Did you ever sit down and try to think back as far as you could in to your childhood? It’s kinda’ fun to recall experiences that you thought you had long forgotten, but if you give it a chance they will pop in to your mind. Here’s some of my early memories……..
My earliest memories go back to New Rockford, ND, where I was born...One of the first memories I have is of the little red house we lived in on the West side of town. I remember my Grandma Lisa 
coming to visit and her standing in front of the chefferobe mirror and combing her hair. During one visit she showed me some stagecoach tickets. I remember an "Andy Gump" ashtray stand that we had....and the time my father offered some snuff to my sister…..her response was (in a childs accent) '”Too ‘trong for me”.
One day I decided I wanted to go fishing, so I set out for the river with a stick on my shoulder...I was less than five years old....Luckily my mother caught up with me before I got far....
Another day I decided I would go to the Northern Pacific depot and wait for my dad to get off work, again less than five years old...unfortunatley it was on a Sunday and dad was not working....however, they finally discovered where I was and reclaimed me. One day, I believe when we must have had the house for sale prior to moving to Oberon, ND, some people stopped in front of the house (I found out later they were to look at buying it) and talked me into getting in the car...They took me around the block, which was exciting at first, but then I was terrified they wouldn't take me home again....At any rate someone bought the house and we moved to Oberon, ND, where dad continued working on the section crew of the NP RR. I must have been about 4 or 5 years old....Mom's family lived in and around Oberon, so I was surrounded by Uncles, Aunts, cousins, and grandparents, and lots of love....Many happy childhood memories come to mind during the time we lived there, such as playing with cousins Noel,Darlene, Janice and all the others....My Uncles were all fun-loving and loved to tease me....I remember when Uncle Alvern and Uncle Horace were in the military during World War 2....and when the war ended and they returned home....both were seriously wounded overseas, but both recovered completely. However, Uncle Horace carried a Japanese bullet in his arm for many years which bothered him considerably.....It finally worked its way around to his back and surfaced so a Doctor could remove it.
I started school in Oberon and went there for the first three grades....
I could look out the classroom window and see my grandparents house across the street....One day, another kid dared me to shoot my cork gun during class….I got in trouble…..One summer, on a hot and dusty day, I walked to the grocery store and charged a straw hat...When I returned home, Mom asked me how I had paid for the hat...I remember telling her I charged it at Walt's grocery store and that you didn't have to pay any money when you charged things. Well, Mom quickly explained to me how this "charging" stuff really worked and pointed me back to the store with instructions to return the hat...Walt had this funny grin on his face when I returned it, just as if he expected me to be doing exactly that!
Sunday school days come to mind in Oberon also, in the Lutheran church in town but especially in West Antelope Church located about 4 or 5 miles Southwest of Oberon....That was the same church my mother and all her family were baptized and raised around...in fact, one of my Great Grandfathers (Gutterud) was a charter member and was the first one buried there....Anyway, my Sunday school days there remain a vivid memory....one time we were tasked with memorizing John 3:16, and as a reward, all those who memorized it were given a pencil with that verse on it...I was very proud of mine.....
My father worked on the Northern Pacific Section crew, and I remember him coming home in the evening around 5 o'clock and I would run to meet him......then he would put me on his shoulders and carry me home,laughing all the way....One time a steam locomotive was left in Oberon for a few days.....I got to climb up in the cab and was duly impressed by all the equipment.....To this day I have a special place in my heart for the sound of a steam engine....
In about 1948, Dad earned the job of Foreman on a "Extra Gang" on the main line on the Northern Pacific in North Dakota....Shortly after that, we took a train trip to Minneapolis and Mom and Dad purchased the first car that I remember, a 1935 Buick.
I remember sleeping on the train on the way there and looking forward to seeing all the lakes in Minnesota...On the drive home, we visited some of Dads relatives in Minnesota....Uncle Johnny Johnson, Cousin Carl Lea family, Cousin Myrtle, and probably others....We stopped to stay overnight at a hotel, I believe in Fergus Falls, and after we checked in, Mom discovered a unlocked connecting door to a room next to ours and a man was sleeping in it....the door couldn't be locked, so Mom refused to stay there and Dad had to drive to the next town (Detroit Lakes, I think) and we stayed there.....I believe it was there also that Mom and Dad bought me a large toy fire truck that I was very proud of....Yvonne, my sister, got a doll, I think....
Shortly after we returned home, we bought a trailer house and moved to West Fargo, where I started the fourth grade...We lived next to the railroad section house which was occupied by Dick Saker (a NP roadmaster) and his family. I played every day with his children, Laurel and a little girl named Shirley. They also had a older boy named Wayne. Laurel and I had many experiences in the Sheyenne River woods such as building forts and playing on the river ice....
I also had a Indian friend named Paul..I remember Paul had a BB gun and I had a bow and arrow set...I thought that was just backwards from the way things should be, and I told him I thought we should trade....He did, but it wasn't long before our parents set things straight again...While living in West Fargo, I decided I needed to have a job, so I answered an ad of the "Cloverine" Salve Co. and received a supply of salve to sell....Lo and behold, people were more than willing to buy this product from a 9 year old boy....I remember earning a telescope as a prize....My Uncle Lawrence Narveson also worked on the gang with my dad and lived in West Fargo that summer...It seems I remember him and I fishing on the Sheyenne river there.....
The following summers we moved frequently as the extra gang worked its way across the state on the main line of the Northern Pacific. We lived in Magnolia, Dalrymple, Wheatland, Casselton, Spiritwood, Driscoll, Menoken, and ended up in Heaton about the time school started in 1950. I started the fifth grade there, but was interrupted one more time when dad was bumped and we moved to Hensler late that fall...although we were there for only a few months before returning to Heaton, I have some precious memories of the area....we lived in the depot there, with no electricity, water, or other niceties.....the school was in town, but had a rural school atmosphere, including such things as pie socials! It was in Hensler also that I received my first BB gun, a Red Ryder model....I became quite proficient in shooting sparrows out of trees and occasionally out of the air.......I had acquired a dog (Spitz/Bulldog mix) named "Goggles", I believe in Menoken, that I grew up with, and it was in Hensler that we became inseparable friends.....I found a picture that is nearly identical to Goggles....
TO BE CONTINUED……..
