The Kenmare Years: 1946 to 1953

 The great war ended in 1945, just 25 days after Dave and I were married.  Six months later, Dave was discharged from the Navy and joined me in Minneapolis where I was living.  I was subletting a furnished lower duplex from Leota and Del while Del was employed at a defense plant in Seattle, Washington.

After a brief vacation, Dave returned to his pre-war employment at Janney Semple Hill, a wholesale hardware firm.  Dave had accepted an opportunity to enter the sales training program and was to be assigned an out of state territory at the completion of the course.

We were surprised, one day in April, when Leota and Del, Danny and Janet arrived in Minneapolis.  It was good to see them home.  We, of course, said that we would find another 

place but they urged us to stay on with them until their expected bundle of Joy arrived.  We stayed on with them through Alan's birth on July 29th.

The following month Dave was assigned a territory.  Janne's was sending us to North Dakota.  He was to handle the Northwest corner of North Dakota and a few towns in Montana---Plentywood was the most western of them.  His territory was bounded by the Canadian border on the north and the Minot to Williston Highway on the south.  Mohall was on or near the eastern boundary.  This section was part of the territory that Art Roos was servicing.  He would remain in Minot and handle the southern and more populous portion of the state.  

We felt like Lewis and Clark as we packed the second hand Oldsmobile we bought from Johnson, a dealer friend of Del's.  Every thing that the two of us owned went into the trunk and back seat of that enormous car( compared to Ron's Model A).  Everything,that is, but my Hope Chest.  A must for all brides in those days.  We took all the household acquisitions such as: dish towels, the set of dishes acquired on premium night at the movies, the bubble dishes from oatmeal boxes, the shower gifts, the flour sack dish towels etc and er filled the hope chest with memorabilia and we were ready to travel.  

We kissed, hugged and cried and hit the roa,Dave consoling me and telling me it would be all right, and I, weeping more profusely with each kind word.  This was an adventure! World traveled Dave and his bride, heading out "across the prairie" to Minot and a meeting with the Roos Family.  Art had reserved a room for us at an unpretentious motel, and we were treated to a fabulous dinner and taken under the wing of this  lovely family.  

We were told, gently, that there would be a long wait for housing as the returning veterans were grabbing up everything available and building was at sort of a stand still.  Perhaps a small town might have something.  Dave began checking with all the merchants on his route and one day he returned to say that he had found a delightful little town about fifty miles north of Minot. It had a hotel, a park in the center of downtown and a builder who was putting up an apartment building and he was putting people on waiting lists.

This ray of hope coincided with the sudden realization that I did not have food poisoning and that it most likely pregnancy that caused the nausea and lifelong aversion to Campbell's vegetable soup.  Ugh! Those little globules of tomato and grease floating around.  I can still see them.

Well, off we went.  We waved goodbye to the Starlight Motel (not the real name) and headed north on Highway #52.  Burlington, Foxhole, Carpio, Donnybrook, as I heard about the hardware stores and the dealers that Dave had met on his first trip around the territory with Art.  Then Kenmare!  We checked in at

Next we went to find the Catholic Church.  At the north end of the town square we turned right and headed up the hill.  We found it maybe three blocks up the road--- a basement church with a raised entrance.  The church grounds took the entire block.We parked and planned to visit the priest.  In a moment we heard a deep lusty voice singing the words of the Latin mass.  And a figure appeared, a short bald man in overall pants and jacket and boots.  He was carrying a large bucket of water in each hand and looked as if he loved it. We got out to speak to him and asked where we might find the priest.  The rich voice and merry brown eyes announced that he, indeed, was Father Leopold Reumenapp and was happy to meet such a nice couple.

We had found our first friend and spent many happy evenings with Father.  He lived in the basement behind the church and he was enamored with "Dave" and from then on he fed us spiritually, literally (with books from his extensive library). and physically with pots of German stew of home grown vegetables.  He dearly loved the earth and all that was in it.  An immigrant St. Francis that brightened our lives.

The very next thing on the agenda was to get our name on that builder's list.  His name was Ray Jensen and he lived next to the property he was developing.  The units (5)were built motel style with five front doors in a row.  They faced the public school and the waiting list included the principal and another teacher and the first on the list was the carpenter, Eddie Grenville, and his family.  Ray took our name but we knew that materials were hard to get in the postwar market.  This was September and we had no clue when completion would occur.  

The McKenzie's operated the hotel and that was our home for awhile.  There was a restaurant on the basement level where we ate.  In my delicate physical condition I was beset with nausea each time I entered the building and detected the smell of brown gravy which seemed to cover everything.  I spent a lot of time in that park smelling the fresh air and waiting for Dave to return from his trips.  The few times I accompanied him I encountered the absence of rest stops and had to figure out my own solution to that problem.  Washing clothes was an artful maneuver  in the single sink and I hung boxer shorts on hangers in the bed and dresser room.

We met another friend there when Ray Jensen sold the John Deere dealership, located across the street, to Carl Peterson.  Carl was a farmer who wanted to try something different.  He and Evelyn moved into the hotel when they committed on the business and waited for the sale to close so they could occupy the home that was part of the deal and was located behind the business.  The sale would put the current occupant, Severt Wangsness and his wife, Ann, out of a house and onto Ray Jensen's waiting list.  

Carl became one of Dave's customers and we bonded as couples.  I remember attending a concert in Minot with the Petersons and Lyle and Eva Hansen.  Lyle taught at the high school and was waiting for a Jensen apartment.

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, Carl and Evelyn moved into their house ( a two bedroom)  and invited us to share it until our apartment was ready.  Finally in early February, we moved into the center apartment.  Eddie Grenvik, the carpenter and Arnie Thorson, the high school principal and his wife Irene to our left.  Lyle and Eva Hansen, the teacher and his wife, and Severt Wangsness (John Deere employee) and wife Ann, a nurse at the Kenmare Deaconess Hospital occupied the two unit apartments to the north of us.

We experienced a huge North Dakota blizzard the first weekend we were in the apartment.  We didn't have the stove yet and were c cooking on a hot plate and the heater was on the small side.  We kept warm with the wool quilt my mother had given me.  We couldn't see our car which was parked in the street in front of the house.

The apartment was a cheerful place.  A one room with Murphy bed, with closet space behind it and a compact little kitchen.  Ronnie was born in May 1947 and we lived in that apartment until Ronnie was about a year old.  We became good friends of the Jensens who were also having their family - Raymond, Rolf, Curtis and Craig.

The following year (1948) we and the Petersons and Severn and Ann jointly purchased a half block of land east of the church.  We all planned to build homes there.  Carl moved ahead on building his home and Severt was planning his.  We were not financially ready to think of building but the apartment was getting small for a new baby.  We learned that Ray Jensen was finishing up a house that a fellow named Ernie Flecktin had started so we checked on that.

The house was a two bedroom, one level shell.  It had a living room big enough for a dining space and a large family sized kitchen - no cabinets.  The bathroom had a tub, but barely enough space to stand back and open the door.  The partial basement housed the furnace but was basically a crawl space.  Ray was willing to sell it for $5800.oo and we jumped at that.  We called my Dad to borrow the down payment.

We moved into the house about the time of Ronnie's birthday.  We had lots of work cut out for us.  The painting, floor covering, cabinets, were all to be done.  We did it ourselves.  We bought a drop-in stove and built-in oven from Janney's and it sat in the corner of the kitchen for some time.  Eventually we got Eddie Grenville to frame in the base cupboards and we dropped in the range and could cook.  Dave did the doors himself and we purchased the wall cabinets.  It was one of the nicest kitchens I have had. Coral yellow and white with dark green chicken wallpaper and windowpane checked drapes on the white cottage windows....spatter tile on the floor.

The house was kitty corner from the church, north and east.  in addition to the decorating, Dave enlarged the basement and we moved the front door to the west side for better traffic pattern through the living room, and we built a driveway and a patio.  We did not apply for any permits to change the street address.  It didn't seem to matter to anyone so perhaps the times were less formal.  I might add that we did not have any equipment for all this work except shovels and rakes.  We both worked at it.

Our life had a certain rhythm to it in those days.  Dave would leave home in time to arrive at one of his stops after the stores were open for business.  so our mornings were fairly relaxed.  We had our coffee first thing and fed everyone..Winter mornings Dave would look out at the western sky to see if it was fit doe travel. We could see the hills on the other side of DesLacs Lake rom our house.  If there was any sign of blowing snow he would not start out on an overnight trip as it was useless to get "holed up" in some town and have to stay there until roads were cleared or he could catch a train home.

Dave had his trips planned so that he was home two or three nights of the work week.  One of his tasks each week was to change the catalog.  Janney's sent out the new pages and he would go through that big red catalog with the leather handles.  The new pric es and new products went in and the old pages were discarded.  It was entertainment for me to hear his comments as he talked his way through that job.  He was pretty passionate about his merchandise and most of our friends knew that.  Carl Peterson used to bait him by bringing up a competing brand of something.  Our paint was superior ( I can't recall the brand at the moment) , Dexter washers, Revere Ware, built in Thermadore Ranges and Ovens, Currier and Ives glassware and Noritake China...we had it all.  More often than not it was the samples we received so we had assortments.  I did have a dozen of everything in that blue Currier and Ives stoneware and I am still using my Revere pans.

It was fun getting to know all the dealers on the territory from the tales Dave would tell me.  One of the furniture dealers who also operated a funeral home and was going to rent him a casket.  My steak tenderizer is one he talked a dealer out of.  A dealer in Stanley, N.D. was the sponsor for you, Mark, when you needed Shriners Hospital..The people in North Dakota were warm friendly people and we were welcomed there.  Dave also got to know the salesman that traveled that area.  My cousin Johnnie McCormack used to call on the variety stores in the area and he would be in Kenmare to call on Leonard Brown who ran the Ben Franklin store.  I never saw him but Dave would see him frequently.

My routine kept me a little closer to home.  We were a one car family, so I had to get places on foot.  As my little family grew, the maroon buggy (purchased from Janney's) was a godsend.  It was Ronnie's first.  Sue arrived in 1949 and I was able to fit the two of them in it.  And when Mark came in 1950 Ronnie was big enough to walk while Mark and Sue tucked inside.  It was quite a push to get groceries and push you guys and the groceries back up the hill to our place.  

I belonged to a Women's Circle at St. Agnes and there were some coffee parties.  After we were living in Kenmare for a time I was asked to join a group of women (twelve) who had coffee parties once a month.  This was a great group of women and it was fun to put out the best you had to serve them.  My set of twelve blue plates came in handy.  Ovedia was in this group and the pewter lazy Susan that I still have was their gift to us when we left Kenmare.  We had parties with our husbands for special occasions.  

Addie and Bud Hannon bought the house next door to us and the Hannon boys were playmates for you kids during those years.  We also had a live in sitter during the year we lived in Kenmare.  Her name was Eldora Ankenbauer and she was the only child of a farm family.  They were not Catholic but they thought Eldora would be a little more sheltered in the St. Agnes school.  They asked if she could stay with us during the week in exchange for baby sitting.  

Eldora was a gift.  Her cheery personality and unpretentious manner was just what we needed.  It was a two bedroom house so she slept with the three of you kids.  She had the lower bunk, Ronnie had the upper, we put Sue in the big crib and Mark had the bunk under the window on the storage box between the closets.  We were suddenly able to see a movie or run out for late coffee with friends at night.  When we left, the Petersons inherited her as a live in.  Eldora married Bill Hunt and the last I heard she had moved to a southern state.

Mark was three years old when we left Kenmare---it was after Leota died and Del had asked Dave to come work with him in the real estate company he had started.  He thought that I could take care of Danny, Janet and Alan and we could live in their house.  After much prayer and soul searching we decided to take him up on that offer.  We sold the house to a farmer, Ray Lindblad, Dave left Janney's and we packed our belongings and headed for Minneapolis.  The fact that those plans did not materialize is another story.  Janney Temple Hill was sold shortly after that and most, if not all the sales force found themselves out of a job.  So probably we would have left in any case.

We have kept in touch with several friends there, but only the Jensen family still alive in Kenmare.  Ray died some time ago but Ovedia and I are still close.  She comes to the cities to visit Craig and Amy and their family in Plymouth and I get to see her when she does.  I hope you can meet her when you are in Kenmare.  

We returned to Kenmare in 1966.  It was fun to go back.  You do not remember much of that but I will mark some things in the old photo album for you to check on.