HOME OF CHRISTEN JENSEN #1 AND WIFE ANE MARGRETHE HANSEN ~~~ Researched and Compiled by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

 

Fountain Green Classmates Reunion

 

Kathrene Rigby Is Married ~ September 9, 1966

Celebrating Summer Holidays (about 1820) ~~~ Ruby Knudsen Parkin

 We always looked forward to getting ready for the big Fourth of July parade.  Mama always made a really nice dress out of embroidered material for each of us girls every summer.  We got new white long stockings and nearly always a pair of black patent leather slippers.  All the kids in the neighborhood had aboout the same type of clothes.  The night before the Fourth of July, about eight or ten of the girls around the block slept together on the Lund's upstairs porch.  It was really awe inspiring to watch the heavens, and once in a while the stars fell and left a streak of light across the sky.  We listened to the sounds of the night that were so eerie, but we eventually fell asleep. 

The next thing we knew the cannons in the hills were shooting off with a boom that fairly shook the earth around us.  Then we listened for the sound of music; the town band got in a hayrack or some other vehicle that could carry them and rode through town playing.  It was wonderful, so exciting; soon they came past the house, and we went home to get ready for the big parade and the rest of the Fourth of July festivities.  All the kids planned how much money we would ask for to spend on the big day.  One day stands out in my mind as a really special day because we asked for and received ~twenty-five cents to spend!  We decided to spend a nickel in the morning at the parade and then in the afternoon go up to the drugstore and have a BANANA SPLIT, which cost $.15.  Then we still had another nickel to spend at night when we saw the fireworks shot off on the corner below the big schoolhouse where a monument stood.  It was a thrill to watch the fireworks, especially when we were sure the sparks hadn't caused a fire anywhere in town.

1912 ~ Braiding the Maypole ~ by Ruby Elmira Knudsen Parkin ~ Knudsen Chronicles

Spring was a wonderful time; we anticipated it because we could stop wearing the long underwear we called "woolies", and avoid the usual weekly doses of senna tea or castor oil.  When I was eight and nine, there were always Primary and May Day dances in the afternoon, and I always had a lot of fun.  One May Day, all the girls were getting new black patent leather slippers to wear for the big May Day dance.  Of course, I wanted a pair too and thought it would be impossible to have fun if I didn't have new shoes like the rest of the girls.  But Mother couldn't afford them, so I just didn't get them.  I went to the dance sadly, but I had more dances than any of the other girls, in spite of their pretty shoes.  Through the years I have always remembered that things like new shoes just don't matter as much as we think they do, and it's more important to be pleasant and friendly.

Maypole

On May Day, the first day of May, all the children in school took lunches and walked several blocks up past the Mill to a big field where we played ball and other games.  We stayed most of the day, arriving home about three or four o'clock.  After the game, there was a musical play and the braiding of the Maypole.  The City Band played for us to dance around the maypole, and there was also a concert.  It was a big day, and one I usually loved.