A Plethora of Ninety Year Olds

 

  A Plethora of Ninety Year Olds   Russ Hanson   

Written December 9, 2007 for the Inter-County Leader newspaper column River Road Ramblings. 

     At least four people in our area who have shared local history stories are having  birthdays  in the coming week.  Three are in their 90s and Eunice Kanne of Grantsburg is having her 100^th birthday.  I wonder if being born in December when it is so cold that the germs all froze out in cold houses of the old days helped December babies live long lives? 

    Vernon Peterson of Siren is having an open house at his son’s home on the farm to celebrate his 90^th birthday  1-4 pm on the 15^th.  He was our Watkins man in the old days.  I am typing up some of his stories for a book he is writing and include an excerpt here.   

   “When Pa died, April 4, 1931, I was 14 years old. It was a pretty sobering thought that morning after Pa died to realize that I was the man of the house, with all that it meant on a farm in Depression Days.  The cattle, the crops, the wood cutting and more were my responsibility.  I was finishing 8^th grade and wanted to go to High School the next year.  

    I knew then that I was a man; the only man in the house, with all the work and responsibilities of a man.  We had only a few cows by today’s standards, but it was so primitive; no electricity; no running water.  We pumped water by hand, milked cows by hand, hand cranked the cream separator, pitched the manure by hand, pitched the hay by hand (if there was any during those dry years), cut the wood with an old buck saw, carried it in and filled the stove.  I always worried about Mother keeping warm.  She was quite ill those days, so stayed in bed a lot.  I was cook part time.  My sisters Lucille and Loraine had to stay in town to finish high school and Lu teacher’s training at Grantsburg. 

      There was no welfare; people would be ashamed to accept that.  The township did have a so-called relief fund.  There was no county fund.  I find in studying the old town records for Daniels Township that a few small checks were issued; perhaps $5 to $8 for a few people who had nothing.  Mother would not accept that. 

    The Federal Government had purchased Red Cross flour to be given away to anyone who needed it.   It came in 100 pound bags.  Mrs. Chatlain cried when she accepted a bag, Mother said.  The flour was at the Town Chairman’s place,  Clarence Nelson’s, about two miles away.  His brother John gave me a ride on his old wooden wheeled wagon and horses with to get a sack of flour for Mother.  I’ve always been extremely grateful for John Nelson. No one today would expect a 14 years old kid that weighed no more than the flour could carry that flour up our long uphill driveway.  But John did, bless him. He hoisted the bag on my shoulder and spoke to his team and was gone.  I had tremendous respect for John and his wife Constance.  Good People!

    A. T. Nelson was our first principal at Siren High School in 1932 when I started.  He was admired by everyone.  He was one of the great ones.  He taught a couple of classes and was the coach on sports teams.  There was no auditorium then.  For basketball, we hiked to Greenland Hall, where South church is now.  Games were played not too far from home—Webster, Grantsburg, etc. 

    Mr. Nelson could present a very eloquent lecture.  One day he told a rather lengthy story of a poor fatherless boy with a tremendous work load on the farm.  That boy walked four miles to school and four miles home for the school day.  Then after the evening chores, he walked another eight miles round trip when there were school activities.  The student was making straight A’s.    He named no one, but it was embarrassing as he was talking about me.”

*****  

  La Vern Larson, who lives on 87, just south of Cushing will be 93 on December 17^th.  I recently visited with La Vern and his wife, Doris Jean to get some information on the Larson family as part of our History of Cushing book.

    La Vern was the only child of Alert Larson, whose father Hans came from Denmark to live on the farm where another of Hans’ grandsons, Bud Larson and his wife Betty live now, just east of Cushing.  Alert’s wife, Lily Peterson Larson, lived to be 107.

     La Vern grew up in the house that George Laier recently remodeled south of Cushing.   He said it was moved from the Harry Saville farm across the road to the south by putting logs under it and winching it down the road and to the new location.  He remembers when it came time to build a new barn you started with cutting logs with the cross cut saw and had the sawmill come in to saw the logs into lumber.    

    La Vern remembers cold December sleigh rides from home to the old Cushing Church at the top of the hill.  The family would bundle up in the sleigh covered with blankets.   His mother told him that one time when she asked how he was doing he said “everything on me is frozen that can be frozen!”  The horse was hitched off center so it could walk in the sleigh tracks rather than break a trail in the middle.

*****

    Jennie Iverson Nelson of River Road will be 91 in another week.  Her husband Emil, who passed away a few years ago, was one of the 21 children of the John Nelson family.  Her own parents, the Iversons, separated when she was quite young.  Her older brothers and sisters were all quite musical, as was her mother and Jennie.   They moved to Cushing for a time when Jennie was still quite young.  She remembers that to raise money for food and rent, her mother would rent the big hall (above Vern’s) and the family would sponsor a dance.  They charged admission and supplied a light lunch and the family played the music.  One of her brothers, True Iverson, went on to be a professional musician. 

    Jennie has a great collection of old newspaper clippings that I have copied and has been very interested in working on genealogy.  Like La Vern and Vernon, she still drives her car and is active and has a wonderful memory.

***

    My own birthday is in December too.  I am much tougher because of it!  My story: 

It was December 17^th .    In a snowstorm, after milking the cows in the evening,  Dad started the old 31 Chev and headed down Hwy 87 to St. Croix to J. A. Riegel’s hospital in the Baker Mansion to pick up Mom and me, her new baby so she would be home for her birthday on the 18^th.    Just south of La Vern Larson’s farm, the fuse for the headlamps burned out leaving him to negotiate MacIntosh curve in the dark snowy night on the slippery hill.  Standing on the running board to see, door open, throttle slightly pulled back and grabbing the steering wheel he figured to get to Eureka and get some new fuses there.  But he slipped into the steep ditch, car tipping gently but only partially on its side against the bank, spilling the baby clothes and diapers into the snow.   A walk to the neighbors, phone call to Harold Jensen at the garage in Cushing got the wrecker out with fuses and Dad back on his way and soon he arrived at the hospital.  He shook out some of the snow from my diapers and clothes, but plenty remained as I was diapered, dressed and brought home, adjusting to the cold cold world with nary a whimper!

      The last two weeks I have been huddled over my computer working on Cushing History book trying to keep warm at the cabin when it is 20 below outside.  My brother Everett says “Tighten it up!  Take a candle and look for air leaks by watching the flame bend to the side.”   Well, the candle blew out anywhere in the cabin, but I have since tightened it up enough so my blowtorch stays lit unless I am near the doors or windows.   Since Mom (who will be 86 in a week) is probably reading this and getting ready to mount a rescue, I have to admit that with our good wood stove and plenty of wood that Margo cut and split, the cabin is pretty comfortable. 

     Margo left for Pine Island before the cold spell.  She seems to think that with the water system turned off, trips to the outhouse at 20 below are an inconvenience.  I say it just increases efficiency, especially for someone who started life with snow in their diapers.   I have to join her soon, as she is having trouble with the WD Allis tractor and snow bucket down there.  She forgets which wires to cross off for the ignition, thinks it is a bother to air up the tires each time, has a hard time cranking to start it and doesn’t like the taste of gas when you need to blow to clear the line every 10 minutes.  Oh well, she probably started life with warm diapers.     

     Our writers group includes Eunice Kanne as a member.  In honor of her 100^th birthday next week, we all are supposed to write a poem to write and read about her.   I haven’t ever done a poem, so thought I might try a limerick.  I am stuck looking for a rhyme.  My first line:    “There was an old lady from Grantsburg”.    Send your rhymes, stories, birthdays and local  history to russhanson@grantsburgtelcom.net or call 715-488-2776 WI or 507-356-8877 MN  or  2558 Evergreen Av, Cushing, WI 54006.