Person:Wilhelmina Gipp (1)

(From Henry Ludcke, Jr.) "Henry met Minnie Gipp, from Tonawanda, NY, when she was visiting relatives (Schultze) on a farm near St. Peter. Smitten by Minnie, Henry proposed marriage. Minnie's parents insisted on a year's separation to test their devotion. In 1899 they were married in Tonawanda. Henry owned the opera house, in St. Peter, in which played touring theatrical companies. With the advent of silent movies the opera house was converted into a movie theatre. The opera house was originally built by Henry and his brother Will. For many years Henry's parents lived in an apartment over the opera house. It was in this apartment my mother Maurine Ludcke remembers childhood Christmases with all the many members of the family gathered about. Henry took early movies ("Birth of a Nation") to neighboring communities where he would set up a temporary screen for showings. Henry and his son Gipp manufactured movie screens on the large stage of the theatre. This business was sold to finance Gipp's post graduate expenses at the Harvard Business School. Henry also operated a poster board business which he sold upon retiring."

Minnie Ludcke was my grandmother, my mother's (Maurine Louise Ludcke Pulver) mother. Grandmother died when I was almost three years old when visiting our home in Duluth. I clearly remember the day the ambulance took her to the hospital in November 1935. I have fond memories of my grandmother that have been fortified down through the years by movies my father took on a visit to St. Peter. Mother always thought her mother felt somewhat isolated in St. Peter, so far from her home in Tonawanda, N.Y.. Grandmother did return to Tonawanda for visits and once took mother and Uncle Gipp for an extended stay. Mother and Grandmother were very close. Mother has related a number of memories of things they did together. When mother was a young girl she and Grandmother had pleasant trips together to Minneapolis for shopping and entertainment (two movies a day). It must have been from Grandmother that Mother learned all about cooking, housekeeping and multitudinous "handy hints" for whatever one has to do.

1. ↑ Died while visiting daughter Maurine in Duluth, Minnesota