By Winnie Bolton Editor’s note: Here we share some last words from long-time Our Town columnist and community leader Winnie Bolton, as written by her children. As you may already know, I passed away on the evening of March 21. There were 18 of my relatives including my children, some grandchildren and great grandchildren with me during my final days, along […]

By Winnie Bolton I attended a women’s Catholic college on the East Coast called “St. Joseph’s, which is presently co-ed. Being a child study major, the department’s emphasis was not only observing how children’s minds develop but also creating learning environments responsive to their initiatives, interests and needs. In their early years, children learn social skills, understand feelings, explore and investigate […]

By Winnie Bolton Having majored in psychology in college, I have never stopped peering into people’s motivations for their behaviors. Still searching for answers, I am pleased to have found one that can apply to a normal person, someone without psychological problems. Mother Theresa once said, “No belief system need apply.” It is so simple that any human could understand […]

By Winnie Bolton We who are past the parenting role and on to the stage of grand or great grandparent roles sometimes find ourselves reminiscing about those bygone years when energy and youth were our forte yet at those times we running about like chickens without heads, so to speak, accommodating everyone’s needs in the family. At least I remember […]

By Winnie Bolton Children are the love of our lives so when they are experiencing moral behavior problems it is disturbing to us as a society. If we can intervene in a positive way, many of us try. Before moving to Mount Angel in 1990, I had volunteered at a 500-bed hospital in Phoenix, Ariz. One specialized unit dealt with […]

By Winnie Bolton We must be careful how we speak about our souls, for it is a private, intimate and subtle presence within us. Everyone has their own secret language for their inner world which we at times attempt to awaken. Pressure on psychiatry attempts to help with this secret world. Trust and receptivity are needed to open our sacred […]

By Winnie Bolton Do you ever wonder about your subconscious mind? Recently, I read an essay, “The Will to Believe,” by the pragmatic psychologist/philosopher William James, who wrote that a person has the right to believe things that lack scientific evidence like the power of faith. Our subconscious mind is a recording machine reproducing whatever we impress upon it unknowingly […]

By Winnie Bolton I write about gratitude often but it is never enough. Not wanting to sound boring, I try not to dwell on it but my heart continuously overflows with thankfulness. When a person moves from one great state to their seventh state in 50 years as Tom and I have done, one is faced with constant beginnings, forcing […]

By Winnie Bolton A busy mind! That’s what I have got. It’s going all the time and it won’t stop. Also I talk to myself  a lot  but the latter comes from my Irish roots. All the women in my family talked to themselves. When I was a little kid, I thought talking to oneself was a strange behavior and […]

By Winnie Bolton When we go looking for heroes, for bravery, for courage, we often look in all the wrong places. Take for instance the story of Mrs. Dubose who is dying of cancer in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Young Jem destroys Mrs. Dubose’s flower garden after she says racist remarks about his father, Atticus Finch, a lawyer […]

By Winnie Bolton Creativity is not an eight-hour job.  It’s around us day and night in daily life all the time.  It consists of making quick connections about things we know and things we’ve seen. The more we’ve seen, the more we’ve done, the easier it is to make that jump – to connect the dots. People who say that […]

By Winnie Bolton Years ago our children having completed college and out working, some married and starting families of their own, I envisioned writing each one a letter thanking them for their unaware contributions to my growth as a human being – the concerns, the anxious moments, the trying of my patience, the understanding and adjustments on my side as […]

By Winnie Bolton Your dreams are a living mirror of your dynamic nature and the vital role you play on this earth of ours. They are the reflection of your character, the struggles of your soul, your contact with reality and the essence of your being – your intimate relationships with God. A closed mind is like a closed box. […]

By Winnie Bolton Apathy sucks. Apathy is a killing ailment. Unlike cancer, apathy is self-induced but there is a remedy for apathy. The answer is not a pill or a doctor’s visit. The answer is involvement in a project or on a committee or sharing your talents while volunteering. I have a real problem when people hear or read that […]

Eleven years ago, terrorists hit America in its heart on 9/11 but America’s heart still beats strongly.

Presently, most disasters make the headlines. Nothing has changed in reporting news stories for years. The shocking, the misfortunes, the highly disturbing catastrophes reach out to our inquisitive minds.

When I feel I am about all written out and can’t come up with something interesting to write for this column, I remind myself that writing is a process of unlocking our unconscious mind and discovering our inner truths.

Play promotes creativity, something most people don’t think about very often.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve wondered why there existed a variety of faiths when there is only one God.

Ten-year-old Winifred had sandy-colored hair and hazel eyes. She was a kind child who included everyone into her games who wanted to play with her.

I’d like to share a story with you of an embarrassingly humorous story of what life was like at the Bolton household when we lived in Park Ridge, Illinois with our five children many years ago.

Aristotle once said, “If one could have all the good things in life but be without friends, one would choose not to have the good things rather than be friendless.”