"Do I have a
Twin"
Ross Swanson
created the news paper article below
Sent:
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Ross also created
a nice birthday greetings for his
Aunt
.
Ross
has also sent older pictures of
Silverdale
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Looks like
you could be Brothers
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23 October 2007, this
morning at the Montana
Cafe our waitress Patty
Rutchasky exclaimed, you
look like brothers from
the side. The gentleman
was sitting with his
back to me looking at
his wife. I was afraid
he would be offended at
such a statement. He
stood up and he was a
very nice looking man! I
said you must be
Norwegian and he was. In
fact they were from the
Norwegian Holy Land
(Decorah, Iowa.)
Decorah was where many
of the Norwegian
immigrates landed before
moving on to other areas
of our country. There
was a Norwegian
newspaper published
there, the Decorah
Postum. I had a nice
visit with Leslie &
Elaine Peterson as I
told him I had visited
Decorah a number of
times doing family
research. He wondered if
I had toured the
Vesterheiam (Western
home) which is a
Norwegian Museum and
library. My Simonson
family immigrated to
America in 1839 to New
York City, then up the
Hudson River to the Erie
Canal and west on the
Great Lakes. They were
with the first Norwegian
settlements in Eastern
Wisconsin near Muskego
and Wind Lake. In 1850
they settled at Decorah
before moving to
Minnesota. Leslie and
Elaine were heading for
the Norwegian Riviera
(North Shore of Lake
Superior) as they
continued their tour of
Minnesota.
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Don and Leslie
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December 7,1941 is a day
most people a few years older
than me can remember. "A Day in
Infamy" said the President of the
United States. But, December 6 is
the day I remember. I was but
four and a half years old and
something that happened that day
is still in my memory. |
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December 06, while living at
Fall Creek, Wisconsin we
returned to Grantsburg many
week-ends to check on the house
and to visit with Dad and Mom's
parents. We would stay at
our house on highway 70 a half
mile east of town. On this
Saturday morning we were at
Grantsburg. We had come the
night before and stayed in our
house. Saturdays were busy as
that was the day farmers and
others came to shop for
groceries as this was at that
time a Saturday shopping town.
All the businesses including the
Bank were open.
When Mom was in the store
with Duane; Dad, Jerry & I went
to the Ford dealership. I
remember walking into the one
car show room and there sat a
beautiful new dark blue 1942
Mercury two door sedan. It was
not long before the crew was
pushing it off the floor and we
had traded our black 1940 Ford
two door sedan. Mom found out
when we picked her up at the
grocery store that she would be
riding in a new car.
This car became the last new
car sold from that dealership
for the next four years, as the
next day Pearl Harbor was
attacked by the Japanese and all
domestic car sales in the United
States were frozen for the war
effort. Automobile factories
were converted to building
vehicles of war.
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Jackie Metsa
Cheves |
November 03, 2010, my wife
Muriel and I were walking past the Montana Cafe
this afternoon when I noticed a black Suburban
with a sign in the back side window. I commented
to Muriel that it looked like Jackie & Marc
Cheves' business vehicle. Then out of the
Montana Cafe came Jackie Metsa Cheves to greet
us. She invited us in to the cafe to visit with
her husband Marc and her father Elder Metsa.
Jackie & Marc live in Frederick, Maryland which
is about 40 miles north of Washington D.C. They
publish a Surveyors magazine which is used by
professional surveyors throughout the nation.
http://www.amerisurv.com/
Jackie is the daughter of
Elder & Bess 64,1994
Metsa and was raised in Virginia. Elder owned an
Insurance Agency and served as the Mayor of
Virginia. Her mother Bess was very active in
civic affairs. Bess was the co-founder of the
Land of the Loon Art Festival in Virginia,
Minnesota which began the summer of 1977.
Jackie's father Elder now lives in Cook, as does
her brother John Metsa and his wife Carol, they
own the Comet Theater and the Grey Wolf Resort
on Pelican Lake and he is the Principal of the
Cook School. Jackie's brother Paul Metsa
is a professional musician.
http://www.paulmetsa.com/
They had spent the
past week visiting family. Jackie is one of
those people that brightens up the day for
anyone she meets. What started out as a walk to
the drug store came to be a very enjoyable time.
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October 11, on the way to my scheduled
appointment at the Mayo Clinic this day we
left the Interstate to drive a country road. We
drove east from Forest Lake to highway 95. This
is beautiful country and a very enjoyable drive.
12 miles north of Stillwater we stopped at
Marine on St.Croix. It is one of the oldest
communities in Minnesota
http://marine.govoffice.com/. What is nice
about this small city is the old buildings are
still in use.
Then I remembered Bill
Woods telling me his cousin John Ostlund had an
automobile service garage in this historic
community. Sure enough we found his business. I
walked into the shop and asked if there was
anyone there from Gheen. That got John's
attention and we took twenty minutes of his busy
day. We also enjoyed meeting his wife Toni who
has been battling cancer for sometime. She could
be the poster gal for fighting cancer as she was
just a joy to visit with.
John's
grandparents John Ostlund
77,1960 & Olga
81,1973 (Flank) Ostlund homesteaded west
of the Gheen Corners back in 1910 or so. His
Uncle Al Ostlund 66,1980
owned a resort at Crane Lake. His Aunt Mabel
61,1984 married
George Woods 62,1982,
they raised their children in Field Township
west of Cook, they are; Larry (Rita), Bill
(Karen), Ron (Bonnie), Kathy (Esko) and David
(Shirley) Woods. John's father is Kenneth who
lives near Marine on St. Croix and is a 1951
graduate of the Orr High School.
John and
Toni were very gracous in allowing us their time
as we dropped in unexpected. They have a very
clean, well run business. I would have my car
serviced there if I lived in the area.
Sent: Thursday, October 21,
2010
Subject: Thank you
Hi Don;
I had a phone call
yesterday from my nephew Bill Woods. Bill
told me to check the Cook web site to read a
story about Toni and John at the Marine
Garage. Don, I can't tell you what a thrill
it was for me to read that great article you
wrote about our son John and his wife Toni.
Toni has got a rough road ahead of her, but
she is a fighter, and she will not give up.
The life story that you
wrote about Bill Lobe was another great work
on your part. I have read it several times,
because it always brings back so many great
memories, not only of Bill, but also all of
the fellows that I knew that worked in his
shop. My sister Elsie is in a retirement
home and does not have a computer. So I
printed that article and gave it to her to
read. Her impression was the same as mine
"wonderful". Elsie also remembered most of
the fellows, and of course Bill and Mary
Jane (Mary Jane VanEtta, right?) Speaking of
my sister, did Elsie have the beauty shop
when you came to Cook? I remember so well
when Elsie rented the old mortuary that was
located between Atley Swanson's drug store
and Mike Sorvori's grocery store. The first
time we looked at the building it still had
some caskets stored in it. I remember saying
to Elsie, "Are you sure that you want to
have a beauty shop in here?". My younger
sister Mabel was going to beauty school
then, so after she graduated, she worked
with Elsie in the shop.
Don, thinking
about Bill Lobe
again, I have to tell you about my first
car. When I was a young kid in high school,
I traded my old 22 caliber Marlin rifle to
my cousin for his 1936 Ford. That old V-8
engine was so wore out, when I would drive
down the road there was a cloud of blue
smoke behind me, I carried a five gallon can
of drain oil in the back. Don Delich had the
Pure Oil station in town, and he would keep
me supplied with oil. It was about thirteen
miles from the farm to Cook. When I got to
Cook, I would have to add a quart or two to
get back home.
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One day I saw that Bill
had a nice little 1937 Chevy. in the lot. I
looked at it several times until I got the
courage to go in and talk to Bill about
making a deal. Bill looked at my Ford, and
my prayers were answered, he didn't take it
for a ride, or even start the engine.(maybe
he didn't want to hurt my feelings). Bill
could see it sitting in front of the window,
and he told me, "Ken, I have to have $125
and your old Ford". I told him that I only
have $75 to my name, so that is all that I
can pay. Bill then said, "Ken, I've known
your family for years, your credit is good
as gold, give me the $75, and you can bring
me $5 or $10 whenever you have the money,
until it's paid off". I told him that I
can't do that. I counted out the $75 on his
counter and said to Bill. "Either you pickup
the money, and give me the keys to the
Chevy, or you say no, and I will put the
money back in my pocket and go home until I
have saved more". Bill lit his pipe, looked
at me for a long time, then said "You are
just like your Dad, If you can't pay cash
for it, you will wait until you can.----Take
the darn Chevy. There was never any hard
feelings, Bill and I were always good
friends.
This is probably more
than you wanted to hear, but I just had to
tell you some stories of long ago. But Don,
again I want to thank you for that nice
article that you wrote about John and Toni,
I truly appreciate it
Sincerely.
Thanks to Ken Ostlund, Orr Class of
1951 and the father of John Ostlund, the
owner of the Marine Garage.
.
John & Toni Ostlund, Muriel
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