Pillsbury Bake-Off winner

Edna Mary Gerard was born at home March 29, 1911, the oldest of 12 children. Her father and grandfather worked for Washburn Crosby Co., the forerunner of General Mills. She and her next younger sister Doris were busy during their growing up years helping their mother with the housework and taking care of their younger brothers and sisters. After attending Sydney Pratt grade school where her parents had attended through the eighth grade, she entered the ninth grade at Marshall High School where she studied home economics, German, typing and bookkeeping plus the required subjects. In the fall of her junior year, she worked and lived with an elderly couple. She helped with the dinner every night and cleaned house on Saturday for which she received her room and board plus $2.50 a week. She did not return to school that fall to finish her senior year which was not uncommon in those days. Everyone needed to work.

Her memories of the ’20s included Sunday school and choir at Bethany Presbyterian Church, homemade ice cream for Sunday dinner and her mother playing the piano on Sunday evenings while the family sang. Her entertainment included dancing at the Marigold Ballroom in Minneapolis where free lessons were given before the evening dancing. The two step, waltz, tango, varsity drag and polka were taught. This was during the “Roaring 20s” when jazz music was at its best. It was also Prohibition, so there was no liquor served.

Edna married Harold Holmgren in 1933 and Lois Jane was born in 1935. The family of three lived in Minneapolis until World War II ended when they moved to Eden Prairie in 1948. At that time, Eden Prairie had about 3,000 residents and lots of cows and corn. Edna went to work for a company in St. Louis Park using the bookkeeping skills she had learned in high school.

In 1968 she began working for the Village of Eden Prairie as bookkeeper and deputy clerk. When the form of government changed, City Manager Elmer Clark appointed her city clerk and her duties included overseeing the elections, taking minutes at the council meetings, bookkeeping and general office functions.

In December of 1968, she received a call from the Pillsbury Co. informing her that she had won a trip to Atlanta to compete in the 20th Bake-Off contest with her recipe called “Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs.” The Bake-Off was held the following February. It was an honor to be one of the 100 contestants, but to be chosen the $25,000 Grand Prize Winner wasn’t something Edna was expecting. She had made up her mind to just go and have a good time and not be concerned about the baking abilities of the other women.

Winning the Bake-Off started a whirlwind of activities for her. She was interviewed on TV and demonstrated her rolls at several food stores in the area. She made trips to Chicago and New York with Pillsbury and Kraft executives and she made her “puffs,” as she liked to call them, for many people to sample. One of the stories she liked to tell was about her 8-year-old nephew, who she said didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but told her he liked her sugar cookies a lot better. She made many trips using the interest from her prize money. They included Hawaii, Mexico, the Holy Land and a cruise to name a few.

She left the City Clerk job, but continued using her office skills as part-time bookkeeper for the 1,000-acre planned community called “The Preserve,” where she also purchased a condominium. It was during this time that she married Gordon Walker. Gordy had a motorhome, so they spent winters in Florida, California and Arizona and summers in Eden Prairie.

When she was 84, she fell and injured her leg and spent seven weeks in the hospital. Her boss told her when she got well her job would be waiting for her. How many 84-year-olds can say that? She continued to work and drive her car until she was 90 when she moved to Beacon Hill Presbyterian Home in Glen Lake. She volunteered her time singing in the choir and enjoyed outings with her friends. She continued to put her office skills to good use compiling and recording events in her and her family’s lives as well as the world and assembled them in three-ring binders. The books are on the table in the Friendship Hall and make for very interesting reading. Take a look at them. They are incredibly detailed and a wonderful legacy for her family. Most of this information was taken from her books.

In 1999, another honor came her way. The puffs were chosen as one of 10 of Pillsbury’s Hall of Fame recipes in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Bake-Off. An all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., to accept her award was truly a dream trip. The “Tunnel of Fudge” cake winner from Texas asked her, “How old are you dearie?” She was disappointed when Edna told her she was 88, as she was only 84. It was a wonderful trip for mother and daughter to take and make memories together.

She made many friends because of the Bake-Off and her career and still kept in touch with them, but the most important people in her life were always her family. Her daughter Lois and son-in-law Reuel; granddaughter Lynda and her husband Bill; granddaughter Peggy and her son Taylor. She will be missed by them and many others whose path she crossed in her lifetime. Edna outlived her 11 siblings and witnessed many changes in the world in her 96 years. She approached death with the same attitude she displayed in life. If there was something to be done, she did it. Holmgren died Oct. 7. We all celebrate her new life in Christ and that she is with him in the place he has prepared for her. Thanks be to God for Edna.

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