Case in Point

Remembering Thelma: 'She simply wanted things to be perfect'

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She was, quite frankly, the matriarch of Wilton. For a week I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the death of Wilton’s Thelma Nopoulos. Every time I think about her, my mind goes down memory lane to one of countless encounters I had with her over the years. I’m not alone in that kind of reminiscing right now.
Yet after remembering every story, I keep coming to the same conclusion — she simply was our town’s matriarch.
Yes, she could be brash. Yes, she could be pushy. But at the end of the day — every day — she had Wilton’s best interest at heart.
And of course the promotion of her business, too. She worked alongside her husband George Nopoulos in the Candy Kitchen for decades, serving homemade ice cream, handmade drinks concocted from numerous syrups, flatly grilled sandwiches, chocolates and countless other treats.
They not only satisfied the sweet tooth of any and all Wilton residents, but people would visit the Candy Kitchen from all around the world. And Thelma had the evidence to prove it.
She had countless guest books filled with signatures of visitors from all 50 states and several countries. The moment you’d enter their store — the oldest in Wilton with roots to 1860 — if she didn’t know you, Thelma wouldn’t let you do or order a thing without signing the guest book.
That’s just one of the many things that made Thelma special.
I’ve lived in Wilton all my life and I, like so many others who have had the privilege of growing up here, can remember going to the Candy Kitchen to order their favorite drinks, treats and sandwiches. For me it was grilled cheese, vanilla Coke® and a Black & White (chocolate ice cream with liquid marshmallow topping for those keeping score at home).
In my adult years, especially since taking the post as editor of the hometown paper in early 2009, several of my interactions with Thelma occurred without confections at the Candy Kitchen.
Prior to George’s death in 2015, and the sale of the Candy Kitchen to Lynn and Brenda Ochiltree in 2016, I would receive phone calls at my office from Thelma several times a month. Sometimes it was weekly. Sometimes it was daily. It depended on what was on her mind — a mind that never stopped working.
She was old school. She’d write countless letters and had the most elegant penmanship. She’d call our office all the time wanting pointers, just the right wording for her next letter promoting either the town or her business. In my early years around the paper nearly 20 years ago, it was Barb Rochholz taking those calls. In the past 10-plus years, it was I who would work with her. Sure, by the fourth or fifth call in an hour it could be tedious, but when Thelma put her mind to something, it got done.
I always thought the most potent weapon in the town of Wilton was the phone next to the register inside the Candy Kitchen. She made call after call, and people listened. Including Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who made sure to visit the Candy Kitchen every couple of years during his tenure, the longest of any governor in the U.S. In reminiscing recently with Jeff Kaufmann, current state GOP chair, former state representative, and a Wilton grad, he said when he first ran for political office in 2004, Branstad asked him where he was from. When he said Wilton, Branstad’s first question was, “What does Thelma think of you?”
“He asked me that before he asked what my position was on issues,” Kaufmann said.
That sums it up. And Branstad wouldn’t take a second step into the Candy Kitchen without putting on a red apron in order to stand behind the counter and make his own drink, with Thelma’s help of course.
The trip down memory lane is endless. We all have our stories.
As a fellow businessperson in Wilton, I’ll always remember that several days each year, I’m the last man or woman working in downtown Wilton. It’s not uncommon for me to leave my office and the downtown is a ghost town as people have retired home for the evening. This is especially true on Fridays. Often, if I’d lock up our office and see the Candy Kitchen sign aglow just a block south, I’d walk down.
Thelma would be sitting at one of the tables, writing a letter or tending to finances. She’d unlock the door, fix me a drink, and we’d spend an hour or so in conversation.
I’ll forever miss those times.
Her pride in Wilton included the hometown newspaper. She’d often visit me at my office to show me old pictures, often involving the Candy Kitchen, but sometimes simply pieces of Wilton history. She’d then always follow it up with, “Do you think we should put this in the paper?”
Sometimes we did, sometimes not. Yet as a historian herself of all things Wilton, Thelma held Wilton’s newspaper in high regard, showing copies to whoever would walk through the Candy Kitchen doors on a summer afternoon.
I asked Lynn Ochiltree, quite a Wilton historian himself, if he’d submit some thoughts about Thelma and her passing. He not only gave me some reflections, he also showed me a copy of obituaries he helped Thelma write years ago — one for her and one for George. We’ll post them, plus Lynn’s full list of thoughts, to our website.
What follows are some highlights from Lynn’s submissions:
Thelma dedicated her life in the support and promotion of the community of Wilton through her creative marketing of the Wilton Candy Kitchen. In 1994, Thelma set out to create Wilton’s first historic calendar for the years 1995 and 1996. The research on the Wilton calendar inspired her to continue her efforts to compile more history of Wilton and resulted in the publishing of her book, “Our Town Speaks, Wilton, Iowa 1855-2005” which debuted in 2005 to coincide with the celebration of Wilton’s 150th Anniversary…
Thelma and George have financially supported many students over the years, having established, maintained and overseen several scholarships for Wilton High School students as they continue their college educations. The Nopoulos family’s legacy for the education of our youth will be eternal…
Then in 1998 another project was the “Wilton Town Meeting — A Global Connection” where mayors from Wilton, England, Wilton, Maine and Wilton, Iowa, along with many other dignitaries and the public, were assembled at the elementary school to discuss education and the shared heritage of these three towns named Wilton. Because of their efforts to promote Wilton, Thelma and George were named in 2003 as the first Official Lifetime Ambassadors of the City of Wilton and traveled to Wilton, Maine to represent the town of Wilton, Iowa. That same year they were honored to be the grand marshals of Wilton’s Founders Day Parade…
As a member of the Wilton Historical Society, she was pivotal in efforts to restore the Wilton Depot and have it placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Because of her dedication on the Wilton Depot project, she was inspired to attain the same status for the Wilton Candy Kitchen, which occurred in 1993…
Many people thought she was over the top, and some thought she was pushy, but Thelma really wasn’t either. She simply wanted things to be perfect. Sometimes she had a hard time making a decision, or the decision would change several times. I believe she just wanted whatever she did to be the right thing; the thing that would remind people of the story of the Candy Kitchen, or how special her beloved Wilton was.

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