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Note: This is the first installment in a feature series about Inspiring Women. It is dedicated to all women who are trying to make a difference and better other people’s lives, as well as their own. In putting together this feature series, I was inspired by several moments in life that in particular stand out.
No.1 A dedication of a Relax, mind, body & soul book by Barbara Heller from my son Jake: “I dedicate this to my inspiring and motivational mother.” Kuba
No. 2 While on a story prior to Mother’s Day, I dropped in at Ace Bernard Hardware to talk about the prizes with owner Charlie Bernard. We talked also about the Lowell Area Chamber and its director Liz Baker.
“You know what I like about Liz, she keeps re-inventing herself,” Bernard said.
No. 3 Again on a story prior to the International Women’s Day I talked to Sow Hope president Mary Dailey Brown.
“If you want to make a difference in this world, seriously consider helping impoverished women. Helping women is the key to unlocking poverty.”
No. 4 At a parents teacher conference at Cherry Creek Elementary in Lowell in mid 1990s: “Mrs. Pala, we do not give up,” teacher Karen Latva said.
Vestaburg woman leads in trail development
Carolyn Kane received an award in Washington DC for trail development in 2011.
Name: Carolyn Kane
Position: chairperson of Friends of Fred Meijer River Valley Trails
Residence: Vestaburg, Michigan
Family: husband Dale, daughters Carol, Kim, Connie, and 14 great grandchildren
Hobbies & Interests: snowmobiling, family
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Vestaburg, MI- Working frantically on a $300,000 grant application from the Natural Resources Trust Fund with an April 1st deadline, Carolyn Kane can get a little stressed out.
Kane’s official title is the chairperson of the Friends of the Fred Meijer River Valley Trails. But her multiple tasks reach far beyond the title, along with the awards for spearheading the development of mid- Michigan trails since 1993.
“I was fortunate enough to retire young,” Kane said. “We planned well and had luck with our investments.”
Kane retired from GTE/Verizon at the age of 52 with an entire space of opportunities ahead of her. As a passionate snowmobiler, Kane was upset when she found out that the Heartland Trail didn’t go anywhere except from Elmdale to three miles outside of Greenville.
“It was a wonderful opportunity to have safe trails,” she said.
At, first, she was elected as secretary of the Friends of Fred Meijer Heartland Trail, and later Kane got involved with the Montcalm Economic Development Alliance.
“I’ve always been interested in recreational corridors and economic development,” she said.
Other than snowmobiling, Kane with husband Dale were avid motorcyclists riding through all but five states.
“Summer after summer we traveled in small groups and we had a wonderful time,” she said.
They also had a fifth wheel and a boat on Burt Lake at Indiana River.
All these were driving forces behind Carolyn’s extensive involvement with West Michigan Greenways Coalition.
“I am a person with a lot of interests,” she said. “I enjoy different things. I’ve never focused on just one thing.”
So, Kane made a natural switch from snowmobiles to trails.
Growing up on a farm near Owosso as the oldest of seven children, Kane learned to be an administrator responsible for her actions.
“I turned into a workaholic,” she said.
Since, Kane learned to take on responsibility early on in life, she also learned to plan for the future.
“When I say I am going to do it,” she said. “I do it. It still boggles my mind that I invite all these managers along the corridor and they show up.”
As a project coordinator, Kane has no qualms about calling people up whether for a meeting or for money.
One of her biggest achievements in spite of its delay was a trail project around St. John’s.
“We stayed the course, but there also has been a lot of interest in trails,” she said.
One of the biggest challenges was naming the trail from Lowell to Greenville because of the many municipalities involved.
“It took us three years. We had to come up with a compromise,” Kane said. “Greenville finally relented the Flat River in the name and it became the Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Trail.”
Today, Kane has four-drawer file cabinet full of trail stuff. It was donated by the Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce. In spite of numerous setbacks, she is motivated by the passion to get the trail done.
“People are so appreciative of what has transpired,” she said.
Over the years, the inflation has taken its toll on trail projects as well.
In 1994, the 42-mile Heartland trail corridor was purchased for $245,000, as opposed to the 37.5-mile corridor from Ionia to Greenville for $2.3 million.
The 82-mile long trail from Greenville to Owosso with a price tag of $12 million is all but complete except for 26 miles.
However, there are still gaps between different communities that would complete the 7th longest trail in the USA. The 125-mile long Fred Meijer Mid-Michigan Trail Network will ultimately connect Greenville to Owosso going through Michigan heartland and farmlands.
These unfinished gaps have become Kane’s biggest fear. When asked what she is afraid of Kane responded:
“Failing to complete this project! Just imagine 52 miles from Owosso to Saranac and from Greenville to Alma at 42 miles, a gaping hole from Greenville to Belding which is 2.2 miles, and Belding to Lowell another BIG gaping hole 14 miles. My image and/or reputation would be destroyed! Certainly, I would not be inspiring!”
Now, that response is typical for hard-driving Kane. Often, she comes into the meetings hauling in binders of trail documents in mid- winter, when others fail to show up. At other time she runs into a deer on her way to an evening meeting 90 miles from home.
Kane also faces chronic complainers with unsubstantiated whining:
“Oh, the trail will bring in crime and trash,” many complained.
“What about the deer on the trails,” others worried.
And then came the biggie: the Federal Lawsuit over the easements of the adjacent owners of the rail trail.
“Michigan has never dealt with something like this,” she said. “Going through the process was fearful. Other states lost the corridor.”
After a long battle, the trail group was able to preserve the corridor and the adjacent land owners were compensated for taking of the property, but they had to have deeds. A handful remains to be resolved.
“It’s amazing what you can do when you say I can,” Kane said. “My husband always says, if there is something you can’t get done, give it to Carolyn.”
Carolyn is amazed at the recognition she received for more than two decades of trail work.
2009 Mid America Trails award for trail work
2011 DNR Partners in conservation award for advancing Rail to Trail work
“I’ve made up my mind, if it’s going to happen,” she said. “It’s going to be up to me. I’ll stay with it until I get it done.”
But, other factors such as health come into play as time goes by.
“I am not going to put my health at risk to get it done, even though I am anxious to complete everything.”
Kane puts in anywhere from 25 to 30 hours a week, and that is without pay.
“How about goals and role models?” I asked.
“As you get older, the long term goals are not as important as they used to be,” Kane said.
“My immediate goal is to get the funding in place and go back to the Belding project,” she said.
Barbara Nelson Jameson with National Parks Service has always been a role model for Kane.
“When I grow up I want to be like Barbara,” Kane said to herself at the first meeting of the Heartland Trail. “She was eloquent in anything she did.”
The other one was Roger Sabine with Kent County Parks.
“He is really someone I can trust,” she said.
Kane is especially proud of being chosen as the National Rail Trail Champion by Rails Trails Conservancy in Washington DC in 2011.
Carolyn Kane, the woman behind the superwoman
Emma: What makes you feel good about yourself?
Carolyn: Making time for grandchildren and great grandchildren, just doing things with them. They all have snowmobiles. Pulling them around and getting some chocolate.
Emma: What do you do for yourself?
Carolyn: My family has always been number one. I enjoy spending time with them, picking them up from McDonald’s.
Emma: How do juggle work and family?
Carolyn: Balance. There are things that you have to give and take. You have to make decisions. The clean house doesn’t seem as important as 50 years ago.
Emma: Do you prioritize?
Carolyn: I manage to set priorities, but they change, when grand babies come. Life changes you get a different perspective and you have fun with it.
Emma: What keeps you going?
Carolyn: I am very happily married. At this stage in life it makes a difference. I am blessed with a wonderful family.
Emma: What is your inspiration?
Carolyn: The Lord wanted me to do this, he has directed me and helps me stay the course. I don’t get to give up. I keep coming back to the target.”
Emma: Tips and advice for other women.
Carolyn: The key is balance and keeping things in perspective.
Lowell, – I make my home in Lowell, a small town in the Midwest. It lies at the crossroads of two major waterways, the Flat River in the northeast and the Grand River in the southern part.
What I’ve always liked about this hometown is the people who live here. They are down to earth folks who earn their living the hard way. Many of them work two part-time low paying jobs with no benefits.
The median family income is around $40,000.
Lowell rowing team on the Flat River.
But, what is most fascinating about Lowell are the people who care about each other. They get together to rejoice and celebrate their successes as in the annual Lowell Area Chamber membership gathering that awards the Person of the Year.
They mourn together when a great citizen passes such as recently Ray Zandstra, and many others who have made a difference in the community.
And in order not to forget community giants like Ivan Blough, the people of Lowell establish foundations and scholarships. The one that honors this truly down to earth man is called the Ivan K. Blough Vocational Scholarship.
The KDL Engelhardt Library in Lowell sits right on the Riverwalk.Being fortunate enough, the town has received bequests from local philanthropists such as Mr. E., that is Harold Englehardt.
In May of 1996, Englehardt’s will set into motion a legacy that benefited the Lowell area community forever. Known as a low-key, humble man who lived his life simply and without fanfare, Englehardt was a self-made millionaire who chose to give back to the community he loved.
Another area philanthropist was late Peter Wege who donated money for farm preservation and nature education in the Wittenbach Wege Agriscience Center.
Wittenbach/Wege Agriscience nature center
The community also fights together; in the fall it is the annual Pink Arrow Pride game that spreads awareness and raises money to fight cancer.
The community honors its veterans, late and alive, in the annual Memorial Day parade.
Main Street before Pink Arrow game.
It stepped up in an uprecendented effort to fight hunger and poverty when local churches created the Flat River Outreach Ministries (FROM) in 1998.
The community collects food for the FROM pantry throughout the year in different food fights like the north side against the south side of the town. Residents bring cans of food to the annual Riverwalk parade in July.
“Can you imagine, all these people bringing cans to the parade,” said former pastor Roger LaWarre of the First Congregational Church of Lowell.
The community loves the arts and it has named the gallery inside Lowell Arts after another philanthropist King Doyle.
It preserves history as local businessman Greg Canfield saved three buildings on the bridge from demolition and turned them into the Main Street Inn,
People of the past, present and the future make up the fabric of this resilient community that is bound together by love and caring.
Love, oh, love as a grenade
In one hand I keep nail
And in other grenade and no longer counting for up to seven
I have time to throw me down at the bottom than ever
to open a letter unwritten
to open a beer (like a grenade) to unbutton night
in all things, I find the impending implosion
you, gunpowder
I, gunpowder
love is a spark
I am the ex, you an ex
Marie is war and we are ammunitions that will wound the chest of the instant
take the nail a bit
until I will rolled up the foothills of the night
is the eighth sky, already?
(And as you wanted to touch the ninth)
It is war Marie
Notturne – uno È guerra Marie
L’amore, oh, l’amore come una granata
In una mano tengo il chiodo E nell’altra la granata e non…
Editor’s note: This article continues from yesterday’s “Looking back at 2014.”
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI-My dad Vaclav turned 80 on July 23rd. We went to Don Quixote restaurant in Valparaiso, Indiana. My dad is friends with the Spanish owner Carlos and he likes to practice Spanish with him. It’s a nice haul from Lowell, Michigan and we even met some Czechs at a rest area. Carlos’ paella is out of this world.
In July, I established my business Emma Blogs LLC, a rolling portfolio of versatile blogs suited to anything you wish. I introduced my employees Sarah Harmon, Ed Donahue and Udoy Karmakar among other contributors.
Sales Jakub Pala, writers Sarah Harmon and Emma Palova on EW team.
But, I also had my “Eyes with Dr.Verdier,” cataract surgeries after I went almost blind and I couldn’t write or drive. I don’t need glasses anymore. Read about the series on http://ehealthwellness.wordpress.com
Dr. David Verdier, a recognized eye surgeon
I’ve never been longer without make-up than during the six weeks long process. I even put make-up on when we were picking hops in Western Bohemia fields.
August meant preparations for the Pala Ruegsegger wedding at Saint Patrick Church in Parnell. We were running to the finish line with the wedding scheduled for October 25th.
We got the house ready for 15 people and arranged for a wedding bus to house them in our front yard. Some of them stayed at Jake’s new house in Hastings.
The first week in September I went for a walk with a bad premonition. Someone will die. It was a beautiful day. Sunny skies, not too hot or cold. One of few days we had like that. I kept walking farther and farther, not wanting to return home. I just kept walking on the old railroad tracks.
My dog Haryk
“Who’s going to die?” I asked myself.
My dog Haryk was waiting for me laying under a lilac bush by the driveway. After my husband Ludek’s birthday, we had to put him to sleep.
The big October. The international party arrived one week before the wedding. They came from Czech Republic and France. But, before the wedding, we had another baptism. It was time for Samuel Chavent to get baptized. The godfather is Jake Pala.
And we threw a huge welcome party. Ella and I made a welcome sign in three languages. Having that little mean streak after her mother, she asked:
“Why don’t we make a goodbye sign?”
The wedding was big and I am glad nobody fell into the Wabasis Lake below the reception lodge. You can read about it on http://ebridesandfashion.wordpress.com
Mr. Jakub Pala and Mrs. Maranda Palova enter the Wabasis Lodge
Baby Josephine celebrated her one year birthday at the new house in Hastings on Nov. 21, 2014. Thanksgiving was at my parents’ house in Big Rapids accompanied by a classical Czech holiday fight between my mother and my brother.
And finally December. We observed our 25th anniversary of arrival to the USA on Dec. 22, 1989. Read the story on http://emmapalova.com
Christmas was peaceful and quiet, so was the New Year 2015.
Note: This is the last part in the “Three Sundays of Christmas” series.
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Gold Sunday is the last Sunday before Christmas which this year falls on Dec. 21. By then all good housewives have their baking & cleaning done according to Czech traditions. Before I started writing and blogging, I could make up to 10 different Christmas desserts including vanilla crescents, “nutty baskets,” chocolate “rohlicky” and” Ischel mini-cakes.”
As a student at the prep school Gymnasium Zlin, we would even get time off for baking.
“As long as you’re keeping the tradition going,” Russian language professor Chudarkova used to say.
Christmas nutty baskets
That reminds me of the opening day of the hunting season here in Michigan where some schools get the day off. I always baked long into the night, and I filled the pastries on Christmas Eve. Back in the old Czechoslovakia I had no helpers. Many years later in the USA my son Jake assisted me by rolling out the dough standing on a foot stool.
Gold Sunday is time to get your Christmas fish for the big evening feast known as “Bountiful Eve.” The town squares in Czech Republic are home to merchants with live carp. For years during Christmases of the past I went shopping for the best carp ever sporting a net bag, so the carp can breathe.
The Christmas fish in Czech Republic is carp
Large wooden vats carried carp from ponds in Southern Bohemia. The carp trade dates back to feudalism and to the royals who granted the rights to do this. I regret that I’ve never seen the carp ponds in Bohemia.
The live carp and then the butchering of it on the morning of Dec. 24 have been the subject of stories, legends, photographs and calendars much like the day and the evening itself.
Lighting of the town Christmas trees in Czech Republic Photo by Jan Smejkal
I will remember one carp story forever. One family got so attached to their live carp, they could not bring themselves to butcher it. They took the live carp to a nearby brook and released it into the shallow water. The carp probably didn’t make it, but they felt better and from then on they purchased fish filets from a well-know store in hometown Zlin and that was Rybena.
I think my uncle John butchered ours. The family usually placed the carp in a tub. One year I put the tub outside on the apartment balcony. When I went to check on the fish next day, it almost froze. I had to smash the ice and resuscitate the fish.
So, the Christmas Eve menu in Czech Republic consists of breaded fried filet of carp, potato salad, mushroom or fish soup and the great cookies.
In later years, non-carp lovers substituted the carp for salmon filets. We stick to the tradition and I buy either cod or other white meat fish. I make tons of potato salad with our own pickles.
Stay tuned for the big story ” 25 years in the USA.”
Silver Sunday is the second Sunday before Christmas that literally makes the Christmas holiday fever rise by several degrees even though it is usually cold outside at this time of the year. It is also the third Sunday of the advent in the catholic religious year.
Outdoor Christmas markets in most European cities on major squares, are in full swing by now, and they will be open until Dec. 23rd & some on Dec. 24th. The rush is on for everything from nuts and poppy seeds for baking purposes, wooden toys and other crafts, apples and dried fruits, ornaments and keepsakes.
Christmas markets in Czech Republic. Photo by Adela Kobylikova
It’s also time to get a Christmas tree. Although back in Czech Republic most families decorated their tree on Christmas Eve, here in US our family has adapted to the custom of putting up the tree at least two weeks before the magical day. Christmas Eve is a magical day, but a lot has been lost in the translation of the feast of Adam&Eve that falls on Dec. 24th in the Czech name day calendar.
In Czech language, that magical day is called “Stedry Den” which translates exactly as Bountiful Day. Families open a bounty of presents in the evening. I will write more about the customs of that day next week as we draw closer to Christmas.
And even though, I miss deeply some of the customs in Czech Republic, I have replaced them with new ones here in USA.
We cut our Christmas tree early and decorate it before Christmas Eve. Last year we took Ella with us to carry on the new tradition.
Ludek & Ella cut the Palova family Christmas tree at Horrocks Nursery
I couldn’t remember where the tree farms in the area are, so I looked it up on Google Christmas farms in Ionia County and found Horrocks Nursery Farms just north of the city of Ionia.
This year we don’t have our tree yet and I haven’t baked yet either. But my daughter-in-law Maranda Palova made our traditional nutty baskets with filling. I plan on baking chocolate flutes and chocolate mini Ischel cakes. Some Czech and European recipes come with a history. This one comes from the spa town of Ischel in Austria. The story has it that the Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Josef used to frequent the bakery that made them in Ischel.
As with many recipes there are many variations of the mini Ischel cakes. My grandma Anna used to love them, so I always made them for her. I like to keep that tradition going.
Christmas nutty baskets
Now is also time to send and get cards even in the era of the web. Over the 20+ years here on the American continent, I’ve received hundreds of them, but kept only a few.
One of the few precious ones, a definite keepsake, is a card from Brno with a nativity scene and a score to a Christmas carol. One of the most precious cards that I had sent out was made from a photo at the Meijer store in Cascade.
Although I can’t find it now, I remember precisely what was on it. We were picking blueberries as a family on a farm near Ludington in the 90-degree heat. We’re all holding blue pales and shielding our heads from the scorching sun with funny hats. My daughter Emma was wearing a t-shirt with a Polar bear on it.
“Happy holidays,” the card with mistletoe clip art and snowflakes said.
Speaking about passing on traits and such; both my daughter and I have the same sense for juxtaposition.
Lighting of the town Christmas tree in Frydek-Mistek Czech Republic. Photo by Thomas.
Watch for more holiday coverage from the EW team on http:// emmapalova.com
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