Diary

Busy Day

by Editorial Team
On Saturday, June 18, 1955, Dale, Helen, Stan, and Dalene drove from New Ulm, Minnesota (where they had spent the night with Helen’s sister Lela and her husband Gene Yates), to the Twin Cities.  Dale wrote, “Drove all over St. Paul and Minneapolis with the family seeing familiar places.  Drove back to New Ulm.  Wonderful day.  Met Nancy’s husband and listened to him and Stan and Bob talk.”  Gene and Lela’s daughter Nancy was married to Gerald Weekman.  Above: Gene and Lela’s son Bob had just graduated from high school.
Diary

Trying To Earn $$

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Monday, June 17, 1957, Dale wrote, “Stan got his stainless steel sample case of aluminum cookware to sell door-to-door and went to a picnic supper at the boss’s house.  Letter from Mother.”  College students need to earn money!
Diary

Two-Car Caravan

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Saturday, June 16, 1962, Dale wrote, “Hot, 92°.  Stan called at 8:30 p.m., they got to Reseda at 4:30 all OK.  Called Mother and told her.”  Our two-car caravan arrived in California: Dalene in her Valiant (left above) plus Judy and me with Jeff and Dave in our 1957 Chevy (right above).
Diary

Nice Day To Scrape Paint

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Saturday, June 15, 1957, Dale wrote, “Scraped paint on the south side of the house, above the first floor windows.  Nice day, high 75°.  Dalene went to Sharon’s in the afternoon.”  Sharon was a friend.
Diary

Newlywed Open House

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Sunday, June 14, 1959, Dale wrote, “We all went to Mrs. Mary Skinner’s apartment for an open house for Stan and Judy.  40 people there, about 25 presents.  Rain off and on all day, we need it.”  Judy’s grandmother, Mary, hosted our party.
Diary

Toot! Toot!

by Editorial Team
In Muscatine on Sunday, June 13, 1954, Dale wrote that he and Dalene drove to the Burlington train station to pick up Jettie and her granddaughter Nancy Gardner; they came to Muscatine for a short visit.
Diary

Cracking The Books

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Thursday, June 12, 1958, Dale wrote, “Sick leave.  Pleurisy pains, but better.  Still cool, high 72° but mostly cloudy.  Stan went to the U in the afternoon to study for an exam in the evening.  Dalene went to a club meeting.  Letter from Lela, Nancy operated on.”  Nancy was the daughter of Lela Yates, Helen’s sister.
Diary

Dalene Moves To California

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Monday, June 11, 1962, Dale wrote, “Cloudy most all day and humid.  Cooled off in the evening.  Dalene and Stan packed their cars to go to L.A. tomorrow.  Last night here for Dalene.”  Dalene came out to our house in Reseda to look for work and an apartment.  Dad and Mom missed her a lot.  Above: it was about 1920 miles from Minneapolis to Reseda.
Diary

Summer Work

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Monday, June 10, 1957, Dale wrote, “Stan went to work at Crown Iron Works.  I applied for a Shell credit card.”  This was my second summer at Crown Iron Works, chipping slag from weld joints and painting steel beams.  But a month later I got a full-time job at General Mills Central Research Laboratories as a radiation lab technician in their nuclear physics department, then attended evening classes at the University of Minnesota.
Diary

Mobile Homes Display

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Saturday, June 9, 1956, Dale wrote, “Helen, Dalene, and I went downtown to buy Dinnie a bathing suit.  We all went to the fair grounds at night to see a display of mobile homes.”  Dale had a long-standing interest in recreational vehicles, and loved to look at trailers.  After they retired, my parents bought a trailer – but didn’t keep it long.  Above: a 1956 ad for a mobile home.
Diary

Mabel’s Funeral

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Friday, June 8, 1962, Dale wrote, “High 72°.  Mabel Garwood’s funeral today.  Took Stan and Judy to supper at Captain’s Cove cafeteria.  Watched the Tonight show.”  Mabel died June 6; she was the daughter of Joseph Garwood and Sarah Gardner.  Sarah was a sister of Isaac Newton Gardner (Dale’s grandfather), so Mabel was a cousin of Williams (Dale’s father).
Diary

Getting Senioritis

by Editorial Team
In Muscatine on Tuesday, June 7, 1955, my Senior Assembly in the High School Auditorium was held during 5th period.  That evening at 8:00 was the Alumni Reception at the high school.
Diary

Senior Class Picnic

by Editorial Team
In Muscatine on Monday, June 6, 1955, I went to the Muscatine High School Senior Class Picnic.  We started at the Rotary Hut at 9:30, followed by the class swim at Weed Park Pool at 1:30, concluding at the Uptown Theatre at 7:30.  Picnic tickets cost 50¢.
Diary

Boys Night Out

by Editorial Team
In Muscatine on Saturday, June 5, 1955, Dale wrote, “Stan and five other boys went to sleep out all night down by the gravel pits.  They came home at 1 in the morning for more food.  Bright moonlight night for their party.  Dalene went to a carnival with Sonja Sopher.”  Before we went to the gravel pits, we must have gone to the high school at 8:00 p.m. for our Baccalaureate Service (above).
Diary

At The Prom

by Editorial Team
In Muscatine on Friday, June 4, 1954, I took Esther Frost to the Junior-Senior Prom (I was the Master of Ceremonies!).  Above: the program, plus (left to right) Esther, Dick Herlein, me, and Judy Dittman.
Diary

Step Improvements

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Saturday, June 3, 1961, Dale wrote, “Put linoleum on the steps from kitchen and landing.  Mowed the back yard.  Dalene polished her car.  Wrote Mother a letter.”  The linoleum steps looked something like those above.
Diary

Cut That Grass

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Tuesday, June 2, 1959, Dale wrote, “Beautiful, bright, blue sky day, high 80°.  Helen and I went to the store after work.  Dalene mowed the front lawn, I mowed the back yard.  Looks good.”
Diary

Fun Recording

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Sunday, June 1, 1958, Dale wrote, “Cloudy and cool, high 57°.  Rested all day.  Stan borrowed a tape recorder and we had fun with it.  Fried chicken for dinner.  Dalene went to a show in the afternoon.”  Above: a 1958 ad.
Diary

Slow Learner?

by Editorial Team
On Friday, May 31, 1957, I graduated from Muscatine Junior College with a two-year Associate in Arts degree, and it took me until 1964 in fits and starts, mostly at night, to finish a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in mathematics at California State University at Northridge (“CSUN”).
Diary

Memorial Day Tragedy

by Editorial Team
In Minneapolis on Thursday, May 30, 1957, Dale wrote, “Memorial Day.  Two jet planes crashed near here and fell 20 blocks away.  One pilot killed, nine civilians injured.  Houses burned.  They went right over our house before falling.  I saw them.”  The ‘death planes,’ as a May 31, 1957 Minneapolis Star reporter called them, were two of four F-9-F Panther Navy jets (above) doing ‘fly-overs’ at Sunset Memorial Park cemetery on St. Anthony Boulevard. Thousands of on-lookers, including Minnesota Governor Orville Freeman and Capt. Frank Gill, naval air station commander, attended the event.
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