Dear Jennifer,We are happy to hear that you made it to Rapid City to be with Nancy and Pat as you journey toward Minnesota on your way to Keene, North Dakota, for the July 7 Rolfsrud Reunion. The excitement builds!
Meanwhile, there's lots for you to do and see in Rapid City and your hosts are just the ones to show you. We really enjoyed our visit to the Crazy Horse monument last time we were there. Let's see. Nancy Cleary is my mother's, brother's grandchild. Got that?
(Photo at right: In 2005, Pat and Nancy escorted Stan, Sosie, Zach and her nephew for a nostril-side view of Crazy Horse.)
The most significant event
Last time I wrote you, we discussed my Grandma and Grandpa's arrival in the new country just over 100 years ago. You can't talk long about them without talking about the most significant event to shape their lives and the lives of their descendents.
It was Dec. 5, 1905, when the coal mine fell and crushed Grandpa's legs. Nothing was ever the same after that.
My cousin, Rosalie Veeder, tells it best:
"Since North Dakota didn't have many trees available to burn for fuel, coal was used to heat the homes as it was plentiful and more efficient. Nils and Pete Tanberg drove to a mine east of Keene to get coal.
"Nils and Pete had dug into the bank to get at the coal when the 'roof' collapsed, burying Pete almost completely. Pete yelled to Nils, 'Help me!' But Nils was buried in coal up to his chest himself. A pick axe and crow bar wedged against Nils' leg, breaking it and putting his hip out of joint."
Here's Grandma Rebekka's description of what happened in her words: (Remember that Norwegian was her native language. She taught herself English.)
The most significant event
Last time I wrote you, we discussed my Grandma and Grandpa's arrival in the new country just over 100 years ago. You can't talk long about them without talking about the most significant event to shape their lives and the lives of their descendents.
It was Dec. 5, 1905, when the coal mine fell and crushed Grandpa's legs. Nothing was ever the same after that.
My cousin, Rosalie Veeder, tells it best:
"Since North Dakota didn't have many trees available to burn for fuel, coal was used to heat the homes as it was plentiful and more efficient. Nils and Pete Tanberg drove to a mine east of Keene to get coal.
"Nils and Pete had dug into the bank to get at the coal when the 'roof' collapsed, burying Pete almost completely. Pete yelled to Nils, 'Help me!' But Nils was buried in coal up to his chest himself. A pick axe and crow bar wedged against Nils' leg, breaking it and putting his hip out of joint."
Here's Grandma Rebekka's description of what happened in her words: (Remember that Norwegian was her native language. She taught herself English.)
"Late in the fall my husband was hurt in the Coalmine and his friend Pete Tanberg was killed. Got his leg brocke and his hip out of shape. We had to go to Ray for treatment. Dr. Scoat was the practicing doctor at that time, instead of setting the hip in it's plase, he pulled it out of jont intirely and told us it was O.K. That left my husband a crippled man for the rest of his life. I am not telling this to make Dr. Scoat go down in History as a poor doctor, but am telling it to show that was one of the payments we paid in full measure for our free homestead land to Oncel Sam."
Rosalie continues: "A splint was put on Nils' leg and he was taken to Rebekka's homestead. Later Nils was transported about 40 miles north [by bumpy horse-drawn wagon] where, under the supervision of the doctor, Rebekka, pregnant with Halvor, cared for him in a leanto attached to the back of a saloon. Nils gradually began to recover and was able to return to his homestead in late winter.
One leg shorter
"Since his hip had not been properly fixed, one leg was always much shorter than the other so he wore a built-up shoe. He always needed a cane to get around and he was not able to do many of the farming tasks that he once did. Since he could ride in a wagon and he knew the country quite well, Grandpa became a land locator. He would locate land that hadn't been claimed yet for would-be homesteaders. They would pay him a few dollars for his help or work on his farm for payment. Clear Creek Cemetery
"Nils never got over the accident and his health deteriorated. Often he was short of breath and his heart was probably strained as well. Sometimes he would faint when he overexerted himself. During the summer of 1920, his health rapidly deterioriated until he died on July 5, 1920. He was buried in the Clear Creek cemetery near the homestead. He was 41 years old."
(Photo: Nils Rolfsrud was probably in pain when this photo was taken in 1906, one year after he was buried to his chest in coal. He would live just another 14 years.)
+++++
Modern medicine
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Modern medicine
Nils died when your Grandpa Erling was just eight. So little time for little Erling to learn about being a father from this rugged man wracked by pain. My siblings like to say that Dad always took a special view toward me. Maybe so. I was born on July 5.
During the past year, our immediate family has experienced a good deal of physical pain. You suffered from an accident in the ambulance and were in pain for months, Solveig had a bike accident and still experiences pain from it, Grandma Beverly broke her leg and has been in great pain at Knute, Briggs and Bill suffered from their car accident.
As you know, pain can be a very difficult and constant companion. Fortunately, we have drugs to try to help mitigate, ease, and deal with the pain.
I think of my Grandfather now and then, and the recent family experiences have helped me appreciate the suffering and pain Nils must have endured over so many years without benefit of modern medicine. Yet he was somehow able to overcome it enough to make a life for himself and others.
It is that spirit and strength that we celebrate today as we wonder what it must have been like to have accomplished what our Grandparents did, under the most difficult and tragic of circumstances.
Be safe and hurry home, Jennifer.
As you know, pain can be a very difficult and constant companion. Fortunately, we have drugs to try to help mitigate, ease, and deal with the pain.
I think of my Grandfather now and then, and the recent family experiences have helped me appreciate the suffering and pain Nils must have endured over so many years without benefit of modern medicine. Yet he was somehow able to overcome it enough to make a life for himself and others.
It is that spirit and strength that we celebrate today as we wonder what it must have been like to have accomplished what our Grandparents did, under the most difficult and tragic of circumstances.
Be safe and hurry home, Jennifer.
Much love, your stepdad,
Stan
