Growing Up in North Dakota

Grand Forks, Big Fork, Rock Lake, Max, Hamilton, Bowbells and Hope – the names of all the towns we lived in from my birth until I was 13. No town was larger than Bowbells (about 700) except for Grand Forks which was the large university town. We moved from our little town back to Grand Forks most of the early summers so Dad could finish his master’s degree. So all together we probably moved 12 times – hard to make friends or feel at home. I remember as much as I do because of all the little towns and I can separate time into those pieces. A good place to begin this story is with my mom and dad’s courtship and marriage.

My mom and dad were married in San Francisco in a Lutheran Church on Church Street in January, 1945 towards the end of World War II. My mom wanted to finish college before she was married, so took maybe 23 semester units her last semester. Her degree was in social work. My dad’s Aunt Nora, his mom’s sister, and her friend Harold Kilpatrick (of Kilpatrick’s bread) hosted a small reception in a hotel for them. I know that spumoni ice cream was served. My Uncle Freeman and my mom’s cousins, Margaret and Georgine, attended the wedding.