Erling Rolfsrud and Leonard Neilson shared a cup of coffee in the summer of 1976 in Forada, Minnesota. Leonard loved to fish Maple Lake and many times he vacationed with his family there at Lorraine's Cabins. They would catch and clean huge batches of sunnies and crappies, then bring them back in frozen milk cartons for their eager neighbors in St. Paul. Stan was serious enough about Kathleen at the time to get parents involved. So here they are, in the only photograph we have of them together.Leonard is remembered for the poetry he wrote to his beloved Florence; Erling is remembered for the prose he wrote for his beloved North Dakotans. We don't know if the subject here was writing, but it probably wasn't fishing because Erling never dropped a line, as far as we know.
Leonard died the year after this picture was taken; Erling died in 1994. They are remembered fondly.
Happy Fathers Day to all you Dads, and think about how you'd like to be remembered. See Lorlee's post below.
Our girls will come to visit today. It will be a hard day for them, they lost their father in May; we'll remember the many happy times.
