Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

In a previous post I wrote about the first time I remember setting eyes on eighth-grader Bill (to whom I’ve now been married for almost 36 years). The year was 1967. The setting was the Des Moines Township school gym.

Loel Diggs graduated from DMT in 1956. Around the time of my post, Loel sent to me the first three images below, all relating to DMT.

In the title of the first image, “Hum-Po” refers to Humboldt County and Pocahontas County.

The second photo is of Loel’s DMT letter. The third is of a sew-on patch Loel received.

Loel is sixth from the left and was the starting center for the team. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

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Loel received this letter while attending high school at the Des Moines Township school.

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This is a sew-on patch Loel received while in high school.

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The following article* is from the February 5, 1955, Laurens Sun. 1955 was the year Loel was a junior in high school at DMT, so a year before the article at the top of this post was published. According to the two articles, Loel’s team’s conference record went from 7-7 in 1955 to a perfect 10-0 in 1956. Loel and I are wondering if perhaps between the 1955 season and 1956 season there became fewer teams in the conference, resulting in fewer conference games.

This article is from the February 5, 1955, Laurens Sun. The listing of teams indicates that there were eight teams in the Hum-Po Conference in 1955. From the article at the top of this post, it appears that, with a DMT 1956 conference champion record of 10-0, there might have been fewer (six) teams in the conference in 1956. (Click on image to enlarge text.)

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*I found this article online via the Laurens (Iowa) Public Library’s web site. The Laurens library had the Laurens newspapers digitized in the same manner in which the Rolfe library is having 101 years of Rolfe newspapers digitized. The multi-step process of digitizing the Rolfe newspapers and getting them online is moving s-l-o-w-l-y. I guess the saying “A watched pot never boils,” is fitting here. One thing for sure…the wait will be worth it.

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

These photos were taken at Memorial Day services at Clinton-Garfield Cemetery in Rolfe, Iowa, on May 31, 2010. While a different holiday, the flags show the patriotic sentiment of today, July 4th. Tonight I’ll watch fireworks and think of Francis Scott Key’s “Star-Spangled Banner” lyrics* including the following, hoping that for generations to come the answer to the third and fourth lines remains, “Yes.”

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

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Memorial Day services at Rolfe, Iowa's, Clinton-Garfield Cemetery, 2010. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

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The monument at the right honors the nurses. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

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*Francis Scott Key’s manuscript for the “Star-Spangled Banner” is here.

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s home page.)

A year ago today my dad, Deane Gunderson, passed away.

Since on this anniversary date, I’ve got that “splooshing and rejoicing” feeling that I had a year ago, and since so many of you miss your own dad, I’ll not say much publicly today.

Instead, I’m including a photo that I took on October 31, 2008. The setting was harvest. Daddy and I slowly scurried to pick a few ears of corn before the combine finished with this particular field.

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My dad’s obituary, including links to other interesting tidbits about him (like his tandem tractors, his 11 1/2 ft. tall metal statue of Cy, etc.), is here.

Other posts about him are at the link in the first sentence.

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

Today Jackson and Bill inspected the neighbor’s cornfield that I posted about in May. After they were in the cornfield today, Jackson designed the image below (choosing the colors, using the paintbrush, placing the photos) and determined most of the text to be included. Leave it to a five-year-old to notice that I forgot to include the “th” after the “29”! Maybe he can become my proofreader!

Clicking on the images will enlarge them.

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(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

Last week there was road construction on Highway 141 just north of our house. While I was washing dishes I looked out the kitchen window and, in the distance, the antics of this construction worker caught my eye.

Traffic was just one lane and involved a pilot car guiding traffic, alternating to the east and then to the west. The construction worker was most active after the traffic had just passed, which meant there would be a break of three or four minutes before the pilot car would lead another group of cars past the construction worker.

The video includes audio and is about three minutes in length. Don’t get your hopes up for something awesome. It’s just kind of educational about what a construction worker might be doing between pilot car passes.

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

This image is of my dad's handwriting. At the top he wrote his and Mother's namesakes, followed in age order by Clara's (the oldest daughter) through mine (the youngest of the six living children*). (Click on the image to magnify it.)

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Last year on Father’s Day, June 20, 2010, Daddy (Deane Gunderson), age 91, fell. The doctors weren’t sure if the fall was a result of, or caused by a subdural hematoma. He passed away on July 1st.

I thought for today’s Father’s Day post I’d honor my dad and mom (Marion Gunderson) with a nostalgic yet fun tangent. After all, Daddy told us kids umpteen times that when he was gone, we weren’t to shed any tears. Of course, that is kind of hard to do, but he enjoyed life to the fullest and expected us to do the same. Therefore, I’m posting what I think is a fun diversion, but still in the vein of remembering Mother and Daddy with fondness.

The image above is my dad’s handwriting recording his namesake as well as the namesakes of my mom and us six kids. (As indicated in the above image, my mother was named after her Chicago Cubs fan Aunt Marion whom I posted about here.)

Ten or twenty years ago I read Mother’s version explaining after whom I was named. Apparently she and Daddy remembered differently. Daddy’s explanation (which he told me at least five times in the ten years before his passing) makes more sense. I’m going with it!

Because his writing on this sheet is on the reverse side of his 2009 Christmas card mailing list, I know Daddy wrote the information sometime after November 2009.

I don’t plan to do an uninterrupted series regarding the names given to each of us kids. However, over time, for at least some of us, I plan to post regarding our namesakes. When I do, the first will probably refer to oldest sister Clara’s names. I have something up my sleeve. At that thought, I think both Mother and Daddy would be pleased. Mother’s smile would be so happy and Daddy’s eyes would be twinkling.

With a heavy heart, yet so much gratitude, Happy Father’s Day, Daddy.

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*Christian was born about two years after I was. He died within minutes of his birth.

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

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In the next post I’ll explain how I came up with this photo. For now, I hope you’ll click on it to magnify the detail.

Did you ever get your mouth washed out with soap for sticking out your tongue or saying something naughty? I remember just one time for me. Enough to make me not want to do it again!

(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)