Life History of Connie Olson

11. Share a story about one of your siblings.

This is an easy one as I only have one, a sister. She is 2 years younger than I am. She is married and does not have any children.
She has always been more like a second mother to my children than an aunt. She remembers all their birthday and special days that mean a lot to them.

What I remember about her is being very mad at her. When I was about 4 or 5 years old I was ill and couldn't go outside to play. I was with my mother on our porch looking out at my father and sister on the sidewalk. She was riding on my TRIKE!!!!!
I still can remember yelling at her to get off of it, and then crying when she didn't. I thought they had given her "MY" trike. It was then explained to me as I was told, that they were checking out to see if her little legs were long enough to have a trike of her own. Which they were and she did get one. I also can remember riding with her up and down the sidewalk in front of our house and the next door neighbors place racing to see who could go the fastest. Our world was small section of the neighborhood. It was the area that my parents could keep an eye on us from the big bay window. I wasn't mad at her anymore.

12. Did you have a favorite pet while growing up? Tell us about your pet(s). If you didn't have one what did you wish for?

I didn't have a pet until I was 15 years old. We lived in the cities and my grandfather lived with us. He didn't like dogs and thats what we wanted. My grandfather died just before we moved to the suburbs. So It was shortly after we moved there we got a dog. We picked out this small cuddly looking puppy. It was suppose to be a small dog we were told. HAH! My father when growing up had a dog by the same name. My father said he knew it was going to be a big dog when he saw the huge paws on it. We named him "Timmy" he was a Chesapeake. We were very happy to have a pet.
Our yard was fenced in and that was the extent of "Timmy's" world. He would wait for us to come home from school to be roughed house with, as we called it. He took turns sleeping at the foot of our beds every night. I remember the click of his toenails on the wooden part of our floors as he made his nightly rounds. I was out of school at the age of 17, and married at age 18. So I only saw him when we went to visit the family. Timmy loved limburger cheese. My father had that and crackers as a snack every night after work. Timmy lived to be the ripe old age of 14 in our years. He just didn't wake up one morning. We buried him under the pine trees in our back yard.

13. Did you haver a favorite family vacation? Tell us something about it.

While growing up the one family vacation that sticks in my mind is when we went to Nest lake fishing with my parents and some of their friends. I was about 9 my sister close to 7 years of age. The cabin was right on the lake. In fact if you stretched your legs from the steps of the porch you could just about touch the edge of the water with your toes. I remember the water being very warm for swimming. The further out we went the colder it got. I would give my sister rides in a wheel barrow that was there and then dump her in the shallow water. She loved it.
There was a stone cooking pit close by the cabin where we did lots of cooking in. It was way to hot to cook inside the cabin. My dad said the coffee made in that pit was the best he ever tasted. We also agreed the food was the best too. This place had a small family restaurant so we ate our evening meals there.

Morning we had bacon, ham, sausage, eggs and hot cocoa. My mom had a funny contraption that did toast in the fire. Also homemade jelly that my moms friend Ida had brought along. Food never tasted so good!

My dad and his friend went out early in the mornings fishing. We would go out later with our mother coming along. We used the cane poles. I could whip that line anywhere I wanted it to go. Must of been the fore runner to me casting. We caught lots of sunnies and crappies. My dad loved to fish for what I now call Northerns or what he called Northen pike back then. My mom said all she would get were little perch and misquote bites. I still love to fish, don't have the time like we use too, but it's still one of my favorite pastimes.

It was a hot summer when we went there to stay there for that memorable vacation. We were there for a week. When the week ended no one wanted to go home, but my dad had to get back to work. So it was back to the hot city.

14. Do you follow any religious beliefs? Tell us about your church.

Yes I do have deep religious beliefs. I believe in God and that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Presently I go to the Methodist Church. I don't agree with some of their ideas or doctrine. I was baptized, confirmed in the Lutheran Church. When married to my first husband we both joined my church. We had pledged a small amount to the church as wages weren't that great back then, and we were a young family. But when he was laid off that first winter it was bad for us. (We were lucky to be able to eat and pay rent and utilities on the amount we rec'd from unemployment.)
After 2 months had passed we received a bill from a collection agency from the church for the past due pledge. We both were upset and mad, defiantly embarrassed that we couldn't pay. I called the church explained the situation, the secretary then told me that they couldn't run a church on sob stories. Shocked and crying I then told her to drop our membership. I couldn't believe her attitude towards me. When my family found out they were shocked and withdrew from there too, but after my father had called and had his say. They had been in the church since day one.

My first husband has passed but when married to him we went to the Baptist Church. I divorced him after a bad marriage and six children. Lots of problems that couldn't be resolved. So after awhile I then married a man who was raised Roman Catholic and also had six children. He changed to Evangelical United Brethren when he married his first wife. This church combined with the United Methodist Church (UMC) many years back.

I have been going to the UMC for at least 15 years since living here. It is a small church with about 35 people attending on Sundays. It is mostly we the gray haired crowd attending. The younger folks have been going to the Assemblies of God Church since it opened up here in town. We have lost a number of our youth to them also. I really don't know if I'm in the right church yet. Time will tell.

15. Do you collect anything? Tell us about your collection or favorite item.

As my children would tell you, "what doesn't she collect!!" I'm what you call "a little bit of this and a little bit of that" collector. I started saving little things when my children were very small. Especially the "MacDonald" toys when they first came out.
I also have several stuffed animal sets from Hardee's. And when Hardee's first came out with the California raisins I saved those too. A couple of holiday's later my sister gave me a ceramic set of them, all 17!!!
I have a grandson Tyler who when he was little was also nuts about the C.R. so I have promiced him that they are all his. He is thrilled about it too. "Cool" as he says. Especially the ones playing instruments as he is in a band.
I have several "Beanie Babies" the ones I liked the most are the ones I bought. Then few old dishes, a couple of sets of M&M dolls. "Desert Storm Cards" Old furniture that I rec'd as my older relatives passed away. The family has spoken for items they like.
My favorites items were the old railroad watches I already gave to my grandsons. They belonged to my father, grandfather, great grandfather, gr. g.r grandfather and a great uncle.
All this stuff I have will more than likely go to them sooner than they think. That way it will empty my shelves and rooms for me. No I don't plan on filling them up again.

16. Is there someplace you lived that you especially liked or disliked and why?

It was liked, and it was when we went to California.

In 1959 in Minnesota there was a union strike. Off hand I can't remember if it was the Electricians, or Cement workers on strike. People would not cross lines to go to work back then, they honored the other unions members demands so they wouldn't cross the picket lines. Because of this we decided to go to Calif so my husband could go to work with a school chum who had moved out there several years earlier. He called and his friend said to head out there was plenty of work and he could sure use some good Minnesota workers.

It was a difficult decision for me as my family was heartbroken. I had the only grandchildren and we were going so far away. But bills had to be paid, we needed to work to be able to survive.
So it was off to the state of Calif. We packed up the car with what we needed and off we went. There were 4 children then, all under the age of 5. What a trip!!!!

We were heading for the San Diego area. We were all in awe when we got there. None of us had ever been that far out of the state before. Wisc. and the Dakota's was the extent of our ventures. The boss had found us a kitchenette in a motel close by the job site where he was to start at. His friend owned it. So It was very reasonable. We lived there until we had enough money to put down on a home in Santee, Calif.

We enjoyed the warm weather, the beautiful mountains, especially the ocean being so close by us. The kitchenette apt was in reality a 2 bedroom apt next to the ocean. On the second floor called the Silver Spray Motel. I loved it, and boy did we sleep good those first months there. Must of been the sound of the waves rolling on the beach we heard through the windows. Wasn't just us as I asked others and they said the same thing boy could they sleep good.

The state seemed to be a busy state, so much more to see and to do. I loved the outside veg and fruit markets they had. And yes there was more money to be made. Wages were higher. Our first home was a three bedroom house in a new addition. Loved it. First thing I noticed was NO GRASS in the yards. Being a good Midwesterner and niave off we went to buy grass seed. Hah, that didn't work. After the first good rain we had green grass all right only it was growing on our side walk. Washed down the slope from our yard. So we bought the gravel like everyone else and had the typical Calif yard. When my folks came out to visit my dad looked up the down the street. I asked what he was looking for. "Trees" he said "trees. Where are they all I see is one a half a block down." He shook his head and said to me "What do you see in this hot barren country?" It wasn't like the tree lined boulevards back home.

We were there for 5 years, then we decided to head back home when there was a talk of strikes out there and when they materilized we sold out and left. My husbands brother had started a business back in Minnesota and had been asking his brother to come back and work for him. It was a good time to do it. I loved it there in Calif, it was a great learning adventure. But "Roots" run deep and it's always good to come "Home"

17. Tell us about your mother, do you have a special memory of her?

Yes several wonderful memories. Where can I start there are so many it will be hard to pick out one special one. Growing up, the teen years. My children visiting grandma and grandpa. Her favorite saying was "I love to see them come over but I still love to see them go home too." All are wonderful and warm memories. But the one that sticks with me the most is when she was terminally ill with liver cancer and was close to the end of her time.

The "Hospice" social worker had brought us a teddy bear named "Spinozaa" that had a cassette player in it's tummy. She brought with it several tapes to be played for the ill person. Ocean sounds, gentle soothing music of all kinds. They were to be used to help ease the pain and hopefully for the ill person to enjoy listening too.

My daughter at the time had just quit her home health job to work at our local school. After work she would come everyday to visit, and give her grandmother a bath. My sister Charlene who lived in the cities had taken time off of work to help us and to be here till the end. She was the first person in her company that had used the new program Pres. Clinton had instituted for families of seriously ill people to have a "Family Leave" so they could be with loved ones without losing there jobs.

One afternoon nothing seemed to be working for the pain , mom was becoming very restless so we put a tape in Spinozaa tummy for her to listen too. To make a long story short we choose the tape of harp music. Played both sides of it over and over that afternoon. She was sleeping comfortably and appeared to be content with it.

When Denita came over she started washing her up, she then woke up with a scowl on her face and was actually angry looking. Denita asked her "What's wrong, are you in pain?" "No" she replied "I heard beautiful music. I though I was in heaven with your dad my mom and brothers who were there. We were listening to the angels play beautiful music on their harps." When Denita woke me I realized I was still here on earth." We didn't know what to say. She died several weeks later if I remember correctly. We played that tape and several others for her she sure enjoyed hearing them. When she passed away the entire family was here. We were all around her bed holding hands, we were taking turns saying prayers. I was the last one to pray. I then told my mom it was all right if she wanted to leave us and go home to see Jesus and to see her loved ones, that we would all be fine here not to worry." We said the Lords Prayer together, dropped our hands and opened our eyes. We looked at my mother, she looked so peaceful with a small smile on her face. She was not breathing her eyes were still closed, she had left us while we were praying with her to go home to Heaven.

18. Do you have strong political feelings? If so, do you have any idea where you got them? Or if you have no political persuasions, how come?

I believe I do. My family as long as I can remember have been Democrats. I was told when I was a young child that "the Dem's were for the working people and the Republicans, for the rich. "Also when their is a Republican President they always made sure the rich didn't pay their fair share of income taxes with the tax programs they vote in. And they could afford to pay more taxes. They wanted the inheritance tax to be very low so their wealth could be passed on to their families. If you look you would find many loopholes for them, especially for the businesses the wealthy own. Many big companies actually get back big refund money from the government instead of paying in taxes because of the loopholes.

My family's favorite saying was "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer" Another one they said was about wars. "It's the Republicans who starts all our wars (Conflicts) and a Democrat who has to finishes them. That's because the rich could buy their sons out of the military service and the poor and middle class were the ones who had to go and were being killed. So they didn't worry about their sons being killed. Back then they would get their sons Gov. jobs where they didn't have to go into battle.

So now on to me. I will listen to the canidates and study the views the person has no matter what party it is, and then vote for the one who is closest to my views.
I don't feel we should of gone into war with Iraq without the approval of the UN. Big mistake. People who have been over there said they didn't have near the things they needed when they were sent there it was poor planning. We are stuck in another Vietnam and are losing the cream of our young men for nothing. No weapons of Mass destruction have ever been found. We were lied too.

The money being spent on Iraq and their people would better our schools here for our children's education's. Maybe it would stop our schools from closing due to the budget cuts from the federal Government. Maybe we could have better roads, perhaps cheaper medicines for our elderly. Our economy has gone down the tubes. Mediocre jobs at minimum wage is not my idea of a good economy.

I'm still a firm believer that charity begins at home.
Today I went to the store and 2 gallons of milk cost $9.00. I feel sorry for families with young children. So what do we do, we don't buy milk and we start walking with the high prices of both. Something has to happen soon to get us on the right track again. Well off of my bandwagon, you can tell I'm not pleased with the way things are going now and I don't see any help in the near future. The priorities in Washington are not for us the American people. I wish are politicians could hear the talk in the small town cafes and see how disgusted people are.

19. How has music influenced your life, do you sing, play an instrument or have a favorite song?

Well, to answer the first part of the question I only sing at church (and very softly). Froggy sounding voices don't sound to good out loud where others can hear them. When I'm at home ALONE, I sing along to the songs on the radio or tv. The radio and tv is loud so my voice doesn't carry over it. I enjoy singing but I wasn't blessed with a good voice.
To the second part answer is "nope," wish I could play the piano, but I never did take lessons. We had one in our home growing up but the subject never came up about lessons. Maybe they couldn't afford it. I grew up during the second world war. Maybe there wasn't the music teachers around like they are now.
I like the song "Daisy A Day" That is the song where this old mans wife has died, and he goes to the cemetery every day and brings a Daisy to lay on her grave. My hubby also liked that song a lot.
Harbor Lights is another one I like. Boy that's dating my age isn't it? I also like listening and singing along to gospel music. There is so many songs I like they are to numerous to even write down.

20. Do you have a school experience that really stands out in your mind, either good or bad?

The one event was at grade school that I remember well. I was about 7 or 8 years old it was around 1945. It was wintertime and was very cold outside. 20 below sticks in my mind for some odd reason. Every winter my mother would lecture us about things not to do when we were outside so we wouldn't get hurt. A list a mile long. I was at school on the playground with a group of my friends telling them about one of the things my mom had told us. It was "Not to touch anything metal with wet hands, that we would stick to it." Do you think we believed her? Nope!
We were talking and sitting on the snowbank that close to the teetherball pole that was in the middle of the playground. Several of us went into the school and ran our hands in very hot water leaving them still a bit wet so we could test my moms theory.

We all raced back to the playground taking our mittens off on the way. Running full speed ahead of the pack my best friend an I collided. Yes, right by the pole. We grabbed it to catch ourselves so we wouldn't fall. You guessed it. Both of us were stuck to it like glue. The others put their gloves back on they wouldn't try it after they saw it was true. They tried to get us loose but to no avail
Well the bell rang for us to go back to class and there we two still stood. Everyone was yelling at us to hurry up and come in or we would be late. Trying to be non chalont or should I say trying not to feel stupid we told them we would be there in a minute.

The play ground emptied and there we still were. All alone with the pole, snowflakes falling right along side with the tears on our cheeks. It was so cold. We were tugging very hard to get loose. NO WAY. The tears on our face was now freezing too. She suggested that maybe if we blow our breath on our stuck hand to warm it up maybe that would break them loose. So there we stood blowing away, but she got to close to the pole and now her lip was stuck to the pole too. We both got scared then.

It seemed like an eternity to us, when I looked up towards our classroom I saw the teacher looking down at us along with some of the other kids in our class they must of told her what happened. She realized we were in trouble. It seemed like forever but here she comes with the school nurse carrying a container of warm water to free us from our cold prison. It took only a minute to free us. Boy were we happy.

They both giggled and had smiles on their faces when we told them how it happened. We were both very happy to be free and to get back into the school where it was warm. The nurse then took us to her office where we sat on the radiator until we warmed up. Going back to the room was the hardest thing to do. The kids teased us at first but the teacher shushed them and used it as a lesson on what not to do outside at recess and to be careful.

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