A RAVEN subscriber named Tom M., lived in Beltrami Island State Forest many years ago. Tom had contributed story ideas to me that he thought would fit our human-interest story format, one or two of which we published. One day, he encouraged me to talk to Joe Stenzel, his neighbor, because Joe and his wife Catherine had moved there from Minneapolis and were quite the characters; the difficulty being the only way to Joe was by permission of 'Catherine' who vetted any interaction with, what Tom described as, severity. Then warned me, "You might not make the grade."
I immediately imagined a tall Nordic woman with piercing blue eyes, broad shoulders; no-nonsense white-blonde hair, and a winter-biathalon physique honed from Olympic cross-country skiing & shooting competitions carrying a seven-pound rifle plus ammunition. During their move to The Big Woods I figured, she alternated her rigorous skiing regimen with AM/Enduro Bicyle racing during the summer to stay in fighting trim.
Tom had also said Catherine trained her own 'service dogs,' which I figured could only mean German Shepherds, Doberman Pinschers, or Rottweillors; all of which I've had some truly negative experiences and so was not naturally inured to glean more. I began thinking, "How truly unique could this couple be, Catherine notwithstanding, that I would want to risk life and limb just to talk to Joe about coming to the aid of a young person in his home whom Tom was unable to leave work to help. Without a way to leave, she was frightened to be in a cabin in the woods all by herself, certain 'something' was out there. Tom alluded to the fact the story was instead very humorous as Joe told it, and the young person was never in danger.
Given my initial presumption, and familiarity with Tom's frequent exaggeration, I wouldn't be surprised if Tom would try and tell me next that formidable Catherine held a black belt in martial arts and the Katana Japanese long sword. With my spidey-sense on high, I suggested, "You just call him, Tom. If you use your phone, Catherine won't suspect anything."
"THIS IS CATHERINESTENZEL," she may have tersely said had I been brave enough to contact her myself; imagining that her ten-year tenure educating high school students in English Language Utilization was equivalent to CIA Foreign Service Office Operative Training.
So it was, Catherine immediately saw through the ruse and demanded Tom's Social Security number, quickly repeated backwards, three times, to authenticate his identity. Stuttering, he quickly hung up, but not before she had tapped his phone, and zeroed-in on his physical location across Dick's Parkway, and called him back to growl, "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, GET TO THE POINT!"
Now this did happen to an extent; after all I do have a pretty good imagination. The thing is that I don't remember the very first time I met Catherine in reality, but likely it was over at Chairman Joe and his wife's lovely home along the Roseau River one evening for pizza. Or, as C.J. pointed out in his blogpost of March 27 it may have been at a St. Patrick's Day party there. Regardless, after introductions, the subject of THE RAVEN: Northwest Minnesota's Original Art, History, & Humor Journal came up and Catherine expressed eagerness to submit some of her poetry given the opportunity -- and I, being the Editor, immediately took her up on her offer.
As it was we were doing a series of artist interviews in compliance for an arts grant from the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council and the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund, that we called 'Thirty-six in Six', in which we interviewed thirty-six artists, six per issue, over the course of six issues in one year's time. Catherine became one of the Thirty-six and appeared first as a poet in Volume 10 Issue 2, 2010; her introduction written by her husband Joe.
Just as she was promoted to Chief Financial Officer for an American-grown industry, we promoted Catherine to 'Chief Interviewer' particularly for a series about women of her own device that she titled: 'Fierce Women.' Wannaskan Almanac Saturday contributor, Kim Hruba wrote about Catherine on March 21, 2026 which was derived somewhat from the interview in which Catherine was the 'Fierce Woman,' and interviewed by Kim and Gretchen Mehmel; both of whom had their own 'Fierce Women' interview, respectively, in THE RAVEN. Gretchen in Volume 14, Issue 3, and Kim in Volume 14, Issue 2.
In the last year of Catherine's life, she and I became closer friends. We both enjoyed reading and meeting in person, twice on road trips, Kent Nerburn a well-known Minnesota author one of the few non-Native writers deemed worthy to accurately write about Indigenous peoples. Much of Catherine's writings and poetry concerns the earth and its peoples. We had great conversations ourselves, shared many a laugh; shed a few tears.
In her last hours upon this earth, she laid upon a Roseau hospital bed, a frail shell of the unique human being she is and said, "Look at me! Look at me! I used to love to dance and drink champagne! Oh, how I loved to dance!"
Thanks for the ongoing celebration. Loved reading this.
ReplyDeleteGreat tribute to our friend.
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