Reflections of my Life time (1980)

               So much ground has been covered and so much progress has been made – so much good and so much not so good. It seems we learn only by trial and error. We live one day at a time and change is so gradual that we hardly notice and tend to take things for granted. Where I stand now, I can look back at the generation gone before me and also at the new.

                When one is a child you depend on your parents for everything as one grows older you learn to depend on yourself more and more – and if one is lucky, as I was, to find a dependable life’s companion to depend on and work together with. In those days marriage vows were taken seriously. Very few divorces. Today it seems to be the trend and it is not good.

                I’m sure my parents nor my husband’s parents ever even thought of divorce. Life was too serious and too real. Very little time or money for unnecessary trips and frivolities. Now, so many people have everything, it seems, but they still are not happy or satisfied. Life seems too hectic – no peaceful times to one’s self—just to think and “smell the roses” – as they say.

                People are not satisfied with simple inexpensive pleasures and pastimes. But, I think the times will come yet again – when people will have to accept the simple basics of life and learn to live happily. I’m talking of the general middle class of America.

                I see so much waste all over, beginning with the government. These are just my own random thoughts, but I feel sincerely that distribution in the world is very wrong. Too many “Haves” and too many “Have Nots.” Human callousness – world wide. Millions starving and dying. And the churches say there is a loving and just God! I do not understand that – much as I would like to. No one yet has been able to make me understand that. Again, it just boils down to the basic Sin – Greed.

                Too many wars – and too little Reason. When will the peoples and governments of the world learn to share and live at peace with one another? “Blessed are the Peace Makers” the Bible says. Where are the Peace Makers today? Instead, there is a feverish race for weapons of destruction and annihilation. We have been given a brain to think with – why isn’t it used?

Living Alone

I’ve remained in the house at 819 E. 5^th St. The following Spring I had an unexpected flood in the basement. Our lot was a low, filled-in one, with a concrete culvert going partly underneath the house. A large discarded oil-drum had lodged in it so the water backed up into my basement. Then, the same summer – Aug. 20 was a very heavy rainstorm in Duluth and surroundings, so again my basement was heavily flooded causing damage to the furnace and water heaters, which had to be repaired. No sooner was that done, another storm exactly one month later Sept. 20, ’72 – flooded my basement again and also all the low spots of Duluth – doing complete destruction to avenues, etc. The “Small Business Bureau” paid me $1000 for a new furnace, etc. But, I was afraid there may have been serious damage to the foundation of the house and also the basement floor. It was just too much for me and I began seriously to think of moving. Fortunately, Mrs. Bess Lester, who had rented our downstairs apartment for many years, was very willing to buy the house, fully knowing all about its drawbacks, etc. At a very reasonable cost, of course. I wanted out, so badly, I did not care – just so I got out from under the burden of caring for an old, very old house.

Labor had become very costly. So in the Fall of 1973, I sold the house and applied for an apartment in the Gateway Towers, which was under construction at the site of the old Soo Line Depot – 600 W. Superior St. I paid rent for my own apartment until on Feb. 11, 1974 I moved. Here, where I have lived ever since.

This is a 14-story “High-Rise” built especially for Seniors. The apartments consist of a living room, bedroom, kitchen and both. All utilities are included in the rent. The tenants are pre-dominantly a few couples and widowers. The heat is supplied by the Duluth Steam Corporation. It is comfortable living and quite care-free. As long as one is reasonably well and can care for one’s self. This building is not completely government subsidized, somehow, there are 3 churches connected with it which I do not quite understand. As a result, the rents have been raised almost every year, regardless of one’s income. At first, my rent was $106 per month, then $116, $126, $136, and now $152. Inflation is climbing at a terrific rate.

About 1938 – the Social Security Programs was begun, with which the seniors are now living on, and enjoying. In years gone by, the old parents were cared for by their children, if possible, or had to go to “Poor Farms” as they were called at that time, when their own savings were gone. I do not begin to understand the workings of the government, which has become too large and unwieldy to manage properly. Human greed enters into the picture always and tends to ruin good things. At this time I feel that a “balloon has been blown up too big and has to burst.” Time will tell.

Life in Duluth (Part III)

Jim was never a demanding boy. He bought his very first “second-hand” bicycle with his own small savings and got a job with the Western Union – delivering telegrams. Next he got a summer at the Areo Coffee Co.

He attended Central High School and was always a good student and graduated in 1946 with honors. Soon, he got work with the Minn. Highway Dept –working from the “ground-up” – the work taking him to various small towns in the northern part of the state. He was always interested in Drafting work in High School so he kept that up in the M.H.D. He has been there ever since – and now in 1978 changed over to the Minn. Natural Resources Dept.

In April 1955 he married Doraine Lee, also, of Duluth. They lived in Virginia, Minn. for a while and then in Duluth, where they built a home on Brainerd Ave. They now have 3 children, Scott, born May 7, 1958 – Tom, born April 28, 1960, and Mary Kay, 15, born April 7, 1963. In 1971, they moved to Fridley, Minn. where they now live.

While in Duluth, they had a small cabin at Comstock Lake. They later bought a lake frontage lot at Leader L. in Wascott, Wis. and Ike and I took over the cabin at Comstock. We enjoyed it so very much, as it was rustic and we were close to Nature, which we both have always loved. Ike was so happy there, doing what he always enjoyed – fishing leisurely and rowing – no motors, no electricity, outdoor “privy” – clearing brush, fixing the cabin, feeding birds and listening to them sing. Picking raspberries in the summertime. Sitting by a bonfire – making coffee outdoors. And just walking in the woods, sometime seeing a deer, once we even saw a large moose and her young one.

That was not to last long. Ike had a stroke on Dec. 2, 1970 which was totally unexpected, as he had always taken good care of himself – eating moderately, drinking (very little), exercising diligently, without fail every morning and walking outdoors several times a day. He did suffer from a prostate condition, which had become cancerous but did not cause pain, but he didn’t feel well. He was operated on in Rochester, Minn. and was put on (stilbestoral?) tablets. The doctors said that was a slow type of cancer. For over 3 months, he was a patient at Miller Devon Hospital in Duluth. Dr. Bakkila, etc. attending. Therapy was given [to] him every day, -- and could finally walk a little with the aid of a 4-pronged cane, with someone holding on for extra support. Mostly, he was in a wheel-chair. In March, 1971, he was released to my care at home. He had become very depressed at becoming so helpless, a man, who had been so capable of doing practically anything he wished to do. The fact that Jim had to move away hit him hard. Those were the toughest days of our life together. I am thankful I was able to care for him and he was very grateful for that. It wasn’t easy on me either, combined with the prostate trouble, too, we got very little sleep or rest. He warned about me being able to hold up – I didn’t tell him that, but I was concerned myself – as I was so tired and lost then about 20 pounds – (which I could spare, of course.) My dear friend Lillian Day would come over to iron and wipe up floors – but she couldn’t give him the very personal attention he had to have.

On Nov. 21, (on his sister’s birthday) he very quietly and I think painlessly, just shut his eyes for the last time. Sitting in his wheel chair, having eaten his supper.

Death is a part of life – which none of us can avoid. But it is so very final – and takes quite a lot of adjusting to learn to live completely alone, without the strength and support that I had learned to depend on living with a good man for half a century almost! His word was his bond and when I was weak he was always strong. I have no words to adequately describe my husband – but I am very grateful that I was fortunate and lucky enough to get him – I’m sure I didn’t deserve him – but he understood me and accepted me with all me weaknesses and faults – and I’d say all in all – we had a happy life together. We both loved nature and our wants were simple.

Life in Duluth (Part II)

Life in Duluth (cont.) 

He [Jim] started “kindergarten” at the Nettleton School near 6^th St. and 1^st Ave E. His good friend, Ray Skarbakka started school then too on the same day. This was in 1933.

        

That Spring, in May, my mother Emelia Tikkanen, died in her home in Oulu of cancer and other complications. She was cared for by her children, Waino, Elizabeth and Eino, who were at home. I couldn’t be there too much, as we had Grandpa and Grandma Uusimaa with us in Duluth to care for. Ike was on the road for the Brach Candy Co. But Jim and I were there for about a week before she died, Jim would bring her small bouquets of early wild flowers – he was her only grandchild. My mother was only 58 years of age then. 

In 1940, on the 4^th of July, we moved to 819 E. 5th St to a house which we had bought for approximately $3000 – 25 foot, low lot. Later, we bought an adjoining 25 foot lot. It was a duplex and we lived upstairs.

        

Jim was rather disgusted at the move – he was then 12 years old and was to start school at Washington Jr. that September, which would have been close to 25 E. 3^rd. And his “pals” were left there! One day, he even cried, as there were no nice friendly boys in the neighborhood. So, he walked a lot in those days to school and also to be with his old pals in the old neighborhood.

About 1938, Ike had our name legally “Americanized” to Newland. He had then quit the candy co. about that time, I don’t exactly remember the date. He worked then at various other sales jobs, also went into siding and roofing work for others and then on his own. Jim sometimes help[ed] on those jobs.

                

 My sister, Elizabeth had married Oscar Simi in Dec. 1939. They now have one daughter Myrna, born in 1943. She married Arthur Hase and has two children, Debbie and Kenneth.

                

 Dec. 1942, my brother Eino married Sigrid Korhonen – they have two boys, David and Rudy. David now has 4 children and Rudy has a daughter.

                

Waino married Irene Gronroos* in June, 1943 and farmed the old Tikkanen home in Oulu. Their marriage produced 4 children, Alice, Norman,** Brenda and Donald.

We enjoyed driving to Oulu and we always felt welcome there. The children seemed to like to have us come and we would often bring them, by turns, to town with us, as they considered that a “treat.” Not one of my nieces or nephews ever said a mean or sassy word to us – I have always loved them all.

Neither one of my brothers had to go to W.W. 2 – as Waino was both farming and sailing and Eino was sailing – ore shipments were considered vital to the “war industry.” In my estimation it took the war to get the country out of the depression in which it had been for many years. That does not speak well for our “Democracy.”

Jobs were difficult to find before the war broke out. Once my brothers went to the wheat fields of N. Dakota to work – for $2 a day and board! And jobs on the boats were at a premium – one had even to do some “bribing.” Waino once had walked past the man who was doing the hiring and slipped $5 into his hand – no word spoken. Next day the man had winked at Waino, among the men waiting at the “hall” and asked is anyone wanted to go on half a trip? Half a trip meant that you were left at the other end of the trip – no one really wanted that. Waino went, and sailed all summer!

There were “Hoovervilles” all over the country then. Jobless men in makeshift shacks, scouraging for food. Soup lines were long. People were near revolution – something had to be done – as granaries were full – pigs and cattle were killed to keep prices up – milk was spilled on the ground. (Man’s inhumanity to man.)

F. Roosevelt got in as President – and all sorts of government jobs were created artificially to quiet the population. CC camps for youths, planting trees, etc. WPA jobs for adults.

We managed “on our own,” I am glad to say. From childhood, we had always been raised sensibly and never felt deprived of anything.

*My grandparents!
**PapaTK! 

Kathryn in America: Life in Duluth

Duluth – 1925

Location of Duluth, MN

We came to Duluth and we rented a large room on the 3^rd floor of 124 W. 3^rd St. where we lived the winter. Ike found work with a collection agency and I tried waiting on table at a couple of Greek restaurants. I also was counter girl at Miller’s Cafeteria. In the spring of 1926 Ike began selling to stores for the Brach Candy Co. of Chicago – his territory was upper Minn., Wis., and parts of Michigan. He built up the territory, calling on all Co-ops etc. by sheer Finnish “risu” and long hours and the product was good. Those were “depression days” and candy was a luxury – so his initial earnings were not much. Strictly commissions. In the meanwhile I had rented a “cold water flat” at 25 E. 3^rd St. and bought the few pieces of necessary furniture. Ike always left such decisions and purchases to me. He said, “Your eyes are as big as mine, you know what we can afford and what we can’t.” By “cold water flat” is meant exactly that. There was no bathroom (just a toilet) we heated with a coal stove and coal and wood stove in the kitchen, plus a gas stove – apartment size. Rent average $11-$20 per month. At that time we heated the water on the stove in a copper boiler, for washing clothes, which I did on a washboard, two galvanized tubs on a wooden wringer stand. Fels Naptha yellow laundry bar soap. White clothes were boiled in the boiler – and everything dried outside – or in rainy weather I strung lies up in the kitchen! I liked washing clothes and taking pride in getting them clean. For baths, we went once a week to public saunas on S. 1^st Ave. E. (We always took plenty of brown wrapping paper to walk and sit on.) No plastics yet then. We had no telephone, no radio – so I read a lot, getting books from the Library.

Ike was away much, so I rented the other bedroom to Mae Huikkenen (Nummi) and Linda Peterson (Eskeli.) They worked on S. 1^st Ave. E. and Michigan St. in Finnish restaurants. We had fun, once we even had jobs “breaking eggs” at the Cold Storage Plant – near where Jeno’s in now.

Eggs were separated (yolks from whites) and frozen, to be sold to large bakeries. One had to smell them so that no bad ones were mixed with the good.

So, life went on, and we decided to start a “family” of our own. On July 18, 1928, we had our first son. He was born in St Mary’s Hospital in Superior, Wis. Dr. Sincock officiating at the birth. Somehow, I knew it was going to be a slow process – so we even stopped in Superior on our way to the hospital to watch a parade in which two Presidents rode, Coolidge and Hoover. They were fishing on the Brule R. at the Pierce estate. That was a Big Time in Brule, everything was newly painted, etc. Jim was born after three days – I won’t go into details – but I have thanked the Creator for saving him from birth defects. He was baptized, along with his cousin, Helen, who had been born in Jan. Jonas Ojala did the honors. He had “confirmed” both Ike and me.

That Fall, Ike’s father and mother had decided they were becoming too old to farm. So, a deal was made, as they had two sons and a daughter, all married. My father-in-law’s name was Isaac Uusimaa and his wife was Maria Elizabeth (Leinonen.) He had “homesteaded” 160 acres of wild forest in Oulu, Wis. Four “forties.” One, he had sold to Sakri Konu.

So, a deal was made where the old folks would spend four months of each year with each child – the oldest son, Eino (and his wife Saina) remaining on the old home place. He paid $1000 to his sister Elaine and to his brother Ike – as he got all the buildings, livestock, machinery, etc. Also, the other two forties were given to Ike and Elaine. In return the children agreed to give full support to their parents for the remainder of their lives. The summer months they spent in Oulu, June, July, August, and September. Then, to their daughter’s in Superior until February when they came to Duluth to stay again until the end of May. (In town the “bathroom” was indoors.)

That worked out very well as the old folks never became helpless. Grandma Uusimaa was a very industrious and clean little woman, very religious and always had a knitting or patching work in her hand. She took care of Grandpa Uusimaa, who had very stiff legs and used one or two canes. Also, she kept their own room clean and liked to do the dishes. Grandpa liked to read and without glasses! He said glasses were only “vanity.” He read and re-read all the Finnish books, which I would get for him from the Duluth Public Library and also the Finnish paper. He was a great talker, grandma, again was quiet – she always said that “Sin was not far away when talking too much!”

That’s how Jim learned to talk Finnish, talking with his grandparents in their own language. They adored him.

Grandma Uusimaa died in our home in March of 1937 of a massive cerebral hemorrhage. She is buried in Oulu, Wis. in the old Pioneer Cemetery (now called Oulu Lutheran.) They had been married 49 years that month.

Grandpa died in his old home in Oulu, July 18, 1939, as he had always wished. He was then about 87 years old, grandma was 83.

They had married at not too young an age, so they were only survived by their 3 children and their wives, Elaine and Robert Alto had 4 children, Mary Elizabeth, Arthur (the oldest) Helen and Raymond. We had only Jim – named also for his dad and grandfather (Isaac.) Eino and Saima had no children.

In March 1931 we were expecting another baby. But, it was not to be. The birth was more difficult than my first in 1928. The doctor told Ike that he could not save both, Ike had to make the choice. So we lost a little boy, who we intended to name Richard William. That was the first time I saw my husband cry bitterly, as we were told to get any future children from an orphan’s home. So our only son became very precious to us.