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By Tony James When Edna Staehter's name is me0- tioned, three different people come to mind. Toaeotesheisknmmastheatr- that of a best selling cookbook entitled tion of Mennonite and family recipes. To a person interested in history, she is known. as the author of Sauerkraut and Enterprise, a series of articles writ- ten about the Mennonites and the history of Kitchener-Waterloo. And to people in Eastern Canada she is known -as he author of Cape Breton, Harhour. a book which delves into the souls of the people in a little fishing vii- In addition to her role as a famous Ca- nadian author Mrs, Staehler is known in Kitchener-Waterloo as a' close friend and neighbour. She has lived here all her life and even though she loves to travel she looks forward to returning to her little green cottage on Sunfish Lake in rural Waterloo. _ of country. In an introduction to Sauer- kraut and Enterprise. he stated that fre- quently a procrtsiet of _Canadi_an writers, himself included, find themselves at her door to try her food. enjoy her friendship and take in the serenity that surrounds her home. Mrs. Sjaebler began her professional Pierre Bertom a friend of 28 years, de- scribes Kitchener-Waterloo as her sort writing career in 1948 when she had an article published in Macleans Magazine in Toronto. The story was about sword- fishing in Cape Breton and it went over so well that a staff member urged Pierre Berton. then the story editor, to let her do another. He gave his consent and Mrs. Slaebler was launched into hér career. "I'd never dreamed of becoming a magazine writer," said Mrs. Staebler. _ Sine described her career as interesting, sometimes tiring and occasionally har- rowing. - - _ A -- On iine assignment she found herself on a canal barge heading from Donnacona to Western Quebec. The barge was car- rying newsprint through an inland water- way and had been specially designed to go through the narrow locks at the Chambly Canal. "The little boats fit through the locks like a finger in a glove," said Mrs. Steely Ier. "Once in a while the boat would get stuck in the shallow river and we would have to sit and rock back and forth. I must admit it certainly was an interest- ing trip. .. iurs." Staebier's spirits were somewhat let down when two of the crew members were drowned along the way. - A - On another assignment; Mrs. Staebler flew to several places with Eastern Pro- vincial Airways and wrote an article on the company/She found this assignment particularly tiring. - - _ “On one occasnon they told me to Be ready for a flight at 6 aan. I was there on time and I waited for close to two hours before someone informed me that we could not take off because there were icing conditions along the route Instead they had arranged an interview for me with the president of the company. Just think. I could have stayed in bed for an- other couple of hours, .. she said. Mrs Staebler had many similar expert oncos while she worked on this partecu- lar article but they were not the whole reason for her disrthing the assignment “My greatest love is writing about people." said Mrs Staehlor "Anyone I have written about has become my friend." Edna Staehler writes about Mennonite. l A way of life 1 The article on Eastern Provmcial Air Sunfish Lake Resident s, a collec- ways was interegtirqr but itdid not centre aroundthepeople involved._ From then on, most of her articles were about people and their communities. She wrote about the inhabitants of Miquelon. a French island on. the East Coast of Canasta and she lived with a Hutterite community and a miner's family in Wawa, Ontario. _ In 1966. Mrs. Staebler spent a week with an Old Order Mennonite family near St. Jacobs. She had always been inter- ested in learning about their lifestyle and beliefs and had thought about doing an. article many times. But she didn't quite know how to go about it. When Macleans suggested that she do one. she decided to give it a try. “I went to the Mennonite family and told them that I wanted to do the article," she said. “I explained that there were rumours circulating regarding their be- liefs and customs. When I asked them if they didn't think it would be a good idea to bring the truth out into the open, they In the article, Mrs. Staebler described the Mennonites' daily routine. their food, the way it was prepared and their reli- gious beliefs and how they are carried out. Staebler. She explained that this award is pre- sented annually to the woman author who produces the best, pieeeof jouyualifsm. .4 _ In the years that followed that article, Mrs. Staebler was kept busy working on assignments for Macleans and the Toron- toStar. “Once you are an established writer they are always after you," she said. Mrs. Staebler has not written a maga- zine article for the past six years, She has become more involved with her books and reading the works of other au- "I do so much reading that I hardly get my own work done." she said. "I have to keep up with the work of peoplo l koow." Early in her career, the local author was influenced by the works of Mary Webb. When she was questioned at a lecture about her greatest literary in- fluence. she came home and re-read some of Webb's work. “I read it again and I thought. Oh no! It was so old-fashioned. preachy and over- written." she said, “I still like the people in them and the way she writes the country dialect. I guess in this way she did influence me. .. Mrs. Staebler started writing her first book in I948. While she was working on the swordfishing article in Cape Breton she became intrigued by the little fishing village and its people. A __ _ "Cwoke up? one morning while I was there and suddenly decided to write a book. I started right away," she said. After numerods trips to the east coast she finished Cape Breton Harbour in 1972, Although Cape Breton Harbour was the first book Mrs, Staebler started to write. Sauerkraut and Enterprise was the first one to be published, "The Pennsylvania Dutch Craft Shop wanted to do something special for Cen- tennial year." said Mrs, Staebler. "They asked me to write a book about the Men- nonites but I thought enough had been done already Then they suggested that some of my already published articles on the Mennonites and Kitchener-Water- loo be published together in a book and we all agreed that it was a great idea WT The Pennsylvania Dutch Craft Shop pub lished the book in 1966 A few years later. “I won the Canadian Women's Press lab Award for the article," said Mrs. Edna Stacbler. a local author. (:11!th the kitten she calls Wilmot. Mrs. Stoch- lor is well known lot her books. Food That Really Schmccks. Sandman and Enterprise and Cape Breton W. McClelland and Stewart published it again and there were 10.00tt copies sold. In 1968. her cookbook, Food That Realty Schmecks could be found in Matures as far away as New Zealand. "It tooeuesorearsto-eethe book," said Mrs. Staebler. " had to sam- ple everything that went into it all some utherkscipesweresoeagt'ethat"ad totrythemthreeorfourtimes." Mrs. Staebler was not cmngtteetr In» pyatthethmghtofbeingkmastln author at a cookbook. "I have always thought of myself as he ingawriter.mtacook."she_said. The idea of writing the book came from her publishing company, Wild and Stewart. They knew that she spent a great deal of time with the Manila and that she was interested in their family recipes. They believed that other penile wouldbeas well. _ “I tried to make it a cum which had a little personal feeling in it," said Mrs. Staebler. The author found that like everything else, being an author of such a book has its good points and its bad ones. One of theubad "points is that many people are afraid to invite her to dinner because they don't think they can match her eating ability "oiie good aspect of all this is that I make up all sorts of stall on my mm." shesaid, Mrs. Staebler spends a fair amount at time in the kitchen but she finds that most of her sampling is done when she is entertaining. “I know,it is not considered proper to serve your guests something you haven't tried before." she said with a smile. "but when you live alone you can't posr sibly make all that food and eat it ym'r- self .. . “Hangman-arm ttt, 19154.3 CanadianWriiers Union. shehasmet "tttbe-ee-friends-ith-Chet- AtthepreoenttimeMrs.Staebleris "this “another cookbook and a fic- timowel. "qhiswitibethefirsttimeformeto write fiction.” she said. "So many people have com up to me and told me I should he writing novels. They believe I havethepmperwritingstyleforit." Mrs. Staettter did not have any format training in Journalism She received her Bachelot of Arts Degree from the Uni- versityoi Toronto. Her first job was work in; at the Kitchener-Waterloo, Record sheamsverypoorirrmathematics,she leftthisjobandtookapositionatWa- teHoo'rrust,nowCanada'rtust.Afew ,earsiatershetaagtsthigttschool. writers? mung anything wrote in a diary every day and wrote nu- merous letters. She advises other people interested in writing to do the same thing. 'the author believes another prerequisite for a writer should be an interest and curiosity about life. - “You develop your own unique writing style out at doing this." she said. _ "They must have a zest for life and be interested in everything, I have always found things interesting and exciting and I have wanted to write about them rather than just snuff them out," she said. "They should keep on writing of nurse she said. "Some people think ev can become writers without ever ', Sheila' Buniord and Gould she give young , Mrs. Staebler her life as a