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December 26, 1999
Villages are nosmall fete forGibbon womanBy SARA SYVERSON Journal Staff Writer GIBBON -- 'Tis the season to deck the halls, and the walls and the nooks and the crannies, the ceilings and why not the floors with festive holiday decorations and ...of course, a few Christmas villages. Frances Wright, of Gibbon, "goes to town" every year making the yuletide brighter by lighting up all of the Christmas villages she has collected over the years. The villages sprawl through the parsonage of the Church of St. Willibrord, in Gibbon where Wright works as a housekeeper at the parsonage where she also lives. She began collecting her first village piece in 1980 when she selected a church. Her collecting fervor has amassed several villages, a nutcracker collection, various Christmas ornaments, and a Santa collection. She collects pieces from Department 56 and North Pole, two manufacturers of building and accessories for Christmas villages. "She's 101 percent German this time of year," said the Rev. Eugene Hackert, pastor at Church of St. Willibrord. "But on St. Patrick's Day I'm all Irish," said Wright, who is also of Irish ancestry. Hackert has been gifted his own Alpine Village from Wright through the years. "She has a disease there's no pills for," Hackert said kiddingly. "Little kids love to stare at these villages for a long time." Details of Hackert's village include a cuckoo shop, feather bed and quilt shop, train station, St. Bernard shop, music-printing shop, milk and cheese shop, community house, butcher shop, chocolate shop, beer cellar, and children's toy and play clothes shop. Not only does Wright love Christmas decorations, but she also has a fondness for barns. She has one village piece that brings her back to the good old days of barn dances. Wright recalled the time when her father held a barn dance in 1959. Whether a barn from the countryside or dozens of tiny buildings and accessories transformed into a sprawling, yet miniature, village, Wright loves decorating for the holidays. "I love Christmas," she said. "I collect ornaments, decorations and nutcrackers There just isn't enough room to set everything up."
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