Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

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.)

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This cow was in a Quonset on the southeast edge of Rolfe on the way to the cemetery. I took the photo from the road, so it is cropped and I wish it was more crisp. But still a very fun sight!

Clicking on the photo will enlarge it.

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

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Mother (Marion Gunderson) made this sun god part of the Okoboji cottage she purchased in 1975. She passed away in 2004, leaving Gunderlakke behind as a gift to her family. Thank you, Mother.

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

I’ve received inquiries about the status of the Celebration Barn.

The Celebration Barn of Cumming, Iowa, is where daughter Katie and her husband Joe had their wedding reception in 2008. As the name implies, the Celebration Barn was an actual country-setting barn with a luxuriously rustic interior.

Because I was asked again today about the venue, I called the woman who was one of the owners at the time of Katie’s and Joe’s 2008 reception. The woman said that because of the downturn in the economy, she and her husband were “unable to go forward” with the barn. They honored all of their 2009 bookings, even though they had so many cancellations occur in December 2008 and January 2009. (Over 50% of their 2009 reservations were cancelled in those two months.) She and her husband didn’t want any of the brides and others involved with bookings to be unhappy, so they honored all of the 2009 reservations by keeping the barn open through 2009.

At the end of 2009, after the then owners had operated the Celebration Barn for 2 1/2 years (after someone else had previously operated it for ~6 years) the Celebration Barn was no longer available for bookings. With much sadness for the owners (because they truly enjoyed providing a beautiful setting for joyous occasions), the venue was eventually sold. At present, the Celebration Barn is not operational as a public venue.

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

Click on photo to enlarge.

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DATE: April 16, 2011

EVENT: Celebration of Rolfe’s road to the 1971 Iowa girls’ state basketball tournament

ACTION: 5 of the 8 returning teammates and local women scrimmaging in the former Rolfe gym, now known as the RAM Event Center

IN THE PHOTO: Foreground L to R — Julie Brinkman Mintz, Lori Pedersen, Joanne Brinkman, Laurie Brinkman Jensen; Background L to R — Tammy Shimon Pederson, Carol Hohensee, Wendy Bennett Panbecker, Sue Feldman Reigelsberger

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Julie and Laurie played on Rolfe’s 1971 Iowa girls’ state tournament team. Lori and Joanne attended high school elsewhere. Tammy and Wendy played for Rolfe in the ’80s. Carol is from Pocahontas. Sue played for Terril, Iowa, including at the Iowa girls’ state tournament.

BTW, a couple of people thought it looked like Julie had a tattoo on her arm. Nope. Just a shadow.

Click here to go to more information about Rolfe girls’ basketball.

Click here to go to information about prints of Marion Gunderson’s watercolors. (All profits go to the Rolfe Public Library. These profits combined with private donations will fund the digitization of 101 years of Rolfe newspapers.)

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