Despite being nearly 93 years old, Wilma Hoover is in no rush to slow down.
At an age when many of her peers are far less active, the great-great grandmother from Hudson is using her baking expertise to benefit children facing cancer.
Hoover’s made-from-scratch pies raised more than $6,000 at this spring’s St. Jude Feed & Auction in Hudson. The event supports St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Each April for nearly a decade, Hoover has offered freshly made pies, as well as "pie-a-month" subscriptions to the two highest bids. She raised about $500 in the event's first year,
"It's getting higher every year," she said of auction bids. That's amazing to Hoover, who's glad she's found a way to contribute to a cause dear to her.
“I would love to be able to donate $1,000. But when you are a widow living on Social Security, you can’t do that,” said Hoover. “But if I can earn that kind of money for St. Jude, just by baking a couple of pies, I can do it.”
Hoover's family knows St. Jude’s reach
Hoover told WGLT her connection to the Memphis-based nonprofit is personal.
“My grandson’s nephew — his name was Jason,” he was diagnosed with cancer, and became one of St. Jude’s young patients. “Unfortunately, he didn’t make it,” she said.
That tragedy, and the support St. Jude provided Jason’s family throughout the journey, led Hoover’s grandson Charlie Payton, along with extended family, to get more involved supporting the nonprofit, she said.
The hospital never charges families a penny for treatment or related costs, said Hoover. The nonprofit's closest affiliate is OSF Healthcare Children’s Hospital of Illinois, in Peoria.
It was Payton who encouraged Hoover to bake a couple pies for the inaugural St. Jude Feed, circa 2018. Organized by Mike O’Grady at the Sit-N-Bull, a local bar, the event has steadily grown over the years.
“Those pies are legendary in Hudson,” said O’Grady, who was one of the winning bids for the pie subscription. For his May pie, Hoover made O’Grady a chocolate French silk pie — his favorite.
St. Jude Feed & Auction grows each year
O’Grady, a retired Illinois State University administrator and former head of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council, has lived in Hudson about 50 years. He's known the Hoovers throughout that time, and is among locals who are happy to spot a Wilma Hoover pie at community events.
O'Grady started the fundraiser with friend Kevin Callis, a State Farm executive in Bloomington. Callis has served as a board member of the Illinois arm of Memphis-based St. Jude. It was Callis who introduced O'Grady to the details of St. Jude's work, and how much of a difference the organization makes, he said.
The pair work with Sit-N-Bull owners Penny Berg and Tim Kemp to host the event, which takes place each April. When it started, about 50 people turned out and $12,000 was raised. It's grown each year. Now, an outdoor tent is set up to hold about 300 people.
This spring they raised $126,500, O’Grady said. Among notable auctioned items was a handmade T-shirt quilt that raised $15,000 — and Hoover’s pies bringing $6,000.
Love for baking started early, and grew
Born in the Depression, Hoover learned how to cook watching her mother in their Oglesby home. She taught Hoover how to make the most of relief donations, including baking a humble but filling raisin pie.
“We were poor — poorer than church mice,” she said.
But Hoover’s real exploration of baking started after her 1950 marriage to Rod Hoover. He appreciated her cooking and "he really loved pies," she said.
“I would have been married 75 years in June,” she said, recalling her late husband’s favorite pies, and other relatives’ favorites, as she blended pastry dough in a glass bowl in her kitchen.
Over the years, Wilma Hoover perfected her piemaking craft. She said her most popular pie, by far, is fresh strawberry. But lately the French Silk has been "sky high" too.
Strawberry pie is grandson Charlie Payton's favorite. But it’s coconut cream for her two sons-in-law. And of course, there’s the seasonal approach too: Summer brings peach pie and strawberry rhubarb, apple crumble and pumpkin arrive in autumn, and so on. The secret to her success? It’s making the pies from scratch, she said.
The Hoovers moved to Hudson in 1971 with their three children. They operated a small grocery store in the McLean County village for many years. Wilma also spent years working at Bergners in Eastland Mall, until it closed.
Rod died in 2001. But their Hudson family continues to grow. There are a dozen grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. In July — the same month Wilma Hoover turns 93 — her fifth great-grandchild is due.
As if turning out 75 pies a year isn’t enough, Hoover also bakes about 1,500 homemade cookies during Christmas season. Come springtime, she can be found planting flowers in the yard outside her modest ranch not far from Lake Bloomington. She also makes time to lead the Ladies Aid group at Hudson Christian Church.
Hoover doesn't know what accounts for her health and mobility in her 90s. She jokes it might be her love of coffee. She loves baking as a hobby, but doesn't have any interest in turning her successful pie venture into a business. Still, she has every intention of continuing her culinary volunteerism.
"As long as the good Lord lets me use my hands, I'll make pies,” she said.
For a perfect crust, avoid the mixer
Wilma Hoover loves her KitchenAid stand mixer. She makes use of it for a wide variety of pie fillings. But she’s a traditionalist when it comes to making her renowned pie crust.
“Use the mixer? No, because you mess with it too much. And pie dough can not be played with — if you want a nice, tender, flaky crust,” she said. Next, she follows this tried and true process:
- She combines 3 cups of flour (Hoover uses Gold Medal or Pillsbury), 1½ teaspoons of salt, and 1 rounded cup of shortening (“I’m a Crisco lady,” she says.)
- Next, she fills a measuring cup with ice and pours water over it. The baker starts with about 4 tablespoons of the iced water, increasing as needed up to 8 tablespoons.
- After chilling the dough in the refrigerator, she rolls it on a lightly floured sheet of plastic wrap.
