Mom’s Gold bond Stamps
Story from Vickie Metcalfe (’70): Bottineau, ND
Gary and Dunseith friends,
It is storming here again in North Dakota. The snow is swirling around. A dark and cold night as I recall the winter of ’54 or ‘55 . That was also a winter of a lot of snow. Back in the time gravel township roads were maintained infrequently by the blade>.
Dad worked out that winter plastering in Belcourt. A car was left at ‘Snoose box ’Junction. Dad would feed the cattle with a hayrack and the team in the wee hours of the morning. Then, he’d pick up the lunch box packed by mom and ride Barney to the Highway. He’d meet up with Uncle Bill who came from the other direction.
Uncle’s Bill and Jim Metcalfe often worked in Belcourt too. So they’d meet and ride together. In the evening, Dad would be left at the highway and he’d walk the ridge left by the blade>>>>>back home the 1and 1/2 miles. He’d get home, chore,go pitch hay for the next day then eat supper ,.
It was the winter I had a had the runny nose problem.
Yup. That winter I was a snotterer!
One Sunday, Dad said to mom. “Vickie stinks.” Mom checked me all over, changed my clothes at first didn’t find where the stink came from.
Finally they decided the awful smell was coming from my nose. Dad said something like “I think her eye is looking funny too.
My worried Mom got on the ringer telephone. She called Uncle Jim and Aunt Ella’s. I don’t remember how she had to ring them up. Did she have to ring up Central first to get through? (Central switchboard was located in a little house on the South side of Kelvin.)
Anyway, the next morning, after the chores of milking and feeding the cattle. Dad brought the hay rack and team to the house. Warmly dressed we crawled onto the hayrack. Dad drove the team through the snow to ‘Snoosebox’ Junction.
There was Uncle Jim Metcalfe! He had driven his car down the highway #3 from the North where he and his family lived by the border. Mom and I crawled out of the warm hay leaving Dad and my sister behind. Off the team went for home.
We were seated in Uncle Jims car going South through Dunseith and turned West on Highway #5. It was a long ride.
Finally there was the town of Bottineau. Uncle Jim drove to Dr. Nelson’s office.
This was a place I really didn’t like! I remembered Dr. Nelson. Because in the past I had gone round and round his examining table once when he attempted to give me a shot. I managed to escape out to the reception area. Just as I was about to get out the door the lady grabbed me. And soon, it was all over but the crying
Mom and I got out of the car and Uncle Jim drove away. Once in the office I was put up on the examination table. Dr. Nelson had that big round metallic thing with a shinging light on his head. He looked up my nose. Soon he had a long instrument up my right nostril. It seemed he put the whole length of in Then He pulled and out came a big paper wad. A kleenix tissue! He said to mom, “She may have an infection, if she hadn’t come she might have developed eye problems” . Whoa a shot.
Finally, I was glad to be getting out of there! I put on my coat, mom grabbed my hand and we walked out the door. She carried her purse in the other hand as we walked up the street to a kind of store place.
When we were inside, she talked to the sales clerk. Then, reaching in to her purse pulled out Gold bond stamp books. Books that my sister and I had fun so much fun licking stamps with mom. Mom traded her books for a pan she wanted. That was the day Mom got her double boiler.
Uncle Jim found and gathered us up. Off we went in his car East. I slept all the way back to ‘Snoose box ‘ Junction where dad and the team met us.
Mom used the double boiler frequently through the years. Our favorite things she used it was in the making of divinity and sweet sauce for Suet Pudding!
Until later.
Vickie Metcalfe
A Montanans WWII Story
From Vickie Metcalfe (’70): Bottineau, ND
Here is one Montanan’s story from todays online Billings Gazette.
My Dad Cliff, served in the US navy and also trained at Farragut, Idaho.
He was stationed for a while at Seaside Oregon.
But deeply patriotic he wanted to do his duty and volunteered to go out.
Dad served as a Boat swan Mate.
He piloted boats with soldiers onto islands.
He shared about the kamikaze .
He was ship side to bury sailors at sea.
He also said the sailors often listened to Tokyo Rose.
Dad said she had a beautiful voice and used it.
She seemed to have information about the various ships, and it felt like she was talking to the guys.
Laterv
“We were only 100 to 200 yards from a mountainous beach. That evening from a bullhorn the beach we heard, “Hello boys on the LMS 96 being repaired by LSD. You all would like to go home to your loved ones but this will not happen. An imperial Japanese kamikaze will blow you all to bits at daylight. This is Tokyo Rose. Sleep well. Bye.”
==============================================
Blog (537) posted on September 1, 2009
Posted on September 1, 2009
Reply from Dale Pritchard (63): Leesville, LA
Gary,
Sharron Gottbreht Shen’s revised quote, “Dunseith, where the women are
strong, the men all handsome and the children above average,” from the
PBS radio program “Prairie Home Companion” caught my attention. One can
turn that quote around when they are proud of where they came from. I
found, and got hooked on, the program maybe 5 years ago and listen to it
when I can. Thank you, Sharron!
Dale Pritchard
Sharron’s (59) reply: Everett, WA.
Yeh! I was waiting for a kindred spirit to recognize Garrison K. Another line from Prairie Home Companion that I love is “beebop a rhubop rhubarb pie – it takes the taste of disatifaction out of your mouth”! Mr Keillor brightens my every Sunday. Thanks Dale. Sharron
Reply from Dick Johnson (68): Dunseith, ND.
Gary and Friends,
The prom pictures with Conrado Duran reminded me of some of the other
Cuban students who came to San Haven and attended school in Dunseith.
One in particular was Roberto Lopez. He was sandy haired and very nice
looking. He was very good at softball and baseball. When we played
softball on the west side of the old white school and he came up to bat,
the outfielders took off to the south on the run. He could hit the ball
all the way to the street or over the street into Boguslawski’s yard,
over 200 feet away. In Cuba they played ball all the time and he was
good! I think most of the Cuban kids were sent to stay with relatives in
the US to escape the revolution when Fidel Castro took power. I remember
they feared for the safety of their families still in Cuba. Another
family was the Cuadrado family. Angel (an-yel) Cuadrado was in our grade
and Manuel was about two or three years older. I remember how they had a
bit of trouble with English at first. Some of their sentence structure
was humorous to us, as we never had been around Spanish speaking people.
One morning as I got to school, Manuel came up to me and very seriously
said, “Do you heard what happen?” I said, “No, what happened.” Manuel
said, “Father Wolf, from the Catholic Church, he woke up dead.” He
apparently had died in his sleep. Although it was a sad deal, I couldn’t
help chuckling that day whenever I thought about Manuel’s excited
statement. They were all excellent students and very courteous, as I
recall. As the doctors from the San transferred to other places, so did
the kids who stayed with them. Angel Cuadrado left in about his
sophomore year. Lola Metcalfe Vanorny told me she heard he is now a
pediatrician in Atlanta, GA. Thanks Gary!
Dick
Converversation between Larry Hackman (66):Bismarck, ND.
& Don Aird: St. Louis, MO.
From Larry to Don:
I think this was a interesting conversation we had. Would you mind if Gary Puts it out on the blog? If you do please let him know as I’m sending this to both of you. Don, I also must have deleted the latest emails. If this is OK with you and if you want to include them please send them onto Gary
Don to Larry:
Carroll Carlson was my favorite Uncle I visited him as often as I could the last time was in December the year before he died. I knew Alvin and Art Siem we used to get our drinking water from the Siem’s farm. Eva Siem always had cookies and hot chocolate for me when we stayed at the farm during Christmas.
Don
Larry to Don:
Don
I have been trying to place you and where you lived?
So far I have nothing. I know several people use to haul water from their neighbors wells in the hills. Some of the water was real good and some not so good. I think a lot of it depended on the depth of the well. Did you know the Walters’, the Birklands’, The Dietrichs’, and the Hackman brothers that lived along 43. There are a lot of Hackmann/ Hackman relatives that live in and around St.Louis. Do you know any? My family originated from between Gerald and New Haven, Mo. near a church called Port Hudson. Mo.
Larry
Don to Larry:
Not many folks in Dunseith know me. I was born in Bottineau in 1943. My Mother Clarissa Carlson Aird worked and lived in the Shelver Drug Store until Dad returned from Europe (WW II) then we moved to Wahpeton. My Mother died in 1952. I was raised in Wahpeton, went to college in Dickinson, went to Vietnam in 1970, came back to NDSU where I got my masters on the GI Bill. We always came back to the Carlson farm across the road from Siems but I never got to know anyone either in the hills or town. Over the years I came back to visit Uncle Carroll as often as possible. Carroll was the least sociable character I ever met. He rarely visited anyone. In fact Dick Johnson lived just down the road from Carroll, Carroll wouldn’t talk to him. So Dick took it upon himself to start a conversation. Dick then watched after him until he died.
The water we drank came from the Siem farm. It was the best water I ever remember drinking, it was always cold. Art and Eva were good friends.
Misery is a beautiful state but to hot and humid in the summer. I spend my retirement working with/for Vets and fishing the many rivers that are close to St Louis.
Larry to Don:
Don
Sorry I havn’t got back to you sooner. I was thinking about your comment about Carroll being unsociable. After reading many of the stories written about him and what he accomplished during his life time I dont’t think that was always the case. However, I think that as people, in particular men, get into their later years they seem to hold back and shy away from other people. I know several in my family that did the same thing. They actually were all real nice folks, but just would not go out of their way to strike up a conversation with anyone. I think there are several reasons for this, one being that as most of us age we start to loose are hearing. It gets hard to understand what some people are saying. I’m finding that out now. People with soft voices and most kids, I can,t undrstand, so I end up asking them to talk slower, and louder and to repeat . If there is any background noise forget it. I know I’m going to have to get hearing aids eventually, but I don’t want to. I know that is one reason why people shy away from other people and avoid crowds. Another reason why people shy away from other people is that when you deal with other people their problems have a tendancy to become your problems. When you get up in age I think most people and again mostly men figure that they have seen and had to work through enough problems and don’t want to get involved with solving any more. I always thought my great uncle was wasting his life sitting back in his chair, smoking his pipe, and watching the leaves flutter and turn in the breeze just outside the window. He would do that for hours every day. You know, now that I’m retired and can kick back, there is something that is calming and almost hypnotic about relaxing and watching the leaves. It almost makes me want to get a pipe and light up. Maybe I’ll consider it again in about 10 years, if it crosses my mind. I havn’t smoked for almost 40 years, but I remember my great uncle didn,t mind if I took one of his pipes filled it with his tobacco and kicked back and had a smoke and a conversation with him. I was about 12 years old. Them were the days? I had a couple of uncles who smoked roll your own cigarettes using Bullderm tobacco in the sack orPrince Albert tobacco in the can. One uncle could roll a cigarette with one hand. I had to use both hands. They always claimed, that roll your own cigarettes never started a fire. Because if you didn’t draw on a roll your own , it simply went out and you would have to relite, or if you laid it somewhere it would simply go out. Where as, with a taylor made cigarette it would keep burning until there was nothing left no matter if it was in your mouth or an ash tray, or a pile of dry leaves. They didn’t set much store with taylor made cigarettes
Larry
Larry to Don:
Don
There were two parts of these messages that did not go through. Your reply to the last message, was that Bud Anderson and Carroll Carlson were good friends before and after the war and that Bud had informed you that Carroll Carlson had become introverted due to his experiences in the war, where he was involved in several major battles and that he was a lot more light hearted and friendlier before the war.
Don I remember Bud Anderson being quite a jokster. Bud’s family was putting up hay on my Great Uncles (Henry Dietrich’s) place. Frank Hackman my uncle was in the stack. At that time the object was to build a hay stack to the largest dimensions possible and still get the stack moving people to move it from the hay field into your farm yard. They usually charged by the stack and just gripped about the size of the stack but you still got it moved for the same price. Anyway my Uncle Frank was in the stack. His job was to keep the edges of the stack vertical and packed to highest point possible or to the height the farmhand could reach. The last item of business to complete the stack was to top it off so that the middle of the stack was higher and moisture would drain off the stack and not into the stack. Frank had been in the stacks all day. The day was hot and I ‘m sure Frank was tired. It was the last stack of the day. Lorenzo Anderson running the farmhand hoisted the hay up to the center top of the stack. There was a push off on the farmhand that pushed the hay off the end of the tines onto the center of the stack. This action also happened to push my uncle off the stack. He came sliding and tumbling to the ground with his fork in his hand. Bud and I were sitting in the pickup watching and waiting for them to finish up saw all of this happen. Bud couldn’t contain himself and begin laughing. My Uncle Frank was glaring at him with pitch fork in hand. Then Bud knowing Frank was a bachelor said the wrost possible thing he could think of, at that instant. He said, Frank you almost made your wife a widow, and just howled with laughter. Its a good thing old Bud had that pickup in gear and fast with his foot on the accelerator, otherwise he would of been wearing a pitch fork for a tale. Bud always liked to tease Uncle Frank about his wife. As I remember Bud. He stood about 6ft.5in. and always had a smile on his face and always found something to laugh about. I bet Carroll had some good times with old Bud Anderson?
Larry
Question from Lois Tweten: Helena, MT
Neola Kofoid Garbe’s reply in Red: Minot & Bottineau, ND
Hi Gary,
You certainly have a lot of wonderful information! Thanks to you and Bev Morinville Azure for adding me to your list/blog even tho I don’t know many folk.
But…I do have a question. In the 40’s 1942-49 when I lived on Ohmer street – a block North on the East side of the hospital…two houses to the North, on the corner, Johnnie and I played with Smallie Houle…Do you know who that is now? Maybe you do Neola? Hi Lois, Smallie/Smollie (Raymond Houle) lived three houses north from the corner. I THINK the Monson family had moved their house to the corner of the block (straight west from our house) when your family still lived in Bottineau. Monson’s house was on the corner, someone named Nordmark–maybe Marlyn, was next. Then it was Houle’s house. I think the Lyle Mahler family lived in this house later. Smallie/Smollie was one of the bunch who chased each other around the neighborhood after school on May 1. I’m sure you remember “May Day ” was BIG day in our neighbor. As you know May baskets were delivered, usually after school, and that’s when the chasing/fun started. I can still remember running after/from the other kids. You/Johnnie delivered your baskets in the morning (When we got up in the morning, baskets from you/Johnnie were already hanging on our doors. It would have been a big surprise/disappointment if they hadn’t been there.), so you could sit back and relax while the rest of us were running. I think Smollie/Raymond passed away a few years ago. I thought I had his obituary, but I can’t locate it. Eileen, did I send it to you?
We played with Dennis Langehoud Dennis Langehaug lived on Bennett St. He/my brother, Jim, were good friends in high school. Dennis is a fun-loving fellow. Did you see the picture of Dennis/your brother, Johnnie/me that was taken at the Class of ’58’s 50-year reunion? If not, I’ll send it to you–I think Johnnie has it, too., Billy Sauscer (spelling is all wrong). But after my Dad, Kenneth Tweten died, and Mom married Harold Skjervem we moved away and then I’ve lost touch with so many until this Dunseith blog.
Thanks for any information…
An old Bottineau classmate until 1949, in my 4th grade. Lois Tweten
Neola
Allen, I am reposting this from several days ago. I did not realize I had forgotten to identify it was from you until I noticed it with the last group that I send these daily messages to. Gary
From Allen Richard (65): Midland, MI
In August Nathan and Kristina were inn ND while he was on furlough fro his position in Homeland Security in Alaska. They didn’t have time to make it to MI and I couldn’t make it to ND. We met in the Minneapple for a fun couple days.
To make an adventure of it by taking the old Charger. Yeah — I still have it. Some of you may remember it as “Dakota Midnight” in CB radio days.
I want to dispel any rumors that my trip caused gas prices to go up — although i could have created a temporary shortage of premium in a couple places —- I re did it mechanically — and watering 450 horses takes a considerable amount of fluid. Yeah–its “baditude” is much worse than ever. (13 MPG on premium–saving up for an overdrive transmission — should get close to 20 mpg then)
The trip was event free and I managed to shave nearly two hours off my usual time from Midland to the Minneapple — partly buy using a GPS and finding a great route. Alaina and I made it in 12.5 hours out and 12 flat back — of course it rained most of the way back mand Ol’ Midnight will create a “religious experience” in a split second on wet pavement.
There is a “MOPAR Power Tour” every year and so far I’ve not been able to participate. So this summer we did one of our own. In the next few years I’d like to drive back to Dunseith for a Peace Garden car show. The Charger hasn’t been there for nearly 25 years. Dick — keep me posted OK? In respect to our old friend Jack Smith — I’ll drive — not haul it.
Anyway here are a few pictures —
Nathan, Kristina and Alaina — only 5 min from the Mall of America–but she still didn’t find a dress for homecoming.
OK — so I always have to get in the picture–must be a throw back to political days
About my T-shirt—The Great Lakes Loons is the name of our minor league baseball team — Clayton Kershaw went straight to the Dodgers from Midland MI.
Message/Pictures from Cheryl Larson Dakin (71): cheryl.dakin@yahoo.com BEDFORD, TX
Hi Gary
I’m attaching a couple more pictures I thought might be of interest to those Larsons and Hansons out there. I can’t identify the grandchildren in the picture with Kjersten, but her greatgrandchildren on the blog might know. The other picture is of my dad’s 7th birthday party (it would have been 1932). He’s in the center of the photo, and Frances Morinville is behind him. She’s very easy to recognize. My Uncle Dick (Richard Larson married my mom’s sister Jerrine Richard) is in the little blond boy in the front. (Hi Uncle Dick!)
Thanks Gary!
Cheryl Larson
Cheryl, I did not realize that Jerrine Richard (49) is your mom’s sister let alone married to your dad’s brother Dick. She is another one I did not have on the master email list either, however she is and has been on our daily distribution list. Gary
|
Richard Larson
|
Jerrine
|
4930 NE 86th St
|
Seattle, WA 98115
|
(206) 524-4566
|
|
49
|
1932:
Norman Larson’s 7th birthday with brother Dick (little blond boy in front) and Frances Hansen Morinville (center back)
Kjersten Adriensen age 90 with grandkids
