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

Fran’s history of his family:

Fred....my Dad,,,,,,

On Sundays we would go to Grand Lake with the whole family and we would go fishing. We would put a wash tub in the middle of the boat and we’d fill that tub up with fish. We would all help clean them when we got home. When fall came it was hunting time and we would all go out to the farm and hunt for rabbits. We would stomp on the brush pile and when the rabbits came out, Dad would shoot them. He was an excellent shot with his 97 Winchester. Then the pheasants came back into the area and we would load the car up and go out and drive the swamps and the brush for them.


Margaret...my Mother

Mother had a regular restaurant as we all changed off times coming home for dinner. She would have dinner from 11am until 1pm. Those days the men always wore a white shirt so with six boys and my Dad, she worked until late at night ironing the shirts for them. Vic usually changed shirts twice a day so this made more work for Mother. As busy as she was, she managed to go to church several mornings in the week. She had to get the boys up to serve Mass whenever they called for someone to serve.


Vic...the oldest boy

When Vic went out at night I had to go out and put hot water in the car because in those days there was no anti-freeze. Then when he got home, he would drain the radiator so it wouldn’t freeze. When Lorraine would come home from the cities on weekends, I had to pick her up at the bus depot and take her to the Eagles Club where Vic would be waiting.
When he went into the service he was on the destroyer Reney and they would pull alongside our ship out at sea and deliver us our mail. This was off the coast of Japan. Then we met at shore at Lethi and had a couple beers.

Edwin...my second brother

In his younger days spent a lot of time with Grandma Weber in Watkins. He went down to Uncle Pete’s store and helped there, learning something about the grocery business. That is why he decided to buy the store in Kimball. During the war, while the rest of us boys were in service, he went to Cold Spring to take over the store for Vic. This is where he met Betty and they were later married. We played a lot of sand lot ball in the vacant lot behind our house.

Adrian...my third brother

In highschool he was a very good boxer and he won many a fight. While in school he worked in a hamburger place next to the court house. That’s where he got his experience for cooking. After that he got a job at Montgomery Ward’s in the clothing department. When summer came, he and I hitch-hiked to Fairmont, MN. to get a job in a corn factory. When the first war draft came out, he was called to go into the service. With his previous experience in cooking, he got a job as cook in the Army.


Rose Mary...my only sister

She grew up with six brothers. She was an accomplished piano player. She accompanied me when I played the violin. When the boys went to service, she worked in the store with Dad until they came back home. Then she went to work for the Hilger Co.


Gene...my younger brother

He was very active in music in highschool and played in the orchestra and sang in choirs. He, like the other boys, was a Mass server. He enlisted in the Navy and was a radio man aboard ship. His ship was in the typhoon at Okinawa and rolled over and he was washed out to sea.


John...the youngest

He loved his red Motel T truck which he raced around town with. John was also very musical in highschool. He enlisted in the Navy. while at Guam he was in a motorcycle accident and had some very serious injuries. After recuperating from this accident, he came back and ran the store in St. Cloud.