Friday, May 30, 2014

The last of our Kitchen-Klatter family gone

Nearly every weekday morning far back as I can remember, my mother and thousands and thousands of other Midwest women took a break --- turned the radio on, sat down with pencil and paper poised to jot down a recipe and spent half an hour with some combination of Leanna, Lucile, Margery and Dorothy, our Kitchen-Klatter family.

I call those Driftmier women "our" family because we all listened in at one time or another and many of us read Kitchen Klatter magazine, too --- a slim and simple monthly compilation of recipies, inspiration and letters from even more of the Driftmiers, including brothers Frederick and Donald.

The past is a foreign country (thanks, L.P. Hartley, for that line) and I'm not quite sure how to explain all this now --- but Dorothy Driftmier Johnson died at 100 on Memorial Day in Tecumseh, Nebraska, where she'd lived since 2005. Graveside services were held yesterday at the Chariton Cemetery. She was the last link to that time and I think this is a big deal.

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Leanna Field Driftmier belonged to one of Shenandoah's royal families. Her brother, Henry (1871-1949), founded the Henry Field Seed & Nursery Co., in its time the largest mail-order seed company in the world. A major competitor, Earl May, founder of Earl May Seed & Nursery Co., also was based in Shenandoah.

Both Henry and Earl turned to radio as a marketing tool in the 1920s. Field set up one of the nation's first radio stations, KFNF, with a home-built transmitter in 1924. Earl established KMA in 1925, and took the lead in this field by investing $100,000 in 1927 in new studios, called Mayfair, that included a 1,000-seat movie palace-like auditorium that attracted hundreds of thousands annually to Shenandoah to view live broadcasts.

When I was a kid in the early 1950s, treks to Shenandoah to view the Field and May test gardens --- and sit in on a KMA broadcast --- still were annual events.

Anyhow, in 1926 Henry Field invited his sister, Leanna, too take over a half-hour daily broadcast on KFNF that her sister, Helen, had called "The Mother's Hour." Leanna renamed it "Kitchen-Klatter" and established a format that endured for nearly 60 years --- chat about family, gardening, news of the day, the weather with always a recipe to share. The program eventually moved to KMA and in its later incarnations, was syndicated by the Driftmier Co.

There were seven Driftmier children --- Howard and Lucile by Martin Driftmier's first marriage; and five more born after the young widower married Leanna during 1913: Dorothy, Margery, Frederick, Donald and Steven.

Critically injured in a car crash in 1930, Leanna spent the remainder of her life in a wheelchair --- but never was deterred by her injury. A studio was set up in the Driftmier home and she continued to broadcast full-time until retirement in 1959 and occasionally after that --- until shortly before her death in 1976, age 90.

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The Driftmier Co. was purchased by daughter Lucile and her husband, Russell Verness --- and Kitchen-Klatter rolled on, featuring Lucile, Margery and Dorothy, sometimes others --- Evelyn Birkby, for example.

Dorothy married Lucas County's Frank Johnson in 1938 and they settled down along White Breast Creek between Chariton and Lucas after returning from World War II-related work in California and the 1942 birth of their daughter, Kristin. 

At first they lived atop the wooded hills east of the creek, then moved onto the modest creek-bottom farm that all Kitchen-Klatter readers and listeners heard much about over the years as Dorothy drove over to Shenandoah to record broadcasts and wrote her monthly letters from home.

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Birkby, writing about the Shenandoah-based homemaker broadcast phenomenon in 1991, called it "Neighboring on the Air." And that's difficult to explain these days when women tend to work outside the home, listen to the radio mostly while driving somewhere and, like everyone else, have many more opportunities to socialize both personally and virtually.

But the Kitchen-Klatter experience was very important to many women during its years, especially to those who lived on farms and ranches --- and many more did then. Listeners came to think of the Driftmiers as family and the Driftmiers returned the favor by treating them as such.

Lucile and her mother were savvy businesspeople, too, marketing a sometimes wild and crazy line of flavorings (all Kitchen-Klatter recipies featured Kitchen-Klatter flavorings) --- still available on the shelves at Hy-Vee under a different name. There was Kitchen-Klatter cleaner, Kitchen-Klatter bleach and a variety of other products, and countless women, including my mother, saved boxtops and lid-liners, then ordered up Kitchen-Klatter premiums, often in copper --- including the set of salt and pepper shakers now sitting atop my refrigerator.

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Kitchen-Klatter ended abruptly in December of 1985 when Lucile sold the company, but not the Kitchen-Klatter name. So there are no more Kitchen-Klatter products.

Frank Johnson died in Chariton during 1990 and Lucile Verness passed that year, too --- aged 80.

Dorothy moved into Chariton after Frank's death and a bad flood along the White Breast. She lived here until 2005, when she relocated to Tecumseh to live near daughter Kristin and her family. Margery died at home in Shenandoah during August last year, age 92. Her son, Martin, featured so often on and in Kitchen-Klatter when he was growing up, died at age 60 during 2008, also in Shenandoah, something of a free spirit after a career as a United Church of Christ minister.

Dorothy's daughter, Kristin, and her family continue to live in Nebraska; and Lucile's daughter, Juliana, in New Mexico.

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Years ago, when I moved to a little town way up near the Minnesota border, my neighbor, Marge, found out I was from Lucas County and immediately asked, "Now, how is Dorothy getting along --- really?"

I knew who she meant, of course. There had been hundreds if not thousands of Kitchen-Klatter listeners in that part of Iowa, too, since the program was syndicated in six states. But I had to check with my mom before giving an informed reply.

And now I'm just kind of sad that so much has gone.

You can read Dorothy's obituary here, at the Fielding Funeral Home Web site.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I came across a large stack of Kitchen Klatter magazines from 1957-1965 yesterday at a rummage sale, and purchased them all for just a dollar out of curiosity. Thank you so much for this write-up; I found it very informative and interesting!

Unknown said...

I have found numerous publications of this magazine in a house that I have recently purchased. Curious if there is anyone interested in them.

Lee Ann Samons said...

My mother listened to Kitchen-klatter and took the magazine for
several years. She still has their cookbook. Their sauerkraut
and wienie recipe with sour cream in it is a long time favorite.
Thank you for
sharing information about this interesting family who touched
many lives and homes.

Val Black said...

I worked for Kitchen Klatter for 13 years. During that time I printed their magazine, helped with the binding/cutting, filled mailbags with the magazines and took them to the Post Office. As a sideline business, my wife and I also imported about 98% of the premiums offered on the radio during those years. Dorothy Johnson was one of the kindest persons I've ever met and I looked forward to her coming once a month to help with putting out the magazine. Lucille and Marge were very good at discerning what housewives liked to hear about in their radio discussions and I believe that is what made the program so successful. On Thursdays, Leanna met with her friends for visiting and I suppose, tea and/or coffee. I usually drover Leanna and sometimes her sister, Jesse Field Shambaugh, to the meetings. The one thing that struck me about Leanna was that as we were approaching the home for the meeting, she would be so excited that she would open her car door while the car was still moving. Good people, all of them and I considered it an honor to be able to be associated with them. Today my wife and I, both retired, have a small Christian ministry in Ghana, West Africa but we still live in Shenandoah -----Val Black

Unknown said...

Elaine Weirich, I am interested in the magazines you found as I have lost all of mine.1934suemcd@gmail.com-----Claudine McDowell

Gayla said...

After all these years,each name is still so familiar. My mother and grandmother were such devoted "friends" of this family... I am not sure what happened to their issues, but they were worn, used, and treasured!

Unknown said...

I have boxes of kitchen klatter magazines from the past. Does anybody want them ?

Cattastroficka said...

Yesterday my 82 year old father gave me my mom’s Kitchen Klatter cookbook. My mom passed 16 yrs ago in 2005. The cookbook is a wealth of knowledge and recipes. I’m so very happy to have it and already have several recipes flagged. I remember Kitchen Klatter being mentioned when I was a child and decided to google to learn about it. I found this blog, which is very interesting, so thank you for posting this. I’m in Iowa. Iowa has great cooks, legendary mom and pop restaurants, and wonderful food but it doesn’t seem to get the recognition it deserves. My three siblings live in three different states and they can attest that Iowa still has the best food. It’s hearty, comforting and loaded with flavor. It’s a mixture of southern, Amish, German, Scandinavian, Italian, Mexican and all the others. My grandmother and my mother were amazing cooks. I’m honored to have been taught by the best.

darrdarr said...

I have no idea when these comments were posted but now this is 12/2021
I still have two of the Kitchen Klatter Cookbooks and still a few of the Kitchen Klatter flavorings....Still good after all these years..I have no idea where i could find any flavorings to replace the ones I have as i run out of them...Loved the recipes and loved the flavorings and as so many businesses, hated to see them leave us..I am now 82 years old but my mother also used Kitchen Klatter products and made things from the cookbook.
After Mom Died, Dad remarried and to my surprise, she also had a like new Kitchen Klatter cookbook which i still have and read and search for more recipes.
Sorry to see such an institution leave us but we all leave the highway at one point or another..
Darr, Arizona

Johanna Siebert said...

I would love to have any magazines that need a home! Jsspta@yahoo.com

Ryser/Fox said...

My Mom bought an aluminum litt in the shape of a house. Does anyone have any info on this PAN? The gingerbread leaked out. Now I will try bread dough. My Mom was killed in 1966 so it's been a long time. Any Ideas?
Send to ryserfox@gmail.com

Thank You. Reading your info I now realize why Henry Field's photo is in the family photo book.

Ryser/Fox said...

Info on small pan shape of house that Mom bought in Dec. 1954 or 1956?
Ryser/Fox


ryserfox@gmail.com

Ryser/Fox said...

Did anyone respond about the aluminum house?
Ryser/Fox