GaryOsberg.com

As an Army brat, we moved around a lot. I attended Kindergarten in Upsala, first grade in New Ulm, second, third and fourth grades in Vienna Austria, fifth grade in Upsala, sixth and seventh grade in St. Louis Park, and then back to Upsala for eighth grade through 12^th and graduation in 1961.

During the two times spent in Upsala, my older sister Kathie became friends with Marcia Julia Rudie, a farm girl from Northeast of Upsala.  In the summer of 1956, we lived in St. Louis Park.  One Saturday morning, I walked into the living room and there were two dirty feet sticking out from the sheets on the pull-out couch.  That was my first glimpse of Marcia.  When we got back to Upsala in 1956, the friendship between my sister and Marcia picked up again.  My first date was with Marcia.  Kathie’s date was Duane Rokatz, an older fellow with a 39 Chevy.  We went to the Falls Flyer Drive-In theater in Little Falls.  On the way home, Duane said high gear had gone out and we had to get back to Marcia’s farm in second gear.  I had my arm around Marcia in the back seat and by the time we got to the farm my arm was completely asleep.

We dropped both girls off and when Duane turned onto the main road he threw the shift into high gear.  I said, “I thought high gear was out”.  Duane responded, “I wanted you to have more time making out with your date”.  I married that girl on August 21, 1965.  Today would have been Marcia’s 84^th birthday. We were married for 32 years, 1 month and 8 days and we were friends for nearly 24 years after that. 

I have two tickets at the MPR table for the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra 50^th Anniversary Gala, Saturday May 16^th at the River’s Edge Convention Center.  Let me know if you to join me at the event.

“The years teach much which the days never know.”   Ralph Waldo Emerson