Living History

SIGOURNEY- 100 years is a long time for anything. Towns can come and go, wars are fought, businesses are built. Here in Keokuk County, a lot has happened in the past 100 years. One woman has been here to see it all, as well. Irene Morrisson, 99, of Sigourney has seen a lot of Sigourney and Keokuk County’s past. When Irene was born in 1919, Keokuk County was barely 75 years old. Her mom and dad lived on a farm in Van Buren township. Life, by all means, as much simpler than the technology laden society of today.

“My father was a farmer. We had no electricity and no running water,” Morrison recently recounted in an interview with this writer.

As she grew a little older, Morrison learned quickly that she was expected to help on the farm, just like everyone else. She said that she would fill the wood box, pick up the eggs from the chickens, and help clean the dishes, when she was older of course. It was simply what was expected of her from her parents.

“I didn’t know any different of course, but it was a lot of work,” she said.

Going to school was much different than it is today. Irene recalled that she went to the Johnson School for five years, and then later to the Lightfoot school. Both were one room school houses. She later had the chance to go to Sigourney High School, something that was a big deal for she and her family. However, because she loved in the middle of the country and the roads were mud roads, she couldn’t commute to school every day from her family’s farm.

“Mother arranged for me to stay with a couple of ladies, so I stayed there during the week and if the roads were good, it was all mud roads, my dad would come and get me Friday night and bring me back on Monday,” she recalled.

Going to Sigourney High School from a small township school was an eye-opening experience for her.

“I was lost all the time. I had to find somebody and ask them where my room was, but I finally got it straightened out. I had never stopped inside of the high school, so I didn’t know anything about it,” Morrison recalled.

She recalled at one point wanting to simply give up and go back home to the farm, largely because of the way she was treated by a couple of ladies in the area at that time.

“I’ll tell you, I was ready to quit school, but I’m thankful I didn’t,” she said.

For more on this story and others, catch the June 26 edition of the Sigourney News-Review.