My grandparents, Henry and Elsie McFarland, lived on a farm southeast of Hope, Minnesota with the Straight River flowing to the north through the farm. They raised two daughters, Martha and Marjorie (both deceased), on the farm. Martha had one daughter, Bonnie, and Marjorie had three children, Barbara, Billy (now deceased) and me.
In a birthday card to Genie, Bonnie, a resident of the Villages in Florida, asked for more info on our grandfather as he was deceased due to a tractor accident before she was old enough to remember him. (Thus this column.)
Grandpa McFarland was a fun-loving, sometimes full-of-the-blarney, lovable 100 per cent Irishman. He had eight brothers, seven that farmed in the Hope-Ellendale area. One brother was the gun-toting some times tipsy cop in Ellendale.
Grandpa wasn’t interested in hunting or fishing. He didn’t have a fishing pole even though there was good fishing from his bridge over the Straight River. He owned a 12 gauge double barrel shotgun but never used it for hunting. (He did shoot vermin.)
Grandpa lived during the Great Depression. He told me of the times money was hard to come by. Each daughter had a savings piggy bank from the bank in Hope. Money was tight so he took the savings banks to the Hope bank to get the money out. The bank refused to open the savings piggy banks so he took them back to the farm - the banks were opened by his sledgehammer. Another time was when he and some of his brothers through the WPA (Work Progress Administration) were hired to dig by hand a channel from the creek south of Beaver Lake to Beaver Lake to maintain the level of the water in the lake. Once dug, a long culvert was built to keep the channel working. (It worked until the DNR decided the water flowing in was contaminated by a farmer’s cattle and closed up the channel.)
Grandpa was a good friend of the tavern owner in Hope. Every time Grandpa was in Hope he enjoyed a glass of tap beer with the owner. It was there where grandpa taught me to drink tap beer with a pinch of salt between my thumb and my first finger at the ripe old age of fourteen!!!
One of Grandpa’s fun loving pranks along with the tavern owner, who also sold minnows, was to sell lively minnows to first-time customers. They would ask the customers if they wanted regular or lively minnows. If their answer was lively, they would put a minnow in different glasses of water. The temperature was hot in one glass thus the minnow was so lively it jumped out of the glass. (Because of the hot water.)
Grandpa was not a Bible-reading, church-going person, yet he knew there was a God. After his serious tractor accident he and Grandma moved in with his daughter, my mother. One morning, he asked his daughter to “get the preacher man - it’s time.” The preacher man came and later that day Grandpa died.
I was in the U.S. Navy (Korean Conflict) at the time. I tried to get leave to go to Grandpa’s funeral, but my request was denied. When I was discharged, one of the first things I did was go to the cemetery in Owatonna and talk to Grandpa.
UPCOMING EVENTS
A. Soup and pie supper benefit for Heidi (Morreim) DuRois and Tim Bakken from 4-7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24 at Central Freeborn Lutheran Church, 74427 245th St., Albert Lea
B. Bus trip sponsored by F.R.O.G. to Christmas by the Lake in Clear Lake, Iowa, departing at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1 from Wok-n-Roll restaurant in Albert Lea. Activities on the bus to Clear Lake, Chinese buffet upon returning, free auto pass to view Life Nativity Dec 7 or 8 at New Life Christian Church in Albert Lea. Watch for forthcoming flyer. (We suspect the bus will be full Thanksgiving weekend.)
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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.