That dress went with me not only to a band […]

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My favorite teacher was my 10th grade English teacher, Miss Helen Dunham. She was also our Thespian Troup drama director.  She took us on trips, worked with us on forensic pieces and opened new worlds of stage and theater to us! She was more than a teacher; she was a friend!

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The new book, A Tree Grows in Trout Creek, (which has been in publication for the past six weeks) is finally in print! And it’s beautiful! Copies are here and ready for shipping. I’m getting them autographed and to the post office as fast as I can. So hang on…yours (if you ordered) will be […]

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Some schools had a “Sock Hop.” But at Stambaugh High School in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, it was called the “Sadie Hawkins Day Dance.” It was held every year in October—the chance for girls to ask out boys for a change. The boy I asked, who shall forever remain nameless,

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