Luverne Alice Franzman
b. Jan. 20, 1930
Grygla, MN 1930
Luverne was born to John Franzman and Mabel (Johnson) Franzman on January 20th, 1930. Her father John and Mrs. Maney, a nearby midwife, delivered Luverne into their small home in Grygla. She was the second child, her sister Adeline was born two years prior. In 1930, the new, small Franzman family lived with the elder Franzmans: Johann and Katharine.
Luverne was baptized in 1930. Her sponsors were:
- Minnie (Franzman) & Fred Bucholz
- Muriel Johnson
In Luverne's words:
We had a 400-acre farm 5 miles from town. We drove a wagon or sleigh wherever we went until about 1935 when we got a car. The car had to be put up on blocks during the winter because the roads were not drivable.
Our big house burned down when I was 2 years old and my dad built a log house with two bedrooms. We lived in this house for 10 years until we moved to Becker. My grandpa Johnson came to live with us a year before we moved. This put the four of us kids in one bedroom - Adeline, Gene, Doug and me. Mom and Dad slept on the couch in the living room.
Luverne remembers Grandpa Johnson as a grumpy fellow. He would spit his tobacco juice on the floor, and Mabel would clean up after him and generally take care of him. Luverne would play board games with Grandpa because she felt sorry for him.
References
Grygla, MN 1930-1942
In Luverne's words:
When I was 10 or 11 we walked to town for summer Bible school for 2 weeks. The road was lined with wild roses, which were so pretty and smelled so good. Sometimes Mr. Zinter gave us a ride to where we turned off – he sang songs in German while he drove. When he dropped us off we had only 2-1/2 miles to walk.
Some favorite memories are building play houses with branches of poplars. We'd play house with each other and neighbor kids. I also recall our musical tree stand at Christmas. It played Silent Night and revolved around as it played. We had clips on the tree that held the candles that we lit on Christmas Eve.
There were only four of us in my grade in country school: Mabel, Arlette, Winty and myself. In 4th grade the teacher, Mrs. Tviet, took a picture of Arnold (Mabel's brother in 6th grade) and me and gave us each a copy of our picture plus a picture of some scenery to hang on the wall. It was our reward for being the only ones to have straight A's all year! We walked the 2- 1/2 miles to school but when it got very cold my Dad took us to school with the horses and cutter.
Our country school, Greenwood, closed when I was in 5th grade. We were bussed to town school. But 6 weeks later we moved to a farm at Becker, MN and I went to a country school there.
My dad built a skating rink in winter and we also skied down snow covered haystacks. On Sundays we would visit someone or have company over to our place. My dad always smoked a cigar on Sunday, otherwise he did not smoke.
Church was the center of activities, where everyone gathered for celebrations such as harvest festival, ladies aid and other get-togethers.
When we were kids we could go to Grandpa Franzman's place a half mile away, and watch him build church altars. I spent many days over there. He built four altars and pulpits for churches. Each one took about a year. He died before he completed the fourth one. They are beautiful, intricately carved, sanded, varnished and gilded. Four altars exist today:
- St. Petri Lutheran Church in Grygla
- Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Grygla
- Warren Fairgrounds Historical Village (This altar had been donated to the Beltrami County Historical Society, and was later moved to Warren.)
- The Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul. (In 2007, the Franzman family donated one of the altars to the Minnesota Historical Society. It was on display as part of the MN 150-year celebration.)
Our closest theater was 40 miles away at Thief River Falls, so we never saw a movie while we lived there [in Grygla]. We picked wild strawberries, blueberries, juneberries, choke cherries, plums and cranberries. My mom made jam, jelly and sauce.
Sometimes we helped shock the grain in the fields. My Dad had a threshing machine and would go around to neighbors to thresh. It was fun when they came to our house. My Mom would make the table loaded with food and several pies. I guess that's why you hear "There's enough to feed a threshing crew"?
Adeline and I took piano lessons in town for about a year before we moved. Dad would wait for us at his sister's – Aunt Minnie's – then we'd all have white layer cake with lemon filling and 7-minute frosting.
References
Becker, Minnesota, 1942-1949
In 1942 the Franzmans, now a family of six, plus Grandpa Lars Johnson, moved to a farm in Becker, MN. Luverne’s siblings now included Adeline, Eugene, and Douglas.
In Luverne’s words:
In Becker we lived 2-1/2 miles from Elk Lake. We could walk there to swim or rent a boat and row around by hand (I believe it cost 25 cents to rent a boat).
Violet Haglund was my age and she had a brother who was old enough to drive. In May we'd fill up the car with kids and go hanging May Baskets. It was so much fun we kept on in June and called them June bags. In winter we went tobogganing and skiing on Vernon Anderson's hill. We also went ice-skating on "Little Pete's Pond." We belonged to church in Clear Lake but most of our friends went to Becker. So Adeline and I went to Walther league in Becker most of the time. We also went to the league meetings in Clear Lake.
When I was 16, I could go on dates - mostly to movies. We couldn't go to dances until after we graduated from High School. However we did go to some barn dances with our parents at Earl Hubbard's barn.
My sister Carol was born when I was a senior in High School. When she was big enough to sit on the seat (no car seats then) I took her with me whenever I could.
During winter months we sang around the piano or played board games. In summer we kept the weeds out of a huge garden and had a field of cucumbers that we could sell to the pickle factory.
When Mabel became pregnant with Carol, they moved Lars Johnson to a nursing home in Saulk Center, where he died about a year later. His funeral was held in Grygla, and Luverne had to miss her Senior year graduation hayride to baby sit Carol while her parents went to Grygla.
When I was 16 I talked mom into letting me go to Minneapolis to work for the summer, After that I worked every summer doing waitress work, packaging cake mix at Pillsbury, clothing factory as a gofer for the sewers (mostly waitressing though). I lived with a bunch of girls and didn't have much left at the end of the summer (at 50 cents per hour).
Her first summer in the cities, Luverne lived with her sister Adeline and friends on Stevens and about 21st Ave So. In subsequent years she lived with teacher friend Sybil or Sybil and Susie, either in south Minneapolis, or with sister Adeline, now married to Gene Dore.
References
Early Teaching Jobs, 1949-1954
After high school, Luverne attended St. Cloud Teacher’s College and earned in 2-year degree in 1949. Her first teaching job, at age 19, was in Kingston, MN.
Kingston, 1949-1951
In Luverne’s words:
Sybil and I lived with Reino and Pearl Haapajoki. Mae and Beck Wanhala, who owned the comer cafe, sort of adopted us and took us to all the ball games. We got Mr. Hess, the bus driver, to drive the kids to Kimball on Friday nights to go roller-skating. We started a "teen club" for older kids. On Saturday nights we would go to the dance in Kimball, if we were lucky enough to have a date. I got my cousin Lorraine a blind date with Bob Saukkola and they ended up getting married. Sybil and I were invited to a sauna every Saturday A.M. if we were in town.
Sybil and I had become inseparable. I spent many weekends with her family in Ashby and she with mine. While in Kingston we bought a little black car, for $25.00 each and we named it Topsy because we liked Topsy in Uncle Tom's Cabin!
Luverne and Sybil bought the ‘35 or ‘37 black Chevy coupe from a couple of Kimball gas station mechanics who brought the car to them thinking they needed transportation. Neither knew how to drive a stick shift; they learned by "trial and error". Eventually they drove to St. Cloud to get a driver’s license, at which point the examiner asked, "How did you get here?"
One summer Luverne and Sybil hitchhiked to Colorado to work in a pea factory. On the way a family picked them up and gave them room and board for one night. They worked about 3 weeks at the factory, plucking bad peas off of the conveyor, when Luverne fell ill with tonsillitis. By the time she recovered, she had missed so much work that she couldn’t return. So she and Sybil headed back to Minnesota. They got as far as Worthington, and down to their last bit of cash. The big decision at this point: whether to spend it on a motel room or on bus fare. They were so weary of hitchhiking, they opted for bus fare, which meant sleeping in the ditch on the side of the road that night and catching the bus in the morning.
Two Harbors, 1951-1952
They were good times in Kingston but after two years we decided to apply for teaching elsewhere. I went to Two Harbors and Sybil went to St. Louis Park. Luverne stayed in the home of "Ernie and Trey" with another teacher, Grace (who was much older). Ernie and Trey treated them very well, taking them on picnics, up to Grand Marais, and all about town.
During the summer before the move to Two Harbors, my sister Terri was born. Mom was very ill, not expected to live, but eventually regained her health. It was hard to leave with her not too well and I frequently came home on weekends. I only stayed one year at Two Harbors and then moved back to Crystal, where my parents now lived.
Crystal, Minnesota, 1952-1954
In 1952, Luverne was hired to teach at Fern Hill in St. Louis Park, and eventually joined Sybil at Eliot School in 1953.
One summer Luverne went to Waukegan WI to live with her Uncle Clifford and Aunt Vi. Clifford Johnson, a carpenter, had just finished work on a new restaurant called the Rustic Manor. Luverne could work there, stay with Vi and Clifford, and help with the care of their daughter Suzanne. While working at the Rustic Manor in Wisconsin, Luverne chatted with a customer named Fred Toll. Fred gave Luverne his nephew Lloyd’s phone number and suggests that she call him when she returns to Minneapolis. It takes 6 months, but Luverne finally does call. After a 6-month courtship, they married on August 14th, 1954 at Peace Lutheran Church in Robbinsdale, MN.
References
St. Louis Park, Minnesota 1954-1962
In Luverne’s words:
In 1954 I married Lloyd Toll and Sybil married Bill Daily. We were each other's maids of honor at the weddings. We continued to see them and almost every Saturday night we played cards. Even after the kids were born we'd all get together.
Lloyd and Luverne bought a house at 2709 Vernon Ave. in St. Louis Park, where they lived for about 7 years. Nancy, Laurie, Sharon, and David were born during the years on Vernon Ave. Luverne quit teaching when Nancy was born to be home with their fast-growing family.
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, 1962-2004
In Luverne’s words:
Nancy was born in May 1955, Laurie was born in 1957, Sharon in 1958, David in 1960 and Michelle in 1968. I loved being home with the kids, but we didn't have a car to take field trips etc. We did projects like making cookies, making things of buttons and anything we could think of. I did do some subbing and the neighbors baby sat David. Then after Michelle was 8 months old we decided I better go back full time.
1968-1990 St. Francis School District
In 1968 I got a job teaching in the St. Francis School District and stayed there 22 years. I taught at Cedar, St. Francis, and Bethel. While teaching I went to college nights and summers to get my 4-year degree. Lloyd would take the kids swimming while I sat under the tree at the beach and studied. We'd take a picnic along and hit many beaches. I liked teaching at St. Francis, but I missed hearing our kid's stories when they came home from school. The 22 years is almost a blur– the kids were involved in scouts, marching band, football, baton twirling, Little League, dance line–you name it– before you know it they are graduating– going to college and its just like a blur!
When everyone else graduated from college except Michelle, I went back to the U and got my Master's degree. Luverne was 54 when she achieved this milestone!
The Brooklyn Center neighborhood was filled with new families and close bonds developed between these families as the children grew up. Coyers, Fishers, Lehmans, Whitakkers, Rasmussens, Hauglies, Kripners, Tomlinsons, Oftedahls, Ranauas. The adults remained friends for the rest of their lives.
In 1990 after I retired Lloyd and I went to China, where David and Annie Claude were living at the time. It was a wonderful trip and every year after that we took a trip until some medical problems interfered! Some of the trips we took were 1) Texas, where some of the kids joined us 2) Arizona and Nevada (kids came too) 3) with Harriet and Jerry to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Padre Island 4) Bus trip to Niagara Falls and eastern states 5) Bus trip to Washington D.C. and middle States 6) Florida - Disneyworld with family 7) San Francisco with family 8) Germany and other European countries 9) Billings, Banff and Lake Louise 10) several tips to Las Vegas to see Bill and Sybil.
We did very little travel when we were both working. These trips were the greatest! When the kids were little we took mostly short trips to visit people we knew 1) Gordy and Lucille's cabin at Osakis, 2) Vi and Clifford in Waukegan 3) Toll's in Ripon 4) a longer tip to Ella's in Houston and 5) trip to Oregon to my dad's wedding to Evelyn after mom died 6) Arlette's in Gatzke 7) Disneyland with Michelle and Mary Ann.
Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, 2004
We delighted in our grandchildren - Jacob, Melissa, Mark, Matt, Emilie, Lydia, Molly, Emmett. In 2004 we sold our home and moved into a one-level town house. We are enjoying our life here. We'd like to take some more trips when my health returns to normal. Out of all of our 52 years of marriage the greatest reward we have is our children Nancy, Laurie, Sharon, David and Michelle. They have each made a life for any parent to be proud of. They are always there for us and we love them all dearly.
Blaine, Minnesota, 2016-present
After Lloyd passed away in Oct. 2015, Luverne soldiered on alone in the townhouse in Brooklyn Park. After a few months, however, her impaired mobility made it unreasonable for her to stay on her own. In March of 2016 she moved to the White Pine assisted living community in Blaine, MN.
