Hickory Creek residents eager for pie contest

As Thanksgiving nears, many people reflect on the past holiday traditions that are near and dear to them. This is no exception to several of the residents at Hickory Creek at Columbus, who have many fond memories of cooking for their loved ones at Thanksgiving.

Several residents have decided to bring back those memories by submitting recipes for a pie contest. Resident Shirley Smith, with daughter Laurie Shafer, recently reminisced about Shirley’s famous meat pie. “My mother was a great cook,” Laurie said. “The meat pie holds a lot of good memories for our family.”

Resident Ada Williams, will also be submitting a pie for the contest. “I was always more of a cake baker. But I do have a pie recipe that I can probably find,” she said.

The contest will be conducted at 3 p.m. Monday, November and will be kicking off a week of Thanksgiving events at Hickory Creek at Columbus. The theme for the week is “Reminisce” and it encourages our residents to share memories of the holidays that are special to them.

Resident Doris Bogard will be celebrating her 102nd Thanksgiving this year. She is planning to submit a pie through her son, the Rev. Larry Bogard. Doris used to cook meals and share them with her neighbors, often walking miles to deliver the meals, pulling a red wagon behind her to hold all the food. “She used to make me go with her when I was about 5 years old. I remember pulling that red wagon full of food down those old country roads. Those were some fond memories,” Larry Bogard said.

Resident Roberta Stier plans to submit a pie for the contest, although she said that her pies were mainly just the traditional pumpkin pie. She looks forward to finding her recipes for the contest.

Several of the residents who did not wish to submit pies offered memories of their past Thanksgiving Days. Norman Norcross stated that this year will also be his 102nd Thanksgiving, and he will be turning 103 years old soon. He is possibly the oldest living World War II veteran in Bartholomew County. He told us about holidays when he was serving time in the military. “The military always fed us well during the holidays. It was the one time that we knew we would get a good meal. The rest of the time we had to eat canned food. You can bet we enjoyed those Thanksgiving dinners back then,” he said.

Hickory Creek at Columbus has invited several members of the community to come in and be judges for the contest, including emergency first responders who assist the facility daily with the care of the residents. Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place.

“I hope these activities will help our residents to know that their traditions are still meaningful, and that their contributions have not been forgotten,” Hickroy Creek administrator Diana Gore said.

Per Hickory Creek at Columbus tradition, several staff members will be going out into the community to deliver pies during Thanksgiving week to our first responders and hospital staff. “It’s all about tradition and giving back to others,” said activity director Brenda Showalter.