Grandma grew up near the Tamarac River in northern Minnesota. It was seven miles in two directions to the nearest towns, and the only way to get to Stephen or Argyle was by horse or by foot.She says Bill and Jerry used to build rafts for the river, as most brothers would, but she preferred to swim. Of course the woods were close, too. She remembers the berries. There were chokecherries, juneberries, wild cranberries, plums, one place with raspberries, and some spots with wild grapes. Great grandma Laura used to put the grape leaves inside each jar of pickles. She made the brine, packed in the cucumbers, added a good amount of dill, and put those grape leaves right on top. Through time grandma says she can still taste them.
A lot of things were different back then. They called the old wood stove"Leapin' Lena." Most times the house was too hot or too cold. Many days were used to chop wood for winter. When they stuffed that old stove full of fuel before bedtime, she says you'd as soon break a sweat as you'd catch a chill. By early morning, it was time to pull those old blankets up around her ears.
Great grandma could cook. There was another wood stove that kicked out hot, fresh bread. It wasn't easy to get the right temperature--you had to know just the right amount of wood to put in. There weren't any knobs like today, no "medium" or low, no automatic 350 degrees. But they learned, and grandma says the food was really good, especially summer peas and potatoes with cream from cows they milked.
There was a lot of work to do. It would have been nice not to have those cows on the farm. It was hard to get away, hard to take any time off. She says they were kind of chained to the place. She says, "I can milk a cow alright." Life wasn't easy. She says great grandma told her she would go off to school because she wouldn't have her staying on any farm when she got married.
She left home for schooling in town in 9th grade. She lived with her dad's parents Mary and Pat during the week. Grandma would go home on weekends. But those seven miles were just too much to cover on a daily basis by horse and buggy. Mary and Pat lived in Stephen. Life stayed that way until she graduated.
In 1940, grandma Vivian moved to Grand Forks to go to the beauty school. She lived with her aunt Rose--great grandma Laura's sister. It was the Hairdressers Ball that changed her life.
In walked Raphael. He had another date that night, but grandma noticed him. In fact she says, he called her later that night. She says she noticed him at church, too. He always used to walk in late, and head right up to the front pew. Grandpa knew how to make an entrance. Ralph finished three years of school at the University of North Dakota before the war called. They were married February 15th, 1944 in Joplin, Missouri, where he went for training.
While the two were dating and grandpa was in the service, grandma did something most remarkable. She moved to Seattle with her friend and worked in the shipyards. In months she went from beauty school to welding school. She welded the great naval ships of the sea to aid the war effort. Because of her height, or lack of it, she says she was sent into the tightest corners of the ships. She and her friend worked the midnight shift because they were able to earn more money. They lived with her friends sister, but moved back to North Dakota after a handful of months when illness struck her friends family back home.
Life got pretty crazy in 1945. We were in the middle of a war, my grandpa was in the Army, and my grandma found out she was pregnant. A couple months later, grandpa Ralph was on his way to the east coast to join the conflict in Germany. But orders changed after the German surrender, so grandpa was shipped all the way to the west coast to ship out to the Philippines. He told grandma half the guys got sea-sick before they left the Golden Gate Bridge, but he was able to hold his own.
En route, on August 6th 1945, President Truman ordered an atomic bomb (Little Boy) dropped on Hiroshima. On August 9th, a second bomb (Fat Man) was dropped on Nagasaki. My grandfather never saw combat. I wonder if that changed my life. My dad was born while my grandpa was in the Philippines.
Grandpa still had to do some work overseas. He was first in the post office in the Army. Then it was stint with the military police, before he finally moved on to work in the hospital. Grandma says he gave shots and "sewed up people that were stabbed."Grandpa first saw his son when he was seven months old. It must have been strange walking in from war. Grandpa brought some things back from the Japan. There was that gun that hung in the basement for many years, a kamono for grandma and another for great grandma. He also brought some dishes, and a saddle for great uncle's Bill and Jerry. The gun is the only thing still around. Shawn took it when grandma moved. He looked up the serial number online and found out where it came from.
Grandma says they moved to Bismarck in 1945, when my dad was eight months old. They lived in a trailer house by the river, near the current Memorial Bridge. They moved several more times, including finding places and neighbors grandma really liked on Griffin Street and Assumption Drive. They finally moved into the house I know--1616 N 18th Street. She remembers it was close to Thanksgiving. Dad says 1965. It's a place grandma called home for 43 years. Grandpa wasn't as fortunate. He died in 1977. My favorite memory is the day he pulled up in front of the house with a shiny new apple red Lund fishing boat. Grandpa finished the basement in that home. He always had a hammer in his hand.
When I think about that house, and I think about it often, I remember malted milks, icy cold kool-aid in sweaty glasses in the garage. I think of the weeping birch I used to watch sway in the backyard, its rhythms and shadows casting me into afternoon trances. I think of sneaking out of bed and down the hall with cousin Jim to watch Johnny Carson. Relatives played pinochle for quarters, and there was all the laughter. I think of vegetable soup that no one else can make quite right. Of course there were dozens of cookies, and carmel rolls and homemade doughnuts with chocolate frosting. And we ate Cocoa Wheat's and cereal with half & half. Everything got a healthy dose of butter. At night we slept with the windows open and listened to the soothing sound of traffic on Divide Avenue. And I'll never forget the Thanksgivings and Christmas's and the thick brown gravy and piles of presents.
We were exploring Bismarck sipping coffee as grandma shared these memories. She likes to go for drives. She always says things have changed a lot since she first moved to town.
Eventually, I had to drop her off in her new apartment. Over the summer we moved her from that wonderful house on 16th Street. Found out her birth certificate says her first name is really Mary, and her middle name Vivian. "Must have been a mistake," she says.
The other night I saw for the first time a glow of light coming from grandma's north facing bedroom in her old home. Someone's moved in. It seemed strange at first knowing those walls hold the hopes and dreams of new lives. What will their memories be? I have a safe place for mine.
The move is quite a change for grandma and there's been a flood of memories. I wonder how she'll adapt. I wonder how often she thinks of the juneberries and the steaming-hot fresh loaves of bread. I wonder how often she thinks of her mother, her brother Jerry, and those wonderful pickles. Today she still swims. I wonder how often she remembers the waters of her first home, near the Tamarac River.
Our first tomato is turning from green to orange on its way to red. The site gives me a thrill. It came on unexpectedly. One night green, the next morning the transition is underway. It's August 11
