Life History of Connie Olson

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Dedicated To Main Page Life History Project

1. Tell about your favorite uncle.

There is a tie for #1 uncle. Uncle Herb is on my dad’s side. One is my Uncle Herbert H. Hubbard; he lived one and a half hours north of where I live now, in a very isolated tiny country home. He moved there in the 1920's when the roads were narrow and still dirt. Old logging trails as he called them. He bought 100 acres of wooded land. Land from a man up in the Effie area. They literally carved a home for himself and his wife from the forest. He was only about 25 miles from the Canadian border. A few miles from the Bigfork River that flows north into Canada. He was a great story teller and loved to go out and eat with friends and family. When you went to visit him he never wanted you to leave. He drove a milk truck pulled by horses to pick up the milk from the farmers and then brought into the town of Big fork to the dairy which was a 7 miles trip one way. He earned money any way he could back then. He logged, he trapped, and he worked for anyone who would hire him just to earn a living in this hard country. Herb and his wife never had any children. Herb was the youngest in his family of 10 children. Of these 10 only 3 had families. Three of his male siblings died on the same day and were buried together. We don't know what mishap happened to these three boys to this day. Herb was a widower for 26 years. His wife Ester (sp?) kept a huge garden and canned much of the food. Uncle Herb was a good hunter and fisherman they basically lived off the land, woods, and lakes for food. He passed away at age 89 from old age. He is buried up in Big fork along side of his wife.

The other is my Uncle Emil he is on my mom’s side. Here goes. My uncle Emil was one of my mom’s younger brothers in a family of 10 children. He was a happy go lucky guy, and jokester of sorts. When we were small he would come over to see us then give us BIG hugs and a kiss on the cheek. I always thought he would squeeze my innards out he hugged me so hard. Always had a piece of my favorite candy in his pocket. They had three children, two they adopted and then in later years ended up with one of their own. His wife Ella Mae, was always laughing, and very good natured. Both were wonderful cooks. We always looked forward to going to there home for meals. He passed away this year at age 89; he had Alzheimer's and didn't remember any of us anymore.

2. What changes have you seen in technology? (Indoor plumbing, water, telephones, computers, cars, etc.)

Guess my choices would be the TV and computers. When I was growing up we had all the rest of the things you mentioned. I was raised in Mpls, Mn. in the 40's, and 50's. I was about 10 or 11 when I remember seeing my first TV set in the appliance store window in our neighborhood where I grew up. It would he turned on around 4:00 in the afternoon. Myself, as well as many other children and lots of adults, would stand there in front of that store window and wait what seemed for hours for the first afternoon program to come on. That was at 4:00 everyday. We watched that test pattern it seemed like for hours. Then the first show came on. Everyone cheered as the test pattern changed to people talking. I remember it being the Howdy Dowdy show. So some were talking puppets. We were all in awe. I remember talking myself blue in the face trying to convince my father to by one of those things called TV’s. I was 13 when he finally brought one home. We were the hit of the neighborhood. Parents would come over to get their children for bed and end up staying watching with them the NEW invention, eating ice cream with us. It was a small 5" black and white screen made from mahogany a floor model too.

Computers didn't enter my life or my husbands until 1997. He had lung cancer and was house bound I was caregiver for him and my mother who also had cancer. So it was a blessing for him. My mom wouldn't have a thing to do with it. But would sit back and watch while we were on it. He learned to surf the net, and he loved to play the solitaire games that came with it. Neither of us knew how to turn one on or of in the beginning. The grandchildren taught us much about them. When he passed away in 1999 the computer helped me pass time away and kept my mind occupied doing our families genealogy. It was a life saver for me. I'm still doing mine and his history. I find what I can on the web. I'm not able to make it to the FHC, as the closest one is about 180 miles round trip from me. So people who also are researching my surnames have been a real help to me with my information. I thank them all they are genealogy angels in my eyes. Connie From the Frozen Northern Minnesota County

3. Tell something you remember about one of your grandparents. (Were they funny, crazy, loving, mean, or special in a certain way.)

About: Allen Edger Youngkin

By the time I was born my mother’s father had been gone since she was 7 years old. My mom’s mother died when I was two. I only remember her lying on a bed that to me seemed very high. She had pitch black hair and was very pretty. She had on a high necked nightly. She smiled at me, and asked me to come closer to her. When I was walking up to her an Aunt came in and grabbed me by the hand scolded me for being in there. She then took me off into the kitchen where all the adults were. That is the one and only time I remember seeing her. So that doesn't really count.

My father’s mother died in May1937, just before I was born. So that leaves my dads dad. He was my grandfather named Al. He lived with us since I could remember. My father had made a death bed promise to his mother to take care of him. He was a railroad man like my dad; both were switchmen working on the same railroad. He was a rough around the edges type of guy. A deep growley voice that made you sit up and take notice when he spoke. He smiled a lot too. He had his chair at the dining room where he sat when he was home. Now these are the days before TV. When people came by to visit he had the best spot and chair. The reason he sat in the spot at that table was it was in line with the front door. That was so he could see people coming up the stairs to the house before they saw him. If he didn't want to visit with them he would get up go around the corner of the kitchen and out the back door without them knowing it.

At Christmas time to me and my sister we always thought he was very smart and generous. He always bought us "pretties" as we called them, and just what we always wanted. The one gift I remember is the slim cream colored box of hankies. Each one had the names of the week on them, along with butterflies of different colors. Another year it was pretty pink girly pajama's with matching feet on them.

He always gave us candy at least one piece a day. I realize now he favored my sister over me, as she had the same color eyes and hair as he did. I favored my mother and he could get sharp with me at times for no reason. When I was older my mom told me he never really had wanted my dad to marry anyone, and sometimes took it out on her because she had married him. He was sharp at times with me I couldn't figure out what I had done or why he was that way towards me When I was grown, my sister and I talked about the candy we got from him and I found out she always got two pieces and myself only one. But I still loved him. I remember more good about him than bad. He died when I was 14. We then sold the house and moved out to a suburb. To me he was the greatest grandpa in the world.

4. Did you ever have an accident, illness, or an operation? Pick one and tell about it.

Where do I start? With my foolish teen years will due. And the auto accident I was in at age 17. I was in a car with 4 others, one being my sister. The driver was a show off; he lost control of the car while speeding down a very hilly road. We rolled over 7 times after shearing off an electric/telephone pole. Yes, the days before seat belts. I was sitting in front and was hurt the worst. Had a broken pelvis and collar bone, a cut on my hand that required 52 stitches. The others had bumps and bruises. I was the only one thrown out of the car. We all walked a half mile to the nearest house which was dark. When we hit the pole the nearby homes lost their electricity and telephone service. Luckily the lady's insurance man was there and he brought us all into town to the local hospital.

I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. It was a Seven day Adventist hospital in a neat old Victorian home. The place was very homey and beautiful. The operating room was in the old dining room. The cooks were fantastic. Great food!! When I was feeling better I would get out of bed and butt scoot down the stairs to the kitchen for snacks. I couldn't use crutches because of the broken collar bone.

The worst part about being in the accident was waiting until my parents came to give the doctors permission to work on my hand. I was scared of being bawled out for riding with that fast driver. The reason we were driving with him was my good friend Anita wanted to go to the Glen Lake Sanitarium to visit one of her other friends, and have us meet her. Which we did the accident happened while taking one of the others home.

The Doctors wanted to know how I managed walking that far with a broken pelvis. When I was released I was scared to drive in any car. Told my dad to keep going the speed he was driving it was fast enough for me. It was 10 miles an hour. It sure opened my eyes up to whom I rode with after that. No more reckless teenage boys driving me around. I had learned my lesson.

5. Tell what your hobbies or interests are. (Do you sing, sew, write, hunt, build things, let us know more about you.)

Digging deep into my cranium I realize my number one hobby is doing my family history. I may not be getting as far as I want with it, but have found out lots more than I knew before about my past family members. I have helped a couple my neighbors Jake and Mary to find some of their roots too. Which was much appreciated and very rewarding. Jakes father was on his own at 15 after the mother died and his younger siblings were put in a home and then split up. The father was close to 30 years older than the mom, and he was in a soldier’s home by then. In fact I've found out more for them than I have on my own surnames.

Singing! Is only at church and that's quietly. Yes and then I sing along to the radio or TV, that's done when I'm alone. I don't want to scare anyone with my low froggy sounding voice. I had thyroid surgery in 1972 and it caused my voice to be very low. Hmmm, sewing is not my bag either, why even patching clothes can cause problems with me. My sewing machine is an antique by now and is probably buried with dust and cobwebs somewhere in the house.

Writing info on family history I do a lot of. I also enjoy writing poems, but haven't for years and can't find the ones I did write. As for hunting, I don't hunt at all I don't like guns. My family does all kinds of hunting, as well as my granddaughter's.

Living in the land of 10,000 + lakes I do fish. Fishing is fun when you can catch one or two of them. It's peaceful sitting out on any lake just enjoying the sights around me and the quiet serenity.

Now building things was also one of my favorites to do. My hubby was a carpenter and when the children were grown I went to work with him to help out. Was getting bored at home with all the kids gone. I had 6 children, then married a man with 6, so we had a dozen to raise. He was self employed, and did house building and remodeling. In the later years we were putting steel, alum or vinyl siding on houses all over northern Minnesota. That was fun as no two jobs were alike and brought us new challenges.

But as I'm getting older I very much enjoy being with my family and seeing the grandchildren games. All play in sports, except for the ones grown and married. Living in a small town there is not much else to do for them. They play in all the sports the school offers. I go to just about all the home and away games to support them and the team.

6. Tell about the changes in television. (Anything you want, earlier shows vs. today's shows, invention of VCR's & DVD's, the sky's the limit.)

In my opinion television has gone downhill from the earlier family type shows, to the filthy type shows we now have on the tube. I don't watch them. I have cable and enjoy watching the channels that still air the 1960, 1970, and some 1980 family oriented television shows. Many of the shows like "Survivor" are shows I wouldn't want my children or grandchildren to watch. As well as the others shows that do stupid stunts that could hurt or injure people by trying to copy the stunts. Television needs to clean up it's act. It sure does influence our young. Someone should be accountable.

Having the VCR has enabled us to buy the shows we want to watch, and tape the shows we would like to see again. One other good thing is you can tape family events to have to watch in the years to come. I don't own a DVD player. My children do and they seem to buy many cheaper and good movies to buy in the 5 and 6 dollar range. Much cheaper than the movies that are on tapes. I don't know if you can put family movies on DVD's but it would be a good way to keep family events and good memories for years to come.

7. Lets be romantic! Tell us about your valentine, first love, first crush, or how you were proposed to, or how you proposed to your sweetheart.

This is how I was proposed too. I was standing by the sink washing out my trash cans. Whoops, I'd better back up and give a few more facts.

I was divorced from my first husband for about 4 years when I met my second husband Al. Al worked construction and was only in town on weekends. He also had been divorced for 10 years. We both had agreed when we first started dating that there was no way were we ever going to marry again. PERIOD!!!!

We each had 6 children from our first marriages. That was enough for both of us. His were just about grown, as he was several years older that I was. His oldest daughter was a good friend of mine. She was already married and had three children. She always told us that her father and I should get together.

Al's youngest son Bill was 14, he was starting to have typical teen age problems. Biggest one was he wouldn't listen to his mother who he lived with. By then Al's ex wife had an alcohol problem and was gone a lot so he was starting to get into trouble.
Bills social worker came to talk to me as I was the contact person for Al when he was out of town working. The social worker had asked me several questions which I thought was odd, but later on found out that Al's son wanted to come and live with me and my children. Bill, my kids and I got along great.

We all had gone on many outings combining both families. All the kids got along fine. When Al came back into town I told him about the questions the social worker had asked and why they were asking them. They wanted a meeting with Al. So he took time off work and met with the social service people.

When he came back to my place I was standing at the sink washing out my trash cans. I turned to him and asked about the meeting. There he stood with beautiful flowers in his hand, and a big silly grin on his face. I naturally asked what he had done wrong as he had flowers. He laughed walked over by the sink, dropped to one knee. and proceed to ask me if I would marry him? After the initial shock myself, and standing there with the dripping trash can in my other hand, I through my arms around his neck and said yes!!!

He then proceeded to tell me what was said at the meeting. The worker thought we had a beautiful relationship that we would be a fine family, but with one problem. We weren't married. If we would married the judge would probably give Al custody of Bill.. That way Bill could come and live legally with me. The kids were all excited to have a dad and bunch of new brothers and sisters too. I always tease, I had to marry Al. Bill was the biggest baby I ever had. mine at age 14, 6'0 tall and 180 pounds.
Al and I were married 36 happy years when he passed away. Kids are all married and doing well. Bill is now an attorney in Las Vegas.

8. What types of jobs have you had and which did you prefer?

Lots of people don't consider being a wife and mother a job I do!!!!

My #1 job I feel was being a wife and mother. I was married and had two children by the age of 18, one was born 3 days after my 18th birthday, and the other 30 days before my 19th. I had the other 4 children by age 24. I was pregnant for 54 months, which is four years and 5 months. I learned to like the plain and drab maternity clothes we had back then.

I was divorced after 8 years of marriage to my first husband. After several years of being on my own I then married a man with 6 children. He was older than I was and some of his children were much older than mine. He had a daughter that was married who had three children and a son about to be married. We were married so Bill could come live with my family. We had his 4 other children living with us after a few years of marriage.

His two youngest girls came to live with us at ages 14 and 15. The oldest Wendy had missed a lot of school because of baby sitting her 3 very young siblings from her mom 3rd marriage. The youngest Janis was in a home for wayward girls. She kept running away from her mothers home and dating older boys. When the court awarded us full custody they moved up north with us out of the cities.

We enrolled both in our local school where they flourished. Wendy finished 2 years in one year with very good grades, and then in her senior year was caught up to her peers and then graduated when she was suppose too. Janis had been going to school in the home and was caught up to the grade she was suppose to be in. She also finished high school. When both girls had graduated their bio-mom called us up and thanked us for doing what she couldn't. She had figured neither girl would graduate from high school. All of my birth children graduated from high school too, one with high honors.

Then when all the kids were all gone I went along to work with my present hubby. And he paid me too. Spent lots of quality time with him. It was fun and a rewarding job. I learned a lot about siding and house repair.

At age 14 I was a car-hop at a drive- in a block away from my home. Loved the job it was a typical 1950's drive in. Food was free for the workers. Ah those benefits were great!!!!! I believe those calories have caught up to me now.

When married to my first husband I needed to work. I Found a job at a factory for a short time to help out when my he had been hurt working on our car. We had 3 children by then. Jobs didn't pay well back then. I made a dollar an hour. Whoopee!! This was in the 1950's. I paid the baby sitter 15 dollars a week had to bring the milk and food for them too. It was 10 miles to my work and then trotting through the snow from the bus stop another 3 blocks.

I got to thinking this isn't worth it and my husband agreed. After 4 months of working at this factory and standing at a machine 8 hours a day printing paint paddles, we looked at all the facts and the money was not that good for all the hassle. The baby sitter was making more money than I was.

He still had to bring me to the babysitters with the kids. Extra gas money we couldn't afford. I was bringing home about $4.50 a week after all the expenses. So we talked it over he said to quit so I quit. By this time my hubby was able to go back to work. You might ask why he didn't watch the kids but he wasn't able to he had hurt his back when he was working on our car, and he couldn't chase after them.

This is something I wanted to add to this day from bringing cold bag lunches to work it cured me of eating cold sandwiches to this day.

Well my last job was for 5 years and 1 day, 1994-1999. That was being a caregiver to my wonderful hubby while he fought a long and hard fight with lung cancer. Also I was caregiver for my mom she had liver cancer, she was with us until she passed away in 1996, she had been diagnosed in 1994 with cancer.

I am grateful we had those last five years Al and I had together. He was confined to a wheelchair and on oxygen. We laughed, we reminisced, we loved being together (We played a lot of cards) he loved company. We enjoyed just the two of us doing little things, it was an experience I'll treasure till the day I join him.

9. Who was your best friend while growing up, or who is your best friend now? Let us know a little about the friends you have had in your life.

Growing up there was a neighbor girl who I did just about everything with. We were always at each other houses. Not so much in her house but in her yard. She was a tomboy type gal quite tiny and built thin. She always dressed as a boy to cover her scared body from bad burns. She was 4 when she was tossed into a leaf fire by some wild and rowdy boys who lived in their neighborhood before they moved into ours. People considered her a "tomboy " because of the way dressed in jeans and long sleeve shirts, she wore to cover what she called her ugly skin.

Her mom and dad had been divorced and the mother re-married a man who turned out to be a tyrant. He treated her kids very bad, except the one they had together, he favored him. The others were always expected to do lots of work and heavy mans work too. His son was to sit on the porch and read comic books. I would try to help her out so we could play, but I was as scared of her step father as she was. She came to our house often as we had good treats. My mom was a stay at home mom who baked and cooked constantly. Her mom and step dad worked nights and slept days. They weren't allowed in the house when they were sleeping. Step-dad's orders. (My father worked the swing shift 11pm - 7am as a switchmen on the railroad. We were never banned from our house and we made lots of noise too. Those kids went without meals many times scared to go in the house in case they would wake them up. I realize now the mother was as scared of him as the kids were.

She ate many a supper with us. We walked to school together. She was a year older then I was, but was in my grade because of all the school she missed from being in the hospital from her burns. When I out grew my clothes we tried to give them to her. She was so excited to get them, but when she brought them home she couldn't keep them. They weren't allowed to take handouts the step father said. So she came back to our house crying to give them back.

Her family moved away when she was 14. We kept in touch for awhile. I grew up married and moved away too. We lost touch for about 15 years. When I ran into her again she was married to a man 30 years older than she was. She had 3 boys, 8-7-6. She was living in an upstairs apartment in the same home as her in-laws. He was good to her. She was very happy. I then moved up north and lost touch with her again,. I often wonder where she is. Is she still alive? What she is doing? This friend Barbara was my first best friend. I'll always remember here and the fun we had.

I've had many other friends since. I've lived in Calif and in other parts of Minnesota state. I consider many people my best friends as I get older. When my hubby was alive I considered him "my best friend" we did lots of things together. He taught me much and made me very happy.

What is that old saying, thats it, " we sometimes make bad choices" This is so true with friends or people we think are friends

10. Tell us about your favorite Aunt

About Ella Mae Martin.

There are several aunts I could choose from for various reasons, but the one that stands out the most, is my mothers brothers first wife, Auntie Ella Mae (Martin.) She was a tiny lady a bit on the fluffy side as she would say. (Stout) Never had a gray hair out of place. Sh never wore slacks, she always wore starched house dresses and a pretty apron. She would tease us that if she didn't go on a diet she would be as wide as she was tall. I'll always remember her with a smile always on her face, and with her hearty deep bubbly laugh. I can't ever remember her not smiling or not being in a good mood. You could always talk to her about anything and she always seemed to have the right answers for you. She loved to cook and was a wonderful baker of delicious yummy breads & desserts. Whenever we went to visit she had tasty "goodies" out for us.

She had a vegetable garden that did well every year, she edged it with different kinds of flowers.
Inside the house is where she had her passion for African violets displayed. She had a way with African violets. There wasn't a spot in her house that didn't have decorated flower pot sitting with the tiny deep purple flowers in it. She loved to decorate those pots. Growing those African violets is what she did best. She kept me supplied with those plants for years. I loved them too. But my thing was NOT having a green thumb. Those African violets plants did not do well for me. I would ask her "what I was doing wrong" as they just didn't live long for
me. She would shake her head in disbelief whenever I told her another one had bit the dust, then she's hand me another plant saying "Well maybe this time it will make it." I always did every thing she said to do with them. I put them where she said they should go, I'd water them carefully with measured amounts of water just like she said. I even talked to them and felt like a fool doing it. She said she talked to hers, and she played music for them. Nothing worked for me.

When I turned 50 birthday (Eons ago) she came to my birthday celebration with a gift in hand. It was the prettiest African violet plant I'd ever seen. It was in one of the pretty pots she had hand painted. Prettiest thing I had ever seen. She sat it down, then turned to me and said. "This is special, you can't kill it no matter how hard
you try." I looked closer at it then discovered it was the most realistic fake looking African violet plant I had ever seen. Both of us laughed. Whenever I would see her she would ask me how my "Green Thumb" was doing.
That little realistic looking plant has a special place in my house to this day. She died several years ago from complications of diabetes. I still miss her and her cheerful ways. I'll always remember my aunt Ella Mae in a very special way. I hope I'll be remembered by my nieces and nephews in this special way too.

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