Archive for the ‘Deane Gunderson’ Category

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The Perfect Football Evening (depending on how you look at it)

September 4, 2009

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Iowa State, 34 --- North Dakota State, 17, September 3, 2009. (Click photo to enlarge.)

Iowa State, 34 --- North Dakota State, 17, September 3, 2009. (Click photo to enlarge.)

I’m mostly clueless about football, so shouldn’t express an opinion about the Iowa State team’s performance last night.  However, I do have a strong opinion that it is almost sacrilegious when AC/DC blaring painfully loudly (to the point of speaker distortion) drowns out the sound of the Iowa State fight song.

Early in the game when the band played the fight song (with no AC/DC competing this time), there were only a few people in our section that stood up and clapped.  When doing a quick scan, it appeared to be the same throughout most of the stadium.  It seems the football environment Iowa State is trying to create is not at all the counterpart of ISU’s basketball Hilton Magic (although, maybe that has changed considerably, too?). more…

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Posted in Deane Gunderson, Iowa, Rolfe | 5 Comments »

Next post on Wednesday evening — No Bologna (Or, maybe there is!)

August 4, 2009

I thought I’d have a new post on the blog by today, but I’ve been away from home “playing.”  I’ll have a new post up by tomorrow evening, the 5th.

I do have to say that I was with my father (Deane Gunderson) overnight and talked with him about material for this blog. more…

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Bubbles In The Wine by Deane Gunderson (February 27, 1975 — Part II)

July 27, 2009

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(You probably won’t understand Part II below unless you first read Part I.)

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“Bubbles In The Wine” by Deane Gunderson, February 27, 1975 * (Part II)

My father, Deane Gunderson, played on this John Deere softball team during his 1940 to 1945 employment with John Deere in Waterloo, Iowa. (Click photo to enlarge.)

My father, Deane Gunderson (back row, far left), played on this John Deere softball team during his 1940 to 1945 employment with John Deere in Waterloo, Iowa. During this employment he attended the meeting described in his February 27, 1975, "Bubbles In The Wine" article. (Click photo to enlarge.)

About thirty years ago [in the early- or mid-1940s] the John Deere Experimental Men’s meeting was being held in Moline and a good friend of mine from the Waterloo factory, Emil Jirsa, was to give a talk on the development of the John Deere Powr-Trol (hydraulic) system, then in its infancy.

Emil wasn’t much of a talker and he didn’t have the handsome, slippery appearance of John Connally. He was, as a matter of fact, just the opposite, and I suppose the audience was expecting a dull halting speech, hoping to get on to the next topic or to get into the bar, where each engineer would have the opportunity to brag about what he had dreamed up. more…

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Bubbles In The Wine by Deane Gunderson (February 27, 1975 — Part I)

July 26, 2009

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For background information about my father’s (Deane Gunderson) mid-1970s “Bubbles In The Wine” newspaper column, click here.  The article below is the first of his “Bubbles In The Wine” articles appearing in the weekly Rolfe Arrow from early 1975 through mid-1977.  The article below is also his favorite!

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“Bubbles In The Wine” by Deane Gunderson, February 27, 1975 *

My father, Deane Gunderson, in the mid-1970s, the same time period during which he wrote his 114 articles for his Bubbles In The Wine column.

My father in the mid-1970s, when he wrote 114 articles for his "Bubbles In The Wine" column.

On a recent Sunday morning yours truly was sitting in the Presbyterian Church of Rochester, Minnesota, when the minister said something that prompted the going ahead with this column. The idea of a column for the Rolfe Arrow had been tossed around a lot over the last several years. If you don’t like the idea, you’ll have to blame it on going to church, and that’s a pretty tough argument. more…

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Bubbles In The Wine 101 (The Prerequisite)

July 23, 2009

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In the mid-1970s my father, Deane Gunderson, wrote several articles which he titled “Bubbles in the Wine.”  Fortunately for my family, and anyone else interested in reading them, one of my sisters, Marti Gunderson Carlson, typed up the articles and compiled them in a book.  The intro to the book states the following:

“Bubbles in the Wine” is the title of the column written by Deane C. Gunderson between February 27, 1975, and May 26, 1977, for the Rolfe Arrow, published then in Rolfe, Iowa.

My father and me (Louise) on November 15, 1975. I purposely did not crop closely in case anyone wanted to "relive" a visual of Rolfe's Presbyterian Church. The last service held in this church was its Commemorative Sunday, April 30, 1995. (Click photo to enlarge.)

My father and me (Louise) on November 15, 1975, the same year Daddy began his "Bubbles In The Wine" column. The last service held here in Rolfe's (Iowa) Presbyterian Church was its Commemorative Sunday service, April 30, 1995. Soon thereafter this church was razed, I believe in 1996. (Click photo to enlarge.)

Mr. Gunderson’s topics, about matters of personal interest, are many and varied.  The themes reflect his involvement in farming, education, sports, Iowa State University, politics, etc.  The spectrum includes historical accounts as well as current events.  Some of the subjects are as topical today as when they were first published.

He occasionally invited guest columnists to provide their perspective into a particular area in which they were knowledgeable.

This compilation brings information, insight, history, and wit, to the reader.  To one who knows the author and the community serviced by the publication, this gathering of words brings enjoyment.

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Periodically I’ll post Daddy’s “Bubbles In the Wine” articles about everything from…A to Zeman.

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Blue Hat and Iowa Corn (Part I)

July 8, 2009

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Almost dusk after RAGBRAI bicyclers had passed through Rolfe, Iowa, on July 23, 2007. (Click photo to enlarge.)

The view from Highway 15, looking east into Rolfe, Iowa, at almost dusk after RAGBRAI cyclists had passed through on July 23, 2007. (Click photo to enlarge.)

~ Submitted by Clara Gunderson Hoover

When RAGBRAI went through Rolfe on July 23, 2007, most of our family spent the day in town and enjoyed the many bicyclers and onlookers who talked with our father and visited his Cy sculpture on Garfield Street.  In fact, my husband Hal and I had just concluded our Okoboji vacation in time to be in Rolfe for RAGBRAI. more…

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Posted in Deane Gunderson, Ear of Iowa Corn, Iowa, Marion Gunderson, Rolfe, Watercolor, Watercolor image | 1 Comment »

John Deere: Like Great-Grandfather, Like Great-Grandson

June 10, 2009

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From 1940 until 1945 my father (Deane Gunderson, now 90 years young) was an engineer for John Deere in Waterloo, Iowa.  Because he had a perforated eardrum, he was not able to serve in the military.  In his 1981 (or 1980) oral history, he said that, while at John Deere, “I did various jobs, experimental farm testing, drafting, I was project engineer for a year.  One of the most interesting phases of it was more…

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Watercolors to John Deere

June 1, 2009
Mother's signature on one of the returned watercolors

Mother's signature on one of the returned watercolors

Decades ago, my mother, Marion Gunderson, sold to a neighboring farming couple a few watercolors she painted in the late 1940s/early 1950s. Since she painted these before I was born, I was only vaguely aware these watercolors existed.

Last September my father, Deane Gunderson, a retired farmer who also worked in the 1940s as an engineer for John Deere, celebrated his 90th birthday. (Engineers are artists in a way!) In honor of my father’s 90th, the neighboring farming couple (now retired and moved into town—Rolfe, Iowa) returned three of these paintings to my father. My father had me ask more

Posted in Deane Gunderson, Iowa, Marion Gunderson, Rolfe, Watercolor | 15 Comments »

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