Chuck Haga: “Little Folks”

The Sunday May 19, 2025 Minnesota Star Tribune had a fascinating column about a columnist very familiar to me.  Chuck Haga hailed from the town where I went to College – Valley City ND – and his career was in Minneapolis and Grand Forks ND.  The Star Tribune column is very interesting, whether you knew of Chuck or not.  Here is the pdf of the article column: Chuck Haga 5 18 25 STrib (2).

The column had particular ‘legs’ for me, since back in 1987, Chuck had written a column about my Dad, one of the ‘little folks’ he loved to interview.  You can read the column here: Bernard H by c haga 1987001.  Below is a photo of the column header.

Grand Forks Herald May 31, 1987

Dad, who died in 1997, would have resonated with this column about himself and bicycles and Grand Forks.  His wife, my Mom, Esther, died in 1981, and before she passed on they could be seen often on their side-by-side bike where they lived in retirement, first in Grand Forks, then San Benito TX. Bernard Henry Esther Bike.  Dad, who grew up in Grafton, north of Grand Forks, had deep roots in Grand Forks, long before Mom and Dad retired there.  That is an entire separate story.

The family connection doesn’t stop there.

My brother John, was a contemporary of Chuck at the University of North Dakota [UND], filed these memories after seeing the column;  “He [Chuck] was the editor of the Dakota Student at the same time as I was the editor of the UND Annual [ca 1969 or 1970]- I think he was two years behind me, and I’m pretty sure took a gap year or two as the chaotic 60s ground to a close. 

Postnote:  from John:

One last memory I have of Chuck was my final Dakota Student right before my graduation.

He managed to hide the back page layout from me, and I didn’t see this  until it hit the street.

That’s emblematic of the kind of editor and guy that he was.

You might recognize one of the photos [yes, my near-one year old daughter Joni and her Grandpa Ed 1970]….

Dakota Student, 1970