Staff photo by Clay Schuldt Denice Evers played KNUJ radio personality Doris Aufderheide during the “Tell Me More” program. Aufderheide was famous for sharing recipes over the radio.

NEW ULM — The Brown County Historical Society on Thursday presented a night dedicated to the historic women who kept the community informed on the latest news.

The program was called “Tell Me More,” and was intended as a follow-up to last year’s “Do Tell” program that was also presented by BCHS. The Best Western hosted this year’s program. Like last year, re-enactors took to the podium to give a short history lesson on notable women from Brown County’s news media. The women profiled included Elizabeth Scobie, Doris Aufderheide, Barb Dorn and Arline Schmiesing.

Former BCHS Executive Director and New Ulm Mayor Kathleen Backer once again served as the master of ceremonies, playing Rosa Schnobrich. In between speakers, she would dispense community gossip, pulled from old Brown County newspapers.

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The first notable newswoman was Elizabeth Scobie (portrayed by Donna Wing) who was born in Chicago in 1904 but lived most of her life in Sleepy Eye where she worked as a newspaper correspondent.

Scobie’s father was a well-known photographer who operated a shop in Sleepy Eye for many years. After his death, the family sold the business and Scobie was asked to work as a New Ulm Journal correspondent.

Wing said Scobie was well-educated for the time. After graduating high school she attended college at St. Teresea’s in Winona. She taught Latin and French in Montana for a few years. After returning to Sleepy Eye, she served as a tutor. She had no experience as a reporter before being asked to join The Journal but quickly proved herself capable. Throughout her 20-year career, she attended all the important Sleepy Eye meetings.

Scobie often reported on events at the Orchid Inn, which was a popular events venue. The Orchid Inn once hosted a DFL fundraiser attended by Hubert Humphrey that included a press conference. Scobie attended the press conferences wearing elephant earrings to signify her political leanings. Humphrey noticed her elephant earrings and found it amusing and announced to the dignitaries present “this is no longer a one-party event.”

Scobie would later become a correspondent for the Sleepy Eye newspaper and would write a column about local events. One of her favorite topics was writing articles about history.

Scobie would later collate her history articles on Sleepy Eye into a book called “Sleepy Eye: A History of Sleepy Eye.”

In her later years, Scobie lived at Divine Providence nursing home. Residents could often hear her using her typewriter. She continued to write letters to the editor for the rest of her life. She lived to be 91, dying in 1995.

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The next notable woman was Doris Aufderheide (played by Denice Evers). Aufderheide worked for KNUJ radio for 50 years and was known as the “Voice of the Valley.” She was hired on Nov. 1, 1954. In her 50 years, she missed four days of work.

Aufderheide covered a variety of news stories, both big and small. She liked to announce community events including recent births and wedding announcements. The popular aspect of her radio show was sharing recipes. These were recipes sent in by listeners. Enough was submitted to compile them into a cookbook.

On October 3, 2004, Aufderheide was inducted into the Pavek Museum and the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

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Linda Anderson portrayed Barbara Dorn, a woman who worked for a variety of media organizations in Springfield. During her time in Springfield, Dorn worked in radio, television and print journalism.

She was originally from Ohio. During WWII she enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving as a link instrument trainer instructor. In 1946, she was discharged and married Neil Dorn. In 1959, the Dorn family came to Springfield, Minnesota after Neil was hired as the Ochs Brick and Tile Company plant manager.

In 1963, Barb Dorn was hired by KLGR radio out of Redwood Falls. She would gather news from Springfield and share it over the radio five days a week. When cable news came to Springfield she was asked to do a local program. She would interview everyone and anyone who had a story to tell. This included politicians visiting the town. Later she became a stringer for the New Ulm Journal.

Dorn once covered a story about how with the tremendous harvest “the grain was being piled in the streets.” Later in the evening, she was watching Walter Cronkite and he quoted her story.

Dorn knew everything happening in Springfield. She served 14 years as the executive secretary of the Chamber. She was the first woman on the Springfield board of education.

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The last speaker was Arline Schmiesing (played by Sandra Juni), a prolific news and history writer from Hanska.

Schmiesing was born in 1923. When she was a child, her family moved to Hanska and built a home near the park.

At age 10, Schmiesing wrote her first story for the Hanska Herald. The story was about the community’s population. For the rest of her life, Schmiesing always wrote. When not writing for the newspaper, she kept a personal journal and would fill numerous three-ring binders telling her life story.

In 1944, Arline married Virgil Schmeising. The couple moved to the Schmeising farm seven miles outside of Hanska where they had nine children. Their marriage lasted 71 years until Virgil’s death in 2015.

Schmeising always returned to writing when the community needed her. In 1998, after Brown County and the surrounding area were devastated by a tornado, Schmeising began writing for the Hanska Herald again. The Schmeising farm was damaged by the tornado and she wanted to reach out to others who were similarly impacted by the storm.

Schmeising was a strong believer in education. In 1940, she graduated from high school as Valedictorian. She passed this love of education onto her nine children, all of whom received a college education.

Schmeising would receive an award from the BCHS award for her research, writing and leadership.

“Words were her music,” Juni said.

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Following the “Tell Me More” program, BCHS executive director Amy Johnson said the night was about notable women of the past, but they wanted to acknowledge notable women of the present.

It was announced the Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums will award its lifetime achievement award to former BCHS executive director Kathleen Backer. This award will be given on April 27 at the annual conference for her substantial contribution to the local history community in Minnesota.