Karl and Ida: James’ and Shirley’s teen years

Over the years, mother had several hired girls.  Both Helen Hesse Simpson and Gladys Peterson Johannick talked about working for mother.  One of the hired girls my sister Shirley and I remember was Evelyn Vandestreek.  I think she was either a junior or senior in high school when she worked for us.  Shirley remembers that I would chase Evelyn around the yard.  I do not remember this but it could have been when I was in 8th or 9th grade.  One of the things I do remember is the very wet spring or summer when Evelyn worked for us and that once when Lester Swanson came to pick Evelyn up he got stuck about half way down the driveway.  I do remember that I took our steel wheeled Minneapolis Moline tractor down the road and pulled them or him out.  Shirley did not remember why we had help that year but it may have been because mother did not feel well.  It could also have been the harvest and canning season when the workload increased and mother needed help.

Gordon Nohre is the only hired man that I can remember.  He worked for dad when he was in high school and maybe some afterwards.  He graduated in 1938.  He was a good worker and fun for me to have around.  He also played drums in a dance band to earn an extra five bucks for a nights work. 

Shirley remembers that I had a single bed in the dining room when I was recovering from rheumatic fever in the spring of my junior year.  I remember I was laying there listening to the radio when I heard that President Franklin Roosevelt died.  This was April 12, 1945.  Shirley also remembers that when I came home after a three-week stay in the hospital I commented, “It surely is dull around here.”  I had several room locations while in the old Mercy Hospital starting with the upstairs hall, a double room downstairs and a ward upstairs.  One of the men in the ward was an old man to me who was dying of cancer.  He had been a well driller and had a large mustache.  It was at this time that I had Alvina (Arveson) Hanson as a nurse.  We have known the Hansons ever since we joined Zion Luthern Church.  However, I did not figure out that she had been my nurse until recently.  I remember her as being pretty and friendly and she still is an attractive woman.

The summer of 1945, following my rheumatic fever, was when Horace and Gladys Nelson were married.  Horace wanted me to be his best man but because of my illness my doctor felt that it would be best if I weren’t involved in the wedding party.  Gladys’s cousin, Hazel, was the maid of honor and Joe Peterson was the best man.  Shirley and Lloyd Nyborge, Hazel’s husband, were the attendants.  Several of the Franze relatives were present but the only ones I remember for sure were Uncle James and Aunt Irene.  I remember Evelyn Stephens was there and  trying to decorate their car.  Dad was not to happy about this as he thought he would not be able to clean it off.  Horace and Gladys stayed in the Pennington Hotel in Thief River Falls the first night and then took the Duluth train in the morning.  When they returned from Duluth they set up farming and house keeping on the old Fellman farm where they lived for several years.  Scott Peterson lived on that location for several years. 

Because of the war and a shortage of teachers, the high school at St. Hilaire was closed in 1943 with most of the students being transported to school in Thief River Falls where both Shirley and I graduated.  I attended Concordia College graduating in 1950 while Shirley attended Fairview Hospital School of Nursing graduating in 1951.