Mabel Theressa Johnson

Grygla, 1921-1926

After graduation, Lars and Thea packed up Mabel, Clifford, and Muriel and moved to Valley township near Grygla. Mabel went to school in Bemidji, and received a teaching certificate in about 1923. (Evelyn Sheldrew-Tollefson was one of her classmates.) She taught in a one-room school house in the country near Grygla.

This is a photo of Tilda Olson's home, where Mabel lived during her first year of teaching.

References

• Family Tree

Early Married Life, 1926-1942

Mabel met John Franzman Jr. in Grygla and they married on June 9, 1926. Her mother Thea was hospitalized in Fergus Falls at the time and was unable to attend the wedding. Much later, when John and Mabel went to get a copy of their marriage license, they found much to their surprise that the bride was listed as Muriel!

John worked as a lumberjack, and their early years were spent in Gheen, MN near what is now Voyager’s State Park. Mabel provided lunches for John and his fellow lumberjacks.

John and Mabel lived with John’s parents in Grygla, where both Adeline (1928) and Luverne (1930) were born.

They purchased land nearby during this time and according to Douglas, they were in the process of building a 2-story house when it burned down. Terri related a story about when John went out to the fields to work one day. Mabel would typically fix his lunch when he came in from work, but on this day she and the girls were having lunch at his parents' house. So when John went home for lunch, he fixed it himself. He stoked the fire very hot for his coffee, had lunch and returned to the fields to work. The hot fire must have ignited some other contents of the house, and before long the whole thing was ablaze. After the fire, Mabel searched through the basement rubble looking for family treasures. The house was replaced with a smaller 2-room house where many of their children were raised. Gene was born here in 1932 and Doug in 1934.

References

• Family Tree

Becker, MN 1942-1952

In 1942 the John & Mabel and the four kids moved to a larger home in Becker MN. Grandpa Lars N. Johnson joined them here. They intended to farm in Becker, but couldn't get the hang of working the sandy soil. John turned to silo-building, bringing son Euguene along to erect silos on farms in Minnesota. Eventually, John took a job in the Twin Cities working for Super Valu. He drove south and stayed with their friends the Garfields during the week and returned to Becker on the weekends.

Mabel cared for her father Lars until Carol was born in 1946, when it became too much to handle. They moved Grandpa Johnson to a nursing home in Sauk Center. When Grandpa Johnson lived with the Franzmans, any time Laura or Muriel would visit, he would leave the house. He was angry that Laura lived in Minneapolis and that Muriel had married a Catholic.

Terri was also born when Mabel and John lived in Becker. In July, 1951 after two days of labor (during which Mabel was delirious at times) she was taken by ambulance to Minneapolis where Terri finally joined the family.

References

• Family Tree

Crystal, Brooklyn Park MN 1953-1967

In about 1952, John and Mabel moved to a small house located on 35th Avenue in Crystal. Behind the house was a dense lilac hedge, and behind that was Noble Drugstore. John still worked at SuperValu and remained there until he retired. I remember the back yard lined with lilac bushes, and behind that a large drug store. When Lloyd and Luverne travelled to Las Vegas for a mini-vacation (1964-ish?), they left the kids with John and Mabel. We brought our backyard swimming pool and set it up their back yard to keep us occupied.

In 1961, John and Mabel moved to 8109 Noid Dr. in Brooklyn Park.

Mabel suffered a stroke in 1967. She came home and partially recovered. However, she suffered a second stroke shortly after returning home which proved fatal. She was 61 years old

References

• Family Tree