The Wright and Cromwell Area News

06/25/2007

The Wright/Cromwell Area News by Jennie K. Hanson June 25, 2007

There are several Class Reunions planned for this summer and fall.  Alice Lake informed me that the class of ‘55 and ‘56 will meet at the Fireside in McGregor on July 21st at 5 PM.  Then I got this email from Wil Tamminen: “Hi Jennie. Wil Tamminen here. Enjoy your news. Just a reminder that the Class of 1952 is having a reunion at the Fireside in McGregor the July 21st @ 6 PM.  We know many of your readers would like to have graduated in our class so we will accept any and all “Wannabees” for the event.............A fun time guaranteed for all.”

The Cromwell-Wright Auxiliary will hold their annual summer picnic on Monday, July 9 at Noon at Helen’s home.  Please bring your potluck dish to share and your own dinner and silverware.  See you there!

There will be a presentation from the USDA Rural Development department by Julie Claussen at the Cromwell Park Pavilion on Tuesday, July 10 at 2:00. Ms. Claussen will share information on programs for low income Carlton County citizens with respect to home ownership and home repairs.  Please mark this on your calendar and plan to attend.  This is offered to you by the YOT Club of Cromwell.

Eva Alberg was laid to rest on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Cromwell, Mn.  Her funeral was held at Bethany Lutheran Church in Cromwell with Pastor Janeva Stromberg Officiating.  Special music was by the Bethany choir, Melanie Hansen Amundson, Tania Ekstedt, and Patti Almquist.  Pall Bearers were Mike Garin, Sonny Turnock, Franklin Turnock, Richard Turnock, Kevin Turnock, and Bob Reich.  Her funeral was one of the most unusual we have had in the Bethany Church.  Eva requested that there be “No Sermon” and only music and scripture readings.  She felt that music and the words of God are all we need to say.  After all, Eva was the sermon! She lived her life with honesty, caring and unselfishness.

Her sons did disobey her one last time, though and both spoke at the end of the service.  I know Eva didn’t want this, but we did.  It was great to hear David and Brian share their feelings about their mother.  Here is what David had to say about his mom.

“ Mother didn’t want Brian or me to speak at her funeral.  This will not be the first time we disobeyed mother, but it will be my last.  In line with mother’s wishes, I will keep this brief.

We were very fortunate to have had mother for 91 years and as she would say – ‘still had all her marbles’.  Mary Jane and I will miss our phone conversations with her.

I am very proud to have been her son and proud of the contributions she made to the community of Cromwell, which she loved dearly.  The only part of Mother I will not miss was her stubbornness.  If you knew mother, you knew she could be very stubborn at times.  Enough said!

I want to take a moment to thank some people who were very special to mother.  One of these is Laird and Julie Ann Hansen.  Laird, you were a Saint!  Everyday you brought mother’s mail, fed the birds, took her to the doctor, as needed, did odd jobs around the house and most important, you would bring her joy over a cup of tea each day.  Thank You, Laird and Julie Ann for being such wonderful friends.  Mother could not have lived out her years on the home place without your help!

I also want to thank my daughter, Brenda Gairn.  Brenda had a very special relationship with her Grandmother and her visits brought Mother a lot of joy.  I know her passing will leave a void in your life, Brenda.

And last, but not least, I want to thank all of you – Dear Relatives and friends.  Your visits with Mother meant a lot to her.

Mother, I’m going to miss you, we all are going to miss you.

And now Brian would like to say a few words.”

Here are a few excerpts from those remarks.

“ A few good words about a really good mother. Eva had 3 sons and I am Brian, the youngest.  Mother would probably be uncomfortable with good words being said about her.  Or she would in her cute, humble manner joke and say, yes, she was indeed a very fine person. But since she’s not here to stop me, I’m going to continue.  Mother’s not here because she’s in heaven. And that’s not just a mushy sentiment we all like to express about a departed loved one.  It is a fact!  Mother’s there because she chose God’s way, not her way.”

David and Brian’s words comforted us all and we will dearly miss our friend and neighbor, Eva Elizabeth Turnock Alberg.

Zona Turja has been collecting autographs on a dining room tablecloth for many years.  As of this writing, she has 426 names on that tablecloth. There are also 27 Gold Stars on it.  One for each person who signed it, but have now died.

Try to remember that St. John’s is holding their annual Church Supper on June 29th from 4:30 – 7 PM.

The Cromwell Park Pavilion is sponsoring a dance on Thursday, June 28th from 1 – 4 PM. Music by Virginia and John Shogren.

The public is also invited to a concert at Bethany Lutheran Church on Sunday, July 1st at 10:30 AM.  Simple Grace will be performing with the Hitch family from Nebraska. There is a mom, dad and 8 children.  They have been here before and are great.

Madelyn Adelsgruber is again asking for nominations for the 2007 Outstanding Senior Citizen in Carlton County.  Nominations need to be in by July 20th. Please call her for more information on how you can nominate someone. Correction from last week.  Jen Houck of Wright ran the half Marathon in 1:22:41 not the time listed.  Sorry for the error, Jen.

I’ll close with a quote from my sister-in-law, Mary Dahlman of Colorado. She says: “ You work hard to buy things that you don’t need or have time to use.” How true this is.  We all have too much “stuff” we worked hard to buy, and now it sits there unused because we are working hard to buy more “stuff” we don’t need.

Last week, Bob and I went to the Goodwill to drop off a load from the Area Clothing Depot.  While there I met an old friend from MEA and he was getting rid of a whole pickup load of “stuff” as he was moving to Indiana now that he’s retired.  He called this action for simplifying: “Shedding!” I thought that was really a neat way to say it.

That’s all the news from Lake Govisitafriendbeforeit’stoolate and Hello to all the summer visitors in the area.