Mary E. DeJonge-Benishek is a writer living in the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway of Minnesota, one of the eight originalNational Wild and Scenic Rivers and whose creation was the result of advocacy by community organizers Walter F. Mondale and Gaylord Nelson. Mondale’s life work was heavily influenced by his Methodist upbringing, while Nelson as a youngster reportedly regularly spent four cents of his five cent weekly tithe on licorice on his way to Methodist services each Sunday.
