They are my adopted parents. They are gone now but not forgotten. Today would have been my dad's birthday. He was born during World War I. Both of my parents were from South Dakota. My Mom grew up in the small town of Waubay and my Dad a few miles east in the town of Webster. They came of age during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years. My Mom was German/French and my Dad was Norwegian. They were both life long Lutherans. After high school my Dad joined the CCCs (Civilian Construction Corps) and worked on Mount Rushmore, something for which he was very proud. My Mom went into nurses training but had to quit due to an illness. She had a very weak heart and was told she would not live beyond her twenties.She spent her entire life proving them wrong. My parents were married before the start of World War II and after Pearl Harbor, because he was 4-F, they moved to Ogden Utah to work at, of all places in Utah, a U.S. Navy Supply Depot. After the war they adopted two babies (my sister and I) and opened a heating company and later a sewing machine store in Ogden. They both worked together and when they became ill they went broke.In those days you did NOT file for bankruptcy but just worked harder to pay your bills. They then moved to Boise Idaho and then in a few years to Roseburg Oregon. They were both very good sales people and could aways find jobs in retail commission sales. From time to time they even went door to door in sales. In the late 1950's they bought a Sewing Machine Store in Coos Bay, Oregon and operated that store together until they retired in the 1980's. It was called The Coos Bay Sewing Center. They never missed having a booth at the Coos County Fair in Myrtle Point where they sold sewing machines. My dad was a born salesman.... he never knew a stranger. My mom was a dynamo who hosted a sewing show on the local Coos Bay TV station called "Needle Notes." Even though neither had been to college they put their two children through college and paid the entire tuition and other cost. My mother, at lunch time, would fix lunch for all the store employees at no charge ... every day. They worked six days every week and only took Sundays off. My Dad was a Conservative Republican and my Mom was a Democrat who voted for Kennedy.(Mom you are forgiven) In their later years they were active in the Good Sam Club and the Shrine. Even though they spent most of their adult life away from South Dakota they were true to their roots and would return often to Webster and Waubay for their class reunions and to visit relatives. On the way they would always stop at Mount Rushmore.
