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Unscramble the above letters to discover the three-word title
Writer / Linda Veldkamp
For the past two years, readers of the Center Grove magazine have enjoyed solving word search puzzles created by my mother, Lucy Stravers. She has created more than 150 puzzles with lists of sports teams, geographical locations, seasonal enjoyments and historical places. Lucy has always enjoyed words and word games. She loves creating puzzles by crafting lists of related words. This article is a Mother’s Day gift to my mom.
Lucille (Lucy) Stravers has lived in Iowa her entire life. After leaving her parents’ farm in northwest Iowa, she graduated from Central College in Pella, Iowa. She began a teaching career in northwest Iowa and continued her teaching career in Pella after marrying my dad, Gerald (Jerry) Stravers. She taught English grammar and composition for most of her 30 years of teaching. She was the kind of teacher whom former students came back to thank.
Word puzzles and games have always been a part of Lucy’s life. Helping with the dishes was a lot more fun when Mom called out a state, and the dish dryer had to correctly identify its state capital. Both of my parents loved crossword puzzles. Daily puzzles in the newspaper offered opportunities to see which parent could furnish the most answers without looking in the crossword dictionary. Scrabble® continues to be a favorite family game.
I grew up as the middle child of three. My older brother is an attorney living in Pella. My younger sister and her family live in Anchorage, Alaska. My parents have traveled to Alaska many times and enjoyed seeing this beautiful state. My husband and I moved to the Indianapolis area from Iowa in 1983.
After my father retired from ownership of Stravers True Value Hardware Store and my mother retired from teaching, they traveled in the United States and Europe. One of their return flights from Alaska occurred on September 11, 2001, and their flight home ended in Denver. With all flights grounded, they rented a car to return to Iowa.
My mother made her first word search puzzle in 2006, the same year my father died of cancer. A project for the Pella Manor retirement community newsletter started a hobby that became a way to ease the loneliness and keep busy. Her first puzzle for the newsletter contained all of the names of the Manor residents.
Her puzzles became popular, and she continued to create puzzles for the newsletters, as well as for family members and friends. I recently asked her where she gets all of her ideas. She told me that she enjoys reading through almanacs, atlases, and the crossword dictionary. Any reference that contains lists is a resource for puzzle topics.
She recently began using Google searches to get lists. Once she has a list, she sits down with graph paper and pencil. Upon finishing a puzzle on graph paper, she transfers the letters to a Word document and stores the file. After proofing the final puzzle, she prints one copy of the puzzle to share and a second copy to solve and keep as an answer key.
There are online sites that can produce a word search from a list of words, but the puzzles done by hand by my mother show her variety of interests and love of words. I am very thankful for the mental and physical health of my 86-year-old mother. Thank you, readers, for your interest in my mother’s puzzles.
Linda Veldkamp is a longtime resident of Center Grove. She is the office manager at Caring for Women’s Health and the wife of Dann Veldkamp, publisher of Center Grove Community Newsletter. They have one daughter, Amanda, a psychology student at University of Indianapolis.
Linda Veldkamp is a longtime resident of Center Grove. She is the office manager at Caring for Women’s Health and the wife of Dann Veldkamp, publisher of Center Grove Community Newsletter. They have one daughter, Amanda, a psychology student at University of Indianapolis.
