When you have a family as large as the 10 Holicky sisters of Le Center, getting everyone together in one place is no easy task. But for over four decades, the Holickys have kept their sisterhood bond alive with elaborate costumes, themes and games that have made every family gathering a can’t miss event.
On July 20, the Holicky sisters came together once more to celebrate a family milestone at the Le Center home of Barbara Tiede. The occasion marked the 45th anniversary of the sister gatherings since the tradition spawned in 1979.
From the very first sister gathering at Torchlight, the tradition has been an important way for the siblings to bond no matter the distance that comes between them. After Joyce Resch graduated from college in 1978 and became the first Holicky sister to move away from the area, the siblings realized they would need to do something special to keep everyone together.
“That was probably the thought that we would separate and not see each other, so let’s have these family gatherings,” Resch.
While nearly all of the sisters live in Minnesota, with the exception of Theresa Johnson who lives in Georgia, and Susie Wolff who lived in Wisconsin, getting everyone together is still a challenge, especially as they’ve gotten older.
“Our families have gotten bigger now so we don’t have Christmas together. Our parents are gone so we don’t gather there. Our kids are older and our kids are having kids,” said Jackie Stocker of Le Center.
It’s not just distance that the sisters have had to overcome, but age as well. There’s more than 20 years between the sisters, with the eldest Barbara Tiede at 84 and the youngest Mary Jindra approaching her 59th birthday. Patti Blaschko, the second eldest of the sisters, noted that her eldest son was in the same graduating class as her sister Resch. Because of the age gap, there was never a time where all of the sisters grew up together under one roof, but the sister gatherings have been a special time where they could all come together.
Each year, a different sister takes on hosting duties, deciding on a theme, activities and sending out invitations to her siblings and their mother Helen Holicky, who was always included in the gatherings until her death in October 2013.
During the first few years, the sisters would get together at places like the Little Dandy in Le Center, the Mexican Village and Greenland Supper Club. As the tradition continued, the sisters began hosting the events at their own homes, and they grew increasingly elaborate.
Over the years, the sisters have organized parties with themes ranging from “Make your own hat” in 2003, to a carnival game night in 2005 and a Christmas in July in 2009 in which their sister Theresa Johnson made a surprise appearance as Santa Claus after flying in from her home state of Georgia.
2010’s diamonds and denim theme saw the sisters rent a limo for a fancy night out on the town in jeweled tiaras and blue jeans, while 2011’s “Birds of a feather flock together” party had each of the Holickys in costume as their favorite fowl while enjoying avian activities like building a birdhouse, badminton (with a birdie of course), eating gummy worms and balancing games with eggs.
For the 35th anniversary in 2014, the Holickys held a “Hillbilly Hoedown” where they dressed as the Beverly Hillbillies and held a scavenger hunt for a tin of Copenhagen tobacco which their father always had in his pocket.
It was a bittersweet occasion, as it marked the first sister gathering since the death of their sister Susie Wolff just a few months prior. While the sisters typically don’t invite men to their festivities — they have three brothers who have never attended the gatherings — Wolff’s husband Robert was invited to the hoedown in her place.
As the sisters have gotten older, with some now in their 80s, the festivities have become more relaxed, with themes like the Holicky Family Feud in 2017 and the Day of Cards in 2018. The latest gathering didn’t have a theme but was instead just a time for the sisters to eat, converse and play cards and quarters.
The event brought together the nine surviving Holicky sisters, Barb Tiede, Patty Blaschko, Colleen Robinson, Theresa Johnson, Bev Simon, Kathy Stang, Joyce Resch, Jackie Stocker and Mary Jindra.
Resch, who will serve as the host for next year, said the days of getting up and running may be over, but she would still like to coordinate a theme.
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