Here is a four page excerpt from the front matter of my grandmother’s diary titled, “My Trip Abroad.”
Read MoreSS American Farmer Played Important Role in Family
> SS American Farmer On September 24, 1937, my grandmother, mother, and aunt traveled to Europe aboard the SS American Farmer. My grandmother, Elsie, kept a detailed account in her diary. In this excerpt, Pol, fifteen years old, is my aunt and Bar, seventeen years old, will be my mother ten years later. “Third day …
Read MoreMinnesota Northwoods Writers Conference 2013
This past week I participated in a writing workshop titled “Nonfiction and the Archeology of Memory,” taught by Joni Tevis. Joni’s website, http://www.jonitevis.com/ Joni’s class was a perfect fit for the project I am working on, reconstructing our family’s past from the wealth of primary documents I have. The biggest takeaway was when Joni told …
Read MoreMemorial Day Speech, American Legion, Bagley, Minnesota PTSD and Writing our Stories
I was honored to be guest speaker. I was surprised at the large crowd on such an overcast windy morning. It was refreshing to see youth groups participating in the memorial service. Bagley residents should be proud of the tribute they pay their veterans. Click on the title and listen to the 11 minute talk. …
Read MoreMemorial Day
On May 27, 2013 at 10:30AM, I am honored to be guest speaker for the American Legion, Bagley, Minnesota. Each year on the last Monday of May we honor the memory of those who have served our country and gone before us. In the 1990s World War II veterans often stopped by to visit with …
Read MoreMy Maternal Grandparent’s Wedding at the Fratt Mansion, Everett, Washington, December 10, 1917
The wedding photo is interesting because the painting in the background, titled, “Portrait of a Young Girl,” by Simon Harmon Vedder, 1890, was passed down to my mother. Sadly, it had to be sold to settle her estate debt in 2010. This weekend as I thumbed through a 1918 address book I realized that it …
Read MoreChickenhouse Chronicles: Early Warning Signs of Schizophrenia
My Aunt Polly and Grandmother Elsie Philips, circa 1939, in Darien, Conn. This past week we’ve been studying schizophrenia in the psychology class I’m taking at BSU. Schizophrenia often manifests itself in late teens and early twenties. This evening I was reading some of my grandfather’s letters and discovered this one, where he discusses Polly’s …
Read MoreChickenhouse Chronicles
Our Family History Mental illness spans at least three generations in our family. After my mother died in 2010, two of my sisters and I rescued a time capsule that had been locked in the chickenhouse on our homestead in northern Minnesota. It had lain untouched for almost twenty-five years. Some of my siblings wanted …
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