Listen here to the Weekly Radio Readings by Sheila Winstead, RCHS Board Member or tune in to WiLD 102 Radio Sunday mornings.
Recorded April 2022
April 3, 2022:
In a Roseau Times-Region from May 4, 1972, nearly 50 years ago, comes a story of Galena Starren at 86 years old. She lived another 15 years after this article came out until 1987 when she died just short of 102 years of age. Here’s the story, which I read in the research area at the Roseau County Museum.
Mrs. Gelina Starren fondles the old loom her grandfather made for her grandmother over 70 years ago and says fondly, “they made them tough in those days.” While the word “tough” might not apply to her … the word rugged does, for at 86 (to be 87 in June) she still keeps the loom flying making rugs for people all over Roseau County and from as far away as California.
Mrs. Starren came to Roseau County with her parents when she was four years old, settling on a farm ½ mile north of where she now lives with her son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Starren.
She has lived on the present site since 1902 and has seen the history change in Roseau County yearly since the days when Chief Mickinock and other Indians used to dig snake roots on the farm and leave some with the family.
The loom which she uses “sometimes all day” was given to her by her mother who taught her to use it. The smooth foot pedals and other handles bear testimony to the years of service the equipment has given.
She began to use the loom when they still had to go …listen for the rest of the story.
April 10, 2022:
I was at the museum last week reading some old copies of Roseau Times-Region from 50 years ago. In the paper from June 22, 1972, there was an interview of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Ostby on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary. Today I’ll read that article.
If, when you observe your golden wedding you are looking forward to next winter and snowmobile trips; if there isn’t enough time in a day to do all the things you like to do together; if you look back on a life of hard work with gratitude for a fine family and a home-centered life, you are like Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Ostby, for that describes this Roseau couple who noted 50 years together with an open house at their home Sunday.
Clarence began his courtship of Erick Wicklander’s daughter, whom he had met at a dance at her uncle’s place near Wannaska, with “an old 1913 Buick with a right hand drive and a left hand squeeze.” He recalled that it started with four dry-cell batteries and ran on magnetos. It also had carbide lights which he lit with a match! “The wind would often blow them out,” he recalled.
Clarence and his brother played at dances in those days (he still has two violins but doesn’t play much now) and they used to enjoy the home dances. “Everyone brought something and they would put it all together and then buy it… those were the days when people really had good times,” he reminisced.
He rented a farm near Ross and had some cows, “a nice team of ponies and a buggy.” When he and Miss Wicklander agreed to marry, he hitched up that team, (the old Buick had “disappeared” by then) and in one day drove to Roseau to get the license and then drove to her parent’s farm near Wannaska and the next day to the town where they got married. That night they …listen for the rest of the story.
April 17, 2022:
In 1972, 50 years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Ingvard Sunset celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They were interviewed for an article in the Roseau Times-Region of June 15, 1972. Here’s that article:
When the pretty young girl’s skate came off as she was skating on the Roseau River at a party on the Nels Dahl farm near Wannaska 50 years ago, a young man offered to help her with it. ”I don’t know you,” she said. “I don’t know you either so that makes us even,” he replied and helped her affix the skate to her shoe.
They were married on February 4, 1922, in Roseau by Reverend Stormo, and, as Mr. and Mrs. Ingvard Sunset, they noted their golden wedding anniversary Sunday with a special open house in Messiah Lutheran Church in Roseau with all their children home for the event.
Ingvard came to Roseau with his brother Arne, two cars of horses, and machinery and settled near Wannaska. Gina Larson was born here and was teaching in the Billberg school south of Wannaska when they met.
Ingvard courted the young schoolmarm by horse and cutter. He particularly remembers one trip to pick her up at the school for a date. His horses shied at a mound of snow and Ingvard, wondering why investigated. Beneath the mound, he found Malmskog, an old Swedish peddler with his pack on his back, nearly frozen. He got him in the cutter and took him to the Johnson farm where he was revived and cared for.
When they were married, he went to Fargo to attend school and in April he ..listen for the rest of the story.
April 24, 2022:
Last week I read from a Roseau Times-Region article in which Ingvard and Gena Sunset were interviewed for their 50th anniversary. Today I’ll share a story I read here about 5 years ago. It tells a little more about the families of Ingvard and Gena.
Having lived in the little community of Pinecreek, I had enjoyed seeing old photos of the schools and schoolchildren of that community over the years. One that was particularly clear was of the students at a school called Brookside School in the early 1900s. It had 3 of my grandfather’s siblings in it and a cute little girl named Gena Larson, whose family had lived in Pinecreek briefly. I had seen a Larson family photo in our Pinecreek Ladies Aid history and knew that Gena married Ingvard Sunset when she grew up. Ingvard Sunset was the Curator of the Roseau County Museum for many years, so when I saw a written history of Vernon Russell Sunset in the Research Area there, I had many reasons to be interested in it. Today I’ll read from it. Mr. Sunset called his history, “The Life & Times of Vernon Russell Sunset”.
My earliest memory is of having my tonsils removed at age five. It happened at the hospital-owned by Mrs. Budd. It was a frame building (and here he inserts a photo of the wooden building which is now the flower shop owned by the Holters), and the predecessor to the newer hospital. I believe that both buildings are still standing. I recall getting a Hershey bar as a reward for being a good boy.
I am writing this at age eighty (in about 2009) as the sole survivor of the I. A. Sunset family. I feel it is important to write this autobiography and pass it on to my family. I really should have recorded more information about the families of my grandmother and grandfather. I will attempt to fill in some blanks as I …listen for the rest of the story.
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