Oak Ridge [a second time]
(a.k.a. the Irvin Johnston farm, spring ’49 – ’54)
The next spring this farm was sold. We moved to a farm on East Oak Ridge. It was to be our home for the next [several] years. This house needed cleaning and repairing.
Margit’s eldest, Paul, called the farm on Oak Ridge “a very picturesque home.”
The old Irvin Johnston farm on East Oak Ridge is now an access point for the Wet Bark Recreational Trail — a trail for horseback riding. A parking lot is about where the house used to stand.
This house is represented on one of Margit’s early paintings. See God Bless Our Home.
We had just gotten fairly well settled when Palmer got a letter from his father and stepmother asking if he could come to Osakis to get them.
His father was very poorly, but seemed happy to see old neighborhoods again. He had dropsy and a bad heart. The doctor did not give him much hope for recovery. They had been at our home only a week when, after a night of spiritual agony and prayer, he slept peacefully away the next morning [May 12, 1949].
Our three teenagers were full of life and laughter. The girls were often asked to sing duets at doings. I loved to listen as Ellert, Palmer, and the girls harmonized while riding in the car.
I had received a stenciling set as a gift from my good friend Minnie Anderson. In my spare time I stenciled flower designs on lunch cloths, pillow cases, and dishtowels for gifts. I also sold some of them. Most were made from good quality unbleached muslin sacks in which we had bought feed.
When the girls came home from school and smelled paint they knew dinner dishes were left for them to do and that supper preparation would be their job. They had had home economics in school I figured it was good practice for them.
A baby blanket with some of Margit’s early stenciling
Our three 4-Hers put on a Halloween party for their Cushion Peak Echoes group. In the entry sat a black clad witch stirring in a black iron kettle, telling each guest his fortune. Guests were welcomed at the door by a huge black pussy cat and a bewitching gypsy girl. A maid ushered them into a dimly lit room. Ghostlike figures were seen in dark corners, snarling black cats were crouched on the piano. Ghastly, grinning faces shone in dark places. The evening was spent playing tricks, games, and eating refreshments.
The girls were now in their senior year. They had made their own junior formals and were now planning to make their senior formals. The good looking farm boy must have whispered something in Ellen’s ear. She was making her formal of white taffeta, styled so it could be made into a long sleeved wedding dress later.
We enjoyed the company of our three teenagers at home. Many an evening during the winter months we played whist. Frieda and Palmer against Ellert and me. Ellen furnished us with popcorn. A diamond flashed whenever she came around. Frieda wasn’t as interested in boys while in high school. When some boy asked to take her home she made an excuse that she had to ride home with Ellert, much to his disgust sometimes. College catalogs and bridal magazines were studied during the winter months.
Frieda was valedictorian of her class. Our hearts swelled with pride as she stepped up and gave her address. How happy we were with her decision to work her way through Luther College. She had always been blessed with an out-going, easy, social personality. After graduating, the girls got work int he Twin Cities as house maids and child care helpers. It was good experience.
Palmer got sick during the summer. The doctor advised him to rest. We deeded the livestock and farm machinery over to Ellert. He took over the farming. We kept house for him. Palmer soon recuperated and proudly marched down the aisle with his 18 year old daughter on his arm in September. It was a small but beautiful wedding with Frieda, Ellert, and Maelyn’s niece and nephew as attendants. Our five year old granddaughter, Catherine, was flower girl. The newlyweds left on their honeymoon after the reception. When we came home we found a note on the kitchen table signed “Mr. and Mrs. Maelyn Olson.” When they returned, Ellen moved with Maelyn to his farm in Looney Valley. We missed her sparkling smile, her spunk, her love for adventure and for anything new.
Frieda was back in college. How empty the house seemed. The days were long and lonely. Palmer went to work in Winona. He stayed over, coming home only on weekends. Now it was really lonesome. Ellert was a joy and comfort when he wasn’t busy on the farm. We got some newsy letters from Frieda saying, among other things, that she had met some real nice fellows. One that had really caught her eye was a brown-eyed, dark, and handsome one.
Sometimes Frieda would bring girl friends along home from college over the weekend. They enjoyed the farm even with only a privy in back. They watched Ellert milk the bows. He took them for rides in his jeep around the fields. It sounded like fun. We could hear squeals of laughter as they drove over the bumpy field.
Three boys whose homes were in West Allis, Wisconsin, brought Frieda home on their way home for vacation. They stayed and had dinner with us. One of them was more talkative and very complimentary about the dinner. I secretly wished at the moment that he had been the one Frieda liked best. Although Ron was at a disadvantage and quiet that day we learned to like him better every time we met him.
Ron wasn’t her favorite initially, but he grew on Margit. Maybe if he’d let her know just how Norwegian he was…
My brother Ole had moved his company and family to Cincinnati, Ohio. Arne was still working for him there when he was drafted into the army. When he had finished basic training he was stationed at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, only about 70 miles from home. He had a chance to come home on leave several times. We also visited him at the camp one Sunday and saw the training grounds and the barracks where he stayed.
When we moved to the farm, the lady who had moved out left a picture on the wall for a few days. It was one she had made herself using pencil, color crayon, and water colors. I admired her courage. It gave me an idea maybe I could draw and make one too. I dabbled with the watercolors left from the childrens grade school days. Everything turned out stiff and unnatural. I made some to give to our grandchildren.
After many months, I finally made a landscape big enough to cover the top of the door behind the piano. I wasn’t satisfied with it, but Palmer thought it was super and insisted on having it framed. It was the beginning. [See First framed.]
Margit’s first painting to get a frame
I’m thankful to God for helping me to discover this gift that had been hidden while I was busy raising my family. Most of the credit for my painting success belongs to Palmer. His praises, encouragement, and helpfulness in keeping me furnished with the material needed is what kept me going.
When we had lived on this farm between three and four years our landlord installed a kitchen sink and a bathroom. Now we could live in high style with electric lights, refrigerator, bathroom and a fairly modern kitchen. Paul and Elsie had brought us their old nine inch table model television set. It worked fine.
Arne had completed his two years of service in the army and was now employed by General Electric in Cincinnati. The first part of January we got an announcement that he was married to Janet Stone. We met Janet for the first time when they came home for a short vacation in February. Aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, and sisters got together for a family part in their honor at our home.
We knew Ellert has been taking our girls the last couple years. This Christmas he had brought his girl friend, Nancy Peterson, to share Christmas with us. We were beginning to be quite a family on Christmas Eve: Ellen, Maelyn, and little Debbie, Alf, Doris, and their Cathy, Sheryl, and Andrea, Frieda, Ellert, Nancy, Palmer, and me.
Ellert and Nancy’s plans were to get quietly married the next spring and slip away on a honeymoon. Ellen and Maelyn talked them into letting them plan a reception for them in their home, inviting the immediate families, cousins, aunts, and uncles. They were married at the Stone Church in June by Pastor M.A. Braaten. Ellert’s brother, Paul, and Nancy’s sister, Artis, were attendants. They received congratulations and good wishes for a lot of happiness, then left on a short honeymoon. Palmer and I drove home to do Ellert’s chores. How empty, dark, and dreary our home looked that evening. We would miss Ellert so much. He was always so level-headed, kind, and ready to help out wherever help was needed. Ellert and Nancy would continue farming. We were getting ready to move to our hillside home in Houston which we had bought that spring.
Now we had only Frieda, our baby, left. But we knew it would not be for long. Both she and Ron graduated from Luther College this same spring. Ron was going on to the Seminary. Frieda planned to teach one year before getting married.
Next chapter: Broadview Acres
See also:
- God Bless Our Home — A unique painting of this house
- First framed — The picture she hung over the piano
Margit Mindrum 