Maria Lindberg at her 90th birthday party, which was held on Friday, Dec. 30.

Just a few days shy of the New Year, Blue Earth’s Maria Lindberg rang in her 90th birthday with a real jubilee.

The open house celebration, which was hosted at Trinity Lutheran Church on Dec. 30, was coordinated by Maria’s children and a few other well-wishers.

The party was originally meant to be a surprise. However, as Maria explains, “They were planning so much to do for it, there was no way they could have made it a secret. I asked them why all of them were getting together in Blue Earth, and that’s where they spilled the beans.”

Several of Maria’s children traveled across the country to be with her on her 90th birthday.

Maria’s sons, Mike, Conrad and Hanns, live in California’s San Diego area. Meanwhile, her daughters, Lisa and Sarah, live a little closer. Lisa lives in Amboy, while Sarah resides four miles south of Fairfax.

Though Maria had wondered how many people would be available for an event sandwiched between Christmas and New Years, ample friends and family turned out to celebrate her 90th trip around the sun.

The highlight of the evening was the musical entertainment, which was organized by Maria’s sons. Conrad and Hanns, who both sing professionally, provided top-notch tunes for the get-together with performances by their jazz quartet, Gin-N-Tonix.

Apart from Conrad and Hanns, the quartet includes singers Lori Stateham and Sandra Kopitzke and sound engineer Keith Kopitzke.

Maria, a lifelong practitioner and patron of the arts, enjoyed the musical send-off into her 90th year.

“(Art) has always been a part of who I am,” she says. 

Maria has dabbled in many artistic endeavors throughout her life, and appreciates music, theater and visual arts alike.

Born a pastor’s daughter in Goliad, Texas, Maria was exposed to music at an early age through church. However, the visual arts are perhaps her first, and greatest love.

“I’ve always done (art),” she says. “I think I started drawing when I was two.” 

Maria considered a career in art illustration while attending Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska. Later, her path changed course when she attended the University of Nebraska for a summer and earned a certificate to teach in rural schools.

Maria remained an artist over the years, however, exploring mediums such as ceramics, Batik – the art of wax-resistant dye on fabrics – and drawing. Most recently, she has developed a keen interest in fiber arts.

“In 1980, I bought a couple of Angora rabbits, and I’ve had rabbits since then,” Maria says. “I’ve expanded my herd, and used the wool to spin and felt.” 

She is in the process of translating her 40 years of experience working with Angora wool into a book, which her son is helping her write.

Four decades of working with Angora wool have led Maria to use it in unusual ways.

“When I got into it, I knew there was very little that they did with the wool other than sell it or spin it,” Maria recalls. “That’s when I decided to try making some felt and cat toys and toe warmers.” 

Angora wool, which is different in quality than sheep’s wool, offers unique design opportunities.

“It’s a fiber that’s much warmer than wool,” Maria explains. “It’s a hollow fiber – it’s got air spaces in it.” 

At 90, Maria is still an active business woman.

Most recently, she has spun wool at the annual Women of Worth (WoW) Expo and the Faribault County Fair. She also sells her Angora wool products at Amboy’s Acorn Studio, which she co-owns with her daughter, Lisa, and at Amboy’s Depot Mercantile.

Maria also dedicated many years to teaching. She spent several years as a part-time art teacher in Winnebago, and she substitute-taught and tutored in the Blue Earth area.

Maria admits she would have liked to dedicate more of her time to the visual arts. However, life had other plans for her – and they involved a lengthy trip overseas.

Maria married her husband, Peter Lindberg, at the start of the Korean War. The timing affected the next few years of their lives drastically.

It all began when Peter, whose father was of German heritage, spent a year in Germany with his family between 1950 and 1951, helping to resettle refugees.

“That was where my husband got his first exposure to Germany,” Maria says. “It was what first stimulated his interest in German and where he learned to speak German.”

When he returned to the United States, Peter majored in German in college, and later accepted a position as a German teacher at Blue Earth High School.

Shortly after he and Maria were married, Peter faced the possibility of being drafted into the Korean War for two years. Instead, he opted to join the air force in Germany for four years.

Maria and their young daughter, Lisa, joined Peter in Germany seven months later. The family lived near Munich for the next three-and-a-half years.

“It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Maria admits. “My plans for the future were kind of derailed, but that was okay.” 

Prior to her family’s unexpected trip to Germany, Maria had planned to pursue art in earnest. Peter had recently built a studio in their home, where she planned to study ceramics.

“When we came back from Germany, we had arranged to have an exchange student, and we had to move because we didn’t have enough room in the house,” Maria says. Their new home, sadly, did not have a studio space.

The Lindbergs returned to Germany a few years later so Peter could participate in a teacher exchange program. A German teacher brought his family to stay at the Lindbergs’ home in Blue Earth, while the Lindbergs spent a year at his home in Kassel, Germany.

“That was the point we did more traveling,” Maria says. She lists Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia and Montenegro), Italy, Austria, Sweden and Switzerland as some of the places which she visited while living abroad.

However, the Lindbergs eventually returned to Blue Earth, where they were to remain.

“It was a good place to raise children,” Maria says. “It had an excellent school system with good music.”

In the years to come, Maria remained a patron of the arts, and she passed down her passion to her children. She encourages other young people to nurture their love for the arts, too.

“Let music be a part of your lives. Check out art museums. Be a part of the theater world if you can,” she urges. “Enjoy the arts.”