Hope Minnesota when I was growing up - 1930s & 1940s

In 1936 we moved from 3 miles west of Geneva Minnesota to two miles south of Hope Minnesota.  Hope was a small village of about 80 people.  Hope was on the Rock Island railroad and had a depot agent names, Rhodes.  There were two grocery stores in Hope.  One was run by the Wesley bros and the other by Joe Slezak who also sold farm machinery.  Joe's store also had a beer counter in it. There was a creamery located in Hope and it is still in operation to this day and Hope butter has its own label and they also sell to Land O Lakes.  

There was also a large elevator and in the south edge of town was a business that bought cattle and hogs and sold to  Hormel in Austin.  The post office was located in the Slezak grocery store.
At that time people would bring their eggs and ducks and chickens into the grocery stores and would trade them out for groceries.  Wesley's store also had some thread and some sewing material and the best was the ice cream.  Here's an article reminiscing about mom and pop grocery stores, Slezak being included..

Don and I started school which was located a mile and a half from our farmhouse.  I started in 3rd grad and Don was in 8th grade.  We walked to school every day and on the 5th of May we could go barefoot to school and we looked forward to that. Our teacher was Elaine Eggers and Don gave her fits.  A new school and he tried out the teacher quite well. It was not much fun changing schools but both of us got along all right.

Dale Wilker first attended the Hope School 60 years ago in protest after his family moved to the small community south of Owatonna. Today, Wilker is still in protest over the school, though this time it is hopes of keeping it open to the public. (Annie Granlund/People’s Press)

In the summertime, the biggest thing was going to the free movies.  The industrial arts teacher in Ellendale High School had a movie projector and movies and cartoons and he made a round of all the little towns every week in the summertime to show the movies.  He hit Clarks Grove and Geneva and Ellendale and Hope and I think another place close to Highway south of Owatonna.  Tuesday night he was at Hope.  Our seat was outdoors and they were telephone poles set on top of either other poles or wood.  Anyhow they would roll a little bit.  All the farmers came into Hope on Tuesday night.  Oh yes, there were two taverns in Hope and there were slot machines in them.

Slezak grocery store had a popcorn machine and it cost a nickel for a bag of popcorn.  Times were a little better and I always got a nickel and usually spent it on ice cream which was sold at Wesley's store.  When the kids got a little older they would go behind one of the stores and smoke.  The young people would sit next to each other and do some smooching I really looked forward to the movie and that is when I learned there were 168 hours in a week and I would count the hours until the next Tuesday in Hope.

Most of the farmers were dairy farmers and they raised hogs for market and had chickens so they could sell eggs.  We also sold ducks but most of the farm produce was for feeding the cattle.

I do not remember my dad selling oats and think he used it for feed for the hogs and cattle and chickens.
The farm we rented was sandy and one year we raised a lot of watermelons.  

There was a small creek running through our farm and it connected up with the Straight River.  One day I was down at the creek and I saw 2 big fish.  I ran to the house and told my Dad and he went down and speared them.  Mother cleaned them and we had them for dinner.

Back in the 30's we had fish in the winter as they would come from up north and would be frozen.  When we lived close to Geneva we could get ice in the summer.  They had a machine that cut the ice in blocks and they took it to the ice house and packed it in sawdust and when my Dad went to the creamery he would sometimes bring home ice. 

Geneva also had a small mill and we would take the corn in to be ground and used that in making cornbread.  Usually, we ate cornbread for breakfast.  You will not believe it but we put gravy and butter and syrup on our cornbread,

Hope also had a car repair shop called Kleckers.  30 years ago he was still alive and had two or three Model A fords that he was renovating.  Do not think he ever got them finished.

The school at Hope was north of town just a little bit south of the Noske farm and my brother Richard went to that school for a while.  Later the school was moved into Hope and is still there.  My nephew Dale has a  store in the old Wesley building and thinks it is called Hopeful Treasurers.  He has lots of books and good stuff to buy. 

Hope is still there and is still a nice clean village and probably about 90 people live in Hope now.No grocery store an elevator and a creamery and stockyard and two taverns the last time I was there.  Also, a bank and my sister Daisy worked there and was bank manager for many years.

Our trip to England - 1985 - Conoco Offices in London England

Off to England

In 1985 Gail was asked by Conoco Oil Company/Exploration Research Division to teach a class in creating digital computer contour oil in place maps in the London UK Conoco Office.  

Gail was to teach the geologist and the geophysicist how to use the CPS-1 Radian Corporation and the Zycor Mapping System Software in creating oil in place maps.  CPS-1 was the common program that Conoco's other partners used in creating oil in place maps from seismic data.

She was expecting Amber at that time and Steve could not go with her.  She asked if I would go with her and I did. I paid for my coach class ticket and then I was able to stay with Gail in London.

We left Tulsa late at night and I think we flew direct to London with a stop in New York City.  The trip over was uneventful and it was daylight when we flew over Ireland.  Everything in Ireland was green.  We arrived at Heathrow airport in the morning and I have never seen so many people in one place at the same time.  Everyone was checking through customs and I remember seeing young women dress in plaid suits and suppose they were Scottish or Irish.  

We got a taxi to our hotel which was called Churchill.  Found out later it was one of the most expensive hotels in London.  At that time the rooms were $135.00 per night.  We had a nice room with two beds and a refrigerator and a bunch of snacks in the refrigerator.  The bathroom had heated towels and a very nice bathrobe for each of us.  At night the maid came in and turned down the sheets and put a piece of candy on the pillow.

Gail went off to work every day and came on back to the hotel at about five in the evening.  I had a friend Shirley staying in the same hotel and she had been in London for a week or so.  I got up every morning and went down to eat breakfast with Gail.  They had strawberries with cream on the menu and that is what I had every morning.  Shirley and I would meet every morning at about nine and we went all over London.  We had paid ten dollars for a pass on all the busses and the tube and that took us everywhere we wanted to go.

Shirley and I went to Westminster and we went to Harrods and we went to see the Wallace collection of art and traveled around to see other sights.  The Churchill Hotel was close to the Marble Arch and Selfridges store and also near to Oxford St.  

When Shirley had to do something else I walked up and down Oxford St and looked at all the beautiful tailored clothing and the jewels and whatever else was interesting.  I went to the wax museum by myself as it was close to the hotel.

A film making crew from the states were in the hotel and we saw Meryl Steep come in one day.  I sat in the lobby once in a while and watched the people.  The hotel was filled with rich people from India and from the mid-east.  The men from the mid-east would sit and watch every good looking woman come in.
I stayed in the room sometimes and watched TV and the small children would be running up and down the halls and screaming.  Their parents did not pay much attention to them.

Shirley and I went to the west side one day and that was where there were open-air cafes.  The women from the middle east were dressed in their colorful clothing and were having the best time drinking tea and laughing with their friends.

We were in London from July 5 through the 19th.  The second-weekend Gail and I decided to take a train up to York.  We went down to the train station and stood in line with other people until it was time to board the train.  I had made reservations at the hotel for a room at York that night.  The countryside was green and we could see the power stations dotting the land.  We got off the train at York and went to our room and then downstairs to eat a typical English meal.  Not like food in the states and very bland.  The next morning we got up and walked uptown and saw some interesting old buildings.

Gail was not feeling well and so we took an earlier train back to London.  There were several interesting people in our car and we managed to get a conversation going with them.  There was a young woman from Denmark and so a group of us talked on the way back to London.  The British people are very quiet and of course, they knew we were Americans.  They remarked to us that Americans were open people, but we all had a good time.

Gail and I went shopping at Harrod’s and she bought a pair of riding boots and I think I bought two pieces of fabric.  It was Liberty of London fabric and I still have it.

We did go to a play with the man and his wife who had asked Gail to come over and teach the class. 
The class was over and we caught a taxi to the Gatlin airport and on to New York.  There was one woman on the plane from Ponca City and she had been to Italy.  We arrived at John F Kennedy airport in New York and changed planes and on to Tulsa.  Picked up the car and Gail was tired out so I  drove on home to Ponca City..  Quite a trip

Radio School 1944 - Life in the Big City -- Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Radio School 1944 - Life in the big City, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

My first job out of high school in 1944 was at a Hide Fur Wool and Tallow company in Owatonna.  My friend Annette Denker was the secretary there and she needed some help when the wool season started.  There were various buyers in the counties surrounding Steele county and they would buy the wool and get it to Owatonna and my job was to check and see if their paperwork was right and OK it and send them checks for the wool.  They also bought hides from various places and then took them by truck into St Paul where they sold the hides.  The place smelled to high heaven but you got used to it after a few mins and it didn’t bother you anymore.

I stayed with Annette’s folks and it cost me $2.50 for my room and breakfast.  I bought a meal ticket at Oaks café for $5.00 and that was for 15 meals.  I was able to save about $10.00 a week and so at the end of a couple of months, I had $50.00 dollars saved.

I got a letter from someone in Minneapolis and they had a radio school there and they said if you took their training you would be able to get a high paying job.  So I wrote off and the man came down and I paid him $50.00 and then borrowed another $150.00 from my folks so that I could go to radio school.

My job was finished with the Wool company so I talked my friend Myrtle into going to Minneapolis with me.  She was not going to radio school but jobs were plentiful and so off we went.  My Mother went to Minneapolis with us and we went to the radio school and then found a room to rent and Myrtle went to a company during war work and I got a job as a waitress downtown at 6th and Hennepin in the middle of the entertainment district.  

I would get up in the morning and go to school at 9 am and finish at 3 pm.  Then I would go back to the room and then head downtown on the streetcar to get to work at 5pm and work until 10pm.  The job paid minimum wage which was 40 cents an hour.  That was enough to pay for my room and eat and buy a few things.  

I learned how to type faster and learned the international Morse Code and how to teletype.  I had a half year typing in high school and by the time I left I was typing about 50 words a minute.  We also learned radio theory and had to pass a test to get our license which I never used.  

We used to get on the streetcar on Sunday and ride all over Minneapolis and then we would go to St Paul.  Think it cost us about ten cents.  

I learned how to make sundaes and malts and we sold a lot of pie with ice cream.  The café only had stools and it was combined with a tobacco shop at the intersection of 6th and Hennepin and there was a bowling alley over it.  It had a steady bunch of customers and they worked for the CNW railroad as billing clerks and then the guys that ran the movie projectors came in for coffee and pie.  Had a bartender come in every night and we saved chicken for him as he wanted a chicken sandwich every night.  He always tipped me a dime.

A newsstand was right outside the café and he was selling newspapers.  He was always saying "Extra extra read all about it". That was the way we got news back then.

A bunch of us girls went to see Duke Ellington as he was playing at one of the theatres close by.  I still remember that and they told some funny jokes along with the music.

I rented a typewriter and when I got home from work I would practice my typing.  Myrtle was working nights so we did not see much of each other.  Just went home one time before I was hired along with 17 other girls to go to work for the Santa Fe Railroad.  They hired us sight unseen and we all got our tickets paid to go to Chicago and we went to the main office of the Santa Fe Railroad and they asked us what state we wanted to go to.  I picked Oklahoma as I had an Aunt living at Elk City.  I did not know if I would stay or not and I wanted to see some of the country.  

That is a little bit about my time at the radio school and big city life.