Folks, a reminder that the number ( ) following the names of those posting or mentioned is their HS graduating year. As you can see with the number in the subject line, we are pushing a thousand. We’ll be going into year four shortly. You guys are the ones that have kept this going with all of your contributions. I’m just the messenger. We currently have about 650 on our daily distribution. As you know, I post all these daily messages on our Website too. We’ve had a number of days this month with nearly 70 folks visiting our sight. Our daily average for visits to our Website this month is 50. Gary
Mavis Espe Johnson passed away
Message from LeaRae Parrill Espe (68): Bottineau, ND
Hi Gary,
We received word of the passing of Terry’s cousin, Mavis Espe Johnson. Her parents are Art and Effie (House) Espe. She is a sister of Marlene Striker, Merlin and Monte Espe. At this time she was living in Libby, Montana. Her siblings were going to try to make it for the funeral, but I don’t have any other details at this time.
We were in the middle of the first winter blizzard of the season when Merlin called us. Yes, winter arrived in the Turtle Mountains this past Tuesday and Wednesday. School was called off in Bottineau and St. John. I believe the hills had about a foot of snow, the city of Bottineau maybe 5 or 6 inches. Dunseith had a lot less. The gravel roads are quite sloppy. However, we are suppose to get up in the 50s every day this week. Deer season opens this Friday.
LeaRae
LeaRae, Thank you so much for this info. With Mavis being some older than me, I did not really known her that well, but I knew Monte (68) and of coarse their mother, Effie well too.
Monte, Our condolences are with you and your families with the passing of Mavis. Gary
Name correction – Dan’s Super Value, not Wayne’s.
I made a gross error yesterday when saying Lloyd Nelson had sold his store to a guy by the name of Wayne. I had Wayne Barbot and his grocery store in Dunseith on my mind when I made that statement. Wayne too has a very thriving business with his store, Wayne’s Food Pride (Jack & Jill) in Dunseith. Wayne purchased Hosmer’s grocery years ago and has been in the grocery business ever since in Dunseith. The location and names have changed is all. Bernadette and I love to shop at Wayne’s with all the great selections he has. We like the good friendly service of his staff too.
Back to Lloyd’s Super Value, Lloyd sold it to a guy by the name of Dan. The store then became Dan’s Super Value. Gary
PS – Lloyd, Neola provided me with your email address, so I am including you with today’s blog.
Reply to Dwight Lang (61)
From Vickie Metcalfe (70): Bottineau, ND.
Hey DWIGHT,
When I am at school I have three rules for general behaviour when I am in the classroom. Rule # 1 is__. Rule #2 is ___ and Rule #3 is ___.
Well ,the third rule applies to me. To explain myself,”You see, I have this inherited thing from my mom about names. My mom Lottie, when calling one of her girls would go through the routine of saying….”Nancy, Vickie, Cyndy…., then back to the correct name. Me? that genetic predisposition didn’t skip. It just got worse with my generation, I get stuck on one name over and over and over.”
Early in the year,when setting up classroom expectations. I tell my students: rule #3:
“1. If I get your name wrong bring it to my attention.”
“2. I will heart fully apologize, since that is your name and I need to give you that respect.”
“3. If you catch me doing it three times in one day, I need to apologize and go further to making an amends by giving you a soda.
Here is my apology.
I am so sorry, Dwight, I apologize for changing your name to Duane on the blog where millions of former Dunseith folks are now likewise confused. Thank you for letting me know so I can correct it. ( As I thought about this I know I got confused with the Du in your e-address.) Now if you were one of my “school kids”. I’d probably owe you a whole case of caffeine free soda! ” Vickie
Tucker cars
Reply from Allen Richard (65): Midland, MI
I’ve seen several Tuckers but only at car museums. There were 50 built and I think more than 45 of them still exist. There were amazing in their day! The Tucker Story was told in a movie with Jeff Bridges. If you can rent it — DO!!! It shows what the major corporations will do to stifle competition.
Did you know that the Tucker was the first car to eliminate the little rain gutters? Also, the front and rear seats were interchangeable, so you could switch them out do keep the level of wear equal. I believe the suspension system didn’t have the usual springs, but rather the prototype of today’s bungee cords. There is a lot more.
One part of the story was that Tucker needed prove the car actually ran by driving it to the state capital. Problem was that the big shots had the cops waiting for him to prevent him from making it. It was really no problem —- He outran all the cops and was in the building before they could catch him! I read an article in a car magazine many years ago that contained a road test. They clocked it at 115 and had a little pedal left.
Can you imagine 115 on 1948 tire technology????
Allen
Email messages from
Vickie Metcalfe (70): Bottineau, ND.
Erling Landsverk (44): Portage, WI
Gary,
Today, once again I am slacking off. It is too icy to walk the boys and I’m stuck on a question of Erling Landsverk’s. Please, You think on it too, since youre seeing more of the world than me in ND these days.
Yesterday, I had such a nice e-mail from Erling and I am fwd that as well. His feedback truly motivates me to write better.
As you know my dad, Cliff, like Erling was blind. Since this past summer, when I met Erling I have become, once again more cognizant of describing when I write with more clarity.
Please read Erling’s letter further down, “about the Kochevar’s, a story with his dad which gave me my best belly laugh of yesterday!”
I am off to run over to see Wes and ask him about Erling’s very last little comment about “fog banks” You see the learner in me keeps me motivated into having these conversations with the likes of people like Erling and Wes and Hank S.
They not only keep me apprised of their own oral history, their perceptions of Dunseith and its folks, but challenge me to find out more about science, unraveling the …”scientific stuff “.
When I wrote Erling back I didn’t know yesterday, I hit Dwight up, along side the head, with the wrong name….
Well Gary , I will finally let you go back to house building. I need to run to Walmart, take the boys on over to their weekly treat to the Schneiders….then, ask Wes what he knows/remembers about fog banks and tell him the name is Dwight not DuWayne. Vickie
Erling’s letter to Vickie
Hi Vickie:
I have been reading your “Tales Of The Hills” faithfully. You are doing a great job of getting your material from the older folks, and giving them the opportunity to relive those great memories. I remember the Kotchevars well. I remember when they had a little spot right in Dunseith not far from the Althea movie house. The display they had in the foot hills was great and my parents stopped there often to visit and buy items. One day that i remember well was the time that Dad was admiring the cabinetry, Mrs kotchevar apologized because she had the cabinet filled with cook ware, and Dad was unable to see much of the interior. Mr. Kotchevar heard the conversation and said “Dear, why don’t you take down your pans and show the man what you got” Dad couldn’t contain himself and turned away and began to laugh. When Mr. Kotchevar realized how that must have sounded he tried to explain, which only made things even more hilarious, and soon everyone was laughing including Mers Kotchevar.
Another memory comes to mind because of Kotchevars location, and that was the illusion of Dunseith being suspended in the air hundreds of feet above the town. It had something to do with the rising sun reflelcting on a fog bank and suddenly there was Dunseith, up in the air. Did any of you folks ever witness this. I saw it more than once, andmarveled at the clarity of the illusion. Hope this finds you warm and safe from the winter storms. Take care and keep up the great writing
Best Wishes
Erling
Vickie’s reply to Erling
Great hearing from you Erling. I really appreciate all your feedback. When I write and send it away to the blog, for me, ” It’s like throwing my best support shoes out there into a cyclone, Where? And when, If I don’t hear anything, I wonder if my words landed softly, or hit someone up along side the head. Then I am hopeful it had a soft landing.
I intend to take a copy of your e-mail to Wes maybe tomorrow, and we will see where our heads take us.
As a kid, I too used to really wonder about fog banks, especially when they were hovering over sloughs. I would watch the adult faces to see how they’d react. I’d think was this mystical? Or, are we in a nether world? Then bam! Fog would vanish and there we were. We “found” our grounding.
I also think it is magical when there is one of those big orange harvest moons that seem to take up a whole quarter of the sky! Last week, when I took my dogs for their grooming to Minot. I left about 6:00 o’clock in the morning. It was really hard to watch the road, because that big old moon was setting in the west, while the sun was soon to be at my back, getting up in the east!
During the school year, my younger sister, Cyndy and I have a standing dinner date every Wednesday night from 5:00 o’clock- 7:00 o-clock for a pizza and sister time.( Recently we’ve taken a liking to Canadian bacon and sauerkraut)
A couple years ago, in the fall, there was this wonderful eclipse of the moon. On that particularily clear night, we watched the moon rise in the east then, the slow moving eclipse move on a bit . On a half. ON AN ENTIRE FULL MOON!.
We found ourselves driving around town, here in Bottineau then around on the prairie until 10:00 o’clock marveling. She then took off for her home on the shores of Lake Metigoshe, but with the wonder’s of her cell phone and my land line, we talked through. Of course then I had wander around my house to watch out going from window to window.
I love keeping the “child like heart”……. open to that kind of stuff, and my sister does too. I think you must be like that too.
Yes, we had 1 school snow day on Wednesday last. But all was fine. The dogs were content to stay in doors quietly, snuggled up. I really have to say, that wind storm really wasn’t too bad.
BAD would be a wind storm like that. And 30 or 40 below! With no electricity. Then, I’d make a decision what furniture to burn….and I’d have to haul it over to Wes and Ovida’s as they have a wood burner.
Letting you go for now as I’ve got sweet tators in the microwave, me and the dogs like them as a treat! Later, Vickie
Oh. I almost forgot, I met Sharon at the bakery today at lunchtime. While we ate our hot dogs, polish sausage with sauerkraut, she told me she had a nice visit with you. She was working today. Off to the tators. Vic
Follow up message from Vickie
Gary and friends,
Fog visited us this fine Sunday morning and it continued to be damp through noon. As the day progressed on, the trees began to wear the frost.
Just a bit ago, the boys and I made our weekly visit across the street. The Schneider door opened by Ovidia. I greeted her,”Trick or Treat! ” Buie and Thor, fairly danced on their hind legs through the kitchen on, in, to find Wes listening to the smooth voice of Tennessee Ernie. Thus receiving their weekly treat.
While visiting, I shared a recent e-mail from Erling Landsverk and his memories about the Kotchevar’s with Wes and Ovidia. Wes and I had a good laugh at Erling’s story. I also told him it was a day of corrections and making amends as it is his nephew Dwight, is not Duane writes in.
Wes recalled through the years, of seeing Overly on the clear early mornings from the farm perching on the foothills, 6 miles north of Overly. And looking east to see the lights of San Haven. We talked about those foggy times driving down the “San” hill to see Dunseith town appear and rise out of the fog!
Buie, a curious cat sort of terrier, spied new stuff in the living room and jauntily strutted over to make an inspection. The kids; Wes and Ovidia’s sent them, a pumpkin, a witches broom, and false teeth. Always looking for fun, Wes said, “Turn them on Ovidia. ” Then, He pats and tells Buie, “Go get em boy!”
Whoa! Buie got a surprise! The pumpkin danced, then the broom cackled and ran toward Buie, and the teeth clickingly danced across a table.
Buie ran to Wes for cover. Wes who not only treats the boys, but tricks em too!
I bundled up to go home. Crossing, crackling crisp snow of the yard, the wind had come up and began sending pellets of ice falling from the trees. We dodged and ran as the fog is tries to lift … to a… Happy November! Later, Vickie
Postings from Neola Kofoid Garbe: Minot & Bottineau, ND
Hi Gary,
I decided I’d better scan/send some of these clippings BEFORE I start on my caramels. I’m usually too tired to do it afterwards. 
I forwarded today’s newsletter to Lloyd. You are right; he IS a neat fellow. He/Peggy are also very good friends of Jim’s. Lloyd’s backyard and Jim’s backyard “butt” each other–no alley between them.
Neola
Neola, once again thank you so much for taking the time to scan all these clippings to share with us. It’s very time consuming on your part, but we truly enjoy all your contributions. Whether you realize it or not, you are the root to the success of these daily messages. You have provided so much and we dearly thank you for doing so. The Dunseith Alumni has learned to know Neola Kofoid Garbe very well. Gary
Which Evans family does Brian belong too? Great catch!
Congratulations Mona (48):
