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Idaho Falls Chapter
Idaho Writers' League
Poet of the Year
2003
Biography of DeLoris Henscheid
Mary DeLoris Ashliman made her appearance at her great grandmother's home in Shelley, Idaho, February 25, 1932. After Mother’s traditional (of that era) ten day confinement she whisked me back to Blackfoot. Since then home has primarily been right here in this metropolis of 10,000, between Pocatello and Idaho Fall and between the Blackfoot and Snake Rivers. I did venture away from the home nest for a few years. One year was spent in Idaho Falls where I completed the first grade, another year in Driggs, Idaho for the second grade and later, a return to Idaho Falls.
I lived as a boarder and attended school, grades three to eight, at St. Margaret’s School in Blackfoot. During my Junior year of high school I went to a church party, met Santa Clause, sat on his lap and he asked me for a date. When he removed the beard and became Bernard Henscheid he turned out to be a nice enough guy so I married him on June 5, 1950, five days after my graduation. We moved to Idaho Falls and lived there for fourteen years. In 1964 we returned to Blackfoot with a family of nine children, four boys and five girls.
Taking care of family was my main occupation until our youngest child started school then I went to work for the Blackfoot School District as a teacher's aide. As children do, they grew up, left home and gradually accumulated twelve assorted degrees.
Those nine young people have always been my guiding force so I decided to follow their fine example and stretch my own skills. I had assisted teachers for sixteen years and desperately wanted my own classroom and my own students. Besides, I realized that if I didn’t hurry up I would be retired before I ever had the opportunity to teach. I enrolled at Idaho State University and at fifty-four graduated with honors in Early Childhood Education. I give credit to my children for being my primary educators then I earned the degree that showed what they had taught me. Returning to school at fifty was not the easiest thing I ever did, but if you major in something you know a little bit about it helps.
After graduation I returned to the classroom on the Juvenile Unit, at State Hospital South, where I had previously worked. After two years I accepted a position at Irving Kindergarten Center in Blackfoot, where I was immersed in the joyfulness of young children for six years, before retirement.
Writing has provided a pocket of peace and an order to my life. I still have a few primitive stories and poems I wrote as a child. I remember sitting for hours at my grandmother’s desk pretending I was Jo of Little Women. She was my heroine because she was a writer. As a mother I found writing an outlet for those days of frustration as well as a reminder to count my blessings. While teaching the emotionally impaired adolescents I developed a puppet program in which the students and I, together, wrote scripts that evolved around nursery rhymes. We presented the puppet shows to Child Development and Kindergarten Centers. It was exciting to watch those, usually, distressed young people focus on doing something for young children.
Later, in my Kindergarten Class, I loved creating stories and jingles that enhanced the Kindergarten Curriculum. More importantly as the children entered the room each morning they went directly to their cubbies, retrieved their notebooks then sat at their tables and "wrote." It was a wonderful way to begin the day calm and focused. Eventually, after joining the Idaho Writers' League I submitted two stories, originally written for my Kindergarten students, in the State Competition. It was a joyful day when each of the stories placed in Juvenile Fiction. One received a third place in 1999, the other a second place in 2003.
In addition to children’s stories I have self published a booklet on the eight generations of Blackfoot women in my family and am in the process of expanding that into a full length book. For the past four years a friend and I have been compiling a one-hundred year history for the 2004 Centennial of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in Blackfoot.
Poetry is my passion in progress. My first published poem was inspired, a number of years ago, when my 85 year old mother and her 80 year old sister sat talking about old times. "Sisters" has been re-printed a number of times by Idaho State University and Historical Societies. This year, 2003, I was both humbled and overjoyed at receiving the "Poet of the Year award." I feel those two dear ladies are still watching over and cheering me on.
I joined the Idaho Falls Chapter of the Idaho Writers' League in 1998 for the sole purpose of improving my writing. The journey of improvement is a never ending pleasure because of my writing friends in the League who are not only helpful but have a great sense of humor and are always encouraging.
Speaking of cheer leaders, I have to thank my "Santa Clause" for giving me the gifts of love and support to fill my life’s cup. Yes, now for sixty years, he has donned the red and white suit, rings the bells and calls ho-ho-ho to an auditorium filled with children. Then going to the piano he plays Jingle Bells, Rudolph, Jolly Old St. Nicholas and always ends with a Silent Night. And, every-once-in-a while, I’ll sit on his lap, he’ll ask me for a date and, when he removes his beard, I think he’s, still, a nice enough guy.
Updated: November 04, 2003
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