Co McArthur’s Minnesota Heartland Soup

By David Lee

It is Christmas week, so we needed a Soup of the Week that represents Christmas. For me, there was never a question whose soup we would put on the site for this first Into the Soup Christmas. So, if you will please indulge me, I would like to tell you about someone who is quite amazing.

There is one place that truly means Christmas to me. When I was a kid, we moved a lot, so I don’t remember how many Christmas’ I actually spent there, but this place lingers in my memory. I am sure most everyone has just such a memory, usually from your childhood, that sticks with you so that no matter where else you spend Christmas, that place and time is the measure for all subsequent Christmas’. For me, it is a house just a few steps from the train on the North Shore of Chicago and, more importantly, the woman who lives there.

As a child, the house seems massive with a great staircase, four rooms upstairs, a basement where the kids played and a large, elegant living room with a fireplace, the perfect spot for the Christmas tree and plenty of room for presents. As the snow fell outside, the house was warm inside, and a series of great smells were always rising from the kitchen. Cherry pie, apple pie, cinnamon twists, the world’s best ginger cookies, or my favorite banana bread arrived as if off an assembly line. But, they were all baked by just one person, Mrs. Co McArthur.

Now, she would not like me disclosing this, but CoCo (or Co or Cozy if you wish) is my grandmother. This fact is an admission similar to what magicians call the “reveal.” You see, at 95 years old, Coco bears no resemblance to the typical grandmother. She has more energy than most people a third her age, and she gets more done before 9 A.M. than the US Army. She drives her own cherry red Cadillac, takes care of her house with little assistance, still plays the odd round of golf and arrived at her last birthday party on the back of a Harley motorcycle. This is the same party, by-the-way, where she took it on herself to order an Elvis impersonator to entertain the crowd.

CoCo has many activities that mean a lot to her, but two are very special. One is her curling club. She and my Grandfather, Chuck, joined the Chicago Curling Club in 1968, and she has been an active member ever since. At age 93 she became the most mature woman to curl in a bonspiel (tournament) at the club, and then the bonspiel was named after her. If that were not enough, she manages the scoreboards for all major club events. In 1971, Coco became Secretary of the Women’s Western Golf Foundation which is a position she still holds today. The cause of the WWGA is education for women. The organization provides scholarships for worthy and deserving women to attend college.

Most importantly, CoCo has 3 children, 8 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren all of whom look at her as a great role model and inspiration. I have not surveyed my cousins, but if I did, I have no doubt that they would hold similar memories of Christmas with Coco – the world’s greatest baker (and a darn good soup maker too). So, it is with great pride that I wedge myself into this weeks Soup of the Week to submitted by and dedicate to CoCo.

To learn more about the Women’s Western Golf Association, click here.

Merry Christmas from Into the Soup