by Betty Weber
betty@weberprinting.com
P.O. Box 360 • 351 Railroad Avenue
Albany, MN 56307

Here are some of the things I remember most about my family when I was growing up:

My Dad...Merton

On Sunday afternoons when it was hunting season we would all get in the car and drive out in the country and try to spot the pheasants for him. He also went deer hunting every year and also did a lot of fishing.

He was very involved with the Masons and he was chaplain for all the funerals. He made sure we girls were involved with Job’s Daughters and also insisted we attend the Presbyterian Church every Sunday.

I did all of his clerical work for him when I was in highschool and after I went to Business College. He was interested in the Rox Ball Club and we would go to all of the home games.


My Mother...Cathryn

She always insisted we all be home for dinner in the evening and she always prepared a big meal and always had dessert. When we came home from school she had her fresh bread just ready to take out of the oven and we would all fight over who would get the “heel”. If she didn’t feel good, she would never let us know but would get up to fix breakfast before we went to school and then maybe she would lie down.

We always had a lot of company and when they would come we had to sit at the table and play cards. Mother always served a lunch and she insisted we girls do the dishes and clean up before we could go to bed. She sewed all our clothes for us and many a night she would be sitting by her sewing machine until the wee hours of the morning.

Every Saturday she would tell us that Vivian could bake and I could clean and the next Saturday it would reverse. When we went out to play at night she would turn on the porch light to let us know it was time to come home.


Helen...my oldest sister

She was the oldest one so there is very little I remember about her when we were growing up. She went on to business college in the cities after graduation and then she worked for Monumental Sales and later on married Ray. We got to be very close after she married.


Winnifred...my second oldest sister

She worked for the telephone company as an operator. One night I wanted to go ice skating and didn’t have any skates so she took me downtown and bought me the best pair of skates she could find. She was very generous.

I can remember the time Vivian got such a pretty green tweed coat and tam to match and I cried and said “why can’t I have something like that?” Winnifred said “cheer up..you’ll get it in two years”....which I did as I was the youngest girl and always got the hand-me-downs. Then one noon when I was about 15 I came home and Winnifred said “hello Auntie” and I got mad as Mother had made me a dress out of one from Aunt Agnes. Well, it was because Helen had her baby girl and I didn’t know a thing about it.

I can vividly remember the time Winnifred stayed out all night and it worried Mother. Well, she and my Dad were arguing about who would give her heck when she did come home. Well, they both told her off and then she went up to her room, closed the door, and laughed so hard. She and I became very close as she was home.



Vivian...my sister who was only 16 months older

Guess I can relate to the time we were in highschool and Vivian had such a pretty bright red knit dress and she had the shape to go with it. Well, the principal called her in the office and told her she could not wear that to school. How times have changed.

We bought a Model T ford and we would go out to the quarry holes to go swimming even if it was cool. Guess that is when you didn’t need a drivers license. Then on Sundays when it was nice Mother would pack a picnic lunch and the family would go to some lake and go swimming. When it was real hot we would all go to the Mississippi river and swim.

George would drive up and down mainstreet in St. Cloud every night and then he spotted Vivian and that is when all this began. When we had that Nov. 11th snowstorm he would pick us all up and drive out to see it and we had to roll the windows down as it was snowing so hard. Then when they had that tornado in Anoka he took us there too. One Memorial weekend Vivian, George, Fred’s girlfriend Meda, Jim (my old boyfriend) and I drove to Chanute Field in Chicago to see Fred who was in service.

Vivian also sang in the Presbyterian Church choir and she had a lovely voice. Oh yes our first prom was at the Junior highschool. Vivian went with LeRoy Kallin (the boy next door) and I went with Fred Rice (a friend of LeRoy’s and he is now a well known doctor in Minneapolis). We took a cab and double dated and had a curfew to be home half an hour after the dance.



Fred...my only and dear brother

Fred and I were very close even though he was 2 1/2 years younger. Guess he lined me up with Jim and the three of us went out a lot. When Fred went to service he went through so much, sleeping in fox holes, etc. When he was home on leave he took me to a bar downtown and told me if he found some gal he wanted to take home, I would have to take a cab.

He used to go swimming with us at the quarry hole. One summer Mother had to go to Wisconsin to take care of her Mother who was sick and then I had to take over in the house...there was just Dad and Fred at the time. I would ask Fred what he wanted for dinner and it was always the same...macaroni and cheese.

Vivian, Fred and I were the three youngest so after Helen and Winnifred left and the folks were gone, Vivian would be in charge. If Fred thought we were being ordered to do too many things he would stick up for me. I can remember one time he slept until 2pm and Mother was worried something was wrong with him so she sent me upstairs to check on him but he was just tired...guess he had been out the night before.

When Francis asked me out I wasn’t sure I should go but said he could pick me up that afternoon. Well, Fred was home and he answered the door and they both were so surprised as they had met in a bar in Chicago. They sat and visited for the longest time and then Fred told me it was OK to go out with him.