Years ago, I met a woman whose father was a doctor in Cold Spring. His brother was also a doctor, (Doctor 2 for purposes of this story) and they would take turns covering for each other during vacations. One year Doctor 2 and his family drove to California in their “woody” station wagon. At the end of the first week the doctor received a telegram from his brother in California telling him how great a time they were having and asking him to wire some money so they could stay a little longer. No problem, brothers should help each other. The money was wired.
The next week another request for more money arrived. This time, the doctor sent a telegram back to his vacationing brother telling him that there would be no more money and that it was time for him to come home.
Some time went by and one day the railroad station manager called the doctor and told him that he should come to the depot. There was a C.O.D. for him.
The doctor argued that he had not ordered anything C.O.D. The station manager told him to get down there, that there was no doubt that the package was for him. When the doctor got to the train depot, he discovered that his vacationing brother had loaded the “woody” onto a railroad flat car and shipped himself and his family home, C.O.D.
“We judge others by their actions, and we judge ourselves by our intentions.” Gary Osberg
Tonight is Halloween, the night before All Hallows Day. According to Wikipedia, the origin of the word Halloween is Christian, the holiday is commonly thought to have pagan roots.
Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while “some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of “Samhain”, which comes from the Old Irish for “summers end”. Samhain was the first and most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar.
Samhain was seen as a time when the ‘door’ to the “Otherworld” opened enough for the souls of the dead, and other beings such as fairies, to come into our world. “Guising” – children going from door to door for food or coins is a traditional Halloween custom and is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895. The practice of “Guising” at Halloween in North America is first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario reported children “Guising” around the neighborhood. I am not sure that there are any outhouses left to tip in central Minnesota. I do remember trying to tip one in the back streets of Upsala.
Stay safe everyone and please vote on Tuesday. The only thing that counts is that you show up and do the hard work.
“Life is easier than you would think. All that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable.” Kathleen Norris
Next Tuesday I will reach a milestone. I will have represented Minnesota Public Radio for twenty-six years, in central Minnesota, western Minnesota, southwestern Minnesota as well as Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Until April of 2024, I also represented KWRV 91.9 in Sun Valley, Idaho. We sold it to Boise State Public Radio. I love this job.
In April of 1999, I was promoted to sales manager of the Xerox agency Albinson in Minneapolis. I lived in Upsala at the time, so I would leave home at 4am every Monday. I rented a room from my cousin Kevin in Golden Valley. I would return to Upsala on Thursday evening and work from Albinson’s St. Cloud branch on Fridays.
On July 13, 1999, I had supper with my son at Byerly’s in Golden Valley. I told Erik that I would keep the old parsonage house in Upsala, but I was planning on moving to Minneapolis, since I had my dream job with a great product and I would be making a very good living.
The very next day I found out that the owners of Albinson didn’t like the new contract that Xerox had presented to them, so they decided that they didn’t want to be the Xerox agency anymore. They would no longer need a sales manager. My boss told me that I should pack my things, and they would pay me thru the end of the month.
I spent the summer of 1999 painting old buildings in the Upsala area. I drove to Randall and went to the back room at Bermel’s Shoes & Boots, the local Red Wing boot dealer. I picked out a good pair of sturdy work boots and started climbing ladders. My first job was painting the Post Office in Upsala and then I painted an outbuilding on my cousin Dave’s farm. Per my brother Bill’s instructions, I used oil-based primer and latex paint. He let me use his power washer. The two buildings that I did the summer of 1999 still look good. The boots are in pretty good shape too.
In August of 1999 I read an ad in the St. Cloud Times for a “Development Officer” for Minnesota Public Radio. I didn’t know what a “Development Officer” was, but it turned out to be sales. A perfect fit. It took two months and seven interviews to get this job, but it worked out well. Compared to “slamming boxes for Xerox”, this is more fun than it is work. I have no plans to retire anytime soon.
“It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul” From the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley.
I spent a lot of my youth in Upsala, Minnesota. There were “Farm Kids” and “Village Kids”. Some were “summer kids”. They were kids whose parent or parents grew up in Upsala and who were sent to Upsala to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa during the summer. Some stayed for a few weeks, and some stayed for the whole summer.
Larry was a “summer kid” and he ended up marrying one of the Upsala beauties. She was chased by all the boys, but Larry won her heart. He was also one of the eight couples that camped on our lakeshore on Cedar Lake west of Upsala every fourth of July. He was a fun-loving fellow who died way too young.
MEA weekend is a special time of the year. Many a father/son(daughter) combo head for the woods or ponds to bring home the “bacon” in the form of grouse or duck. Larry, the “summer kid”, knew that I had never taken up hunting, but he wanted my son Erik and myself to experience a weekend of grouse hunting up north at “the shack”. Larry invited our friend Ron and his son Matt, my son’s best friend, to join him and his son Danny. So, there were three dads and three sons along with a black lab, “Bear”. We formed two teams, and I was the “bird dog” on the DADS team. Bear went with the boys.
The first day we brought back 17 grouse, and Larry fixed a meal of grouse with wild rice and cream of mushroom soup in the giant iron skillet that hung from a nail in “the shack”. It was one of the most memorable feasts of my life. I trust that you are doing something special with your family this weekend.
“Remember, it’s not about having time it’s about making time.” Erik Osberg
I moved into this cottage during a blizzard on March 18, 2013. Two men from Red’s Transfer and I started at 8:30 am and we were done by noon. I was alone in Mill Stream Village for a few months before Tom and Helen Kresbach built a standalone house on the corner of Colman Court and College Circle.
Last year a lady bought the last two empty lots and built a beautiful new home. Now you have a chance to move into the Village also. There is a house for sale next to the new home.
Tonight, the Chamber Music Society of St. Cloud is presenting the Ivalas Quartet, with a program of Hayden, Ravel, and Derrick Skye. Details and tickets at www.chambermusicstcloud.org
Tomorrow night the St Cloud Symphony Orchestra opens their season with “Prosperous Voyage”, in Ritsche Auditorium on the campus of St. Cloud State University. www.stcloudsymphony.com
Heartland Symphony Orchestra is also performing tomorrow night at the Charles D Martin Auditorium in Little Falls at 7:30. Tickets at www.heartlandsymphony.com
On Sunday, the Heartland Symphony Orchestra is performing “Opening Nights”, featuring “The Lark Ascending” published by Boosey and Hawkes. h at 2:30 in the Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts in Brainerd.
Today is homecoming in Upsala. In my day, the football team was the Upsala `Cardinals’, but some time ago Upsala football merged with Swanville and now it is the USA (Upsala Swanville Area) `Patriots’. I am planning on being there, but it is too warm to wear my letterman’s jacket.
In 1957 I was an overweight freshman on the Upsala Cardinal football team. Freshmen wore the old uniforms and old helmets, and we did not win any fashion awards. John Atkinson, a senior running back, ran with his knees pumping up and down high and hard. He still managed to make forward yardage. In practice, I would simply bounce off of his knees. The memory of the pain is still with me. That was the year when no other team even scored on the Upsala team. Clarissa got to our three-yard line, but our defense held.
A couple of years ago, the 1957 Upsala football team was inducted into the Upsala Sports Hall of Fame. I was one of nine of the twenty-nine original members of the 1957 Upsala Cardinal football team who showed up for our induction into the Sports Hall of Fame. One of the guys, Dave Chuba, came all the way from Ohio. Bob Soltis was the quarterback and captain of the 1957 team. That same year Bob was named to the All-State Football Team.
It was the second year that inductees were chosen for the Upsala Sports Hall of Fame. Bob’s brother Ralph was chosen the previous year and another brother John, who was a junior on the 1957 football team, accepted an individual award for his brother Bob that same year. There were lots of Soltis boys and they all played football. No one lifted weights in those days, they just threw bales of hay all summer. Us “village kids” had a tough time keeping up. “GO PATRIOTS”
“Man’s finest hour is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle victorious.” Vince Lombardi’’
The MPR Net Underwriting Sales Team annual retreat was supposed to be held this coming Sunday through Tuesday at Breezy Point Resort, but it had to be postponed until spring.
One of the cabins at Breezy Point that is available to rent is the 11-bedroom Fawcett House. It was Breezy Point Resort’s founder Captain Billy’s personal residence. My mother, Bernice “Bee” Larson was a nanny for the grandchildren of Captain Billy Fawcett in the 1930s. She had a bedroom in the Fawcett House and spent the winters in Los Angeles with Captain Billy’s son Gordon Fawcett, his wife Vivian and their two children, Gordon Jr. and Dennis.
Wilford Fawcett, better known as Captain Billy, was a millionaire publisher from Robbinsdale, Minnesota. His most famous publication was the Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang magazine. The book “Humor Magazines and Comic Periodicals” noted that “Few periodicals reflect the post-WWI cultural change in American life as well as Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang. For much of the 1920’s, Capt. Billy’s was the most prominent comic magazine in America.” Harold Hill refers to the magazine in the song “Ya Got Trouble” in “The Music Man”.
Captain Billy purchased Breezy Point Resort in Pelican Township, from Fred LaPage in 1920 and soon the main lodge was built along with his personal residence. The original lodge was destroyed in a fire in June of 1959. Of course, he rebuilt the lodge, and the “Fawcett House” still stands. With 11 bedrooms it is perfect for large family reunions. It was recently renovated. For details on rates and golf packages, go to www.breezypointresort.com
“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we know what to do with it. Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” Emerson
It has been twelve years since Auntie passed. There are many stories to tell about Auntie, but my favorite comes from her son Kevin. They had been visiting Kevin’s uncle in Alexandria and Kevin told Auntie that he wanted to get back to her house in Upsala in time to watch the Preakness horse race on television.
The speed limit on County Road 17 is 55, so Kevin was doing 60. Auntie said, “You drive slow Kevin”. Kevin stepped it up a bit and a little while later, Auntie spoke up again. “We’ll never get there on time at this speed.”. Kevin responded: “Ma, I don’t want to get a ticket.” , but he dutifully stepped it up again.
There was silence for a while and then: “Kevin, why don’t you just pull over and let me drive”. Kevin was driving a four-wheel drive pickup. Auntie was 90 years young at the time. We miss you Auntie.
“I was born to have fun”. Leone Larson Hagstrom 1922-2013
In 2000 I took my first trip to Sun Valley, Idaho. I had been representing Minnesota Public Radio for almost one year and my boss decided to take the Brainerd territory away from me and give me the classical music station in Sun Valley to cover instead. St. Cloud, Worthington, Appleton, MN and Sioux Falls, SD were also my responsibility.
I flew into Hailey, Idaho on a Sunday in September and I would work in the territory for three days. On Thursday I would get into the rental car and head towards Bozeman, Montana to visit Aunt Maggie and Uncle Bill. Uncle Bill was my mother-in-law’s half-brother.
One of my Sun Valley underwriters was a record shop, and the owner gifted me a “Pavarotti& Friends” CD. For the first time I heard Luciano Pavarotti and popular rock stars performing at a special venue in Pavarotti’s hometown, Modena, Italy.
Michael Bolton singing “Nessun Dorma” blew me away. Driving through the mountains with the volume turned way up was thrilling. I now own six “Pavarotti & Friends” CDs. All were purchased in Sun Valley and accompanied me on the road to Bozeman.
Yesterday was the 24th anniversary of 9/11. Eric Clapton was part of one of those special concerts. He and Pavarotti performed a song that Clapton wrote, “Holy Mother”. Enjoy and may peace come your way.
“It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” Lloyd Perry
Culture shock occurs when folks from one religion and background encounter folks from another religion and background. I experienced “culture shock” when I moved to Upsala in 1956. I was pulled out of St. Louis Park Junior High School and my mother and six of us children moved into an apartment above a grocery store in Upsala Minnesota. Ramlo Grocery belonged to my mother’s mother Laura and her second husband Bert Ramlo. I was 13 years old and because I had not one, but two paper routes in St. Louis Park, I owned a brand-new Schwinn bicycle. It was bright red with white trim. It had streamers coming out of the handlebars, a tank with a horn, mud flaps and white sidewall tires. The first day I rode it up to Upsala High and when I got out of school, I discovered that someone had let the air out of the tires.
That evening, I stripped the bike of all the fancy stuff and the next day there were no problems. Danny Lillestrand did beat me in a game of marbles and took my favorite aggie.
Here in central Minnesota, there has been another more serious culture shock. There have been many refugees from Somalia and other regions of Africa that have relocated to the St Cloud area to get away from terrorism and starvation. In the interest of building trust through collective impact , Abdikadir Bashir started the Center for African Immigrants and Refugees Organization, branded as CAIRO Minnesota.
A year ago, CAIRO asked me to be the MC at their first Gala Fundraiser. I was honored to be there, and it was a marvelous evening.
CAIRO is inviting everyone to their second annual fundraiser gala, “Seeds of Synergy”. Once again, the event will be held at The Park Event Center in Waite Park. The date is Friday October 10th from 5:30pm to 8pm. Tickets are available at www.cairomn.org. I hope to see you there.
“Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind.” Henry James
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