The Simple Lives We Live
Some of the most extraordinary stories don't come from celebrities or history books. They come from everyday people - your neighbor, your grandmother, the man who runs the corner store, or the woman sitting next to you at church.
On The Simple Lives We Live, we sit down with ordinary people to uncover the beautiful, hard, faithful, and fleeting moments that shaped their lives. Stories of love and loss. Of grit and grace. Of family, faith, and the simple days we didn't know we'd one day miss.
So please join me each week as we capture voices and memories that deserve to be heard and remembered. Because the truth is, ordinary people live the most extraordinary lives.
💌 Get new stories in your inbox every Friday: https://the-simple-lives-we-live.kit.com/profile
The Simple Lives We Live
The Giggling Girl at 94 | Magdalene Dolyniuk
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
At 94, Magdalene Dolyniuk still has the giggle everyone knows her for. Wait until you hear about the Killdeer rodeo: a car taken without asking, a carload of kids (and a baby!), pop bottles cashed in for gas money, and a mom who didn't find out until decades later. It's the story listeners keep bringing up, and hearing Magdalene laugh her way through it is half the fun.
Welcome to the Simple Lives We Live, where we open the old family photo albums and dust off the stories that made us who we are. I'm your host, Kylie Simiano, and each week I sit down with everyday people to capture their extraordinary life experiences, the moments of love, loss, laughter, and resilience that echo through time. These are the stories that remind us of our roots, connect us to generations past, and show us that the simple lives we live are anything but ordinary. So settle in and let's listen back together.
SPEAKER_02Welcome back to the podcast. Today's quote is you must remember to love people and use things rather than to love things and use people. And that is by Venerable Fulton Sheen. Today, my guest is, I'm gonna probably say it wrong, but Magdalene Dalinuk.
SPEAKER_03Yay! Did I get it right?
SPEAKER_02It's awesome. And I also have her daughter helping us, who is Leslie Paul. So thank you both so much for doing this. I'm probably gonna refer to Magdalene as Maggie, because that's easier.
SPEAKER_04You can call me whatever you want.
SPEAKER_02See, she said it's okay. So um, so Maggie, let's start with how old are you?
SPEAKER_04I am 94 years old.
SPEAKER_0294 years old. And she was just telling me she was born in 1931. Where were you born?
SPEAKER_04I was born on a farm uh stead in uh Bullman County.
SPEAKER_02Oh, Bullman County, okay. And so you were born at the house in a farmstead.
SPEAKER_04Siblings. There were there were um nine children in the family, my family.
SPEAKER_02Nine children. So where did you fall in line? Where what where did you fall in line?
SPEAKER_04I'm I'm um Frank, Jean, Matt. Fourth. Fourth.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so let's list them all. Can you list all of your siblings for me in order?
SPEAKER_04Okay, my brother Frank, okay, my sister Eugenia, my brother Matt. This was Matthew, but we called him Matt. Okay, and then myself.
SPEAKER_02I'm fourth in the family, fourth in the family, and then how about after you?
SPEAKER_04Um, my um brother David, my brother James, and uh then um my sister Rosella and uh my sister Joan and Uncle Nolan. Oh Nolan.
SPEAKER_02Now is he the youngest? Nolan's the youngest or Joni. Joni's the youngest. Okay, so where did Nolan fall in line there? He was uh second to the youngest. Yeah. Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_04Joni is uh youngest.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Can I ask how many are still with us?
SPEAKER_04Pardon?
SPEAKER_02How many are still alive?
SPEAKER_04Jean just passed away, friend isn't gone. Is this Matt? Me, no, David is gone, James and Joan. Aunt Rosella and Aunt Joni, so there's four. There's four left.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02Now, did you always grow up on a farm?
SPEAKER_04No, no.
SPEAKER_02No. Were you so you were born on the farmstead?
SPEAKER_04Yes. Did you guys move into town or we moved into Bellfield from Bullman County farm in Bullman County? We moved to Bellfield.
SPEAKER_02Okay, and how old were you when you moved to Bellfield?
SPEAKER_04I was um four years old when four years old.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So most of your life you spent in Bellfield then? Correct. Correct? Okay. So when you were a kid, what were your parents like? First off, what what what were your parents' names?
SPEAKER_04My dad's name was um Michael. Okay, and my mother was Saloma. But they just called her Selma.
SPEAKER_02Selma is what they called her.
SPEAKER_04But her name was Saloma.
SPEAKER_02Saloma. That's really beautiful and very different. So, what were your parents like when you were younger?
SPEAKER_04Well, I had the best mother, I think. And my dad was, you know, my dad was kind of um, I don't know how to say it. He had um, he could cry. You know, when things weren't going right, he could actually cry.
SPEAKER_02When you say your mom is, you feel like she was the best mom, what qualities did she have that make you say that?
SPEAKER_04Well, I'll tell you what, she had a brood of brood of children. Did she still have a lot of children? And she treated us all the same. Nobody was better than the other one. She could cook. She could cook, yes, she could. She was a she could make the best bread. She used to make a big tub full of bread dough twice a week, seven loaves of bread, plus whatever. And uh yeah, she was a baker. She was a baker.
SPEAKER_02What made them move from Bowman County to Bellfield?
SPEAKER_04Well, you know, that was in the 1930s, 1929, 30, 31. And um they raised sheep. They couldn't have cattle because there was no grass. It was a you know, sure. Yeah, the sheep could eat anything, but um my dad and my his dad, they had a outing out. I don't know why, what it was, whatever, but we packed up and moved to Battlefield. My dad actually had um schooling for mechanics.
SPEAKER_02Oh, interesting.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02So then did he do that once you moved to Bellfield? Was he mechanics?
SPEAKER_04Yes, he went he went to work in a Battlefield in a garage. But uh for some reason that garage built uh burned down basically right probably a little after we moved to Battlefield. So my dad um got a job with um hauling mail out in the country. He had a rented team of horses, and he had a uh a wagon that it was no cover on it, you know, it was open. And he did that in the winter of 1936, haul mail out in the country with that team of horses, and um to the people, and you know, sometimes he was gone for a whole week.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_04He stayed with the people, you know, when the weather was bad, if he couldn't, you know, go out to the next place. He stayed with the people there.
SPEAKER_02That's so interesting because obviously it wasn't with a truck. Well, and I think a sleigh though, or was it a whip with wheels?
SPEAKER_04He had a wagon. I don't I I think it might have had a sled too. But I know he rented a team of horses.
SPEAKER_02Did he just do that for one year or did he do that for a long time?
SPEAKER_04He did that in um we moved to Bellfield in 1935. Must have been in 19 uh I was four years old when we moved to Bellfield. So I was born through. Yeah, we moved to Bellfield in 1935, and he did this, I think, um in um 1936.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_02Did he go back to um being a mechanic after that?
SPEAKER_04Well, um yeah, he actually started up his own shop. Yeah, he went he went to school for mechanics.
SPEAKER_02Yep, yep. So then he just did the the the HASA for like a year and then he's yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Okay. He started up his own shop.
SPEAKER_02Is that what he did then for the rest basically of his working career? Was he a mechanic then?
SPEAKER_04He did that until almost well. He was um did my mother move to him over the year. My mother moved to uh Wisconsin, Wisconsin. My dad stayed in Bellfield for a while and and then he moved to Wisconsin too.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_04But in that time period, I think he was there for uh probably a year, and then he passed away down in Wisconsin. He worked in a garage down in um what in the heck was that town's name? I forget what the name it is, but it was in Wisconsin.
SPEAKER_02Okay. What made them move to Wisconsin? What made them move to Wisconsin?
SPEAKER_04Well, there was no jobs or anything, and you know, that was so she went before he went? Yes, my mother went down there. Um my sister uh Joan, uh uh they lived down there for a while. And uh my sister Joan, um she actually met a guy there and she married a guy from Wisconsin. No. And uh no, she didn't. Aunt Rosella did. Yeah, Rosella. Yeah, it was Rosella, and uh so my mother was down there, she was working in a China factory building China, and my dad stayed in Bellefield, he didn't want to leave Battlefield, he just didn't want to go down there, and uh well eventually he got on the train and went down there. Okay, that was 1958 because that was the year I was born.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so I was gonna say, so how many kids were still at home and went with them?
SPEAKER_04Um Joni and my brother James were down there at Nolan. Nolan, no. Why wouldn't Uncle Jamie been there? Yeah, he was in the Navy, and and there was a a base there, a naval base, and he was stationed there, and he met a girl down there, and um so this was all then after you were married.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I was married already. Did your mom ever work when you guys were little?
SPEAKER_04Well, yeah, she ran a cream station, she did, yes.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so your dad is organic, he had his own little shop, yeah. And then your mom is doing this from home, or did she have her own little like store where she had a cream a cream station station? There you go.
SPEAKER_04Okay, but the people brought in their cans of cream and they um tested it and and um wrote a checkout for them with whatever how much cream they had and the amount of the they had a tester and it showed how much um butter fat was in and uh uh she ran that cream station and then they they loaded up that cream and put it on the train and went down to Mandan where they had uh they were making cheese with it, I think something.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so that's what she did.
SPEAKER_04That's what was my mother. Okay, but when did she do the dry cleaner? Well, that was later on already.
SPEAKER_02Did she have a dry cleaning like business? No, she worked for okay, okay.
SPEAKER_04She was a seamstress, and you know, there was a uh uh fellow that had uh dry cleaners in the in the battlefield, and whenever there was a torn shirt or buttons missing or whatever, my mother did the work there.
SPEAKER_02She repaired it all. When you were little, did she ever do that out of the house? Anything out of the house? Or no, she was basically a model taking care of the kids until you guys had been a little older. Then she went to do some of this other stuff when you could kind of more take care of yourself. Is that what I'm understanding?
SPEAKER_04Well, well, my sister Jean, she was three years older than me, and we when mother was in her cream station or whatever, Gina and I were doing the meals, you know, the lunch.
SPEAKER_02Taking care of and the rest of the house and the house.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah, we were the housemates.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. The older ones did have to help out a lot. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Did grandma go out west with Aunt Jean to the cannery? Um yes, she did. My sister Jean went out west. She was 16 years old, and I had an aunt that um worked in a cannery. I think it was an Idaho. Well, I thought it was well on the course. I think it was an Idaho. I don't know. Anyway, uh my mother and my grandmother, they took Jean was 16 years old, so she was old enough to work there. So they took her out to that cannery on the train and dropped her off there. And and um, she didn't, grandma didn't stay there and work. No, she she um she had a sister that lived in um Idaho.
SPEAKER_02So then your older sister was able to, there was somebody there. Okay.
SPEAKER_04And so my grand and this um sister of my mother, uh she was having um marital problems, and uh she was divorcing her husband. So my mother took my grandma, my grandma Ubergaven got on the train and went out there to help. Help. I don't know how much how much help how much help they did, but they they went and then took my uh sister Gina out there, and she worked in a cannery because they had another aunt that were um she was kind of um higher up in a cannery. Okay, and and my Jean was 16 years old, so she could work in the cannery. Yeah. Interesting and and and I was she was 16, I was 13. I was not 13 yet, I was 12, but actually 13 in summertime. I was at home cooking meals for my dad and and the boys.
SPEAKER_03She learned how to grow real quick back then, right?
SPEAKER_04I I tried to make some uh dumplings one time. We ate a lot of German dumplings, and I knew how to roll the dough, and but you know, I don't know what happened. I didn't get my dough strong enough. And I tried to make dumplings for my dad at lunchtime, and all I had was a big mess of dough in a great big to say the loose. Um he used to uh have that uh when when what they called it, milk and uh just it was with milk and uh crackers or something. He had that for his lunch and I took my my canister full of dough and I ran out to the creek and I dumped it in there and and I sat sat outside and cried because I would I didn't know how to cook with it. I was 13 years old.
SPEAKER_02Do a lot of things wrong, right? Um what do you remember doing for fun as a kid?
SPEAKER_04For what?
SPEAKER_02What did you do for fun as a kid?
SPEAKER_04Oh, and what did we do? We played a lot of outside games. We played Anti Rover, we rover, Red Rover, and I don't know, all kinds of that they made usually I forget that was you made a uh like a goose line and you hopped around there and duck goose, duck duck goose. I don't know what they called it. I think it was duck duck goose.
SPEAKER_02But you guys didn't have TV.
SPEAKER_04No.
SPEAKER_02Did you do a lot of card games?
SPEAKER_04Like in the we played, we played hearts and and uh card games, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Did you have did you always have electricity?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we always did.
SPEAKER_02You always had electricity. How about indoor plumbing?
SPEAKER_04We didn't have it right away. Okay. Um my uh was it my my grandma overgave it, sheard her. My grandpa overgave it, they gave my mother some some money, and they they put the um the uh indoor bathroom in the house. What a blessing that was, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Even just a small bathroom, you know, that was a huge deal back then. Um, what kind of you said you did a lot of the cooking and stuff growing up. What other chores did you guys have growing up?
SPEAKER_04Toys, chores, chores, yeah. Well, my sister Jean and I were kitchen maids, and we cleaned the house, we took care of the bedrooms, changed the bedding, and we did a lot of that work, and my mother had her little babies to take care of. Yeah, so we were like housemaids.
SPEAKER_02Do you do you look back on that with um how do I ask it? Do you feel like you didn't get a childhood then? Or do you look back on that and it's like that's just how it was?
SPEAKER_04Like we just knew we had to do it and we did it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Do you wish you had more of a childhood then with not having to do some of that stuff?
SPEAKER_04Pardon?
SPEAKER_02Do you wish you had more of a childhood without having to do some of that stuff?
SPEAKER_04You know, I didn't mind doing that.
SPEAKER_02You didn't mind doing it?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. We did a lot of dishes and yeah, we usually cook the evening meal. It's mostly pancakes all the time.
SPEAKER_02They were fed. They were fed with some food, right?
SPEAKER_04Mother, mother had her babies to take care of.
SPEAKER_03Well, and they had the rations too, the sugar cards. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I suppose, yeah. So you remember during World War II having all of that?
SPEAKER_04We each had a little cup. And just so many teaspoons of sugar in there. Sugar was rationed.
SPEAKER_02What else do you remember being rationed?
SPEAKER_04I can just only remember sugar. But I'm sure there was other stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Did you mill your own wheat? Flour?
SPEAKER_04I don't think so. Because they lived in town, so it wasn't like they had the wheat together in the middle. It was a bit of a 50-pound bag of flour, so my brother could bake twice a week.
SPEAKER_02So you did you do remember the big flour? Yes. Um, did you always go to school like at Bellfield School? It wasn't like a country school.
SPEAKER_04Uh no, I always went to um school in Battlefield. I was four years old when we moved to Battlefield from Bildman.
SPEAKER_02So it was always Bellfield then that you went to. Okay. Any favorite subjects or favorite teachers that you can remember?
SPEAKER_04Well, I can remember my first grade teacher.
SPEAKER_02Why is that? Good or bad?
SPEAKER_04No, she was so nice to, you know, uh, she was such a nice person. And then my second grade teacher was just the opposite.
SPEAKER_02Well, how about the first grade teacher? Do you remember her name, the one that you liked so much?
SPEAKER_04I uh I just don't remember her name. No. You just remember something. Yeah, yeah. But she was a tall, kind of tall, and she was blonde. And you know, um I don't think when she lived on an apartment or something um on uh the walk that we walked to school, and when we we'd see her walking, we'd run and hold her hand and walk with her to school.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome.
SPEAKER_04In the first grade.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. She must have been a pretty young teacher then, if she was she was young, yeah, not married yet, probably then, if they were teaching. Um what were Christmases like growing up for you? What were Christmases like growing up?
SPEAKER_04Well, I'll tell you what, in the 30s, we always had a Christmas tree, but there was never any presents underneath it. But we usually, my grandma and uh Oprah Gay, which they usually brought us uh oranges and apples for Christmas, and that was a big thing back then. Box of box of apples and and box of oranges, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Is there any gift from a Christmas that you got that you really remember? Because you said some you didn't have particularly.
SPEAKER_04I remember I got one of those Betsy Wetsy dolls. You know, there was a little rubber doll like this, and um, she had diaper on and uh little bottles for sucking on. I was so happy I finally got a doll. How old were you? Oh, uh I was probably six or seven, maybe.
SPEAKER_02And that was your first doll.
SPEAKER_04Yes, I didn't have any doll. And my brothers, my nice brothers, they took that doll. She was about like this. Looked like a little bit of foot, little bitty football. They took the hat off, the arms off, and the legs off, and they played football with that darn doll of mine.
SPEAKER_02Oh no. Did they put could you put it back on? Like that. You couldn't. Oh no. I knew you loved that doll.
SPEAKER_04I did.
SPEAKER_03Oh man.
SPEAKER_04I think I think my dad had the well, I think he died, liked it more than I did.
SPEAKER_03Your dad? Yes.
SPEAKER_04Why is that because it had a little diaper on and little little bottles of water, and then the diaper would get wet, and then you'd have to change it.
SPEAKER_02Didn't you have enough kids to do that with? Like the real thing, right? Any any special traditions at Christmas that you guys had? Any what? Any special traditions?
SPEAKER_04Well, we always had a Christmas tree. Always a Christmas tree. And there was one kind of a St. John's bread. Did you ever hear that?
SPEAKER_02It was just a long kind of black, it was some kind of a is it like the same as like Easter bread?
SPEAKER_04No, no, it was not even bread. It it was uh like a a fruit, maybe, but it was dried up. I forgot uh it came some from some tradition. I don't know what it was, but we always had to add the St. John's bread.
SPEAKER_02And it wasn't bread.
SPEAKER_04No, uh it was just it was uh like a some kind of fruit, but it was dried up. Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_02I'll have to look that up sometime.
SPEAKER_04My dad, my dad had to have that at Christmas time all the time. Did he play his violin at Christmas all the time? Did he play his violin at Christmas? Oh yes, he played the violin. And we had Christmas, well, not only at Christmas, he would play the violin. Brother Frank played the guitar, and uh we'd uh gather around our dad and we'd sing the Christmas carols.
SPEAKER_02That's so neat.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Every year, and you said not only at Christmas though, did they play a lot throughout the year?
SPEAKER_04My dad did, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, but not you said your brother played guitar. Did he play guitar in the evenings at all?
SPEAKER_04You know, my brother, Frank, the oldest, um, he was the oldest in the family. He could pick up any instrument and play it. He had played the guitar, he played the he played um uh saxophone, piano, piano.
SPEAKER_02So did he have a career in music?
SPEAKER_04No, he just no, he wasn't a band. He had that band because I remember they were even, there was a poster that they played in Weebo. Well, yeah, they he had a little, he had some friends that they they played at um dances.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah, but he never, I was thinking maybe he went into like um music education or something like that.
SPEAKER_04So he was a mechanic.
SPEAKER_02He was a mechanic too. Oh did he work for your dad?
SPEAKER_04Uh my my brothers, my old two older brothers, they they worked with my dad in a garage.
SPEAKER_02Okay, it's probably where their love for it came. You know, learning that probably hanging out with dad while he's working. How about birthdays? Were birthdays special in your house?
SPEAKER_04My mother always made uh angel food cake for our birthday. We always had an angel fruit. We probably didn't get any presents, but we had an angel food cake.
SPEAKER_02That was still special enough, though.
SPEAKER_04Did you have chickens? No, we lived in town.
SPEAKER_02So there were no you didn't have any chickens, so you did have to go to the store to get the eggs for you guys.
SPEAKER_04The people did have chickens though in town. They were allowed to have chickens in town, but we didn't have any chicken.
SPEAKER_02But you guys didn't have any, okay.
SPEAKER_04No.
SPEAKER_02What were summers like as a kid? No, what? What were summers like as a kid?
SPEAKER_04Well, I think it was like any kid. We played a lot of outdoor games. And yover and rover, red rover, and there was a swimming pool?
SPEAKER_02Was there a swimming pool?
SPEAKER_04No, not there wasn't a swimming pool.
SPEAKER_02There was a crick in the backyard. Yeah, but it was okay.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, my sister Gina and I, my brothers built a raft because there was a crick there behind there, and they built this raft. And um, my older sister Jean, and and she says to me, We're gonna go take a rafting trip. It was maybe almost half as big as this table or whatever. So we had this crick right behind our house, and um she got on that raft and I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to go rafting, but she's convinced you? Yes, okay, come on, we're gonna go on a rafting trip. So, okay, she's on the raft, she's about two times bigger than me. She's on one side, and uh I'd I come on on the raft, it tipped over.
SPEAKER_02Oh, geez.
SPEAKER_04And I thought I was drowning.
SPEAKER_02Oh, did you not know how to swim? Oh, you didn't know how to swim?
SPEAKER_04No.
SPEAKER_02Well, that completely changes the story when you don't know how to swim.
SPEAKER_03Did your sister know how to swim?
SPEAKER_04Well, she's the one that was gonna go take me rafting down the creek. We had a but did she know how to swim on? No.
SPEAKER_03Oh, she didn't know either. Okay, well, that wasn't very smart.
SPEAKER_04Neither one of us knew in how to swim.
SPEAKER_02Did you learn real quick? Or was it like it to the shore as fast as you can?
SPEAKER_03And we won't go to near water.
unknownOh well.
SPEAKER_02You know, Maggie, it's never too late to learn. Do you think you want to go learn how to swim now? No desire.
SPEAKER_04I never wanted to get in the water after that, ever. I was I I really thought I was drowning.
SPEAKER_02How old were you when that happened?
SPEAKER_04Well, she was, I was um, let's see, I was probably um six or seven. She's three years, three years older than me. So she could have been nine or ten. She tried to do everything. She wanted to be, she should have been a boy. And then she'd enticed me to to go along with her.
SPEAKER_02She was the instigator then, right? At what age did you start working outside of the house? Pardon? What age did you start working outside of the house?
SPEAKER_04Did you get a job when you were in high school or not when I was in high school, but you know, there was not a beauty shop in Bellfield, and um I always would fix my mother's hair, and uh I'd fix it and comb it out afterwards, you know, after dried and whatever. And so my mother is she had some friends, so she'd I fixed that friend's hair and fixed another friend's hair, and pretty soon I was running around all over town fixing everybody's hair. Nobody had no um, there was no beauty shop in Bellfield. Well, tell her about your first job that you had. My first job? What was that? Your candy striper at the hospital? Oh yeah. How old were you when you started that? I was I was still 13. I was in the eighth grade, and my friend and I we decided we were gonna get a job. And we knew that there were people that could get jobs in the hospital, but you had to be 14 years old. So anyway, neither one of us was 14, but we signed up for a job in the hospital. Dickens.
SPEAKER_03Were you able to work?
SPEAKER_04We worked, but you know, wanted to earn some money to buy some clothes to go to start high school, and uh we worked one month in a hospital, and I'll tell you what, that was something else. How did you get there? Well, somebody took us there and we stayed in the hospital.
SPEAKER_02You slept in the hospital?
SPEAKER_04Yes, they had on the fourth uh floor of the hospital, they had beds there for people that worked for them.
SPEAKER_02And they weren't 14 yet. No, you were 13. How did you get away with that?
SPEAKER_04I did. That was the first big lie I ever made. That's a big lie. But anyways, we we worked one month, we got our fifty dollars, and that was a lot of money in those days. I started high school, I bought a new winter coat, I had two skirts, a brown one and a black one. I had a lime green sweater, and I had a nice blouse to go with my nice two skirts. Skirts. And I bought a saddle shoe, a pair of saddle shoes with my fifty dollars, and I had gave my mother ten dollars yet.
SPEAKER_03You get a lot of fifty dollars back then.
SPEAKER_04How old were you when you worked in Cook City? Um, let's see. Jean was she out of high school? Yeah. So she was three years older than me, so I must have been. I must have been 16, maybe. Worked in Cook City in a restaurant. In a restaurant.
SPEAKER_02Serving?
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_02Okay. How long did you work there for?
SPEAKER_04Well, just one summer, and and wasn't even a full summer. The the fellow that uh had that uh Cook City restaurant, he was from Battlefield. Okay, and he he didn't have anybody to serve the meals. So he took my sister Jean and me when went up up there and we we worked up there for a couple months.
SPEAKER_02Were you able to do any sports in school?
SPEAKER_04No, no sports for girls, no. So there wasn't I was a cheerleader.
SPEAKER_02Okay, that was the only sport that was my only sport. Okay, because it was a time where they did, and then they did for a little bit, and they did again. So I didn't know where that I didn't even know.
SPEAKER_03She was a cheerleader.
SPEAKER_04Yes, I was a cheerleader.
SPEAKER_02How many years did you cheerlead?
SPEAKER_04I think it was three.
SPEAKER_02Three years that you did cheerleading.
SPEAKER_04Sophomore, junior, and no, it must have been well freshman, junior, freshman, sophomore, and junior. I I quit because and when I was um senior, I was gonna be too busy to be a cheerleader.
SPEAKER_02To be a cheerleader. Did you take any vacations growing up? No, no family vacations. No. Do you remember what your when you were younger, what were your dreams and ambitions?
SPEAKER_04I wanted you want to be I wanted to be a stewardess on an airplane. I wanted to go around the world. I got that written in my my um like yearbook or something. Yeah, yearbook, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_04But I didn't even get out of Battlefield.
SPEAKER_03It's okay, right?
SPEAKER_04Until I got married, then I got got to go to Colorado for a while.
SPEAKER_02So we're gonna get to that here pretty soon because I just have one question, then we're gonna talk about that a little bit. But who who do you feel like in your life influenced you the most when you were growing up?
SPEAKER_04Oh who who did I want to be like? I don't know. Like I said, I wanted to be a stewardess, and I don't know where I got that in my head, but I figured maybe I could get out of Bellfield and see something else besides Bellfield. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so who did you marry?
SPEAKER_04I married um well my husband Philip. He was um seven years older than me, but um he um how the heck did I mean I had a good friend, her name was Florence, she had a sister, an older sister that was married to uh Stephen Dolanock. And this Stephen Dolanock, uh, my husband was brother to him. And kind of through that, you know, we were good friends, and we were always over at uh Stephen and Effie's place, my friend and I. We used to play uh cards over there and whatever. And um so when Phil came, he was out, he was in the service, and um he was out west for a while, and then he came back to North Dakota, and uh that's where I met him when he was over at his brother Stevens, and my Florence and I, my brother's my sister Flora, now my friend Florence, we always used to go over there, you know, we used to play cards and stuff, and and that's how I met him.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02Um, how old were you when you got married?
SPEAKER_04I was 20 years old, but I would have been 21 in my birthday there at the same year.
SPEAKER_02Okay. And so he was 27 when you got married then, right?
SPEAKER_04No, he was he was uh I was uh 20, he would have been uh 27.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Or had he already turned like 28. Okay. What was your wedding like? Was it simple? Did you have it at a church?
SPEAKER_04Did you it was a wild one? It was a wild one, you my husband was Ukrainian, oh yeah, and those people they love to part, you know, big celebration for everything. Yep, yep, yeah, literally. They had that had buckets of beer on the tables, you know, and everybody was we had a we had a two nice meals. We had a dinner and then a and a supper, also.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you did, okay. What what church did you get married in?
SPEAKER_04Uh St. Bernard's.
SPEAKER_02It was St. Bernard's. Okay, I wasn't sure if it was one of the Ukrainian ones or whatnot.
SPEAKER_04Oh they didn't have any church, the Ukrainians didn't have any church at that time.
SPEAKER_02Oh, they didn't.
SPEAKER_04They had a hard time getting priests, you know.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. Okay, so you guys got married, you and Phil got married. Did you and you obviously had a big reception then?
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02And did you do a wedding dance too? With him? You did, you did the whole thing.
SPEAKER_04Her her brother was the musician. Yeah, that's okay. Yeah, he played the piano. He played the piano and he played the guitar too. And he he could play the accordion too. He could play anything.
SPEAKER_02Now, with your mom being a citrus, did she make your dress or with the dress?
SPEAKER_04I made my own dress.
SPEAKER_02You made your own dress.
SPEAKER_04I did.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Did you keep that dress? Yes, I did. You're still having it. That is so cool. I love that.
SPEAKER_04There was a picture in the 17 magazine. It was a magazine, and it was a picture of a a bride, and she had this dress. It was a full skirt and it had lace panels in between these scores all around. And I made that dress.
SPEAKER_02That is awesome.
SPEAKER_04My my mother cut it out for me and I sewed it.
SPEAKER_02You sewed it. Well, now let me ask you this then. When you were in high school, you guys had a prom. Did they have prom back then? Yeah. Did you make your own dress then too? Or did your mom make it?
SPEAKER_04Or I I I think I only went to one prom.
SPEAKER_02Only went to one prom.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_04I don't think I even went to two of them.
SPEAKER_02And so you guys got married, you and Phil get married. Did you stay in Bellfield? No.
SPEAKER_04No. Phil was working for a seismograph crew.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_04And they were that time they were uh doing a lot of setup, you know, for oil. And uh he was gonna on a crew. He was uh they called him shooter. He was the one that put the explosion, explosion in the in uh the dynamite into the ground where this uh oil is supposed to be, and that dynamite would explode and then open up the cracks and sort of the oil could flow through the ground. And he was a shooter.
unknownIs that a pretty dangerous job?
SPEAKER_02I mean it sounds dangerous, but maybe it isn't. I have no idea. Was it a dangerous job?
SPEAKER_04Yes, it was.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I'm like, maybe there were some safety things that I have no idea about. So um, how long did he do that for?
SPEAKER_04Um well he was um he probably it was probably maybe uh two years, two and a half years. They moved around a lot. When we got married, they were in Colorado. And um from Colorado, they um went down to um I thought you said they went to Montana. Well, they did go to Montana, yeah. They went to Montana and then back, they were gonna go into Canada. And uh Phil Phil says that that's enough of this word like gypsies. He had a a big square box with our everything in there. And uh so he quits his job and we we came to back to Battlefield and and uh well, where in the heck did he get a job? He worked in Dickinson for a while. I thought he went to the farm. Well, he was supposed to go to the farm, but he he broke both. He was supposed to take over the farm. His mother and dad had the farmland. He was carrying two pails of milk down. They had a separator down in the basement, and they didn't have any, they had open steps. There's two pails of milk, and he his foot got stuck and one of so broke both of his ankles. So that was the end of that story. So today would have been her 75th wedding anniversary. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So when did your husband pass away?
SPEAKER_042014. Yeah, 2014.
SPEAKER_0275 years. That's pretty amazing. So how many how many years had you been married when you pass? It would have been 63. 63?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we were married 63 years.
SPEAKER_02So after he gets done, you guys come back to this area. You came back to Bellfield. After um, he got done with all that the gypsy living, in a sense, right? So back to Bellfield, he was supposed to take over the farm, doesn't do that. He breaks both ankles. So, what did he do?
SPEAKER_04He got a job in um well, did he work for uh Shimma? Was it the way station first? He hadn't, yeah. He worked, he worked in so many jobs mechanic. So he did move around a lot with well, but it was at different jobs, and he worked for Union Carbide too for a while. Yeah, but lived in Bellfield with various yeah, they were they were testing for oil around in Bellfield there. He worked for a uh crew where they were um he was actually like um manager oh okay for union carbide. Yeah, okay. So I'm gonna just ask so after from Union Carbide, is that the company that moved him to Gillette? Yeah. So he he went to Gillette with this Union Carbide mom stayed home and raised us kids for I don't know how many years he was there. I think it was two years or three or whatever.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02So you were married at 20, did and you guys were all over, so you never did any college.
SPEAKER_04I'm gonna assume no college. I was too smart, I didn't need any college. No, no, you're so fine, you're fine, right?
SPEAKER_02How long after you got married did you have your first child?
SPEAKER_04I don't know. Let's see. Brian was born in uh 1952, Myron was born in 53, and David was born in 54. Kelly was born in 56, you were born in 58, Rod was born in 69, 50 nine, and Doug was born in 69. Seven children.
SPEAKER_02Seven kids. Yeah, you're not working. That's like, oh, as I'm growing, I'm like, there's no way you're doing danger, you know. So okay. So you guys had seven children. That is amazing. I love that. What was motherhood like back then? Did the older kids still help out with the younger kids? Was it more on you? Did the kids how was motherhood different for you than it was, say, for your mom?
SPEAKER_04Well, I uh my uh for me I think it was probably easier because of modern, modern everything.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I didn't have any daughters to help me because Leslie was not, she was a was Brian, Myron, David, and Kelly, fifth, fifth child. So four boys before you had a girl. Okay. So I mean she did work, but I was gonna ask when how when did you start working? You know, you had us kids. Well, I worked for um in the grocery store with Mike and Virginia.
SPEAKER_02And how old were the kids when you started?
SPEAKER_04I think Brian was uh he actually had a job in the store there for a while. So he must have been about the seventh or eighth grade. But I mean, grand, because grandma would babysit nonny babysit, you know, kind of took care of us too. Yeah, my mother's my mother took care of the younger kids when I was working.
SPEAKER_02You were working. So how old was the youngest when you started to work? Or did you work while you were in the midst of having kids?
SPEAKER_04No, I was had my kids already waited until you had were done having kids, okay. Well, other than Doug, because they're 10 years between.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so the youngest is 10 years younger than the next youngest. Okay. So when the sixth one, after the sixth one was born, then you had done some work. How old was that sixth child when you started working? Rod.
SPEAKER_04How old was it when I yeah, like how old? I remember I remember being like six, maybe five, six when grandma was taken care of. Yeah, my mother took care of the kids too.
SPEAKER_02And then you have the last one ten years later.
SPEAKER_04Okay, and then I was the babysitter, yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. So the cook and the dishwasher, yeah, and the ironer, yeah, the vacuumer. Well, I don't know if we had we probably had we had wood wood flooring back then.
SPEAKER_02Okay, that might have been better.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we had a good life. What the heck? We didn't suffer too much.
SPEAKER_02Um yes, you okay. Do you with motherhood, do you ever feel like you missed out that you didn't do, say, the college career path? Most didn't in your generation, but did you ever feel like you missed out on any opportunities to have that career?
SPEAKER_03No, awesome.
SPEAKER_04I was satisfied what the Lord gave me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Is there something when you look back that you would do different?
SPEAKER_04I don't think so.
SPEAKER_02No, okay. How many grandkids do you have?
SPEAKER_04We were a happy family.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Were you all pretty close? I'll ask Leslie this. Were you do you feel like you and your siblings are close? No. No. Oh yeah. No, when you're little, right? You're just someone's always picked on. I'm two, I have four older brothers, too. I can only get I just didn't have any younger ones, so I can't come.
SPEAKER_03I didn't want to watch football.
SPEAKER_04Um, right.
SPEAKER_03We came back to like get them food and stuff.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, I fixed them one time. There's my son, my husband, and those six boys every Sunday watching football on TV. And so in the living room, they were all in there watching their football, and I'm out there making chili for them and and fixing whatever. And after they're like, what the heck is this? So I took up my um vacuum cleaner, big vacuum cleaner, and I went in there. I had a rug carpeting in there. I went in there and I cleaned my floor while they were watching the football game.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god, they love that. I fixed those guys.
SPEAKER_04Oh, how many grandkids? How many grandkids do you have? I think it's 12. Quite a life, huh?
SPEAKER_02Quite a life. So you said Phil passed away in 2014. How has life changed for you since his passing?
SPEAKER_04Well, it was kind of lonesome for a while.
SPEAKER_02Hard to get used to not having that person there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, he took care of all the business stuff. Yeah, I wasn't, I wasn't too much for business. Yeah. I was too busy with the kids and family. Yeah. Lots of clothes to wash, lots of ironing to do, and food to make. Well, not so much after dad passed away, though. I mean, we were all gone.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04You know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Did it force you to have to go out and maybe nurture some friendships that so that you weren't so lonely?
SPEAKER_04I had some good friends. We played bridge.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_04Well, but that was okay from the time dad passed away. All your friends were gone already. Yeah. But her sister, Aunt Jean, and her were you know we were there too, so we did everything together together. I mean, and I I was would come, you know, a lot. Yeah, they used to come on weekends and stay.
SPEAKER_02Well, now I have to ask because I totally skipped over this, but you were always in Belfast. So what brought you to beach?
SPEAKER_04Well, just she just came two years ago. In no October, it'll be two years ago. It's kind of a long story, but um it was time she was alone, you know, and getting up there in age, so we just and winter was coming, and we didn't really think she should be home for the winter. Well, in the meantime, my brother Kelly was living out at Aunt Jean's place, and they moved her to a nursing home, and they kind of like said, you got the rest of the family said he had to move. So he bought mom's house and then she came to live with me.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay. How has that been? Is that really great? Yeah, it was a struggle.
SPEAKER_04I mean, at first, you know, of course, I was I'm alone too. My husband passed away. So, I mean, I had been alone for seven, seven years too. So, and it was it was a hectic month because we're trying to move Kelly from the farm into her house, move her stuff into my house. I'm trying to move my stuff around to make room for that, and this all had to happen in like two weeks.
SPEAKER_02So now when your husband passed away, when Phil passed away, was it expected, unexpected?
SPEAKER_04Do you want to tell the story? Well, he had he had lung cancer.
SPEAKER_02He did.
SPEAKER_04He was 90.
SPEAKER_02Okay. How long did he have lung cancer for?
SPEAKER_04Uh I think he had it for a while, but but he he only just was diagnosed. Like in June of that of that year, and then he died in October.
SPEAKER_02Did he suffer for a long time after that?
SPEAKER_04Or I don't think he suffered so much. Well, maybe the law the last month, maybe. I mean, because he was going and they were draining fluid off his lungs and stuff. But he was decided he would try chemo. They were gonna just kind of try to a low dose because of his age and stuff to see how he tolerated it. And it was the day before he was supposed to start his chemo that he passed away at home in bed.
SPEAKER_02So he never had to be at a nursing home. And did you have to do a lot of caring for him at the end, or was he pretty quality of life? Was fairly good up until that last the last couple weeks was I think was kind of yeah.
SPEAKER_04I don't remember if he was doctoring every I remember him doing the fluid stuff. Well, he was he was a diabetic too, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay. But now he so that's like a really fairly long life too. Was it you said you had a really good life, you've had a good life, um, and pretty happy. Was it a pretty good marriage? Good were you, yeah. Good.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we did, you know, uh they went on a lot of when they were married, they went on a lot of vacations.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay. Got to do some traveling together and everything, too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we got lucky. We had ended up with some oil wells, and uh we were able to do a lot of that stuff there, which we never thought that we would do well. And his brothers, he had a brother on the west coast, he had a brother in Arizona, he had a brother in Georgia, so they did, you know, get to go and visit some of them too and do some okay. Well, so she's been around. We had we I had a brother, her son lived in Alaska, so we got to go to Alaska. You've been to a lot of they went to Canada one year, and we did some traveling.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, what is an important life lesson that you've learned? Give me some wisdom, maybe.
SPEAKER_04It's not what I want, it's what the Lord wants with me. I take whatever comes to me, whether it's good or good or bad.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. What's a memory from your childhood that you didn't realize was important until later in life?
SPEAKER_04From my childhood. Well, I was I was a fourth, fourth in my in a big family, so I always felt like I was left out of everything. The older ones were were the best. The young ones were the more than the best, and I'm in between. What am I?
SPEAKER_02That middle child, kind of the stereotypical one that tends to get forgotten. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Middle child.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Do you think that had an effect then on how you raised your kids? Because you also had a big family with seven children. Did it make you more aware of how you treated the middle ones of your own children?
SPEAKER_04I don't think I treated anybody. I think I treated them all alike. Leslie got Leslie got uh she didn't, she did, she was mad because she didn't have a sister to play with. When Doug was born, I didn't believe it when they told me I had another brother. For like oh, that's so funny.
SPEAKER_02But when you're a girl, all you want is a sister. You know, yeah. But no, wasn't in God's plan.
SPEAKER_04No, I mean, no, I feel like they're the best brothers, you know. They are to their they love her to death.
SPEAKER_02But I love that you guys are living together too. Like what a special time that you get to have all these.
SPEAKER_04Well, she laughs at me every time we're in church, and we gotta say, peace be with you.
SPEAKER_03She turns to me and laughs at me. Why? I don't know. It just seems funny to her, I guess, to say peace be with you.
SPEAKER_02What is something today that takes you back to earlier years? Like a song, a smell, something that you see. Is there anything today that brings back memories?
SPEAKER_04Well, let's see. Phil and I used to dance, I'll tell you what we did.
SPEAKER_02Your generation, that was what you did is you did a lot of dancing. For everything. Not I feel like not even big.
SPEAKER_04Well, they would come home, you know, go downtown, they'd come home, they'd bring their friends over, move the furniture, put on some music, and they'd just dance in the living room.
SPEAKER_03And you remember that? Yeah, I remember. As a kid, you know, them doing that with their friends.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we had some good friends. We played, we played uh um um, we had a bridge club. I had three friends that we played bridge twice a week.
SPEAKER_02Did you miss that too?
SPEAKER_04Well, one was a teacher. She had to be to school by eight o'clock in the morning, and and sometimes we were still playing bridge at 1.30 in the morning.
SPEAKER_02How old were you at that time? Because I'm 42, and I feel like I cannot stand that late. And and be able to function the next day.
SPEAKER_04Well, uh, like I said, I didn't work anymore, and and uh this one was a school teacher. My my neighbor friend, she didn't she never had to work at all in her life. They used to have John's bar in Bellevue, it's not there anymore, but it was used to be on Main Street there. They owned Steiner was the last.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so they own that okay, okay.
SPEAKER_04And Bob and Ann Schneider and Florence Wentz. Florence was a school teacher. She's my big teacher playing bridge twice a week.
SPEAKER_03You were at my house till 3 a.m.
SPEAKER_04We kept busy.
SPEAKER_02What's something you always wished you did, but never got around to doing?
SPEAKER_04Is there anything well? I wanted always wanted to be um stewardess on an airplane. Well, you always told me you wanted to uh was it a ballerina or ice skater? Well, yeah, it used to be Sonia Henny, but yeah, she was an ice skater.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_04And I saw a movie with her in there one time, and I always wanted to have be an ice skater.
SPEAKER_02What do you remember around historic events? I know we talked about World War II, um, the ration cards. Is there anything else, any world events that really um stick with you that you have strong memories about? Maybe it was, I'm just gonna throw some out. Um the moon landing, maybe it was different things about World War II, um JFK assassinations, I think um World Trade Center. What is there any certain well?
SPEAKER_04I remember when um World War II started. It was on a Sunday morning. I think it was Sunday morning, and I we had a bedroom upstairs, and my and I came down to I suppose go to the bathroom or whatever, and my dad is sitting at the table and he's crying. And I asked my mother why is why is we called him papa, why is papa crying? Well, she says we're at we're uh a war has started, and he was still young enough where he could be drafted. He was in his early 40s.
SPEAKER_02But he never did.
SPEAKER_04No, uh no, he never got drafted. How old was he when he died? But you know, he was a cripple too. He um he was um after after he married my mother, um he was uh working on his truck changing a tire. And um the thing that they jack that they pumped the car up with that thing toppled over, and that the car uh crashed on his hip. And he was in the hospital, I think it was for nine months healing that uh hip up. And he was uh after that that it healed up, he was a crippled, he limped for the rest of his life.
SPEAKER_02Well yeah, they didn't have the care back then, they didn't have the physical therapy to try and you know rehab an injury like that.
SPEAKER_04Wow. Well, how old was grandpa when he died? 56, I think.
SPEAKER_02So very young.
SPEAKER_04Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02What and how did he end up passing away? What was his cause of death?
SPEAKER_04You know, he had a meningitis. Meningitis. Okay. It was it the poison was, you know, it comes in like in the back of your around your neck, go went up into his brain. And uh he was in the my mother was down in Wisconsin. She m she went down there to work in a China factory because there was no work in Bellfield.
SPEAKER_02So that happened then?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, my dad, my dad went, he stayed in Bellfield for a while. He didn't go right away down there. But uh after he went down there, he he got a job in a um garage down there someplace. And um, because he was a mechanic, he had a schooling for that. Yeah, yeah, and he got that meningitis, and and mother mother didn't my mother didn't even have time to get him to the hospital. He died before that.
SPEAKER_02So that was when he was in Wisconsin.
SPEAKER_04And he was the one who was not old.
SPEAKER_02Anything that you remember about um JFK assassination?
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah, I remember that.
SPEAKER_02What do you remember? Do you remember where you were when you heard about it or well I I it didn't really for me, you know, present.
SPEAKER_04What year was that? I rem I remember being at home. Of course, we just had a black and white TV and I can remember watching so that was before you were in school. I that's why I was curious what what year that was because I can remember watch I don't know if it was the funeral part of it. I can remember watching. Maybe they didn't have school that day. I don't know. But I can remember watching. I think they had a whole week of that darn stuff. But I remember watching it on TV. So I would have been like around about six.
SPEAKER_02So you probably were in school because many remember being in school and teachers cried.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I just remember being, of course, I don't know what time of the year it was. November 22nd. November. So it could have been around Thanksgiving time, so it could have been home, but I do remember a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Uh Maggie, what is one thing that you want people to remember about you when you're gone?
SPEAKER_04You know, I had a school teacher, school teacher, and she says, I'm I'm I'm never gonna forget you, she says. I'm gonna call you giggling girly. I was always uh I was a happy child, I guess.
SPEAKER_02So always remember you want people to remember you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, my my school teacher told me that. She always remembered because I was always giggling.
SPEAKER_02Is she, Leslie? Yeah, we laugh. Okay, good. We laugh a lot. So that doesn't change.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we laugh a lot.
SPEAKER_02Are there any other memories that you want to share? About your life, about your husband, about your kids, any of your siblings?
SPEAKER_04She had a special name for her kids, which was all of us. What what what was your geraniums? Oh, yeah, my geraniums.
SPEAKER_02That's what you would call your kids. Well, geraniums?
SPEAKER_04You know, my husband was Ukrainian, and and I'm German, so I called my children geraniums. Gotta get it. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's cute.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. No, I had a good life. There were some bad spots, but you know, you get you, I kind of don't remember them as as much as I remember the good stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. What would you consider the bad stuff? Can I ask you that?
SPEAKER_04Well, I'll tell you what, we were very poor.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So not having money is it's hard.
SPEAKER_03It is, yeah.
SPEAKER_02But do you feel like now are you when you say being poor, is that the family you came from or the family with fell? Or both?
SPEAKER_04I wouldn't say that we were poor.
SPEAKER_02We weren't, but but the family you came from, your mom and dad. Okay.
SPEAKER_04My my family, we were we we were born, my mother and dad were married in 1921. Beginning of the depression, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So do you feel like though coming from that probably did make you appreciate then what you did have with Phil? Maybe less of the struggle you you know what I'm saying? So you have maybe you didn't struggle as much once you were married with how to feed your family. Maybe they did, but then you sometimes have a greater appreciation for anything that you do have. Do you feel like that made you more grateful throughout your life? Having been from a situation from a family that was poor made you more.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02Do you think that that made you all closer as a family as well to be going through all of that together?
SPEAKER_04We were a close family, yes. Yeah. Well, one thing I I rem remember as when we were kids still living at home, is we still had a family connection on both sides, you know, like dad's family. We always were going out to Aunt Mary's or to the farm or Uncle Nick's or Aunt Jean's, you know, and cousins and you know, these gatherings and stuff. People you just don't have that anymore.
SPEAKER_02And it's it's those families who can't money can't buy that, right?
SPEAKER_04It's yeah, we had a good life. Like I said, there were some bad times. We got over it, we forgot it. You know, you you hear about families, brothers, sisters, brothers, brothers, where well they haven't seen this brother for eight years, or you know, haven't seen and I'm like, how could you go that long without seeing your we we always had holidays together, you know, the family. Easter, Christmas, whatever. We didn't ever really, I mean, mom and dad went to visit. I never got to go anywhere until I was out of school, but they the brothers would always come back home to North Dakota with their families. So we always, you know, got to right because they were coming home to their home.
SPEAKER_02It was a huge homecoming, really.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, and then we would always get together at, you know. Yeah, we always got together, picnics and whatever.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you both. Is there anything else that you want to add that you can think of?
SPEAKER_04What else can I say? Well, I could probably remind you of a few things, but that's okay. Well, no, I I'm just thinking about like when one of your brothers was born at home. I don't remember which one it was, Jamie or somebody, and Uncle Matt or Uncle Frank. Oh, that was that was out on the farm when that was a the that must be in town.
SPEAKER_03Wasn't it?
SPEAKER_04No, it was out of the farm. And and uh my my grandma shoff was uh most what are the what are they called? Yeah, mid and um my mother was having um who in the heck was it? I think James, it must have been uh uh David. Okay. David, uh he's younger than I am, but brother Matt. The door was locked. My mother was having this baby, and uh my brother Matt was speaking to the door old door.
SPEAKER_02Oh, the little link keyhole, there you go.
SPEAKER_04And then it must have been when they pulled the baby out. He says it's a track rabbit. Well, he was he was I was four years old when we lived at the farm there, and uh Matt was a a year and a half older than me, so he must have been about maybe about ten. Or was it Uncle Matt or Uncle Frank who said it? Was it Uncle Uncle Matt? Tell her the story about the rodeo. Rodeo when Uncle Frank took the car and took you all to the rodeo. Yes, tell my you always had rodeos over at uh Kildeer on the 4th of July. My mother and dad went fishing with some friends of theirs at Lake Idol.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And um we kids were at home. My my uh was that Rosella was the baby? Yeah. Rosella was the baby, and um my brother Frank, they went with the their friends, so they left the car at home. My brother and Frank and Jean, they decided they were gonna they were gonna go to the road rodeo too. And my no, my brother Frank and a friend of his were, but but they they know they had to take me and us all along because we'd squeal on them if they didn't. So my uh sister Rosella was the baby. Frank and his friends were up in the front seat of the car, and my Jean, my sister in the back seat with the baby. She was smart enough to take a bottle of milk along.
SPEAKER_03And how old was Uncle Frank? Was it 14 or 16?
SPEAKER_04When what? How old was Uncle Frank? 14 or 16? Probably 14, yeah. Didn't even have a driver's license. And we went, yes, and and there was Gene and the baby, me, my uh was James, David, Frank and Matt. Was Uncle Matt there? It had to have been. Weren't you all in there? Well, I don't know if Matt was there. He might have been he might have been some out fishing or something. I don't know. But anyway, yeah, my parents went with their friends to Lake Islo to go fishing. And my brother Frank, he figured, well, he's gonna he's gonna go to Rodeo over there by Kilder. But he knew if if he didn't take us so long, we'd squeal on him. So my Jean brother, sister Jean, she packed up Rosala with the baby, me, David, James. Is that it? Matt, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02The friend. So you were able to get to the they took you to the road?
SPEAKER_04No, we didn't go to the rodeo.
SPEAKER_02Well they did. They did, but but uh you guys just in the car?
SPEAKER_04Yes. Oh, that baby. Yeah, with the baby. That bottle of milk was sour.
SPEAKER_03And then didn't he make you go run around and find well yeah, the the they used to those pot bottles.
SPEAKER_04They used to get five cents for them, you know, if they were returned the bottle. And of course, in rodeograms, you know, people just throw their stuff on the ground. So my younger brothers were running around picking up those bottles so they could buy money, uh, get money to buy gas to get back home.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_02Did your parents find out though?
SPEAKER_04Not until I just told my mother about it and just it was not too much before she passed away.
unknownOh my goodness.
SPEAKER_02I would have thought gas amount would be, you know, they figured that out or whatever.
SPEAKER_04What how much money can you buy with but uh uh 30 30 cents or whatever it was? Maybe a dollar. So we go up these hills and then let the car down. Use up cats. No diapers, no diapers, no, just had a bottom of a baby's bottle for the baby. We didn't have anything to eat all day.
SPEAKER_02That is a miserable day for you guys.
SPEAKER_04Sitting in the car, in a hot car.
SPEAKER_03Were you happy that you went along?
SPEAKER_04No.
SPEAKER_02Oh, then better off just letting us stay home.
SPEAKER_04That was that was my older brother Frank. That was too much commander. Yes.
SPEAKER_03Anything else?
SPEAKER_04Well, I suppose I could tell you all kinds of other stories, but it might take a week to get them all in. Get them all in.
SPEAKER_03So that is a life well lit, right? When you have a lot of stories you can go.
SPEAKER_04We had we had a good time. Her and her mom worked together in Madora for several years. Making caramel rolls. We were bakered bakers down in Madora.
SPEAKER_02Where which store? Or which oh, okay, yeah. Making caramel is that the main thing that you made?
SPEAKER_04We made the caramel rolls, we made the pies, we made um you and your mom dinner buns for the hotel.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02And um now, how old was your mom when she passed away? Because we talked about your dad, but how long was she just 80?
SPEAKER_0484, was she? I think she was 84. I guess I remember her 80th. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So she lived a while longer. Did she ever remarry?
SPEAKER_04She did. She did remarry, but but it didn't last very long.
SPEAKER_03Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_04Like she had married in a couple months, she was divorced. It seemed like it, because I can remember Conrad. It seemed like it would have been longer than that. It probably was, but I did I know it wasn't very long.
SPEAKER_02And then she was then she didn't marry yet.
SPEAKER_04No. She was sorry. She she did that. She says, I don't know what I did to my children. Well, and that's Uncle Nolan and Aunt Joni were kind of how many years between Aunt Rosella and them. Oh Rosella was born in 39. Nolan was born in I think you said 17 years difference between you and Aunt Joni. So they were still kids. Kids when she remarried. I mean, and that was they were older though. Well, I think you just weren't that old. They weren't that old. And they were it was hard on them. Yeah. Well, Jean, they were out of Jean. She she probably raised them for a year or so. That marriage didn't last very long.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you both. Well, thank you. I loved hearing the stories. Hopefully, I got it all straight too, as I was trying to keep track of.
SPEAKER_04I'm glad I finally got to put a face to a lot of my mom, so I can I can see it.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you. Thank you both.
SPEAKER_04It's been a fun afternoon.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_04Good time reminiscing.
SPEAKER_02Isn't it great to like get it recorded? And yeah.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for listening to today's episode of The Simple Lives We Live. I hope this story reminded you that everyday life holds beauty, meaning, and lessons worth sharing. If you enjoyed this conversation, please take a moment to follow the podcast and leave a review. It helps more people discover these stories. Do you know someone with a story worth telling? Reach out and let me know. I'd love to hear from you. You can connect with me on Instagram at the Simple LivesWeLive. Until next time, may you find joy in the ordinary moments and gratitude in the simple lives we live.