Valorie Arrowsmith has studied 13 languages, she lived abroad for years, and she’s one of two people in the state certified to teach K-12 Swedish.
Arrowsmith, known in the area for her involvement with the St. Croix River Education District and the We R Able program, was born in Braham, and like many of her classmates, she thought, “When I graduate, I’m leaving.”
For years, she did just that — Arrowsmith first went to the University of Minnesota-Morris to study communications.
“I always felt I could be an evangelist or a politician because I studied public address,” she said.
After college, Arrowsmith was working at a retreat center in Washington State, in the Cascade mountains, when she met a woman from Switzerland. She told her about an employment opportunity in England, so Arrowsmith packed her bags and headed across the Atlantic.
While she was in England, she worked at the Coventry Cathedral, a conference center owned by the Lutheran Church of Great Britain, and she went to college again for textile design. She also met and later married an Englishman.
“Hence the name ‘Arrowsmith,’” she said. “In the 10th century, it was the smith that made arrows.”
Arrowsmith and her now ex-husband came back to the Braham area in 1980 when an opportunity to purchase her grandparents’ farm arose. However, before they left England, Arrowsmith had a job prospect that now, looking back, she wished she would have pursued.
“About six or seven months before moving back here, I applied for a job at the Diana Spencer estate,” Arrowsmith said. “That was before she was Princess Diana — before anybody knew who she was.”
Arrowsmith said she had quite a bit of experience cooking and baking in large quantities, and that’s what the Spencer estate was looking for.
“It was a residential job, though, and I was married and had a house,” Arrowsmith said. “So I knew, in my heart of hearts, that if I went there, I’d just be looking. I couldn’t take the job because my living situation was such that I couldn’t take it. So I never went.”
But Arrowsmith got to have an experience with British royalty — albeit from a distance — before she came back to Minnesota.
Arrowsmith also worked as a part-time maid for an Irish aristocratic family, and they were acquainted with the British royal family. Before a hunt that Prince Charles was attending, Arrowsmith was tasked with making an assortment of baked goods.
“I spent about six weeks baking, and they froze everything,” Arrowsmith said. “So if Prince Charles ate anything at that hunt, I baked it.”
We R Able, affinity for languages
About four years ago, Arrowsmith took a dual position with St. Croix River Education District, which has her working as an English as a second language teacher and as the coordinator of the We R Able program, which provides accessible programs for adults with disabilities ages 14 and up, and the general public.
Arrowsmith said she’s had an interest in languages ever since she was a small child, watching Don Miguel on a public television program where he taught simple Spanish words and phrases.
Since that time, she’s studied 13 languages, which she said is a great help in her position as an ESL teacher.
Arrowsmith lauded the work former We R Able coordinator Betty Stoffel did with the organization for more than 20 years. When Arrowsmith took over the program, she decided to make it her own by incorporating some of her arts background into offered activities.
At one gathering, Arrowsmith is teaching weaving. At another she’s informing visitors about Swedish holiday traditions, like Julgransplundring, where they make Julgrans Karamell, which are handmade decorations that are filled with tubes of candy.
At many of the events, music is part of the evening or afternoon. Instead of just listening to local performers, Arrowsmith has them reflect on the music by putting together a “quilt” of sorts. She explained that when the visitors come to the intimate concerts, they’re asked to take a colored piece of paper — the color reflects the mood they’re feeling before they listen to the music and have a meal.
After the music is finished, the participants are asked to select a colored paper that relays how they’re feeling. All those pieces of paper are then put together to form a quilt of myriad emotions.
Through the position with We R Able, Arrowsmith said, she’s been able to reflect upon the many ways in which people are similar.
“That showed me that there really isn’t that much difference between me and somebody who has a declared disability,” she said. “It’s like you have pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and when you put the pieces together, maybe there’s a piece missing. Maybe I have a different piece missing in mine.”
Arrowsmith noted interacting with and teaching people has been rewarding for her, and everyone should consider helping people by guiding them with knowledge.
“All of us have something to give,” she said. “You have to allow yourself the opportunity to listen, receive and react.”