Aunt Laurine

I come now to the youngest of my grandmother’s children, aunt Laurine. She was born in 1904 and her early life was doubtless not marked by the hardships and rigors that her oldest siblings experienced. I suppose she attended country school, but she was still in elementary school when the family moved into Gowrie about 1915 when my grandfather died. So I suppose some of her grade school years may have been in the Gowrie school as well possibly her high school years. Her college years may have been spent at Gustavus or at Iowa State Teacher’s College.

She was either a teacher in the primary grades, at various places in Iowa with the last and longest period in the Dubuque schools, or as an instructor in the field of education, first at Luther College in Nebraska and later on at Gustavus in St. Peter, Minnesota. I think Luther College was the same school where Verner had one or two years at the start of his college training. I believe it was a two-year school.

Like her siblings, Laurine was quite an intelligent person and my understanding was that she was an excellent teacher. Like her siblings however her personal development was hampered by her unusual piety and her unswerving commitment to her religious beliefs that colored her adaptation to society in general. She was a life-long spinster. I doubt that there was ever a man in her life that was attracted to her. I think she would have liked to have been married and perhaps she would have been a less self-centered person which I think she was. And at times a bit of a hypochondriac.

I suppose I shouldn’t judge her that way. She certainly contributed to the educational opportunity of both Clarice and Vivian by providing them with board and room while they attended the University of Dubuque. I well recall the trips taking Clarice and Vivian to and from the school there. Dubuque was a very old town, hilly and picturesque on the banks of the Mississippi river and my memories of it are quite positive.

Personally, one thing I recall of her generosity — she gave me a nice Sheaffer pen and pencil set when I graduated from high school. The pencil still works though I never use it. The pen is broken though I still have the pieces. It ceased to function at one point and in attempting to take it apart to determine and rectify the trouble I broke it.

I have mentioned in passing the few times when our paths crossed over the years since I finished at Iowa and left home for good. In later years in connection with her work at Gustavus she needed to be able to drive and she did so — I think the only one of my grandmother’s daughters that did. I’m not sure if I ever rode with her but I gather she wasn’t as careful a drive as she might have been. During her years at G.A. she bought her own home there which I think was a source of enjoyment to her. When she could no longer maintain herself independently she moved to Friendship Haven where she lived out her days. I recall Vincent saying that her funds ran out just at the time she died.

While there she did something for me for which I am most grateful — namely the translation into English the Swedish letters which came to my attention after the visit of Verner and Marlys to Sweden. These letters had been sent to me by a cousin of my mother’s after I wrote to him about them. Aunt Dagmar who was also living at Friendship Haven at the time assisted in some places where the translation was difficult. A few of the letters were translated by Ruth Strand, the wife of one of my father’s cousins, Olger Strand.