Monday, July 8, 2013

Norman Floyd Iverson, 1910 - 2002

Norman

Norman

My grandpa, Norman Floyd Iverson, was born on October 19th, 1910 in Lignite, North Dakota.  His parents owned a general store and were very prominent people in Lignite.  They were the first to have a radio and the first to own a Ford touring car.  Norman lived in the house he was born in until he left for college.  The concrete house dated back to 1807 and was heated by a furnace using Lignite coal and wood.  The furnace exploded one day when Norman was standing right in front of it.  He was covered in flame and dust and smoke.  He got quite a few burns.  Iversons used gas lamps until getting electric lights.  In an interview done in the 1990s, my grandpa described what it was like for them to get electricity.  He said, "It was very, very exciting!  Electric is much brighter than those little kerosene or gas lights.  And, it was so much easier to see things in a room.  You might go from one room to another, but not have to carry a lamp with you.  But, it was quite expensive to run the lights."
Chorus (Norman is on the right)

Chums (Norman is in the back)
     Music has always been a very important part of Norman's life.  He played saxophone, clarinet, and piano and he sang in a quartet with his friends from across the street.
     Norman loved to hunt and fish with his dad and uncles.  And, he could often be found at baseball games either watching or playing on a team himself.  
Norman is on the left
    Each summer Norman went with his parents to Watson, Minnesota to visit his Norwegian  grandparents and to Noonan, North Dakota to visit his mother's relatives who were farmers.    
     After high school, Norman left Lignite to attend college.  He and his friends from across the street were the first people in Lignite to attend college.  So, from 1928 to 1932 Norman attended Jamestown Presbyterian College, majoring in math, social studies, and music.
Playing saxophone at home




Norman was very involved in the musical productions, including an opera every year.  He played saxophone in the jazz band which played for roller skating events rather than dances.  Dances were not allowed at Jamestown College.  Chapel attendance was required of all students.  Someone always took roll call at chapel.  Sometimes that was Norman's responsibility.  Norman was also the manager of the Chorus.  He had to get the permission of the college president for the Chorus to go on tour each year.  They stayed with host families and sang in beautiful churches across North Dakota.  
Fishing with his dad

Hunting with his friends













     Norman remembers the Stock Market Crash happening while he was in college.  He father was running the general store in Lignite and sales were very low at that time.  He explained, "Many days we got as little as $10 sales the entire day.  Oftentimes that wasn't all money.  Some of it was trade.  For instance, someone would come in with half a dozen eggs and trade it for a quarter pound of sugar or other necessities.  Dad provided food free for a lot of people because they couldn't afford it.  We did stay in business but didn't make any money during that period of years.  We charged to many people and were never paid."
Jamestown College

   The Depression left a deep impact on Norman.  he said, "You never knew what was going to happen the next day.  It was an experience I hope you never have to go through."
     Norman was a teacher during part of the time of the Depression.  He stayed in a place for $3 a month for board and room.  His lowest salary was $90 a month.  During that time he was principal of the high school and taught six or seven subjects in addition to teaching singing.
     Norman was a teacher in Max, North Dakota for three years and then was a teacher, principal, and superintendent of schools in White Earth, North Dakota for two years after that after that.  The following three years he taught Chorus and general business in Minot, North Dakota for three years.
     Norman decided he wanted to get his Master's Degree, so he ventured over to Missoula, Montana one summer where he met the love of his life, Winnifred Bale.  The two of them were married on July 27th, 1940.
Norman and Winnifred Iverson
       The couple settled in Glendive, Montana where Norman continued to teach.  They enjoyed playing in card clubs with other couples.  One summer they went to New York and got to see Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on the New York Yankees.  
       While in Glendive, Norman taught general business and vocal music.  The only trouble was that only 16 students signed up for Chorus!  Norman was supposed to have five sections of Chorus.  So, Norman taught his choir the most popular song of the day, "Roll Out the Barrel" and they sang it everywhere they could.  They went into study halls and went to football practice and tried to get people to join.  By Christmas time, the Chorus had 300 members!
        Norman was very dedicated to his teaching and his music.  In fact, his son, Robert, was born while Norman was at school working with a music group.  It was March 14th, 1942.  At first Norman had been told that Winnifred had a girl, so he sent telegrams with the news.  Later, he went to the hospital to see his wife and baby and found out that he had a son!  He sent a new telegram that said, "Sorry, I made a mistake, I'm a boy, Robert Iver Iverson."  Everyone in town heard about the mixup.
       When Robert was two years old, Iversons moved to Terry, Montana for a year where Norman had a superintendent job.  Next, they moved to Fairview, Montana for the next ten years.  Norman was a superintendent and a vocal music teacher and a math teacher.  
       In 1947 Norman and Winnifred had a little girl named Patty.  Sadly, she died of Leukemia when she was almost three years old.  
       In 1949 Karen Jean was born and then in 1953 Mary Florence was born.  

Proud parents of an Eagle Scout

Family of Five

   When Robert was in sixth grade, Karen four years old, and Mary four months old, the family moved
Norman with his folks and kids

to Dickinson, North Dakota.  Norman wanted to open a music store.  He had gotten upset with changes he'd seen in education.  He encountered many parents with poor attitudes in addition to increased discipline problems with students.  He was ready to try something new.
  The Music Store became a huge part of the Iverson's life.  Winnifred helped at the store on weekends.  She was teaching school during the week.  Robert made deliveries and helped in the store.  After a family vacation to Alaska, Robert made a nice looking window display that included elk and caribou antlers from their trip.

Dickinson Music Store

Dickinson Music Store
   While owning the Music Store, Norman became involved in helping the music department at Dickinson State College.  The college would borrow instruments and pianos from the store.  Norman was also very involved with the Tri-State Music Festival held every November in Dickinson.  The festival grew to be quite large and was recognized nationally as being on the cutting edge of music education.  Norman attended the National Association of Music Merchants Convention in Chicago every year.

Dickinson Music Store

Dickinson Music Store
       Norman had a passion for music.  He wanted to help others feel more comfortable with their singing voices too.  So, he would offer classes to help people learn to sing.  He worked with groups of kids who were singing off-key and taught them to listen and read notes.  
       Norman also enjoyed singing in Barbershop Quartets, even into his 80s!
       Norman was a busy man!  In addition to raising his family, running the store, helping people learn to sing, and being involved in the Dickinson State College Music Department, Norman was also an assistant leader for the Boy Scouts, and a member of The Lions, The Masonic Lodge, Eastern Star, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, and the United Methodist Church.  He was the choir director at church and the Sunday School Superintendent for junior high, high school, and college students.  
With his first grandchild (Patty)
     Norman and Winnifred retired in Dickinson, North Dakota.  They continued to enjoy their community involvement.  They grew a large garden and spent time working with rocks by polishing them into jewelry.  They enjoyed their ten grandchildren.  Grandpa could often be heard boasting about them, much to the embarrassment of the kids themselves!  He was famous for his long speeches he'd give to anyone who would listen.  
Grandpa and me!

Grandpa and Grandma with me on my graduation day
     I'm thankful to have had my Grandpa be an important part of my life.  He believed in me and all the things I could accomplish.  He had high standards and expected me to work hard to try to reach those standards.  He loved to take pictures and appreciated the beautiful scenery around him.  He was proud to be from North Dakota and proud to be an American.  He had a firm handshake and I always knew he was someone important.  Even as Grandpa was living his last days in 2002, he would greet people by looking them in the eye and giving a firm handshake.  That was engrained in him.  I strive to do that now.  A smile and confident handshake.....  I look forward to smiles and handshakes from my Grandpa when I see him again in Heaven someday.      


Sunday, July 7, 2013

Tracing the Family Roots



       My husband and I just returned home from a trip to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.  We met a group of French Acadians there who work at a Historic Acadian Village.  Each of them are direct descendants of the original people who founded the village.  These people are building dory boats the way their ancestors did.  They are fishing for lobster using the same techniques.  They are walking upon the same ground as the people who dreamed of having children and great-grandchildren walked.  They know where they came from.  That experience got us to talking.  Where do we come from?  How far back do we know our own history?  Time to trace the family roots.....


Mary Bearfield

Samuel Bale



      Let's start with my dad's side of the family.  His mom, my Grandma (Winnifred) was the ninth of eleven children.  Her parents were Mary and Samuel.  Samuel was born in 1856 in England.  He grew up on a farm and became a farmer.  He loved to read and talk about politics.  He read books about law and helped people  the way a lawyer would.  He had sixteen children, five by his first marriage and then eleven after he married Mary Bearfield in January of 1899.  Samuel was a strict father who demanded silence on Sunday afternoons.  He was seldom home because he was busy working.  He and Mary had a home in town and a home on the farm.  Some of the time, Samuel lived alone on the farm while his wife and children lived in town.
     Mary Bearfield was born in 1876.  She had been a teacher before meeting her husband and she taught again later when her children were in school.  She did needlework, sewing, and quilting.  She helped tutor the neighbors in math and foreign languages.  Mary was also a poet.  She was very close to her sister Minnie who never married.  Minnie's nickname for Mary was Frankie.
      Mary and Samuel had eleven children:  Dwight, Gertrude, Helen, Sanford, Katherine, Edith, Stanley, Robert, Winnifred, Constance, and Mills.  Here is a picture of Mary and Samuel later in life. 
Samuel and Mary Bale

     My dad's dad (Norman) was an only child to his parents Florence and Iver.  Florence's parents came from Bienne, Switzerland.  Their names were Fred and Marion Wissbrod.  They came to America in 1865 in a sailboat.  They lived in Breckenridge, Minnesota and then in 1871 they moved to Erhard, Minnesota.  They came to America to homestead available land.  Fred and Marion had thirteen children and Florence was the eighth child.  Florence was born in Erhard on January 28th, 1881.
     Iver Iverson was born in Watson, Minnesota.  His parents were Norwegian.  Both he and his future wife Florence moved from Minnesota to North Dakota before they met.  They both attained land through the Homestead Act near Flaxton, North Dakota.  Their land was eight miles apart.  Iver ran a restaurant in Flaxton and Florence worked for him there.  Florence lived with her sisters Martha and Bertha before she and Iver were married on March 6th, 1907.  
     Iver and Florence bought a general store in 1909 and ran that for many years.  Iver was very dedicated to that store.  He also loved to hunt and fish.  Florence enjoyed baking, sewing, quilting, and tending to her flower and vegetable garden. 
Iver is on the far left.  Norman is in the back.


Iver and Norman loved music!





   

Florence and Iver Iverson

Coming soon.... 
Information about my mom's side of the family.  Tracing the family roots....



  

Winnifred Ruth Bale Iverson, 1914 - 2001

Winnifred Ruth Bale

Photos from an old scrapbook
   My grandma, Winnfred Ruth Bale was born on October 17th, 1914 in Lisbon, North Dakota.  She was the ninth of eleven children.  She and her family lived in town until Winnifred was nine years old and then they moved out to the farm.  The house in town was large and had running water, electricity, a cookstove, and steam heat radiators.  The house at the farm did not have indoor plumbing, but it did have running water and gas lamps.  Both houses had telephones, but only the house in town had a piano.  The family used a horse-drawn buggy or lumber wagon to get around until the family got a car (when Winnifred was in eighth grade).
    When I was a girl, growing up in the 1980s, Grandma used to tell me stories about her childhood.  She remembers living in town and kicking her heels on the wall of the front porch and listening to it echo across the valley.  She'd sing and yell and listen to the echo.  She remembers going to the playground that was just a block away and swinging as high as the treetops on the board-seat swings.  She remembers pulling her little brother into town on the wagon one day.  They were quite dirty from playing and when Winnifred's older siblings saw them in town, they were embarrassed.
     When Winnifred was in second grade, she looked forward to gathering around the cookstove each afternoon with her siblings to tell her mother about the school day.  One day her older siblings were talking about someone who had "played hooky" from school.  Winnifred thought it sounded like fun, so she tried it herself.  She went to visit her Aunt Ora, who promptly called Winnifred's mother, who wasted no time in punishing Winnifred.  After that, the older siblings would spell their stories around the cookstove when they didn't want to influence Winnifred.
     Winnifred's family loved to tell stories.  Sometimes they would play a game where one person started a story and then the story would be passed along and added on to.  Some evenings after supper, the family would sit around the dinner table for 30 - 40 minutes and tap out rhythms to songs.  Everyone else would try to guess the song.  Winnifred's family played card games, Dominoes, and Monopoly too.  The girls enjoyed singing songs in harmony together as they did the dishes.

Winnifred, Age 14





     The only time the Bale family was quiet and somber was on Sunday afternoons after church.  Winnifred's mother did not even cook on Sundays.  Winnifred loved to hear the choir sing at church.  But, once she moved to the farm, Winnifred did not go to church anymore because she struggled from motion sickness and the 12 miles into town was too much for her.
     The transition from school in town to country school was rough on Winnifred.  Her classmates would tease her for not knowing farm-related things such as what a harness was.  But, Winnifred soon excelled, especially in spelling.  The year she was in fifth grade, Winnifred's mother was the country school teacher!  She wasn't always easy on Winnifred, either.      
     Winnifred was 15 years old when the Great Depression changed American life.  In an interview I did with her in the 1990s, she told me that the beginnings of the depression didn't affect her father's farm very much because most of the children were already on their own.  She said, "We were living off of milk and cream and chickens.  We had no money, just what the farm was able to provide.  We didn't lose the farm, but the farm was not so productive because of the drought.  We kept everything.  I remember the grasshoppers.  Clouds of grasshoppers stripped the grain right out of the field."


     When Winnifred was a freshman in high school, she and her brother Robert went to Lisbon to live with their sister Helen and Helen's husband.  Then her sophomore year, she moved to Minot to live with her sister Gertrude.  She had to walk a mile to school each day.  Winnifred's last two years of high school were spent in Valley City, living with Helen and Helen's husband who had moved there.  Winnifred's senior year, she was able to take college classes instead of high school classes because she had completed her sixteen credits and was an honor student.
My beautiful Grandma
   The summer after her senior year, Winnifred went right to Valley City College for summer sessions.  She had one year and another summer at college and had her Second Grade Professional Degree, which qualified her to teach.  She lived at home and taught in a country school for seventeen kids in all grades but eighth grade.  In addition to teaching, she had to start the stove each morning and sweep and clean up the school each day.  She was paid $45 a month that year (1933).
   After her first year of teaching, Winnifred joined her sister Edith and brother Sanford in Baldwin (which was 25 miles from Valley City) where she taught for two more years.  She lived in the teacherage with Sanford and his wife.  She was paid $65 a month, but had to pay Sanford $20 a month for meals.  Winnifred taught grades 1-3 and typing.  After her two years of teaching in Baldwin, Winnifred went back to college and got her four-year teaching degree.
    A small German-Russian community named Kulm was the town Winnifred moved to next.  She taught first and second grade there for two years while living with a couple housemates.  The housemates got along so well, that they decided to move together to Montana, where teacher salaries were better.  Winnifred attended a few classes at the University of Missoula that summer to prepare her to teach in Montana.
    While going to the University, Winnifred attended a picnic for people from North Dakota.  There was a young man there named Norman Iverson who also attended the University.  They were on opposing teams for a volleyball game.  Winnifred fell into a gopher hole when Norman hit her with the volleyball.  Winnifred liked to tell people that she "fell for him."
     Winnifred and Norman were interested in the same things and enjoyed spending time together.  They both liked concerts, choral groups, and singing together.  Sometimes they got hamburgers for 25 cents near campus.  Norman was working on his Master's Thesis and Winnifred typed all of it for him.  Before parting after the summer together at school, Norman gave Winnifred his picture and they wrote letters to each other.
    Winnifred taught 23 children in first through fourth grade in the small town of Moccasin, Montana that fall.  The following year, she taught in Sidney.  Sometimes Norman would come visit Winnifred in Sidney and they would go pheasant hunting or watch birds together.  Norman liked to say that Winnifred was a good birddog!  It was on one of these excursions that Norman asked Winnifred to marry him.  They were married on July 27th, 1940.
Norman and Winnifred Iverson


    The marriage ceremony was a small family wedding at the home of Winnifred's sister, Gertrude.  Winnifred's father had died, the farm was sold, and Winnifred's mother was living with daughter Katherine.  Winnifred wore a $50 peach dress from Billings and Norman wore his best suit.  Helen's husband sang "O Promise Me" and "The Lord's Prayer."  The couple went to Yellowstone Park for their honeymoon and then settled in Glendive.
   Norman was a vocal music and general business teacher in Glendive, but Winnifred could not teach, because at that time, female teachers could not be married.  Winnifred missed teaching.  They lived in Glendive for four years.  On March 14th, 1942, their first child was born:  Robert Iver  (my dad)!  Then in February of 1947, Patricia Ann was born.
Winnifred with Robert
The family of four

    After Glendive, the family lived in Terry for a year and then in Fairview for ten years after that. Unfortunately, it was during that time (in 1950) that Winnifred had to experience something that no mother should ever have to experience.  Her daughter Patty died of leukemia.  I cannot imagine the pain and grief she went through.
    God blessed Winnifred and Norman with two more daughters.  Karen Jean was born on October 12th, 1949 in Sidney, Montana and then Mary Florence was born on January 31st, 1953, also in Sidney.  Then when Robert was in sixth grade, Karen four years old, and Mary four months old, the family moved to Dickinson, North Dakota.
Family of Five
    

     Thanks to Women's Suffrage, Winnifred was able to teach again!  She taught for 25 years in Dickinson.  Her first class had 33 first graders in it.  In addition to teaching and raising her family, Winnifred helped Norman in the music store that they owned.  She cleaned things and sorted music.  Winnifred also joined the Zonta Society for women in the business world.
Winnifred Iverson
     Winnifred's family grew up and eventually Norman and Winnifred retired in Dickinson.  They enjoyed their community activities and their trips in their motorhome.  Winnifred enjoyed being Grandma to 10 grandchildren!  
     I consider myself lucky to have had Grandma be a part of my life.  She encouraged creativity and reading.  She liked my writing and listened to me practice music.  She wanted me to work hard in school and she was pleased that I connected so well with children.  She introduced me to arts and crafts projects and helped me appreciate the beauty of North Dakota.  I always felt that she was one of my biggest fans.  I liked spending time with my Grandma.  I became a teacher in 2000 and my last conversation with my grandma was about teaching.  I have always loved that Grandma was a teacher.  I feel a connection with her.  
  
  
Grandma died in 2001.  Grandpa followed soon after in 2002.  I like knowing they are in Heaven together.  I like knowing that they were only apart for a matter of months.  I look forward to seeing them again some day.  I bet Grandma will enjoy hearing some of my teaching stories!  What a beautiful reunion that will be!


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Atlantic Provinces Adventures

Prince Edward Island, Canada
      My husband, Todd and I just returned home to Minnesota from traveling 6,400 miles with our pickup and camper to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Canada.  We were gone for 26 days.  In May we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary, so one could say this was our anniversary trip.  I had been to Prince Edward Island ten years prior with my good friends Amy and Jessica, but had been wanting to go back with my best friend, Todd.  We had a fabulous time.  Each day was wonderful!  I am going to attempt to share with you some of what our adventure was like.
Our pickup and camper

One of our amazing campsites
 









     Camping in our camper was a big part of our trip.  I appreciate having my temporary home with me wherever I go.  We slept for free in busy Wal-Mart Parking lots and at noisy truck stops (they have super clean showers!).  We stayed at woodsy, mosquito-infested campgrounds and at campgrounds with amazing waterfront views.  I got used to having ear plugs in my ears and a mask over my eyes.  Surprisingly, I slept quite well.  One of the best parts about having our camper along was that we could make our own meals.  Todd was the sea food chef!  He made scallops, oysters, salmon, tilapia, sole, and lobster!  He was also the master of blueberry pancakes!

     Music was a big part of our trip too.  As we drove, we listened to CDs of Kendra MacGillivray fiddling, The Rankin Family chanting out lilting Gaelic melodies,  The Ennis Sisters singing sweet Celtic harmonies, and Natalie MacMaster fiddling out her Cape Breton roots.  We stopped at the Celtic Music Interpretive Center where both Todd and I got to try out the fiddles.  We attended a magnificent Troy MacGillivray fiddling concert with the audience stomping their feet and shouting out "Yips" and "Whoops."  We stopped to see the impressive giant violin in Sydney on Cape Breton Island.  We saw step dancing and heard bagpipes practicing together for an upcoming performance at the College of Piping in Summerside.  Everywhere we went people talked about the "Ceilidhs" that would be starting up in July.  Ceilidhs are kitchen parties that always involve music, storytelling, and highland dancing.  They are usually in a concert setting for the public.  Although we missed the Ceilidh season, we did get to hear some musicians performing traditional seafaring songs at a restaurant where we stopped.  While in Charlottetown, we attended a musical that told the love story of Anne and Gilbert.  It was excellent.
Troy MacGillivray!

The giant violin in Sydney
        
Todd trying his hand at fiddling!
Anne and Gilbert, the Musical
     If one is intrigued by historic villages, then Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island are the place to go!  Todd and I stopped at about five of them on our trip.  We saw two farming villages still being run as if it was the 1800s.  We visited a Scottish Gaelic Village that told of the struggle to create new lives in Nova Scotia after the hardships of Scotland.  A French Acadian Village inhabited by people re-enacting their own ancestors' way of life of boat-building, lobster fishing, and wool making was one of our favorites.  And, a village that the producer of "Road to Avonlea" based much of his Avonlea village on was exciting to see.  We met blacksmiths and dory-boat makers and spinning-wheel operators and women baking cookies over an old-fashioned hot stove.  I got to pretend to be the teacher of many one-room school houses and Todd and I sang "Amazing Grace" in harmony at more than one old time church!  
I'm sitting on the cupboard bed in a Scottish hut!

Cracking the whip in a one-room school house!

Farm Machinery from days gone by!

We had a great conversation with this blacksmith before he made us a nail!


     Biking and hiking was a fun part of our trip.  We kept our bikes in the back of our camper, so every time we had to get in and out, we either had to crawl around them or take them out!  We biked the infamous Confederation Trail on Prince Edward Island (an old railroad bed).  We biked through Charlottetown and Victoria and Summerside.  We hiked the Skyline Trail on Cape Breton Island and hiked to waterfalls and hiked almost everywhere we went!

     Water was an important part of our trip!  We had to get around the Great Lakes to get from Minnesota to the Atlantic Provinces and home again.  We drove along the Atlantic Ocean, the Bay of Fundy, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  We watched tides go in and out.  We walked along beaches.  We hiked for hours to get to a waterfall!  We visited too many ship harbors to count!  We saw whales, seals, jellyfish, starfish, trout, mussels, and even the shell of a razor fish!   
   


And, who could forget the farm fields of red dirt, the red sand along the beach, and the red roads everywhere you turn?  A photograph just doesn't do it justice!

My favorite kind of building on the Atlantic Provinces (Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Labrador) is cedar shingled grey with red trim.  And, there were a lot of them!  We noticed that very few people had garages and that many people liked to put a star on the front of their house for decoration.  Most everyone had a wooden barrel at the end of his/her driveway for trash pickup.  And, there were many beautiful gardens!  We saw some other intriguing architecture along the way too.  Here are a few examples:
When people asked if we had been to the Atlantic Provinces before, I liked to tell them that when I was here with my friends we did "Everything Anne that was possible."  Then I'd tell them that Todd and I were focusing more on the culture, the scenery, and the seafood.  Despite that, Todd and I did indulge in a few Anne of Green Gables sites, including viewing "The White Sands Hotel" and "Green Gables."  We tried Raspberry Cordial and visited the make-believe village of Avonlea.  We saw where L.M. Montgomery was born and gazed at "The Lake of Shining Waters."  We hiked "The Haunted Wood" and "Lover's Lane."  And, I often thought of Anne and Diana while enjoying the red cliffs and sand dunes along the beach.  


And, who could visit Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island without appreciating the occasional lighthouse?  We went inside one, but most had an admission fee.  We saw the oldest lighthouse on the island and the only round lighthouse (Point Prim).  We saw the most photographed lighthouse in the world (Peggy's Cove).  We saw lighthouses that were falling apart and some that had been turned into resorts.  Some of the lighthouses were still being used as lighthouses.  We encountered a lot of fog, but never did hear a foghorn, despite how much Todd yearned to hear one!


When it was time to leave Prince Edward Island, we took the nine mile Confederation Bridge.  

Just as every sunset each night was bitter-sweet, so was the end of our time on vacation.  We had such a wonderful time, it was like a dream.  And, yet, home is good too.  Home to Minnesota to our family and friends and the life we have carved out there.