I am sure most of you read with interest the delightful article in the Spring 2007 issue of The Wisconsin Regional Writer about the history of the Florence Lindemann Humor Contest. Lorraine Hawkinson, our Historian, had done well her homework in researching its' history, even to projecting angst over the possible loss of the Butterfly Traveling Trophy, once awarded to the first place winner.

Let me set your minds at ease. The "Butterfly" has not flown away, is not lost, nor has it been mislaid. It was honorably retired in 2000 during the chairmanship of Cal Lambert, and has been safely residing in retirement in the WRWA archives at the Museum at the Portage.

The Al P. Nelson contest was boasting a beautiful wooden plaque with gold nameplates of which the Lindemann contest was a bit envious (and it was decidedly easier to mail if necessary).

And last, not everyone was of the opinion that the butterfly was a thing of beauty. I rather liked it. However, a wooden plaque with gold nameplates was purchased to be used in its place and is still being used at present.

To satisfy everyone's curiosity and to prove its' safe existence, I brought the "Butterfly" to the Spring Conference in Manitowoc for all to view, and now it is safely back in the Portage archives along with other WRWA memorabilia.

It is important for the Board and the membership to know that there are WRWA archives in two places: Lorraine Hawkinson's upstairs bedroom in Oregon, Wisconsin, and in the Museum at the Portage, under the watchful eye of Elayne Clipper Hanson.

So the butterfly trophy has disappeared-and reappeared! The contest itself began in 1980. I entered that year and every year since. One year I won 1st Place with my essay, "A Good Family Cow." I was not present at the conference to receive the butterfly trophy and it was too fragile to mail, so I didn't get to see it.

But wait, the plot sickens. I have a letter from the WRWA on official stationery dated October 6, 1993. I hesitate to tell the rest of the story because it illustrates how disorganized I am (a very bad trait for a writer!). The official WRWA news release, dated October 6, 1993, reads:

The news release didn't mention that it was also the second time that "A Good Family Cow" had won the prize. As Oscar Wilde wrote in The Importance of Being Ernest, "In a moment of mental abstraction for which I will never forgive myself," I inadvertently reentered "A Good Family Cow" in the Lindemann contest in 1993, and that old Jersey cow won the contest-again. That "traveling" Butterfly trophy was still too fragile to travel, so it never did fly in my direction.