Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Celebrating the birthday of Charles M. Schulz November 26, 2022

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Peanuts characters adorn the former Kay’s Floral building in downtown Faribault during a 2015 holiday decorating contest. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo December 2015)

IF YOU READ A COMIC STRIP TODAY, November 26, you may notice something different. Something that honors Minneapolis-born cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. Cartoonists are celebrating what would have been Schulz’s 100th birthday by incorporating tributes into their comics today. I love this idea. It seems fitting for the Peanuts’ creator who died in 2000.

Generations have followed the antics, trials and stories of the Peanuts characters, 70 strong, since the comic strip debuted in October 1950. The beloved Charlie Brown. Vocal Lucy. Security blanket carrying Linus. Inquisitive Sally. Piano pounding Schroeder. The imaginative Snoopy. The list goes on and on.

When our kids were little, they sprawled across the living room floor on Sunday afternoons aside Randy as he read the funnies to them. I would watch from a corner of the couch, content and smiling as they progressed through the Sunday comics, Peanuts a favorite.

Linus greets visitors to the Dyckman Free Library in Sleepy Eye. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo February 2015)

Schulz and his cast of characters will always hold a special place in the hearts of Minnesotans. Minneapolis-born, Schulz grew up in neighboring St. Paul. Eventually, he taught at Art Instruction Schools in Minneapolis, where he initially studied art through a correspondence course. There he met Linus Maurer, a native of Sleepy Eye in southwestern Minnesota. Maurer also taught at the school and was a successful syndicated cartoonist, magazine illustrator and painter. And, yes, Schulz honored his friend by naming one of his characters Linus van Pelt, brother of Lucy and best friend of Charlie Brown.

I lived and worked in Sleepy Eye for six months in 1980 as a journalist. Whenever I return to my home region, I typically go through Sleepy Eye, passing by Dyckman Free Library. A statue of Linus clutching his blue blankie and a red heart proclaiming love for Sleepy Eye sits on the library lawn bordering the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway/US Highway 14. Next time I need to stop, see Linus up close, step inside the library if it’s open.

Lucy van Pelt at MSAD. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2022)

Here in Faribault, I discovered a statue of Lucy van Pelt while wandering the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf campus earlier this year. There an over-sized rural-themed Lucy stood outside the entrance to Quinn Hall. It has since been relocated during a renovation and construction project. I don’t know the backstory on how Lucy came to be at MSAD. But I believe she is part of the 2002 “Peanuts on Parade, Looking for Lucy” artistic endeavor.

When I last stopped by the post office for stamps, I picked up a sheet of Peanuts stamps, not realizing at the time why Schulz and his characters were selected for postage stamp publication. I overlooked the “CHARLES M. SCHULZ CENTENNIAL 2022” wordage. But today I’m not overlooking this Minnesota-born creative who brought so much joy, so much insight (yes, insight), so much happiness into the world. Yesterday. And still today, 100 years after his birth.

TELL ME: Who’s your favorite Peanuts character and why?

© Copyright 2022 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

The story behind naming a winter storm Linus February 3, 2015

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AS ANOTHER MAJOR WINTER STORM raged across the country this past weekend through Monday, I wondered why these storms are now being named. And why Linus?

So I turned to the internet.

Apparently The Weather Channel has taken to naming these storms in an effort to better communicate storm information in a cohesive way.

But Linus?

If you’re like me and most Americans, you automatically think Linus, as in the security blanket dragging Peanuts character created by cartoonist Charles Schulz.

You would be wrong.

The Weather Channel is referencing Greek mythology and Apollo’s son, Linus. Some sources say he was killed by dogs as a child. Other sources say Linus, a great musician, was murdered by his father.

The online Mythology Dictionary defines Linus as a “song of lamentation.” That would seem more appropriate given many a winter storm weary American is likely lamenting yet more snow to remove and cause travel difficulties.

Those official explanations aside, Linus, the Peanuts character, seems to be holding this storm as tight as a security blanket.

So I’m going to take that blanket and run with it.

Did you know that Linus is named after Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, native Linus Maurer, a friend of Charles Schulz? The two met while teaching at Art Instruction Schools, Inc. Schulz originally became connected with the school when he took correspondence courses there while a high school senior in St. Paul, Minnesota.

A statue of Linus greets visitors to the Dyckman Free Library in Sleepy Eye. Charles M. Schulz, creator of the Peanuts cartoons, based his character Linus on real-life friend Linus Maurer, a Sleepy Eye native. Maurer, a cartoonist, worked with Schulz. Ohman, who managed the former Camp Snoopy at the Mall of America, includes a photo of Linus at the Sleepy Eye library in his book.

Sleepy Eye’s statue of Linus. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

Today Sleepy Eye honors Linus via a statue placed on the lawn of Dyckman Library, located along U.S. Highway 14 in this southwestern Minnesota community. I lived in Sleepy Eye for six months in 1980 but was unaware then of the Peanuts comic strip connection.

Linus Maurer, like his friend Charles Schulz, became a successful cartoonist. He also paints and is a humor and puzzle writer.

I couldn’t find much info online regarding ways Sleepy Eye promotes its Peanuts Connection. There’s a brief mention on the community’s tourism website, but nothing on the library’s website that I spotted during a quick perusal. I’m surprised.

But then I’m surprised The Weather Channel would name a winter storm Linus and expect us to think the reference is to a character from Greek mythology.

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FROM THE “A MINNESOTA WINTER DOESN’T LOOK SO BAD” Department:

My son, a student at Tufts University, enjoyed his third snow day in a week on Monday at the campus in Sommerville/Medford, Massachussett. Do colleges make up snow days?

Back “home” in Faribault, Minnesota, we got several inches of snow Saturday into Sunday, nothing compared to the 12 inches plus in the Boston area atop the two feet dropped there last week.

I expect the daughter who is flying to Boston from Wisconsin in March to visit her brother is hoping for more spring-like weather. The trip is about six weeks away. The snow will be gone by then, right?

© Copyright 2015 Audrey Kletscher Helbling