Laura Mary Kummet Widmer was born on a farm in Le Sueur County, Minn., on Feb. 28, 1898, as the youngest daughter and 10th of the 11 children of George P. and Amelia Wacker Kummet. The immigrant Wacker family were Austrian; and the Kummet family, from southern Germany. Laura’s American-born parents were known to move often and by 1910 were living in Stearns Co., Minn., where at an early age Laura met Joseph Widmer from a farm in neighboring Meeker Co. When she was 14 and Joe, 18, he gave her a large locket engraved with her name. They were married at her parish church on the Stearns County side of the town of Eden Valley on Columbus Day (Oct. 12) 1915, when she was just 17.

They lived on his farm until moving to Duluth, Minn., around 1918, where Joe engaged in several business ventures. However, a serious motorcycle accident necessitated a change in career for Joe; so he went to barbering school in St. Paul, Minn. At the outbreak of World War II, the family moved to Chicago, Ill., where Joe worked in a steel-related industry and became a union leader.

Laura was a superb cook and seamstress and added to the family income from her home by designing and sewing draperies, upholstery, adult and children’s clothing, and even doll clothes. As the war progressed, she joined the work force at Dole Valve Co., a maker of appliance and automotive controls but making more war-related products until 1946. She continued to work at Dole Valve until she and Joe retired to southern Florida in 1955. Joe continued there as a barber, while Laura took up gardening. Her front yard was a draw for winter tourists to cross the lawn to photograph themselves in front of her enormous flowers.

After Joe’s death in 1964, she remained in Florida for several years but then returned to Chicago where her two daughters were living and working. Laura lived with her older daughter, Corinne, and the two traveled to Hawaii and Europe several times. When her younger daughter, Elaine, and Elaine’s daughter moved to California, Laura enjoyed visiting the families there—including a beloved great-grandson. Unfortunately, Laura developed cancer and finally succumbed in Chicago on Holy Saturday (April 6), the day before Easter in 1985. She was religiously devout and had chosen the final resting place for her family at Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery outside Chicago in Hillside, IL.

Bio provided by granddaughter, Roberta Craig.