Personal Biography

01/24/2006

I was born Jennie Katherine Dahlman on August 31, 1945 to Katharine Marie Tveit Dahlman and Wallace Wilhelm Dahlman.  I was born in the Butler Maternity Hospital in Carlton, Minnesota. I was the 3rd of 5 children. So I was the “middle child”.
I was given my name because my mom’s mother, Jennie Tveit had died in April of 1945 while my mother was carrying me.  My parents thought that it would be very appropriate to name me after my grandmother even if I would never get to know her.  Katherine is for my mother.  My name had an “er” instead of an “ar” in Katherine, but I didn’t know that until I got a marriage license and had to have a birth certificate and found out my name was spelled differently that my mothers.  I didn’t have it changed at that time either because my mother and I are so different from each other that I thought it was appropriate to have a different spelling of my name.
I was born at the end of WWII.  As a matter of fact, the war ended on August 14th, 1945.  My parents were brave to bring a child into the world during wartime, but I am glad they did.  My sister Margaret Ann was born at the beginning of the war in 1940 and my brother, Glen Edwin was born in 1943, so my parents must have had faith that we would win the war and good times would follow for our family and they did.
I think that I was born in the best of times.  The 1950’s were extraordinary.  There were very high morals in America and kids didn’t have so many pressures to grow up fast or get into any real serious trouble. The worst thing we ever did was smoke a hayfield weed in an old corncob pipe and that made us sick.  I never even had a drink of beer until I toured the Pasbt Blue Ribbon Factory in Milwaukee and I didn’t like that so that was my first and last taste of beer.  Even when I went to college in the 1960’s, I was so naive that I never even knew anyone that smoked, drank or used drugs and I’m sure a lot of that was going on at the time.  My parents raised us kids to believe that smoking, drinking and premarital sex were wrong and I believed them and followed their teachings.  I am thankful for that now when especially I see so many young people having such a hard time with smoking, drugs, alcohol and sex activity.

My teenage years were great ones.  I turned 13 in 1958 and graduated from Cromwell in 1963.  I had three best friends in high school.  They were Judy Anderson, Gloria Bertelsen and Andrea Mikkola.  We only had 21 kids in our class by the time we graduated and 14 of them were girls, so we became a very close knit class.  We still get together often to catch up on the events in our lives.
My family mostly spent our time working together.  For fun we went on hayrides, or to visit our neighbors.  My grandmother lived in the same yard as my uncle and aunt so we had a little family community all to ourselves.  I always loved visiting my grandmother and my parents let us have lots of fun playing in the woods.  We would build tree houses, or forts.  We also had a playhouse in the yard and that kept us very busy pretending all kinds of things. Every year we also got to go to the Carlton County Fair in Barnum.
For fun, as a teenager, we would go to movies at the theater in Tamarack, or have pajama parties at each other’s homes.  I spent a lot of time with my friend Andrea at their farm south of Cromwell.  We did have regular phones by the time I was a teenager, so I spend a lot of time talking to friends.  I didn’t date or go to dances, but most of the other classmates did.
In those days quite a few girls became pregnant and either got married or quit school.  When I started 9th grade, we had 45 kids in our class, but by graduation time there were only 21.  It was common for kids to quit school when they turned 16.  I’m glad that isn’t the case now.
I worked in the kitchen during high school and remember that Edna Lehti was the cook. I thought that she was really old, but now I find out that she was only in her early 40’s when I was there.  I mostly remember all the butter we needed to fry the fish sticks.
I especially remember that Elvis Presley was popular when I was a teenager.  We would buy his 45 records and play them on our small record players.  I also got my first trans sister radio when I was about 13 or 14 years old.  I still have it somewhere in all my stuff.
School was different than it is now.  We only had the basic subjects and teachers and no specialists. I was never involved in sports, but did join the FHA – Future Homemakers of America.
There wern’t too many jobs available to us and I never worked except to baby-sit on the weekends.  Some of the guys worked in the gas stations and on farms, but most of the kids had plenty of chores to do at home.  There was hay to make in the summer, cows to milk, wood to cut and howl home, gardens to weed and all kinds of farm chores.  We never got bored and if we said we were, our mom would give us some more work to do.
I remember getting our first television set when I was about 10 or 12 years old.  Perk Peterson was the first one to get a TV and he learned how to fix them, so that was great.  Of course they were black and white TVs. We would especially like to watch the boys basketball tournaments in the spring.  We would have the neighbors over and have lots of fun watching the games.
The most important adults in my life were my parents.  After that was the ministers and teachers that I had had.  Mrs. Dahl always was a great influence on us.  She was the home Ec. Teacher during all my high school years.
The only real challenges I had as a teenager were from my older and younger siblings.  Being the middle child was interesting, but our parents usually made our lives good.  I had trouble in school with my grades, but by 10th grade I had figured out how to study and get my work done so school was much better.
The most memorable event took place on November 22, 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  The whole nation was stunned and mourned his untimely death.  I was a freshman in college at the time.
I am proud to live in the Cromwell-Wright Area because of all the great people here.  They always rally around any cause of person that needs help.  They help their neighbors and try to make Cromwell – Wright a great place to live.

My mother was born in Floodwood, Minnesota on June 5, 1918 to Jennie and John Tveit.  She was the oldest of 4 children.  She lived and grew up in what is called Savanna Township.  She met my dad at a Luther League meeting at the Church in Cromwell. They got married on August 16,1939 in Floodwood and then lived northeast of Cromwell for their whole married life.
My mother tells me that she also had a very good childhood.  Her dad was the kindest man she ever knew.  He never got angry or mad.  He was calm and cool.  Her mother was strict, but always fed her family lots of good foods including lots of vegetables.  She also had to take that spoonful of cod liver oil every day of her childhood.  I know that’s why we had to take our cod liver oil, too.
She remembers the ice in the ice house, the huge oak trees in the yard and walking to Savanna School which was about a mile from their home in Halden Township.  Her mother would make their clothes.
My dad was the 3rd of 3 children born to Anna (Minnie as she was called) Wilhelmina Larson Dahlman and Edwin Dahlman on October 2, 1916.  He was raised on the farm that later became our farmstead as I grew up.  His father died in November of 1918 of the influenza that he got from helping to fight the famous 1918 Fire that went through that area.  His farm was saved, but with his father dead, his mother had to eek out a living on their little farm.  His older brother Einar Waldemar and sister Alice Hildegard were a help, but Einar was born with a bad ankle, so it was left to my dad to do a lot for his family.  I think that is why he never left the farm to go to college or strike out on his own.  It was his duty to stay home and help his mother and brother.
My dad’s grandparents (His mother’s parents) did come from Sweden to help and that are how my dad learned to speak Swedish.  His mother and grandparents are buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Cromwell.  His father is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Duluth, MN.
My dad’s mother never remarried and she had only been married for 9 years so she lived alone in a little house on the farm for a very long time.  She died at the age of 80 in 1964.
One of my most precious memories of my mother was the times that I was sick.  She would sit by my bedside for hours and stroke my forehead or sing and talk to me.  She would also read the best stories to us every night before we went to bed.  She had so many Christian stories that had good morals in them and we all loved those stories.  I still remember some of them and even have a few of the books that she read from. We would always say our prayers before going to bed.  Those I remember are:
Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray thee Lord my soul to take.
We also prayed
Jesus tender shepherd hear me,
Bless thy little lambs tonight,
Through the darkness be thou near me
Keep me safe till morning light.

She would let us have all kinds of fun in the house even if we made a big mess.  We made tents out of blankets and chairs or helped her make bread or cookies. We also played in the yard and woods around the yard.  I’m sure she never knew all the stuff we did, but we sure had fun making forts, and playing in the barnyard.  We had old cars and trucks sitting around so we would pretend to go on trips, etc.
My father also left us with many precious memories.  He would read poems to us and play with us especially before we had to go to bed.  He’d get us all wound up by chasing us around and teasing us, so my mom would have a hard time getting us to settle down and go to sleep.
He also was our school bus driver all the years that we went to school.  This was great because we loved to have him with us on the way to school and the way home.  We even got to ride the bus before we went to school.  That was a big treat to ride the bus when you were real little.
My dad was a farmer by trade, so we had lots of fun on the farm.  With 5 kids in our family and our cousin Carl Dahlman right across the road, we always had someone to play with or share the work with.  We would drive the tractor in the summer during haying time or work in the barn carrying milk pails or feeding the calves or kittens.
My all time favorite time on the farm was bringing a meal to the people in the hayfield.  My dad and his brother Einar or whoever was haying would stop their work and we would sit in the shade under some trees and eat our lunch.  There would be homemade egg salad sandwiches, hotdishes, meat and potatoes, beans, fruit, and of course nectar.  That is an old fashioned name for Kool-Aide.  Mom would always bring great food.  Dorothy would also bring food and we would visit, play and enjoy each other for about an hour or so.  Mom would sometimes bring milk in a fruit jar hanging in an old sock so it wouldn’t break the jar.  She also brought hot coffee and a freshly baked homemade cake that was still hot from the oven.
My dad had a temper at times when he would get frustrated, but he never punished us for anything that we didn’t deserve.  Most of the time he would let us yell and scream and fool around until the news came on the radio, then we had to sit quietly so he could hear Dick Anthony or other radio newsmen.  I guess that’s where I got my love for listening to the news programs.
One time he got really mad at my brother Glen and he took off after him with a fence post, but fortunately, he never caught up with my brother.
My dad died of a heart attack in 1981 at the age of 65.
My parents would have arguments at times, but we never felt that they were very serious.  We didn’t like the arguing, of course, but they always made up and got along.
Besides my older sister and brother, I have been blessed to have two younger brothers John Wallace and Mark Allan.  John was born in 1950 and Mark was born four years later in 1954.  I don’t remember too much about them when they were little, but we did get along pretty good and had lots of fun playing together.  They had to do more farm work than I did because boys could work harder I guess and I also had eczema on my arms from the hay in the barn.
My sister now lives in Proctor, Minnesota with her husband Howard Taylor.  They have been married for 40 years (July 29, 1961). They have a daughter Tamilee (Craig) Depre and Daniel Howard Taylor ( Penny). We get to see them once or twice a month.  We make phone calls and get along really great.
My brother Glen and his wife Anne and 3 year old son Sean live in Petaluma, California. He also has an older daughter Heidi age 35 who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Glen gets home about once or twice a year, so I don’t get to see him as much as I would like, but we think about each other often and know we love each other a lot.
My brother John lives in Thornton a suburb of Denver, Colorado with his wife Mary (Matalamaki) they have two sons, Benjamin John and Nathan Christopher.  Nathan is our Godson.  Ben is married to Tanner and they have a son Tenneyson and daughter Hero.  Nathan was married to Trina, but she died at the age of 22 after only being married a year or two.  They have a son, Jakob.  I get to see them once a year or so.  John and Mary come more often than the boys do.  John knows that I love the World Series, so he usually calls me during those games.  We do not see each other, as often as we would like, but when we do it is a real special time for everyone.
My youngest brother, Mark and his wife Linda live about 7 miles away from us.  They have 3 daughters, Angela Marie, Rosalyn Joyce and Suzanne Joy.  Rozzie is also our Godchild.  We get to see each other often and get along very well.
I have to honestly say that our family really gets along very well.  We love each other dearly and miss each other when we are apart. I know that we get along so well because God is a big part of our lives.  He forgives us, so we forgive each other.  He loves us so we love each other.  I thank God for my great family and our great relationship with each other.

Hi Jenny,

I was talking to Carol yesterday and she told me about your website. She always forwards the Wright News so I can read whats going on in your neck of the woods. Of coarse I don’t know any of the people you talk about, but I still find it interesting.

I remember some of the things you talk about in your biography. I remember the little playhouse in the yard. I think it was mostly used for storage by the time we came around. I remember a little bit of great gramma’s house. The thing I remember most is the barn, and the upstairs of your folks. One of my best memories of your mother was her pumkin cookies....yummy.

I love being a gramma. Christy’s little MacKenzie is such of doll. I am planning on a trip to Virginia to see her in March. She is graduating from leadership school and I want to be there. I’m going back out there for the month of June to babysit while she finds a new sitter. Traveling without my oxygen gets alittle rough, but I use a wheelchair to get around in the airports. I have oxygen sent ahead to Christy’s. Medicare does have some benefits. I don’t have to pay for air.

I will sent you a picture of Christy and the baby to your email account. I like to brag about them every chance I get.

Well take care. I just wanted to say hello and to tell you how much I enjoyed your web page.

Love to all,
Debbie