MAMA'S BREAD BOWL

Today is the day before Thanksgiving and I decided to make some Yulekage. That's Norwegian Christmas bread, for those who might not know what it is. I don't like to wait until Christmas to start eating it, so I make it early and enjoy it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I use Irvin's Mother's breadbowl to kneed the bread and it is such a pleasure. It is a log that has been carved out to make a bowl. It's all one piece, although it has a crack down the middle.

I had often seen Mama McArthur make bread in that bowl, but I never dreamed I'd be the recipient when she could no longer make bread. But Mildred asked me if I wanted it and I really didn't hesitate. I learned to make bread from my mother and with the 4 children we did eat a lot of home-made bread.

The interesting thing about Mama's bowl is that it was well used. She had a gas stove and thankfully it never got on fire, but when you see the bottom of it, you'll see that it has been set up on top of a burner!

Jean and John both make bread, and I told John he could have it when I am gone. Meanwhile Jean and I share it sometimes. She makes more bread than I do now, but she has a bread machine. And who knows maybe one of John's boys or their wives might be a bread maker sometime and use that bread bowl.

John Olson Backpacking

John was the 6^th of 12 children born to John Hendrick and Martine Elisabeth Olson. He was born in Two Harbors, Minnesota on May 5, 1896. I don't know much about his early childhood but I am sure that he had to work hard to help his parents. His brother born a year before him died about a week after his birth.

He lived in a big house that was just across the street from the High School. He went with his parents and siblings to the Norwegian Lutheran Church. That was an important part of the family life.

In 1913-14 and 15 he back packed to Isabella, Minnesota to teach school in a one room schoolhouse in order to be able to go to college. Isabella is in Lake County about 60 miles from Two Harbors. I don't think he backpacked the whole way but probably took a bus to some closer town and then backpacked in.  It is still a very small community* and I have no idea how he got the job or where he lived. It is the highest community in Minnesota being about 2000 ft. in altitude. There are many lakes and woods nearby making it a good hunting and fishing area.

Dad outside the schoolhouse

He was able to go to college at the Minnesota College of Agriculture and stayed at a boarding house on Raymond Avenue just a few blocks from where the Bosses had built their house. Dad played piano. The other men in the boarding house bought music and Dad would play for them.


In 1916 my mother Elna, was the secretary of the Class of 1919 and Dad was president of that class.  I think they got pretty well acquainted.  Dad went into the army September 26, 1917.  He was honorably discharged at the end of the war.  They were married November 18, 1922 in St. Paul, Minnesota.  They went to Waco, Texas where Dad worked with his brother Clarence in the lumber business.


*This town is still in existence and you can find out about it on Google. 

Mom's Beginnings

Mom’s Beginnings

My birth was not a great enough event at the time so they didn’t record it. I thought it was great enough so I set out in 1977 to prove I had been born in Amarillo Texas on May 13, 1926. It took 10 documents to prove my birth, but fortunately my mother was still living and that helped. I did get a birth certificate. that led to my getting a passport which allowed me to go to Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Then I went with Irvin to Italy to see Jean in 1983.. What fun that was! Those stories will have to wait.

I don’t remember much about Amarillo because I was only 2 when the family moved to Hereford where I grew up with my sister Vivian and lived until I went away to college. We lived just 2 blocks from the grade school so I came home every day for lunch. Dad also came home from his work at the lumber yard. Mother took pleasure in taking care of the family and in her church work. When I was in High School, Dad would pick us up and take us home for lunch and then back to school.

Times were hard because of the depression and I remember my mother writing the amount she spent for groceries on the calendar each month and the total at the end of the month was somewhere between $30 and $35. But we ate very well.

Church was very important in our family. You could see our house from the telephone building and one Sunday there was a long distance call for us. The operator said, “I’ll ring the phone but I’m sure they are gone to church and will be home later.” Mother always put something in the oven so that we had dinner ready when we got home. We often had company for dinner after church but Mother never stayed away from church to cook for company. I guess that was one important thing I learned from my mother.

I also learned to make bread from my mother’s teaching. I loved to cook and when I was small I had a miniature kitchen cabinet. It was stocked with sample sizes of various staples. A 2 pound sack of flour and such. I’m sure I made many messes but my Dad always praised my cooking. Mother used to make up bread in the evening and let it rise overnight and make many loaves in the morning and take them to the local grocer who sold them for 15 cents a loaf! Mother thought that was too much but he always sold out. Bakery bread was 5 cents. I remember when we got our first gas powered refrigerator. Up until then we had an ice box and the iceman came each day to deliver ice and keep it cold. The ice plant was just up the street.

I was something of a tomboy and loved to play football in the street with the boys. My sis loved to read and was valedictorian of the class. I always felt like the teachers were comparing me to my sister and I had a big inferiority complex. My parents tried to assure me that I could be my own person, but I never felt good about myself until after I finished college and went to seminary. That was when I met Irvin. .

It was late in our Junior (first year in Seminary) year that we had our first date. We had about 4 or 5 dates. Of course I was seated right behind him in a couple of classes (we sat alphabetically) so knew something about him. I made him some salty popcorn after we had been to a movie one night and I think that convinced him to keep in correspondence the following year when he went to Louisville and I stayed at Princeton. That summer he went to Warren Wilson College and worked. I went on some mission trips in Texas. Vivian worked in the headquarters of the PCUSA in the department that had responsibility for Warren Wilson College. She managed to go to the college with her boss to do some work and while there checked out this fellow that her sister was dating. She told my parents that Irvin was a good person. He came to visit in New York during the Christmas break. I was staying at Vivian's apartment and he stayed at the YMCA not far away. He got around to proposing at Grant’s Tomb and I said “YES”. Aren’t you glad we did!

Irvin went back to Louisville and I went back to Princeton. We finished our Middler year at the separate campuses.. One thing I had to do was go to the President of Princeton Seminary, Dr. John Mackay, and get his permission to leave the Seminary. I had a scholarship and he wanted to make sure that I used my training that I had had. I think maybe I had to pay back at least part of the scholarship. After school was out, I boarded a Southern RR train at Princeton Junction and got on the regular line at Princeton Station. We had told our parents about the wedding we wanted in August. We both felt it was important to meet each other's family or part of it anyway. So Irvin took a train from Louisville to Birmingham and there he got on the same train with me. Ginny, Johnny and Mildred were all still single, but Ginny I think was in school or working somewhere. Stainton and his family lived in Meridian at that time and the twins, David and Donnell, were about 11 or 12, Francis, Mary and Richard were also there. Johnny and Mildred lived at home with Mama. They were all at the station I think. I remember a great sea of new faces.  One of Mama McArthur's first questions to me was:  "Would you like to have a bath?" It was very considerate of her since I had been on the train for a long time. 

 

We had a wonderful time and got better acquainted. After visiting for a few days Irvin and I got back on the train and left for Waco, Texas where my parents had moved during my junior year of college. They really liked Irvin and we got plans underway for August. I had an aunt and uncle and a cousin living in Waco and my parents had several really close friends from when they lived there early in their marriage. Irvin met those people and got acquainted with Mother and Dad. Of course he already had met my sister.

The wedding took place in the church on August 26, 1949 and Rev. James Aiken presided. And that is the beginning of another blog later. There are other stories of things that happened along the way and hopefully I'll get some of those down another time.

OLSON GRANDPARENTS

OLSON GRANDPARENTS

My Paternal Grandfather, John Henry and Grandmother Martina Elisabeth Olson lived in Two Harbors Minnesota. Grandmother's maiden name was Isachsen. They had each immigrated to the United States from Norway. Grandmother a year before Grandfather. They were each 16 years of age when they came to this country. How they met, I don’t know but I do know that they both lived in Two Harbors. Grandfather became an engineer on the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad and hauled ore from the mines down to the harbor at Duluth. They lived in a three story house with a basement. They had a big yard and I remember many raspberry bushes in the yard. They were delicious!

We only got to go there about every three years because of the expense of traveling, But Mom, Dad, Vivian and I would drive through the plains states straight up to North Dakota where Uncle Carl and his wife Helen and their daughters Joan and Pat lived. Uncle Carl was a doctor and I remember one night we girls were all in a tent in the back yard and a woman came to get Uncle Carl to go to see another member of the family but he just told her what to do. It woke all of us up and I often wondered what happened to whoever was sick.

From there we would go to see the Boss folks in the St. Paul area and then up to Two Harbors to see the Olsons. None of the children lived any closer than Carl's family so that was one of their children that I got to know along with those two cousins. On the way home we usually went by Ft. Madison, home of the Shaeffer.Pen Company.. Uncle Grant lived there with his wife, Dolly and son. Grant was the Vice President in charge of Foreign Sales. He had a big Lincoln Continental car with electric windows and lots of other things that didn't come on any of the cars we ever had. As a child I was very impressed. He was a wonderful uncle who came by to see me when I was in college in San Antonio and took me out to lunch!

          This picture was taken in December 1929 when John was 64 and Marthine was 65

After Grandfather retired and they had been married for 50 years, Grandmother persuaded him to take her back to Norway. They made it to Norway and first visited around Moss where Grandfather was born and had grown up. Next they were to go to Tavlik on a northern island just off the coast. They took a ship to go up where Grandmother had been born and raised. They had been on board for only one day and had been up on the upper deck until late. When they got back to their stateroom he laid down on the bed and died from a heart attack. They had to take her with the body back in another boat the next morning. She made the return ocean trip as a widow after having a service over there.  I always felt sorry for her since she was never able to return to Norway.

There is a Railroad Museum which I think now contains other things too, but there are pictures of the engines and the Engineers. There is also an engine outside the museum with the names of many engineers, including my grandfather. Jean and I went to the museum and found his name on the side.

The Olsons had more children than the Boss clan did, but not all grew to adulthood. Since my family lived in Texas I really didn’t know many of those aunts and uncles. I do remember Uncle Clarence who was the oldest and who was in the lumber business in Texas. Aunt Irene was the daughter I remember knowing. She was a pianist and taught music in an exclusive girls’ school in Winnepeg Manitoba. Aunt Helen was the Superintendent of Nurses at Augustana Luthern Hospital in Chicago and had never married. She once gave me a beautiful doll. I didn't know her but she was very nice to us. She died early in her career of a heart attack at her desk in the hospital. I can't say that I ever knew any of the other children. I'm sure I met some at the funeral for my Grandfather.

Carl's daughter Pat was a little younger than I was and I remember when everyone was in Two Harbors for the memorial service for Granddad we were playing in the yard and Pat ran into me and hit my eye and I had a shiner. Uncle Carl said we needed to get a steak and put it on my eye and I think they did.

And one morning Uncle Clarence went into the kitchen and said to my mother:” Elna, get in there and make a decent cup of coffee that you can't sink a dishrag in. 

The Bosses

Andrew Boss grew up on a farm but when he was out of high school he was encouraged to go to the School of Agriculture in St. Paul. The family didn’t know how it would be possible since he was the oldest of his brothers and felt that he was needed to help with the farm work. He did go and many stories about him can be found in your copy of the book that was written about him after his death. Then thirty years after his death the University named the Dairy Building on the Ag campus for him.  Jean and I went by there on our way from Alaska back to Washington D. C. Grandfather was the only professor ever at the University of Minnesota without an earned Bachelor degree. He had several honorary doctorates and he was a wonderful leader and teacher. He established many of the departments in the University College of Agriculture, and then turned them over to someone else while he went to fill another need.

He and his brother William Boss, who was also professor in engineering at University of Minnesota, School of Agriculture built houses across the street from each other. There was no electricity available when they built the houses but they put in the wiring so when the power lines, which were at the bottom of the hill were brought into the area, they were ready to connect.

Also on the way back from Alaska with Jean, we went by to see his house and the bank of which he was instrumental in starting. Uncle Will was an inventor and formed the Specialty Manufacturing Company. He designed and made the desktop holders for the 3 M company that held Scotch Tape.

He also invented the original Grass catcher for the push mowers. When we moved to the manse in Delta, Colorado, John found one of the catchers in the garage and it was made at Specialty Manufacturing Company in Minnesota.

Evalina was a stay at home mother who helped raise five wonderful children and took care of a 2 story + basement house and saw to the entertaining that was needed for her husband’s position. I remember how appalled I was when I saw her putting several spoonfuls of sugar in her orange juice she had each morning at breakfast. I was told that she had low blood sugar and needed to do that. (Unfortunately it was later that it was discovered that wasn’t the way to treat low blood sugar).

Andrew and Evalina Boss had 5 children all of whom became adults. Hazel was the oldest. She came to see our family once in Cortez and we took her to Mesa Verde. She’s the one when asked if she wanted to sit by the window insisted that “ I’m close enough to that drop off right here in the middle.” Your grandmother, Elna was next in line. Then Aunt Mabel whom I believe you all knew. She was the maiden aunt and school teacher and principal. Then came the two boys, Kenneth whom I never knew very well and Wallace who was the Vice President of the First National Bank in St. Paul and then went on to be President of the St. Anthony Park Bank which my Grandfather had helped to start.