My Return to Detroit Lakes – The location of the 1st Convention I attended.
Traveling to the state convention in Detroit Lakes was just a bit unpredictable as weather in April can be. Soon as we got near Alexandria Minnesota the weather turned on us. The roads were not good, the snow was coming down in huge flakes and the winds were wild. But as usual, Pat Foley got us there safely.
Soon as we arrived and checked in, we made our way to the hospitality room. A room where early arrivals can gather and get reacquainted. This is also where any court in the state can display items of their choosing. Some shared photos from past conventions, which you could take home if you knew anyone in the photos. I didn’t see anything, so onto the next tables.
I was captivated by a display of dolls made up as Catholic Daughters, State Officers and Local Officer. Sort of replicating a meeting in progress. I soon found out these dolls belonged to the Waseca Court. Someone mentioned maybe find out where they came from and if anyone knew anything about the history of these dolls. I texted my mother-in-law, Char Harguth to see if she remembered anything about the dolls. She quickly responded that she and Mardelle Harguth had made all the outfits and created the display for a convention. Mardelle passed away on Feb. 21st, 2000, right on her grandson Greg Harguth’s birthday. Who is also my husband. Char was excited to hear this news and that they were still in existence. Char had joined Catholic Daughters in 1960. At that same time, Mardelle Harguth (her mother-in-law) was the local Grand
Regent for Court Sacred Heart, for years 1960 to 1961. She had the idea to create this display for the convention, so she sought out Char’s help in doing so. She had a little piano, so from there they created these adorable little outfits and items to make this display.
I was told that you came to meetings in dresses and heels, that was an expected dress code, not preferred. You can see with the doll display, that is exactly how Char and Mardelle made the members to look.
The mortarboards were the little graduation type hats on some of the dolls. These hats originally created and worn by Roman Catholic Clergy. Mardelle struggled with forming these and gave the task to Char. A lot of cutting and gluing fabric to make them how adorable they became.
If you look at the bottom left corner of the photo, you will see a wooden box with a handle and lid and marbles inside. This was used for voting at meetings. If you were in support of the vote, you picked a white marble, if you opposed the vote, you picked a black marble. This is referenced as Blackballing, a traditional form of voting in many organizations. Many of you may have already known about this, but I thought it was super interesting to learn about this process. We actually still have a box and marbles like this!
The full-size tabletop podium used in our Waseca CDA meetings was made by Johannes (Hans) Hayunga, he was the husband to CDA member Katherine Hayunga, who passed away in October of 2005. The painting of this podium was done by our CDA member Char Harguth.
Hope you enjoyed learning a little bit of this history. I cannot tell you how honored and excited I was to learn that the doll display was purchased and created by my husband’s mom and Grandmother.
By Sue Harguth
Court Sacred Heart #1423 Waseca MN