Wilma Mravik celebrates centennial birthday

The Gilman community is enduring and dependable at its core. It’s steadfast and charming at the same time, unbothered by change and rolling with progression, taking it all in while remaining unshaken. Anyone who has moved away and returned knows the feeling of comfort in circling back. She welcomes you with open arms, free of judgment and full of quiet warmth, waiting with subtle surprises and secrets yet to unfold. Wilma Mravik is cut from the same cloth. She turned 100 years old on July 29, celebrating on the 27th with a grand party at Celebrations Hall with her family and loved ones in attendance. Nearly all of her 100 years have been spent in Gilman. “I was born in a cheese factory, actually,” Wilma stated in possibly the most Wisconsin sentence ever uttered. A Jaeger, she was born between Cornell and Cadott and spent her first few years there at the family’s drywood homestead where her grandfather and grandmother lived. They moved to Gilman when Wilma was nearly six years old. Her sister, Lydia, was eight years old at the time while her brother, Raymond, was only two. Her youngest brother, Rudy, was born shortly after the move. The family lived on Highway G near Miller Dam. “I lived in the country,” Wilma said of her early days. Wilma began attending school in Gilman, though the building, initially a one-room schoolhouse, wasn’t located where it is today. She remembers attending first grade, and the school’s method of transporting kids wasn’t entirely conventional. “It started out with a pick-up truck,” Wilma said. She recalls the district eventually purchased busses to haul the children back-and-forth. The first busses had heaters located in the center aisle and Wilma and her friends would huddle up close to it when the weather turned chilly. Wilma’s first lesson in school was English. Her parents spoke Czech, so Wilma and her siblings did too. Wilma’s mother didn’t speak English much and she and Wilma continued to communicate in Czech together. Wilma and Lydia enjoyed singing and playing the guitar together growing up, even performing for the radio station in Medford a time or two and beginning a friendly rivalry with another pair of sisters from Hannibal. Wilma and Lydia enjoyed country western songs. “Gene Autry, my sister and I, that was our favorite,” she said. Wilma graduated high school in 1943 or 1944. Later, she met a young man by the name of Albert Mravik at a dance in Hannibal. Albert fought in World War II, and the two got to know each other through letters. They married on May 30, 1946, and Albert and Wilma had four children together; Rodger, Linda, Gregory, and Susan. “You’re my baby,” Wilma said quietly to Susan. Eventually the couple welcomed six grandchildren; Tanya, Courtney, Korey, Kristin, Aleece, and Bradley; and then 13 great-grandchildren. In the 1980’s Wilma and Albert built a house on Babit Avenue, one mile south of her parents’ homestead. Albert was the postmaster in Gilman, and when the post office needed a clerk, he knew the right woman for the job. For years, starting when she was about 22, Wilma carefully juggled her career at the post office and raising her young family. The position called for an odd schedule as the clerk was only needed for certain hours during the day. Wilma would get her kids off to school and clerk at the post office in the morning, carrying heavy mail sacks and keeping the office, and Albert, organized. She’d return home in the afternoon, preparing Albert’s lunch and managing her household before returning to the office for a few hours. She made it home in time to get her children fed and cared for after school before heading back to the post office. Wilma maintained what was surely a taxing schedule for nearly 27 years, until Albert retired in 1974 and the post office was in need of a new postmaster. And who better to fill that position than Wilma? She was the first postmaster to serve in the new post office building, a position she held for 10 years during a time when many women did not work outside of the home. She retired from the Gilman post office after 37 dedicated years. “I’m proud that I put in those years of work at the post office,” Wilma stated. She was featured in an article by the Chippewa Herald on Wednesday, December 26, 1984, for a unique act that most postmasters would not likely be known for. While a tireless worker and devoted mother, Wilma also found time to nurture her artistic side. She spent countless hours crocheting gifts for her coworkers, family, and friends. The article featured reindeer that Wilma had painstakingly crafted for her employees, all different, each one an ode to its recipient. Her grandchildren received the most crocheted gifts as Wilma carefully created birds and other animals for their Christmas presents, cherished items that came from the heart and hands of a stoic and steadfast grandmother. Wilma is an artist with more than just crochet; she’s also rendered many oil paintings. She took every adult art class available, learning other mediums like clay pottery and quilting. She and Albert had many hobbies. They kept a garden, and their children and grandchildren hold fond memories of plucking and eating their vegetables right off the vine, warm from the sun. The couple maintained multiple collections and hauled their kids to gravel pits to dig for precious stones like amethyst from mines in Canada. When they built their new home outside of town their fireplace was made entirely from rocks the family scouted together, towering two stories high. They attended flea markets and auctions and over the years Wilma collected depression glass, antique furniture, dishes, books, silverware, costume jewelry, Cabbage Patch Dolls and Raggedy Ann and Andy, troll dolls and Hummel figurines. Always practical, Wilma switched her collections when things got expensive. Their home was carefully decorated with their treasures and their grandchildren remember touring row after row and shelf after shelf. “I think the interest in so many things, I was interested in art and the collections, that’s what kept me going,” Wilma said. Wilma and Albert were active in the Community Betterment Association and the American Legion Post No. 359. Wilma’s children remember seeing her dress up for parades and Halloween parties with Barb Romig and other ladies from town. The couple bowled, and traveled together, sightseeing and discovering their heritage in places like Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Germany and England. She’s seen Stonehenge, and the home of the Bronte sisters. Albert passed away in 2008 and Wilma moved back to town, content in her little yellow house, the outside lovingly adorned with flowers and metal chickens, where she sits at her kitchen table and eats a honeybun for breakfast each morning. She maintains a few of her collections and keeps her art framed in the basement. After a lifetime full of devotion, hard work, and tenacity, Wilma has one wish for her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. “A quiet and exciting life,” Wilma said. She would know.