About the time I was born they were building wagons in Stoughton, and manure spreaders. These were used before trucks got some prominence. My dad worked there, and the town was the center of a real strong Norwegian community. There was a lot of the parochialism of the community that was comical.

My family was English, so we use to get a kick out of some of the things they said. My dad had an office and one day a guy came there and my father thought that this man was going to help him. The man said: “No, I’m just hee-yar (here) to paint.” That’s the way they talked out there.

My Father Wins a Big Prize

My father was a very talented man despite the fact that he didn’t get very far in life. He used to paint pictures, and to do charcoal drawings. He could’ve been an artist, but he just didn’t pursue it. He always did well at work, but he never had a job where he could go very far.

When my father worked at the wagon factory, he worked in the stockroom. When that went out of business he had to change jobs. The wagon business went to hell. So he went to work for an electric store selling refrigerators and washing machines.

One year while he worked at the appliance store he won a big prize. He decorated a window with a Kelvinator sitting in it.  He had strings on a roller, and my mother put little tufts of flower on it that looked like snow. And he had a sign there that said “Kelvinator. Silent as the falling snow”.

But my father never really did anything with his knowledge and his ability. He was one of those guys who, if he got $25.00 a week said “that’s enough for me.” Of course, those were the depression days, and it was tough to get a good job.

How I Got Sick of Shirley Temple

I worked in a theater, and I got to be the projectionist. I ran two shows Monday; two shows Tuesday three shows Wednesday, two shows Thursday and Friday, three shows Saturday, and five shows Sunday. I worked for $5.00 a week. I got so sick of Shirley temple!

On Sundays, it was brutal to watch the same movie five times. I remember one time we were showing a really complicated film, and you really had to follow the movie or you’d lose track of it. One night I got so tired of this film that I just shut the projector off. Nobody knew the difference; they all got up and walked out!

While I was in school, we moved from Stoughton to Evansville, about 30 miles away. That’s where I worked in the theater. We had a home there, and a good life there. I had a car, and a girlfriend, and I got my $5.00 a week.  I stayed home, so I didn’t have any expenses. 

My Mother Dies Young and My Father Remarries

My dad took over a gas station, so I used to work part time for him. He was pretty good to me. He just seemed to sense when I was broke. He used to pay me two bits an hour. He’d get out his calendar and say “you got six bucks coming. Let’s make it eight.” He was real good to me that way. It had a great family out like my dad and my mom and my sister. My mother died young, she was 46.

My father remarried. He married a real nice woman who would have been an old maid if he hadn’t come along. Her name was Mabel. We used to say “get off the table Mabel. The buck is for beer.” Of course, we never said that to her face. She was very innocent