Mailbag

One of my hopes for this serial was to elicit Lowry stories from readers. So far, the response has been sparse - but I remain hopeful. If you haven't noticed, there is a comment opportunity at the bottom of each post. Or if you want a personal chat, email me ussbb62@gmail.com. 

In any case, it is a cheap blogger trick to post reader comments when you're facing a deadline and you're not ready. So ... here’s "2014 year in review". To protect the innocent, commenters shall remain anonymous.

General

"Why not go in 5 year intervals to the present, sharing the evolution of Lowry through your ever- changing lens?" 
[Reply:  Uffda, nay]

"Just read it and brought back a lot of good memories. I found it through Gordy Wagner via Allen Cooley. I was amazed at the accuracy of your blog. Brought me right back to Lowry."

[Reply: The accuracy is debatable. I am relying on my memory and that is getting to be less and less reliable. It is always interesting to me how threads of people connect. ]

"Just wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed your blog about Lowry in 57 and, although we left the area in 1965, I have memories of just about everything you have written about.  Please keep up the great job and know that it is appreciated.  I'm looking forward to future topics and hope you will cover Chippewa Creek, sledding at Bunker Hill, and Lake Malmadahl."

[Reply: Just like Dilbert.  People send ideas and the blog writes itself.  Keep 'em coming.]

The Fifties

"You're sharing a different world from mine in the 1950's in an industrial city in northern England. Housing was in short supply: my first home, in 1951, was prefabricated, shipped from the USA. I still have my ration book."

[Reply: I have my grandmothers WW II ration book :-)]

"Noted the juxtaposition of Flip Wilson, Milton Berle & J Edgar Hoover in the youtube slideshow"

[Reply: All comedians, I think.]

That 10 Year Old
"Read this on the bus, giggling."
[Reply: It's the handsome kid in the Davy Crockett tee or perhaps the cutie with her tongue out.]

Memorial Day

"When I used to live in DC I was only 3 metro stops away from Arlington. I would go there by myself once a year and just walk. My mother took me there when I was young and it left a lasting impression on me. In the back of the memorial there are many monuments and other items that are not on the usual tourist trap maps. They included the mast of an old ship, some cannons and a few statues but the rest of the memorial is fairly spartan but the silence, simplicity and structure speaks volumes. I used to sit on the hill under a big oak tree and watch as the new graves were being dug for Iraq-Afghanistan as this was 2005-08. I can still remember the emotional gravity the place carried. Happy Memorial Day."
[Reply: I've visited Arlington but once. It is a sacred place that demands silence."

"You probably don't remember but I gave the Lowry Memorial Day Address in, I think, 1961. "

[Reply: I suspect I was at the ’61 Memorial Day program, but I don’t remember it, except for the honor guard and the spent shell casings. I do remember an Andrew Engebretson speech, not sure what year that would have been. Send me a copy of your speech if you have it.]

District 30
[Reply: I believe the Lowry School episode was the most read 2014 posting, but no comments? Chime in!]

St. Pauli

"I just read your “St. Pauli” and felt like I was right back there with all of the experiences.  I did not have perfect attendance at Sunday School when I got to be a high schooler as I did not want to get up on Sunday morning after a school dance. On one occasion my teacher, who will remain nameless, asked me “where would you rather be when the Lord comes, at a dance or at Sunday School?”
[Reply: And you chose?]

Saturday Night

"I asked what was coming up on the next  blog and it was 'Baseball' and then…'Saturday Night in Lowry'. I started laughing and made some remark like…boy, that’s going to be a short one!  He assured me there is plenty to write about."
[Reply: I am - Defender of Lowry Honor]

Town Hall

"Superb.  Joey is featured!"
[Reply: I am eagerly anticipating a reprise of that duet when cousins gather]

"There was a jail cell in the basement. Does anyone know of anyone who might have occupied it?"

Dahl House

"This place was owned by my mother's oldest brother Jim Robieson. I believe it was before WWII"
[Reply: Cafe genealogy?  Help me out people.  ->Jim Robieson->Moellers->Julia Carlson->Leo & Blanche Dahl   ->?->Cookie Branby->?

"I remember the cafe, but never as the Dahl House.....the coffee cups w/ the names of the regulars engraved were a highlight (I think Snella has Ole's)....  It was later 'Cookie’s Cafe'."
[Reply: If I would ever advance to the '60's, there are some interesting Cookie's Cafe stories too.]

"The supper hour was very interesting. Always there was Iver Engebretson, Ben Rice and Iver's brother-in-law - I forget his name. Some of the early waitresses were Audrey and Shirley Person, Rosella and Luella Olson and later on - me. In about '49 I started working there, first as a dishwasher and later on as a waitress. I worked there until I graduated from high school in '52. One of the faithful waitresses was Emily Christianson. Blanche & Leo were very special people and I loved working for them. I think I worked nearly every Sunday for 2 years. Sunday dinner was a big event there. Dena Bremness, Director of Nursing at Glenwood Hospital, would come with 3 friends and have dinner nearly every Sunday. I always enjoyed having her table because there was always a tip - 20¢."
[Reply: Priceless]

Mischief

"So much delightful and relatable guy stuff. Will anyone of the fairer gender get a chance to even this out with a chapter of her own?"
[Reply: There's a standing invitation to guest bloggers - subject to my editing of course."]

The Melting Pot

"That was interesting."

"Wow! I would note the the tribute to Robin Williams under "Mork"....."

304 Drury Avenue

"Correction. The clothes chute did run through the bathrooms."

That was fantastic! Were the Hoplins ahead of the curve with all the improvements, gadgets & improvisations? Or was that par for the course in those days?"

[Reply: Highly unusual.  Most people had out-houses & kerosene lamps]


"I don't think it's possible to be too detailed, as far as I'm concerned. I'm getting insights into a ND farm house (homesteaders from Norway, late 1800's) and my own 1904 Minneapolis home. Thank you."

"I own the house at 304 Drury now. I really enjoy reading about it's history."

Berry & Toombs Furniture & Undertaking

[Reply: Top comment of 2014]

The Funeral Business
"Thank you David."
[Reply: I still think Oliver should have named it the 'Hoplin-Berry Funeral Home'. It was originally "Berry & Toombs" - I'm not making this up.

W.C.T.U

"I even think I went to some summer Sunday School activities at the Gospel Hall. I sure remember the mating season. Also, a couple of the regulars at Chan's Cafe had a great time during the festivities."
[Reply: Although you have spiked my curiosity, perhaps it is best to leave it at that.]

"I noticed AGITATE was the first watchword.  I will be watching with glass in hand :-)"
[Reply: You can't just cherry-pick the things you like to do. It's Agitate-Educate-Legislate"]

"I did attend services at the Hall and I believe we ladies sat across the aisle from the gents! Today I know the sacredness of wine!"

"I too remember the meetin' house days.  It wasn’t the going there that was so bad it was the fact I always ended up having to wear my mother’s dress because nothing else was allowed.  Uff da."

"Going to Gospel Hall Sunday School was humbling, but a peak experience was attending W.CT.U. summer camp with cousins Beth and Janis through Ben Wade Covenant. There was a song w/ the refrain "one little, two little, three little, brain cells....".  No kidding. "

[Reply:

"It is all coming back....slowly, however, due to advancing age and alcohol...."

[Reply: The 4 Hoplins. Glenn, Paul (2nd row far left)  Miriam, Esther (2nd row middle right. Miriam behind the girl with the hat, Esther behind and to her left.  Who are the others? Tall boy with the tie is Alexander Leslie. Bert McIver in the back. ...]

Holidays

"It was funny"

"Was the house you would not enter on Halloween Hank Brandt's home."
[Reply: Yup]

"I had never heard of the prank of wearing fire department gear and detouring cars down to Starbuck. That is priceless. I do not remember hanging anything from the water tower or throwing toilet paper from the railing. I did, however, climb up to the top of the tower where the light was located -- a chore of changing the bulb was left to your dad. It scared the heck out of me but I was committed to do it."
[Reply: Gary was Gary Thompson of course. I couldn’t remember his partner in crime. You sound a little more rambunctious - and braver - than I. I never could get up the gumption to get to the water tower railing.]

"We used to tip over outhouses on Halloween. I remember that one place we went to had a double house. The owner was going to surprise us and he got in the outhouse to wait for us. Well, we heard something in there so we tipped it over with the door to the ground and he could not get out. We did tip it back up and then ran like hell."
[Reply: For better or worse, by '57, there weren’t that many outhouses around to tip.]

"I also loved the 'The Iowa cousins had him up in the manure spreader stomping it down so they could get a full load.' Never heard of that one. My dad and his gang once put the depot's outhouse on a flat car and it ended up in Enderlin, ND."
[Reply: At least they didn't raise pigs. I’ll have to ask Doris if she remembers the outhouse on the flatcar story and find out about her water tower climbing exploits.]

"I'm surprised that you kids did not work on local farms. I was in the mid-grades and was driving a horse team for Anton Teigen and his helper Ole Boe. After that every summer helping out -- bundle crops, thrashing, plowing, spring toothing, etc. Really enjoyed it.  Had to walk to the farms and got breakfast, lunch with two minced ham sandwiches and coffee, dinner, lunch with 2 minced ham sandwiches and coffee. If the farm was too far way the farmers would probably pick us up. Loved working on the farms."

[Reply: The only farm work I did was after I married a farm girl and helped with haying and did the milking for a week while her folks traveled to a wedding out west.  Amazing that Tim would trust his lovelies to such novices.]

Motivation

These words from James Salter have kept me going.

“There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream, and only those things preserved in writing have any possibility of being real.” 
― James Salter, All That Is

[Final Comment: How many blog postings have you read that include "uffda" - twice?]