I noticed that the President made a visit to my home state of North Dakota and neighboring South Dakota right before July 4. Best I can gather, he flew into Bismarck, probably helicopter to Medora ND and the new Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library; thence back to Bismarck, to Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City […]
Fred, a long-time friend, and retired teacher and active historian, sent me his part of a conversation with a friend since boyhood – they grew up as schoolmates together. The two men have different points of view and retain close relationship with each other, ‘across the divide’ so to speak. What I share here, with […]
Today promises to be a pleasant day in this area. Backyard picnic at my daughters place across the river. Family gathering of perhaps a dozen or so. Last night watched PBS annual July 4 concert on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. It was a flawless celebration of all of us, several thousand in the […]
What follows are personal reflections on relationships that built the United States of America. Included here are a few others who sent some reflections of their own. Yours will be gladly added if you wish. The other reflections so far: Jim, Larry, Lois, Nancy, Jane, Brian. Yours? See also, Stephanie, and July 4, 2026, and […]
Families! Mine was (and still is) the most dysfunctional middle-class family in America! I dare anyone to match their family’s dysfunction against mine. Ground rules: Your family has to be White, middle class, gainfully employed and have at least two kids. My parents lived in a two-bedroom house and still managed […]
Hello Dick! Here’s my story: I was 18 years old growing up in Texas. I was too young to vote or to drink alcohol legally. However my pastor (at our church), my government (LBJ) and my parents wanted me to go off to Vietnam to fight! Fight? Kill or be killed? Scheiße! I said “No […]
A classmate of mine from LaMoure has been writing short stories and sending them for me to read, and I didn’t know about them until today. I will have lots of reading and deleting to do. I am beginning those things today at the library where help is still within reach. Yesterday was June 2, […]
One ancestor, Runyon C. Tunison, comes to mind as a person of interest. C. was the oldest of 6 children born to William and Elizabeth Fitz Randolph in 1817. Siblings were Tunis, Ira, John, Alexander, and Sarah E. He died at age 72 + months per the obituary of Humboldt County IA (putting birth year […]
My own father sent me away to be raised by an uncle and an aunt who had no children. After a year or so, they sent me to my grandmother in Valley City, North Dakota, a perfect village for a child to be raised in. But I did see my father, occasionally, over the years […]
I have an interesting, somewhat seminal story of my immigrant roots. I had the foresight to gather assorted facts and information several decades ago when older relatives freely shared their stories. My father’s mother migrated from rural Norway and his father from Trelleborg the southern tip of Sweden near Copenhagen Denmark. I speak the languages […]