Read Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1:
The Beginning
Chapter 2:
My House
Chapter 3:
Holidays
Chapter 4:
School
Chapter 5:
Recreation
Chapter 6:
Lois and Ray
Chapter 7:
Motherhood
Chapter 8:
Music and Cooking
The Story of Lois Ann Meyer Bergeson
Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mother, Aunt, Grandmother, and Great Grandmother …
By Lois Bergeson (Reprinted with Permission)
CHAPTER 9: Our Homes
How many different homes have you had?
I have told you about our first apartment on Broadway in Redwood Falls. Ray had been looking for a ground floor place. In the spring of 1954, we moved to a cute little house on Mill Street. The owner of the house had an apartment built on the back. She was a great elderly person.
Our Next Home
During that summer, the doctor told Ray he needed to get out of the grocery business as his legs were so bad he soon would not be walking. He decided on selling for New York Life Insurance. His territory would be in the Dawson, MN area. This meant moving back to Ray’s hometown. Housing was impossible. Ray’s friend said we could move into their upstairs apartment. He lived on a farm a mile or so from town. We were there a part of a year. It was the most fun.
Ray’s friend and his wife had a child a little older than Steve. We did so many things together and had so many funny happenings. We made pie and were doubling the ingredients and it all went awry. We had pie crust enough for a bakery! We planned a New Year’s Eve party to take place in the basement. It was the first of several annual occurrences after that. We played hilarious games and laughed until we cried.
Our Next Home
Early spring we found a house with a downstairs apartment in a house in town south of the Lac que Parle River. About this time Ray was changing Insurance companies. We went with Lutheran Brotherhood Insurance. This went well. We made so many friends in town and through his employment. I was then pregnant with Mark. During that time we attended a couple days of meetings in Minneapolis. My aunt kept Steven for us.
I got very ill with the “dizzy flu,” as my doctor called it. It was an inner ear infection. With a stop at the Redwood Falls Clinic for a shot to stop the dizziness, I ended up in the Dawson hospital for several days. Soon Ray found a house to rent right across from our church. It was called the ‘‘Nielson House.” Finally we were in a house by ourselves.
Mark was born. Now we had two little boys. Here I got my first clothes dryer. That was a wonderful help with all those diapers. Life was going along great. Ray’s work was extra fun as he had a new general agent. He and his wife and family got to be such close friends. We were so near to our church that we got very involved. The pastor sat on our doorstep until Ray agreed to teach Sunday school. Ray thought he would be no good at it. Students told me he was the best one they had ever had. I guess he understood kids as he had been such a rascal himself. I was chairperson of a Mission Circle and was Mistress of Ceremonies at a Mother Daughter Banquet.
During this time Ray was doing so well in his work, he was rewarded by earning a trip to Miami for the Lutheran Brotherhood convention. The general agent and his wife were going, also. The guys decided, instead of flying down, they would use the money for a motor vacation down the east coast. Our trip was so much fun and memorable. Maybe I will write that story sometime.
A Home of Our Own
We found an older home to purchase. It was on the corner of the school. This was just a little over 2 blocks away. Moving went so easy. We kept carrying things over and storing them. When the big things came, we took the crib in first. Mark was put down for his nap. Soon Steve’s bed was put together and readied for his nap. We were free to get things in order. I had been over before and measured so I had curtains all ready for the living room with its bay window. By nightfall it looked as if we had lived there for a long time.
I was very organized in those days. Ray’s dad was a carpenter and helped us renovate the kitchen with new sheet rock and new cupboards. He told me he liked working for me as I didn’t tell him what to do! The 5 years we were there we got a new furnace installed which necessitated ductwork to the upstairs. Our installer must have stepped on the plaster some place. Early morning there was a terrible crash and dust all over. I thought a plane had crashed into our house. I rushed to the boy’s room to find a large chunk of the ceiling plaster had fallen. The day before, I had changed the furniture around in that room. If I had not, one of the beds would have been in the path of that plaster. I know Someone was watching over us. I was traumatized by that. Every creak I heard at night, I was sure the plaster was falling. Ray had me get on a chair and feel of the ceiling to prove that it was not falling.
Other improvements were a used piano, new living room carpet, new dining room set, an automatic washer, and a closet built in the boys’ room. I also taught myself to wallpaper. I did every room upstairs. The only help came from Ray when I was doing the ceilings. During this time, I taught bible school and was superintendent of the primary part of Sunday school. When our pastor left, Ray’s cousin was president of the congregation. He put my name in to direct the Christmas program. A lady called me and said, “You HAVE to do this!” I said, “No I don’t HAVE to, but I will.” It went okay, but I had very good help. They knew what they were doing. I wasn’t sure at times.
On the Move Again
There was a big blow up going on at Lutheran Brotherhood. Ray’s general agent decided to leave and bought a credit bureau in Blue Earth/Fairmont, MN. He needed more cash and talked Ray into joining in the venture. Right before school started in 1959, we moved to Blue Earth. Again housing was at a premium. We moved to a two-plex older home. Another family lived in the other half. We could get to each other’s home through the basement. Quarters were small and two storied. We were only there a year, but we have such great memories.
The family living in the other half of the two-plex were such great friends. That winter we had a snowstorm just about every weekend. We pooled food for Sunday dinners. The kids played together and we adults played cards. It was a great way to weather the storms. Ray did a good job with collecting for the bureau. I published a listing of chattel mortgages every week. The boys were in school, Steve second grade, Mark in half day kindergarten. Mark came to work in the afternoons. I made a bed for him in the corner and he had his nap while I worked along with the office girl. The next summer, Ray’s business partner got a very good job at Augsburg Publishing. We could not afford the business at both Fairmont and Blue Earth so decided to sell. After it was sold, townspeople came to Ray and said they would supply any funds he needed if we would stay in town. Of course, the deal was done. We were on the move again.
Our Home in Paynesville
We found a place to rent across from the Lutheran Church and parsonage. When we looked at the house, I also walked over to the church to see what it was like. I couldn’t resist trying out the organ. The pastor heard that and came to see who was there. He was so nice and welcoming. Ray went to work for Farm Bureau Insurance. With both boys in school all day, I applied to substitute teach. I was a favorite of the principal so I got a lot of days. I also taught homebound students. In church, Ray again taught Sunday school, I was circle chairperson and active in Ladies Aid. Every once in a while, I accompanied the junior choir, which the pastor’s wife directed. I also joined the senior choir and did solo work. I was a den mother to Mark and his friends. Michael was born here. Ray joined the Farmer’s and merchant’s bank as insurance man. We were there until the spring of 1965.
When we knew we were leaving, I decided that we should have Michael’s hernia taken care of while our insurance was still good. He had been a very restless sleeper and I knew he was uncomfortable, even though the doctor said it shouldn’t bother him. He had his surgery on March 17. We had a terrible snowstorm that day and night. I had to stay the night in Mike’s room. The nurses had to do two shifts as the next shift could not get to the hospital. The nurses were very glad I was there to take care of my child. There was so much snow piled up that the next day kids were running up the banks and onto the hospital roof. The administrator was out there trying to shoo them off. We got home later that day. Mike was a good sleeper from then on.
Ortonville, Here We Come.
Ray went to work at Northwestern State Bank in Ortonville the first of April. He came home to us on weekends. When the school year ended, we were ready to move. Ray had found us a rental owned by the our friend’s aunt and family. We moved on our wedding anniversary, May 31, 1965. Ray was working for a friend he had known and been pals with since 1st grade in Dawson. Ray was insurance man, eventually vice president, and also the general handyman. He called all the girl tellers his angels. For his retirement party, all the girls dressed up with wings. He had a wonderful working climate with the staff.
The house was one of the older ones in town. It was on the edge of a ravine that afforded the boys lots of playing space. Next door was a good playmate, the same age as Mark. Because the boys could put a bat on their shoulders, they fit in well and had friends right away. We joined First English Lutheran church and I am still a member. I became a den mother.
A house across the street on Pacific Avenue was to be sold. My neighbor told me about it and I, in turn, asked Ray if he would be interested. We looked over the property. Ray saw many things that needed to be done. He wrote the owner and made her an offer. She died about then and her kids wanted to dump the house. They accepted Ray’s offer if they could get cash. It was agreed.
We had a new home that was all ours. Before we moved in, we had new wiring done, lowered the ceiling in the kitchen and installed new cupboards. We made arrangements to have the laundry upstairs. The floors were lovely hardwood. The worn carpet was ripped up. The floors were sanded and finished. While we were doing all this, my older brother was having major health problems. He died March 23,1966. This was an emotional time. I had a hard time. It was the first of our immediate family to die. I was not prepared. I guess we are never prepared.
Sometime during April we moved to what would be our home for 50 years. Our own home, what a good feeling that was. The house had things in it. One was an old four poster bed. I loved it. We used it in the spare bedroom. We had bunk beds for the big boys and Mike’s crib in the room, also. Ray and I had our room with a door to a little porch where I could shake rugs. This was upstairs. The house had been built by a contractor so it had so many little places for drawers and closets. The downstairs had so much beautiful oak wood near the stairs, the colonnades between the living and dining rooms and a built-in china closet.
In scouring the basement, we discovered a round oak poker table. It had a burn on the top from cigarettes. Ray wanted to throw it out. I saw possibilities. I sanded and sanded. Refinished in English oak stain, it was beautiful. It graced our den for the fifty years we were there. It is now in the museum on the hill as it is an antique from the Bormes Pool Hall.
Ray was happy in his new position. I put in for substitute teaching. We had a perfect babysitter. She lived right off the school grounds. The boys grew and did well in their new school. They took part in sports as well as doing well academically. Steven graduated in 1972, with high honors. Mark graduated in 1974. He also was an honor student. Both of the boys went on to Moorhead State College, my alma mater. Michael graduated in 1982 and was covaledictorian with his friend. The two of them went on to The School of Mines in Rapid City, SD.
I always said our sons were all a success because they never came home to live! Actually, Steven was a reporter for WDAY TV. The last 35 years he was Senior Writer for North Dakota State University. He is now retired. Mark worked for GMAC in several capacities and ended up with GMAC International. He is also retired. Michael owns his own Software Company, “Affiance” and does much government work. He still has a few years before retirement.
