On Friday, January 31, 1964, Dale wrote, “Helen and I drove from Minneapolis to Latimer after work, to Gerald and Ressia’s by 11 p.m. Moonlight night for driving. Stayed up and visited until 2 a.m.” They were on their way to Osceola and spent the night at the home of Helen’s brother Gerald. This day’s drive, above, was 160 miles.
One Big Family
Now living in Osceola on Thursday, January 30, 1969, Dale wrote, “About 16° above, windy, cloudy. Very, very icy. Visited at Keith’s a little while in the afternoon. Marie here a minute. Supper at Pleasant’s, saw Emil and Ruth and their son there.” Keith Schaffer was a nephew of Helen’s, Marie was Dale’s sister; Pleasant’s was a restaurant. Emil Rinderspacher would be the soloist at Helen’s funeral in 1996, singing Amazing Grace and Whispering Hope. His wife, Ruth LaFollette, was the granddaughter of Jonathon Norville Williams; she and Dale had the same great-grandfather, Jonathon Smith Williams. Dale’s father, Williams Gardner, was named after Nancy Ellen Williams, a daughter of Jonathon Smith Williams.
Don’t Go Out
Good Movie On TV
Dancing Dalene
Snowy Day
Good Night For Reading
Blue Hawaii
Dalene Moves To California
In Minneapolis on Tuesday, January 23, 1962, Dale wrote, “High 20° above, feels warm. Dalene sent four letters applying for work to L.A. area.” Dalene moved to Santa Monica in June and started working at System Development Corporation, where I worked. Above: the company logo, a hyperbolic paraboloid. Employees called it the Flying Diaper.
Riding The Rails
Super Steelers
Visiting in Minneapolis with Dalene and Helen on Sunday, January 21, 1979, Dale wrote, “Mostly cloudy, high 26°. Watched the Super Bowl on TV. Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31. Diana Schmitt here in the evening to see Dalene.” They were at Judy and Jerry Conn’s house after Judy had surgery for a brain aneurism, and drove home to Osceola January 24. In Super Bowl XIII, the Pittsburgh Steelers, led by Terry Bradshaw, beat the defending champion Dallas Cowboys, led by Roger Staubach, to become the first team to win three Super Bowls.
Visiting Grain Processing Corp.
Off work visiting Osceola on Monday, January 20, 1958, Dale wrote, “Up early, Stan and I drove to Muscatine in the morning. I visited the alcohol plant, and he visited school. We drove from Muscatine back to Minneapolis in the afternoon and evening. The Chevy is sure dirty. Wrote Mother a card.” Above: the alcohol plant at a bend of the Mississippi, with a barge in the foreground.
My ’49 Ford
Meat Loaf Dinner
Cold Minnesota Morning
After-School Job
In Columbia Heights on Monday, January 16, 1956, Dale wrote, “Got stuck in the driveway and was ten minutes late to work. Shoveled the walk off after work. Stan worked 5 to 9:30 p.m. at Danielson’s drug store.” The drug store was about ½ mile from home, on the southwest corner of Central Avenue and 40th Avenue. In winter, of course, it was an uphill walk both ways.
Wahoo!
It’s Complicated
In Osceola on Sunday, January 14, 1934, Helen’s grandmother Lewis (Susan Stiverson) died at 4:30 in the morning. Susan (above left) married Ezra Lewis in 1868 when she was 18 and had Helen’s mother Alice Esther Lewis (above center) in 1873. Ezra died in 1873 and Susan married Ezra’s brother Aaron Lewis in 1875. Aaron (above right) was a Union drummer in the Civil War.
Fifties Dating
Earning Money
In Minneapolis on Thursday, January 12, 1956, Dale wrote, “Stan has a job at Danielson Drug Store in Columbia Heights beginning tomorrow night. Good for him.” My parents gave me free room and board while I was in college, but I had to earn money for tuition, fees, books, and getting-around cash. So this after-school stock boy – salesclerk job filled that need.