October
2011 |
Our meeting this month was all about the life of Marjorie Peterson, presented by her granddaughter, Ann Zemke. Ann wrote a book entitled They Named Me Marjorie based on an autobiography written by her grandmother. When people began to immigrate to America, many things happened to families that caused children to become orphans. Death of a parent or parents, parents not able to afford their children, or simply abandoned for whatever reason, created a need for adoption. From 1854 to 1929, an estimated 250,000 children rode "orphan trains" from overpopulated areas of the East Coast to rural America to find new homes. Besides being an author, Ann is an accomplished quilter and made a quilt based on her grandmother's life. Each of the over 30 blocks, on the quilt, told a story of part of Marjorie's life. Ann read from her grandmother's own words. It first began with orphaned children riding in boxcars. Later, the railroad barons organized passenger trains for the orphans and their matrons. When a train rolled into a station the children were placed on the station platform and were "up for adoption." Marjorie kept a daily journal and told of life in an orphanage, the families she lived with, how she met her husband and how she finally settled in Long Prairie, MN. Marjorie was a very focused person, spoke her mind and all of her seven children had a block on the quilt. Being quite a gardener, she raised veggies and sold them exclusively to the Long Prairie high school. She also made 359 lap quilts for the Vets in the St. Cloud Vets' Home. The quilt that Ann made is titled "The Green Green Grass of Home" and someday will be donated to a history museum along with Marjorie's autobiography so her story may live on. |
November
2011 |
Herb R. opened our meeting with a tribute to George Vasquez. Vasquez was born in San Antonio, Texas, on Sept. 3, 1925. Although he grew up in St. Paul Park in Minnesota, he insisted, "I'm a Tejano." Herb read an article of George's heroic exploits in WW-2 and how he was awarded the Silver Star for eliminating a machine gun position. Many Vasquez family members were in the audience. Next, Robert Gabrick delivered an illustrated presentation about unique historic sites and museums related to World War II. He began with Los Alamos N.M. which was the "secret city" during WW-2. Development of the atom bomb was taking place in Los Alamos and the "Trinity" site. Security was an issue and secrecy was paramount. A museum has been established and Robert showed many pictures of the museum and the town. The first A-bomb test was in the desert at the Trinity site. Next we went to the General Patton Memorial Museum in California. This was originally a training site for troops headed for north Africa to fight in the desert. Daytime temps were around 130º F. with night time temps around 20º F. Many tanks are on display at the museum and temps inside can reach 180º F. Next we went to the National Air Museum outside of Washington, D.C. American, German and Japanese aircraft used in WW-2 are on display and hang from the ceiling in their flight positions. It is said to be the best display in the world of WW-2 aircraft. We then went to the Minnesota History Center to view "The Greatest Generation" exhibition. Many photos of the display were viewed that related to the WW-2 generation. |
December
2011 |
The election of Officers and Board Member took place at our annual meeting. Re-elected were: Herb R. as President, Alice R. as Vice President, Joyce W. as Correspondence Secretary, newly elected Ceil K. as Treasurer and Nancy M. and Naomi A. as Board Members. A great brunch was enjoyed by all. |
January
2012 |
This month, our theme was short stories from the past. Bev G. began by telling the story of the Peanut Line, a branch line of the Milwaukee Road, from Hastings to Stillwater. The original story was chronicled by Oliver Towne (Gary Hebert) from the St. Paul Dispatch. The Peanut Line serviced communities and would pick up passengers along the way. It began in 1882 and ended in 1978. Our second story was about the Lovejoy family tragedy of 1957 as was presented by Aaron R. He told of the June flooding of the Mississippi River and how Francis and Dorothy Lovejoy were drowned trying to save 2 teens that had fallen in the river from an overturned boat. Meet Tom Cooney was John H.'s story. Tom wore many hats throughout his life: a civil engineer and surveyor, a timber cruiser in northern forests, a first lieutenant of an engineering battalion during the Spanish-American War, part owner of the Diamond Hill Gold Mine and as a land agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad for 19 years. Tom spent his retirement on his farm in Afton. Our next story was presented by our special guest, Penny D. She read the chapter titled "Ella" from her mother Mariam's book, Looking Back. It told how Mariam and Ella spent a typical day together as youngsters and how it developed into a life-long friendship. We then heard from Alice R. who read the chapter of "Jemima" in Looking Back. The story was about Mariam's Uncle Freeman and his love/hate relationship with his Model T Roadster and an in-depth study of the model T in general and what it meant to own one plus keeping it in good repair. |
