Tales from the Aisles

Phillip and Verlee Henrichs

Looking for good homemade pastries?  Visit Verlee Henrichs sales booth at the Osceola Farmers Market.  Verlee bakes pies, cookies, cakes, specializing in Angel Food Cakes.  She is noted for her strawberry and rhubarb pies.  Her pies are also available for purchase at the Osceola Fareway Store. 

Verlee is a busy little lady who has been manager of the Osceola Farmers Market for 13 years.  The late Jasper Trout, formerly of Woodburn, was one of the main instigators in the founding of the Osceola Farmers Market in 1987.  Verlee has cut back on her gardening and concentrated on baking.  Her time is limited because she spends afternoons at her husband’s bedside at the Southern Hills Specialty Care in Osceola.

Verlee Henrichs’ parents were Bernard and Ina Smith who lived on four different farms in Decatur and Clarke County.  Verlee attended Washington Township and Leslie Rural Schools before graduating from Leroy High School in 1948.  Phillip graduated from Washington Township rural school.  He entered the army in 1945 and was in the first troops to occupy Germany.  Verlee Smith and Phillip Henrichs were married in 1948 at the Osceola Methodist Church Parsonage by Rev. Latta.  Phillip’s parents were Elmer and Bernice Henrichs who farmed in Washington Township.  Phillip and Verlee would later acquire this farm where they would live and work for 51 years.  In 1999 they moved to Osceola.

The Henrichs’ have two sons.  Paul Henrichs and his wife, Laura, live at Traer, Iowa; and David Henrichs and his wife, Lori, live at Lenox, Iowa.  There are three granddaughters, Kara, Brooke, and Mallory.  Verlee has two sisters, Shirley Jewel of Des Moines, and Bernadine Zimmerman of Tucson, Arizona; and a brother, Lester Smith of Oak Harbor, Washington.

Verlee enjoys testing new baking recipes on her husband, Phillip, who will try anything once.  She was a Head Start volunteer for a period of years.  Verlee has been a member of the Washington Township Smile a While Club since 1949.  The club, founded in 1920, still has a dozen active members.