GAIL SCHLICHT

My love for wood dates back to when I was 12 years old. I wanted to work in my dad’s grocery store. Dad thought I was a little too young to be waiting on customers, so he said I could keep the basement clean. That included a few different little jobs, but the one I really liked most was taking apart the wooden apple, orange and grapefruit boxes. Handling this wood gave me many ideas of what to build with it.

After graduating from high school, I went to nurses training and afterward joined the convent at 19 years of age. I became a Benedictine nun and worked at the card shop at St. Benedict’s, where I learned to run the offset press and printed greeting cards that were sold in the gift shop. Soon after, I was transferred to St. Cloud Hospital, where I started working in central supply. From there I was sent to the operating room and worked as a scrub nurse. It was during that time that I happened to be walking through the boiler room and noticed Al Maselter, the boiler operator, working on a wood lathe. I eventually asked him to show me how to do that, which he did, and I turned my first item, a rather nice little bowl (see first photo).

After a few years at the hospital, I was asked to set up a print shop, where I printed all the forms that were used in the hospital. I also operated an engraving machine and did name tags and directional signs. In 1968, I was sent to Ogden, Utah to work as a nurse again. My MN nursing license didn’t transfer over, so I had to audit an LPN course before taking the state boards. The following year I made the decision to leave the convent and moved back to Minnesota. I lived in St. Louis Park and worked as an operating room nurse at Fairview Southdale for 8 years, and another 8 years working in the office as a nurse and receptionist for four surgeons.

In 1991 I moved back to Melrose and continued running an engraving business, which I started while living in St. Louis Park. I got involved at St. Mary’s Church and in the Melrose community and spent my time fishing, writing calligraphy, whittling, and carving decoys. I also wrote and published a book, Counting My Blessings, after taking a class on writing your story with Bob Kutter. It is my story and holds memories of my family and my life.

In my 70s, I had a chance to watch Ray Tuholsky working on a wood lathe at our Darkhouse banquet. I asked him if he would teach me how to turn. He gave me a few lessons and before I knew it, I bought some tools and a lathe and made my first duck call and a pen. Now, hundreds of bowls and other items later, I am still going at it. Ray provided me with a good start, and I also learned a lot by watching YouTube videos.

It has been a real joy to take pieces from the wood pile and create beautiful bowls and other works of art.