Clarence and Naomi

My parents were married in 1917 — my mother just shy of her 27th birthday, my father just past his 34th. My father had courted her earlier but she had demurred then, whether she just wanted to “stretch her wings a bit longer” I don’t know. The marriage was a happy one despite the rather different personalities of the two.



Clarence and Naomi Peterson Strand

My father was, to me, a dreamer, constrained by upbringing and circumstance to a life in which work and duties occupied most of his time and thinking. My mother was a more pragmatic practical person and in a way was the dominant person in the union. There were occasional disagreements between them but these related largely to tactics, not principles. For the most part these differences were not evidenced in the presence of the children, though somehow or other I came to be aware of them.

One disagreement between them was over a life insurance policy that my father had bought from Fred Magnusson who was the agent for some company. My mother was opposed to the whole idea, somewhat impractically stating that she wanted my father not some money in place of him. Later on, because of the Depression, the insurance company issuing the policy encountered financial difficulties and my father lost at least part of the funds he had invested in the policy (it was sort of an endowment policy). I don’t know if it was this second-hand encounter with insurance companies of some other factor that resulted in my general feeling of antipathy to life insurance companies. As a married man I have had a couple of life insurance policies but they have not been a major investment vehicle.

My mother’s life from the time of her marriage until the time of the Depression was I think of happy and fulfilling years for her. One potential trauma early after her marriage was when my father was due to be called up for military service in WWI. My mother was pregnant with Clarice at the time. Happily the war ended before my father had to appear for induction. The years were however years of household toil certainly beyond what is the norm nowadays.

The years were also child-bearing years with Marold, the last child born in 1929. My mother used to remark that 1929 was a year of unusual expense. Marold was born at the Mercy hospital in Fort Dodge, the only one of the children not born at home. Mercy hospital, the only facility in Fort Dodge at the time, was supported by the Catholic church. I recall one of the trips made to see my mother when she was there but we children, though along, weren’t allowed to go in to see her or the newborn Marold.

There was also the purchase of the Essex and the radio. The Essex was the first car my father actually owned himself — the Chevrolet which had been the family car up to that time had really belonged to my grandfather. I remember the circumstances associated with the purchase of the radio. Several were tried out (one developed some sort of electrical trouble during the trial period and emitted an acrid odor). The final selection was a floor model Majestic. This radio served the family all during the Depression years and was the only radio all the years I was at home.

My mother had had trouble when Verner was born, perhaps it was for this reason that the decision was made for Marold to be born at the hospital. I believe that there was some related surgery following the birth of Marold but I have no knowledge of the extent or character.