Folks,
I have been kind of busy the past week or so, so I have not given the daily blog as much attention as I’d like. Things will slow down a bit shortly though. Today is our bowling day too.
Gary
Dan & Eunice Larson Lovaas
Message from Eunice’s neice Doreen Larson Moran (Bottineau 61): Hazelton, ND
When we had family reunion a few years back I took Danny Lovaas for a ride
in my 2000 Inferno Red Chrysler convertible – limited edition . I bought
it Aug 2000 since on Aug 25, 2000 I celebrated 25 years with the government.
And since we enjoy traveling it was most appropriate. Since Dan’s father
had been pastor at the Lutheran Church we tried to find where the parsonage
was and the old church. As we drove through the streets of Dunseith he
just said, “Wow, would I have loved to have had this experience when I was
in high school.” He and I also drove around the Peace Garden area. He
had done a lot of the buildings there after he got back from his army stint
1946 to 1948. He did a lot of the stone work on the shelters on the level
that overlooks the pools and flowers and walkway to the twin towers etc.
Folks, Doreen’s parents were Ledolph and Edna Larson. They lived on the Lake Road several miles south of Lake Metigoshe. I remember the Larson Family well from my growing up days. They, like us, were very active Metigoshe Lutheran church members. Doreen and I recently connected with facebook. I told here I had located her Aunt Eunice when she and Dan were being discussed a while back with our daily messages. Gary
Reply to Carmen Richard’s posting yesterday:
From Glen Williams (52): Missoula, MT
To Carmen Richard….Will get a copy of the Westhope book and read the chapter “Haunted” on San Haven…….and give you my thoughts…Thanks for letting me know that such a book exists….I have been there and done that so to speak….
Glen Williams…
TB and San Haven before the discovery of Drugs:
Reply from Brenda Hoffman (68): Greenville, SC
Dear Gary,
Even though I haven’t read the book Westhope, I can understand the San Haven chapter titled “Haunted”. Prior to the drugs discovered during WWII, TB was pretty much a death sentence. Since there was no real cure, all sorts of regimes were prescribed including complete bed rest, laying nude in the sun, sleeping outside in midwinter, removing lungs and parts of lungs and giving daily sputum tests.
During their hospital stay, Herc Nicholas and Benny Frovarp shared the cottage (that later became my family home) because there were no beds available in the hospital. Both recovered to become important parts of my childhood at the San. And both told stories of how they would get their dog to do their sputum test and no one knew the difference! My Dad’s cousin Veona Schocker was hospitalized from age 13 until her late 20s – when the meds became available. And the top floors of the hospital offered a beautiful view of a cemetery.
One of my new friends in Greenville, SC is from MN and her grandfather died in the MN TB Sanatorium. A few months ago, she emailed me copies of his letters from the hospital – they were so sad. He missed his family so much. One of the highlights of his letters was receiving socks in the mail – his family didn’t have enough money for travel to the hospital to visit him.
When Mom and I found our admittance date in the handwritten books kept by someone in the hospital clerical area, we were saddened to see that all entries were handwritten except DECEASED which was a rubber stamp – obviously there were so many.
TB was as frightening before meds as AIDS was in the early 80s. My bible school teacher was engaged before she became a patient. Her fiance soon found someone else – she never married. So many sad stories.
Brenda Hoffman Class of 1968
Anthony family Story – Part Two
From Vickie Metcalfe (70): Bottineau, ND
Anthony family story, part 2
“Whirly Jigging with Ward”
The children of Rabbit City Lake community enjoyed their times of childhood play on the lake. All the children participated at various times in their youth, and Ward was frequently in the middle, “giggling” among the lot of them. As a result, all maintained and continued their friendships well into becoming elders.
In the winter, ice-skating and a good game of shinty couldn’t be beat. One winter, Aunt Liza, who was a maternal aunt of the Metcalfe children sent many, many pairs of huge size XXXL which were well over-sized, roughly cured and cut rawhide shoes. The enterprising children found a use for the unusable, they discovered those contraptions made of leather when wet could be shaped into a shoe-skate. When frozen, the pointy curled up toes were perfect on the ice for whirly-jigging.
This was another made-up special of their games, given the name, “Whirly-Jigging” by their friend, Ward. In late fall, the stronger, bigger swimmers of the lake community, placed a long pole, planted end on end (vertical) in the muddy bottom of the lake. And come the frozen winter ice, another long narrow poplar was attached horizontal to the top of the pole which gave the top a swiveling movement.
The children of Rabbit City community would gather on the lake at the Whirly-Jig pole. First, the bigger children would line up and lean against the horizontal slowly pushing the top pole around, Around and AROUND, gather speed, faster and faster, f-a-s-t-e-r- Whee! Sailing like a merry go round!
Then, all hands hanging on, they played crack the whip daring each other to be the one brave enough to be the at the end. Most times, it was Ward at the tail end, whooping with his very own, unique high-pitched __hee-hee-hee___H-_E-_E- WHEE! Whirly- Jig! _____hee-____hee____ hee!
Family Tales from my dad (2) Vickie Metcalfe, Winter 2011
