Grandma Mary wrote a hand-written note summarizing her life. It was typical of grandma's "no big deal" approach!
Born in 3 room house in country. Moved to house built by mom's brothers on home steaded land (40 acres). Grew up there. Had 1 brother 4 yrs younger. Roads impossible in winter. Had to stay away from home in order to get to high school. There at 13 yrs old met Carl who I later married. We had a stormy courtship. He had to work away from home a lot because he was of a family of 8 kids 6 were boys, so they had to go out on their own. Around 20 yrs old he had a ruptured appendix, hospital 63 days, 3 surgeries, had his clothes laid out to bury him, but a miracle happened he came through. No Ins(urance) and folks had none. He and his mom raised chickens and sold until they together paid off his bill. When we got married I was 29 and he 2 1/2 yrs older, but he had saved $900 and I thought he was rich. We had Karen, she became a nurse, married a radiologist and I have 2 grandsons. I took LPN training when I was 52 or 53 and did private duty until I retired. Carl has been gone 13 yrs. I taught SS (Sunday School) beginning with 5th or 6 graders and ended up teaching old and substitute.