Author Nettie Balzer Returns to Shellbrook Public Library

Nettie Balzer, author of Helena: a Peek into the Past and Raising Eight on 80.

The Shellbrook Public Library welcomes back Nettie Balzer, who was a former resident of Shellbrook, on Tuesday, May 26th at 7:00 pm.

Balzer visited the Library in 2013 to promote her first book about her mother’s life entitled Helena: A Peek into the Past which chronicled Helena’s first forty-one years. Balzer now returns to the Library with a sequel on her mother’s life, entitled Raising Eight on 80.

Helena Banman, the oldest of eleven children, was born on August 22, 1898 in the Mennonite Village of Kleefeld, located on the West Reserve in southern Manitoba. Her parents, Julius and Helena, were poverty stricken immigrants from Russia so the children were farmed out to work for others in order to help out financially.

Helena married Jacob Friesen on May 27, 1919. Helena and Jacob are forced to employ every ounce of resourcefulness to raise seven children on 160 stony acres of Canadian prairie. Then their eighth child is born, half of their land is chosen for an Aerodrome to train pilots for World War II, and the Dirty Thirties continue into the ’40s. Helena applies her creativity and Jacob his ingenuity, and the children roll up their sleeves and pitch in, sometimes with humorous outcomes.

Raising Eight on 80 is a series of short stories based on actual events and memories of the Friesen family. Copies of Helena: A Peek into the Past will be available for $20.00 and “Raising Eight on 80” for $25.00. Refreshments will be provided.