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In video, Sandburg's grandaughter paid tribute to Connemara

Paula Steichen Polega was interviewed in 2015 by Richard Labunski for the Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara.

By Lightning Reports, Published: March 9, 2024

Paula Steichen Polega, granddaughter of Carl and Lilian Sandburg, passed away on Jan. 13 at the age of 80.

Paula lived at Connemara, the Sandburg farm in Flat Rock now operated as the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, from 1945 to 1952 with her mother, brother and grandparents. After moving back to Henderson County in 1972, she visited Connemara frequently and became a strong supporter of the National Park Service’s management of the estate and the many volunteers who helped there.

Richard Labunski, a retired journalism professor, Flat Rock resident and volunteer for the Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara, interviewed Paula — who rarely granted interview requests — while producing a video for the Friends in 2015.

Paula invited Richard and his wife, Elisa Devera, to her Hendersonville home. During the interview, she talked about her grandparents and Connemara and Lillian Sandburg’s decision to donate the estate to the people of America.

“When my grandmother died in July of 1967, my grandmother knew that she was going to have to move to a place that required less upkeep, that was less extensive,” Paula said. “She was in her mid 80s already, and she was strong enough to out-hike anybody up Big Glassy Mountain but she knew that wasn't going to last forever. So her vision for Connemara was that it would be a place where people could come to learn about my grandfather and maybe be inspired to read his works but also to be personally inspired, to write, to contemplate and perhaps to learn how to reflect and really appreciate all that Connemara has to offer and what it symbolizes.”

Paula’s “My Connemara,” the story of her family and life at the Flat Rock farm, was published in 1969.

Labunski created a five-minute video that includes excerpts from the 2015 interview and her reading of one of her grandfather’s favorite poems. Find it at richardlabunski.com.