A cold winter day in 1950 while the house was still being remodeled.

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Theresa Gray
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DECADE 1950 1960 As this decade was beginning, my parents had already begun remodeling the house. They probably didn t know that the transition away from daily milk delivery door to door would happen.

1 DECADE As this decade was beginning, my parents had already begun remodeling the house. They probably didn t know that the transition away from daily milk delivery door to door would happen. Milk was now loaded each morning in ten-gallon cans unto the back of a pickup truck and taken to Itasca Creamery in Grand Rapids. In addition, to the completion of the remodel, Dad and Mom could no longer afford to keep a full-time hired man. This was, I believe, the beginning of the end for Riverside Dairy. A cold winter day in 1950 while the house was still being remodeled. Until about 1950, the house was heated with a coal furnace located in the basement of the main part of the house. There was a coal bin to hold the coal and an electric coal stoker was used to feed the furnace. There was a large register in the living room that would get very hot. There were registers in the ceiling that allowed the heat to flow to the bedrooms. It was always cold in the bedrooms during the winter and we hated to get out from under the covers in the morning. In 1949 our parents decided to remodel the house. It was a fairly major remodel including a new oil furnace that was forced air. This meant air ducts had to be installed throughout the house. New insulation was installed and it was discovered that there had been little if no insulation in the walls. New storm windows also contributed to a much warmer house. The south screened porch was removed and the attached woodshed moved north of the barn to serve as a sheep barn. The

screened porch on the north side of the kitchen was closed in with storm windows and became the eating area as part of the kitchen. It had double French doors installed with access to the living room.

2 screened porch on the north side of the kitchen was closed in with storm windows and became the eating area as part of the kitchen. It had double French doors installed with access to the living room. A new fireplace was installed on the north end of the living room, which we enjoyed for many years. The stairway was opened up to the living room. A laundry room was enclosed on the south end of the kitchen and a mudroom entrance that could be closed off to the kitchen was installed. The old entrance to the dining room from the kitchen was closed. A new double paned bay window was installed on the south end of the living/dining room. The outside entrance to the living room was modified with a storm entrance. My sixth grade class in Coleraine in the old high school As a kid, you usually don t know the finances of a business like a dairy. Instead you are fully involved with the work and play of living a farm with lots to do and always food on the table. After 1950, the farm would have more of a challenge financially. This is when our mother decided to go back to teaching school to supplement the family income. She had been a teacher before she was married and I, her youngest child, was starting junior high school. She loved teaching because she loved children and she continued teaching until she retired fifteen years later in 1965.

3 Lee graduated high school in After Junior College in Coleraine, Lee attended the University of Minnesota. He graduated in 1955 with a degree in Agricultural Engineering. He accepted a job with Catepiller Tractor Company in Peoria, Illinois. After getting married to Yulah Brink in the summer of 1955, they moved to Peoria, Illinois. After three years, he accepted a job with Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M) in St. Paul, Minnesota where he continued for the remainder of his career. Marilyn graduated high school in 1952 and that fall attended Bemidji State Teachers College. She graduated with a degree in Elementary Education in 1955 and took a job teaching in Brainerd, Minnesota where she met her future husband. In the fall of 1956, she moved to Billings, Montana and taught for one year. In 1957, she moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota to teach. Duane was finishing his last year at St. Cloud State University. Marilyn and Duane Sea married in Grand Rapids in June That fall, they moved to Dawson, Minnesota where Duane had taken a teaching job. They spent five years in Dawson before moving to Bemidji, Minnesota where Duane had accepted a job teaching at the University. They continue to live in Bemidji. Janet graduated high school in 1955 and attended Itasca Junior College for two years. She then attended Iowa Wesleyan College and graduated in 1959 with a degree in Physical Education. She accepted a teaching job in Mount Vernon, Iowa for one year. The next three years she taught in Mapleton, Minnesota and the next three years in Worthington, Minnesota where she met her future husband. Janet and Al Eckmann married in Mapleton in June Then she and Al moved to Austin, Minnesota where they have been ever since. After the house was remodeled in 1950, the old woodshed became the sheep barn north of the big barn. With the retail milk business gone, Dad could no longer afford to keep Glen Esler as a hired man. I was 10 years old and could help more and more with the work throughout the 1950s. Marilyn and Janet helped until they went off to college. At certain times of the year, Dad hired Glen Esler s son Buddy to help on the farm. Buddy worked in the mines so he was not always available. In addition, there were fewer and fewer farmers growing crops in LaPrairie so the sharing of labor especially during harvest became more difficult. In the late 1940s, Dad bought a 1938 truck with a flat bed that was used to haul crops from the fields.

Both Janet and I got to drive this truck in super low gear. Truck during threshing.

In the next ten years, the Itasca Creamery would require many changes in order for Dad to get

This included drilling a new well, installing a milk storage/cooling tank in the milk house

4 Both Janet and I got to drive this truck in super low gear. Truck during threshing. The beginning of my own herd. In the next ten years, the Itasca Creamery would require many changes in order for Dad to get the most for the milk. This included drilling a new well, installing a milk storage/cooling tank in the milk house and whitewashing the inside of the barn when the cows were milked. Each one of these required some capital investment for an incremental increase in the price that we received from the creamery. There was obviously cost reduction as well,

since milk no longer was bottled and delivered door to door. The most significant change was the loss of the relationship of the Dairy to the customers from direct delivery of fresh milk and cream.

5 since milk no longer was bottled and delivered door to door. The most significant change was the loss of the relationship of the Dairy to the customers from direct delivery of fresh milk and cream. Both my sister Janet and I showed calves or heifers at the fair for 4-H. 4-H was a great organization for country kids. We had meetings, Mother was a leader and we got to show our projecgts at the county fair in Grand Rapids. I loved working with the calves and getting them ready for the county fair. By the end of the 1950s, I had my own herd of 4 guernseys.

6 Because we had animals at the fair, we spent a lot of time in the cattle barns. Itasca County Fair was great, with a carnival; lots of food stands and a grandstand show at night. There were also stock car races and a demolition derby in the grandstand. If you did well enough in the cattle competition, you got a chance to take your calf to the State Fair in Minneapolis. I got to go one time when I was about twelve years old. Mr. Page was our county leader and our chaperone on the trip to the fair. It was a great experience for a kid that hadn t been away from home. I remember having white popped corn, seeing all the new farm equipment and watching Arthur Godfrey on black and white television under the grandstand. We would save our money for the fair and ration it carefully to make it last while we were there. In 1950, Lee was playing baseball for the Grand Rapids Indians town team and I discovered a junior program for kids about 10 years old. They had four teams in Grand Rapids, East, West, North and South. John Curran, the high school baseball and gymnastic coach, managed the summer youth baseball program. He would conduct practice, teach fundamentals, schedule games, manage equipment and made the program work. I would ride my bicycle to town (about 2 miles) for practices and games. Most of the games were played on a field between the Armory and Ice Lake. This was the beginning of my Grand Rapids summer baseball that would last until I was 21 years old. I became friends with many of the players from summer baseball. However, my high school baseball was at Greenway High School in Coleraine. I would compete in school with the same kids that were teammates during the summer months. The description of my early life would not be complete with describing some of the family tragedy and sadness. Before I was born in 1939, Uncle Ray s son Roger was killed in a farm accident at age 16. In 1947, my cousin Don Holm had been sick and my parents drove him to Duluth to the hospital. He died a short time later from kidney failure. When I was 10 years old, Grandpa Colburn died two years after having a stroke. Mom cared him for during that time, which was very difficult for her. When I was 15 years old, David Ritter, John s younger brother accidently hanged himself while playing in a tree. In 1957, Sheila Fraser died very suddenly. And that was not the last tragedy for the Fraser family. In 1968, their son Ronny was killed in the Viet Nam War. After many years of life apart, we have rekindled our communication with Ruthie and Alice. However, they live in Vermont and we live in California.

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