The photo below is my dad with his sister Lois's daughter, Ellie Lindsey. Ellie was born in 1927, which would make Dad's age here 16 or 17 years old. What struck me was how much like my brother Kelly he looks here.
Dad had several dogs over the years, but the one he talked about was Fritz. I think Dad was in his 20's at the time the photo below was taken. He said that wherever he went, Fritz went, too. I asked how long the dog lived and Dad said he wasn't sure, but "when Fritz knew his life was ending, he just walked out into the surrounding woods and didn't come back."
Dad is the person behind the wheel of this car. I know the other three are friends of his, but I never knew their names. I always thought that this group looks like they might be capable of generating some mischief.
The man in this photo with Dad is Jim Jensen, husband of Dad's sister, Clarice. They are cutting firewood. Most homes in the northern part of Minnesota burned wood for heat and many like my grandmother cooked on a wood burning stove. Dad said it was a never-ending job to keep enough wood cut for those purposes.
The next three photos have to do with Dad's job after he married Mother in 1945. He worked at the local gas station in Blackduck, pumping gas and delivering fuel oil to customers in the area. He lost that job for reasons I never knew. Jobs were scarce in that area at that time. That prompted the move of my family to St. Paul, living with my Grandma Paul for a couple of years. Dad took whatever work he could find including working at a business that manufactured refrigerators. Eventually he found work in Willmar, working as a grain sampler, climbing into box cars and taking samples of grain for testing. He worked at that job until he retired.
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