The Horner Sisters
Trish Pritchard Levinson

Editor’s note – I was very disappointed I was unable to meet with these sisters during a birthday luncheon. They were kind enough to answer a list of questions and Trish sent the following:

Where did you grow up?
We grew up on a farm southeast of Napoleon, ND in the Burnstad area and our parents were Anton and Johanna Horner. Our father built our modest home in 1951. It had five bedrooms and only 1 1/2 bathrooms. This was challenging at times with seven girls (and seven boys) under one roof. At one time 12 of the 14 children lived in the same house. The oldest sibling moved out in 1963 and the youngest sibling was born in 1969.

What was your life like growing up?
Our life was full of responsibilities and chores. We milked cows, hauled hay bales, picked rocks from fields, fed cattle, cooked, cleaned the house and let’s not forgot the ever-loving task of butchering chickens. Because of birth order, some of us are better at cooking and some of us are better at milking cows but we were all experts at butchering chickens.
Our parents trusted us to do our chores and we always did them. The farm and the work we did shaped us into the adults and the work ethic that we all have now.
Our parents also passed on many values to us – the importance of family, faith and the ability to lean on each other. We never missed going to church and we always communicate with each other.
There were never really any big fights, just small ones like whose turn is it to scrub the floors, who gets to wash the dishes and who has to dry. Mary Lou always wanted to wash. Marlene is the best cook because she didn’t have to do any milking until her senior year. Trish is the worst cook because she did do the milking and spent little time in the kitchen, and of course, Janet is spoiled because she was the baby and moved into town with Mom & Dad when she was in the 10th grade. Needless to say we all had chores to do whether in the house or outside on the farm.

Have you stayed close/get together often?
We are very close. After our mother passed away in 2007, Marlene and Pam moved back to Bismarck to be closer to the family. All seven sisters are now in the Bismarck/Mandan area. We communicate on a weekly basis and see each other at least once a week. We have birthday lunches and when one of the brothers comes to Bismarck, we try to get together for lunch or dinner with them. As a family, we get together at least once a year at a reunion or family wedding.
And, our families get along. Our children hang out together and are great cousins.
When our kids were little, we all helped each other by babysitting each other’s kids. Now that both our parents have passed away, the older sisters are sort of pseudo-grandmas to Pam and Janet’s little girls.

Are there any traditions you had when you were younger that you carry on to this day?
We have many traditions – soup and dougess(?), homemade dumplings, and in general good old fashioned German food that Mom always made. We prayed the rosary every day during Lent and every day in October (rosary month). We never missed church, we played pinochle and we danced polkas at every wedding with high kicking heels, Napoleon style.

The biggest tradition for us sisters started 23 years ago when Marlene lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We wanted to surprise her for her 25th birthday, so we took a road trip in our parent’s van and spent the weekend in Cheyenne for her birthday. Since she worked in a department store, we shopped, and shopped, and shopped some more! Hence, the annual shopping trips with Mom and Dad began. It doesn’t matter where we go, as long as we are together. We shop, drink wine, play cards and bingo, and just laugh with each other. We take this trip every May and the 2010 trip will mark 23 years. Although, Mom and Dad aren’t with us anymore, we cherish how much fun we had with them. Our funniest stories are from these trips.

How have your relationships changed over the years?
We are all close, but depending on what is going on in your life, you might be closer to the sister whose kids are the same age as yours because you can relate to each other with raising toddlers or raising teenagers. But the one thing that remains constant, is the love we have for one another. When Monica’s husband, Gary, died, we were all there with her helping her cope and supporting her and her kids.

That is what we Horner girls, do. We shop, we eat, we help other through good times and bad.