Martin & Marian

I grew up in the small west-central Minnesota Village of Lowry - yes, village.  It was too small to be a city.  And I will grant you, there were some disadvantages.  The adage "everybody knows everybody's business" is most certainly true.  But in my mind, this is outweighed by the "everybody cares about everybody" ethic.  Unbeknownst to that grade-school me, I had a number of "parents".  Of course, my own and my uncle and my grandparents across the street, but beyond that there were many more watching out for me. Best of the "bunch" were Martin & Marian.

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My family owned Hoplin & Nelson, a "Hardware Hank", one of the first of that brand. Martin & Marian were fixtures at the Hoplin & Nelson.  They both worked for the store for 40 odd years. Martin knew the whereabouts of every zerk,  P-trap and shotgun shell in that store. If you needed help with a project, Martin was your man. If you needed a whatcha-ma-callit, Martin would figure out what it was you were after.  But often, he faced a customer who had no idea what was needed.  They just came in with a problem. But by describing the calamity you faced,  you were in Martin's good hands.  Martin was a whiz at numbers.  He could total a long string in the blink of an eye. And he took me fishing on Rachel Lake. I confess I never really took to it, but this was the kind and gentle person he was.

Hardware. Marian next to Dave, Martin far right

Marian & Dave

Marian, in addition to waiting on customers, covered the grunt work of running a hardware. Replace window glass, assemble a pig feeder, paint the garage doors, putting down sweeping compound on the ancient slat floors -  she would do it all .. including attaching a corsage to a lapel. Talk about work ethic and endless energy. She was instrumental in shaping my character. I worked at the store doing odd jobs from grade school on and Marian was usually my "supervisor".  A benevolent one, invariably including a cookie break morning and afternoon at their home across the alley from the store.  Seems there was always something home baked in that house.  And although I am far from handy, I owe much of my how-to knowledge to her. Of course translating know-how to execution is to this day not exactly a thing of beauty. And when I reached an age when I could push a lawn mower, they paid me and outrageous $3 to mow their lawn!  I of course blew it all on baseball cards - penny-a-piece

Remembering good people on Memorial Day.

Harold, Martin Marian, Merlin, Lorraine '82

Lowry Luminaries 1948

1. Anna Johnson, Leo Dahl, Ole Hoplin, Martin Heggestad, Glenn Hoplin & David, Olaf Nelson, Arthur Johnson, Lorraine Heggestad, Margaret McIver ,Eleanore McIver, Esther Hoplin, Dave Nelson
2. Blanche Dahl, Beth McIver, Signe Greenfield, Mrs Olaf (Mathilda) Nelson, Eva Pederson, Ruth Hoplin, Marian Heggestad, Barbara Dahl
3. Merlin Heggestad, Harold Heggestad

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