|
HOME
> History > History
Club > Viola Larson - Memories of Annandale
Memories of Annandale
Presentation to the Annandale History
Club
2001
Viola Larson
In 1942 Viola Willett from
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, became a student in the three-year Christian Education program at St. Paul
Bible Institute (now Crown
College
in St. Bonifacius). She met Wallace
Larson (1924-1986) at the school. He
was a young man from Sandstone, Minnesota, who started preaching when he was 17. Up
until age 14, Wallace Larson stuttered. A
teacher recognized his potential and worked with him.
In January 1944 Rev. Wallace Larson became the first full-time pastor at
Annandale Evangelical Free Church in Annandale. He was their pastor for the next
seven years. Although only 19 in 1944, Pastor Larson was a constant student of
the Bible and spoke the Swedish language fluently.
He was at Annandale Evangelical Free Church 1 1/2
years before he and
Viola were married. During that time
he rented a room from Mrs. Kingsted, who also rented to teachers.
Walter Lundeen was chairman of Annandale Evangelical Free
Church and also mayor of Annandale
at the time. The church leased the
former Advent Christian Church for $5 a month. Walter
Lundeen and his family rented the Advent parsonage next door to the church for
$20 a month. In 1946 Annandale
Evangelical Free Church purchased the church and the parsonage. The
church building is now Camelot Apartments on the northwest corner of Chestnut
and Maple. In 1988 the Annandale Evangelical Free congregation built a new
church east of town on Highway 55.
Annandale
was a very patriotic town. Most
everyone came to the patriotic holiday events.
On November 11, 1944 (Veterans Day) a state senator had been invited
to speak at the town hall. At the
last minute, the senator cancelled because of illness. Mr.
Lundman, a jeweler in Annandale, saw Pastor Larson walk by his store and rushed out to explain his dilemma.
Pastor Larson said that he would give a patriotic speech. Pastor Larson
was offered the $50 honorarium that would have been paid to the senator. Pastor
Larson refused saying he was part of the community and appreciated the
opportunity to speak to people who didn't come to the Evangelical Free Church
(although he could have used the money). Later
when Pastor Larson went to jewelry store to pick out a wedding ring for Viola,
Mr. Lundman insisted he buy an engagement ring as well, at cost with payments
"when you can." At that time, it
was customary for the bride to have a string of pearls, and Mrs. Lundman advised
Pastor Larson to also purchase pearls for Viola.
The wedding took place May 30, 1945, in
Sandstone at the Larson family church. Gas
rationing was on so for Viola's parents everything had to be done in one trip.
Viola's parents and other family members took the train from Milwaukee. On May 26th Viola was
the speaker for the Christian Education Department Class Night, her
graduation from St. Paul Bible Institute was on the 28th, and the
wedding was on May 30th. Wedding
guests from
Annandale
were Mr. and Mrs. Walter Lundeen, Mrs. Carl Lundeen and Grace, Mrs. J. F.
Lundeen and Garnet, Mrs. Louis Larson, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Brown and Doris, Carl
and Hannah Brown, Mrs. Ben Mann, Misses Marie Johnson and Agnes Lundeen, Victor
Lundeen and Roy.
The Larsons rented a cute little furnished house in Annandale
from Mrs. Scheyer on Cherry Street
for $25 a month. Walter Lundeen's
elderly mother-in-law lived with the Lundeens at the parsonage, and it was
deemed best not to move her at that time. Later
Walter Lundeen purchased the house the Larsons rented, and the Larsons moved
into the unfurnished parsonage. One
of their first purchases was a table made by inmates at the St. Cloud
prison. That table is now in the kitchen at Albion Evangelical Free Church.
William Schnackenberg (1886-1967) and his wife,
Marie (c.1886-1974), owned a Fairway Foods grocery store on west side of Oak
from the 1930s to about the mid-1950s. The
Schnackenbergs and their children, Lyle, Evelyn, Muriel and Betty, lived above
the store. (William and Marie
Schnackenberg's son, Lyle Schnackenberg (c.1910-1994), later
owned the Candy Castle next door to Fairway Foods, and Lyle's son, Doug, ran
the candy store after Lyle moved to Flathead, Montana.)
As newlyweds, Pastor Wallace and Viola Larson needed everything including
soap for washing clothes and groceries. The Schnackenbergs surprised the Larsons
by giving them their first order of groceries free of charge, including all the
spices Viola needed.
Friends of Pastor Wallace Larson from Sandstone were
members of a church in Fairmont,
Minnesota. They said that the church was
dying and they thought that Pastor Larson could help save it.
Viola said that the congregation had stayed with the Swedish language too
long. The Larsons moved to Fairmont
in February of 1951 and Pastor Larson served that church 3 years.
It is now one of the largest churches in
Fairmont. For nine years, 1954 to 1963,
Pastor Larson served the Arthur Evangelical Free Church in
Arthur,
Iowa. In 1963 they moved to Rapid
City,
South Dakota, to serve the Evangelical Free Church there for the next five years.
They enjoyed the beautiful winter weather in Rapid City. They had many visitors because
Rapid City
is a popular vacation area. Next
Pastor Larson was called to Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Rochester
where he served five years (1968-1973). Many
of their visitors in Rochester
were going to the Mayo Clinic or had loved ones in the hospital.
Pastor Larson developed health problems while living in
Rochester and the doctor recommended a smaller church, so they moved to an
independent church northeast of Hinckley, Minnesota, and served there for 2
years. Pastor Larson had known the people at this church all his life.
A vacancy developed at Albion Evangelical Free Church just ten miles
southwest of his first pastorate in Annandale. The church at Albion was organized
in 1882, and the Albion
congregation helped start Annandale Evangelical Free Church in 1923. The
Albion and Annandale
Free
Churches
shared a pastor for 21 years. (See
the
History of Annandale Evangelical Free Church summary
presented to the
Annandale History Club in 2000.)
In June 1976 Pastor Larson was called to Albion Evangelical
Free Church and served there until his death December 21, 1986. Pastor
Larson had preached the Sunday before, and his death came just 1 hour before
the Christmas Sunday School program. Viola
is still a member of the Albion
Church. Viola said,
"Wallace was used of
God in a remarkable way. All the
churches grew. We worked as a team.
I am so thankful for the privilege of being his wife.
He truly was a man of God."
The Larsons are parents of three children.
A son was born while in
Annandale
(delivered by Dr. Bendix at
St. Cloud
Hospital
), another son in
Fairmont
and a daughter was born in Arthur,
Iowa.
The following are more of Viola's memories of Annandale.
Dr. N. C. Smith (1876-1964) was a dentist in Annandale
with an office above Prahl's Pharmacy. He
was from Fair Haven and a 1907 graduate of the University of Minnesota Dental
School. He was considered to be very
slow at doing dental work. When
Carroll Lundeen, Carl and Ruth Lundeen's son, was on a troop ship going to
Europe
to fight in WWII, a dentist on board checked his teeth.
The dentist called in all the other dentists to look at Lundeen's
teeth. They looked in his mouth for
such a long time that Carroll Lundeen wondered what was wrong.
Then the dentist said,
"I
have never seen such perfect work." When
Dr. Smith was told about it, he cried. Dr.
Smith had been criticized for his slow pace doing dental work, and he said that
it was nice to get a compliment. Dr.
Nat Cyrus Smith died in October 1964 at the age of 89.
On a Wednesday night in November 1945 there
was a prayer meeting and surprise house warming at Walter and Ethel Lundeen's
home. It was common to have week-day
meetings in the homes so the church didn't have to be heated.
Viola had baked and decorated Christmas cookies and left them all over
the counters and table. After the
meeting, it was announced that everyone would go to the parsonage for coffee.
In those days no one locked doors, and the serving committee was already
at the parsonage. They put all the
cookies into kettles. Eva Marie
Lundeen, daughter of Walter and Ethel Lundeen, got chicken pox shortly after the
meeting. Viola was the only other
one at the prayer meeting who got the chicken pox, and she had a very bad case.
Dr. Alfred Ridgway treated Viola. Dr.
Ridgway (1862-1952) was 83 and still working.
He charged Viola for only the initial visit although he came to see her
three times. On Viola's next visit
to his office, Dr. Ridgway didn't recognize her without the chicken pox.
In 1945 the Larsons had a 1934 Ford car.
Cars back then were very drafty and heaters weren't very good.
Dr. Ridgway advised Viola not to take a planned trip to Sandstone at
Christmas. Dr. Ridgway said that he
feared that she would get pneumonia after being weakened by the chicken pox.
Dr. George H. Norris (1870-1956) was a
resident of Annandale
for over 50 years, having started his practice there in 1904.
He was a brilliant doctor but not as busy as Dr. Ridgway and Dr. Bendix,
because he was thought to have a very curt manner.
Dr. Norris was semi-retired but still treated patients at his home which
was near the Evangelical Free Church. Rev.
Larson was Dr. Norris's patient. Dr.
Norris started attending Sunday night services at Annandale Evangelical Free
Church.
Viola was often asked if Dr. Ridgway delivered her.
She did meet another Viola who had been delivered by Dr. Ridgway.
Viola was Dr. Ridgway's wife's name.
Sunday church services weren't too early on
Sunday because farmers needed to milk cows. Sunday
activities included Sunday school, Sunday worship services, and Sunday night
services. There were also meetings on
Wednesday nights. Pastor Larson
always developed his own sermons and never used what he called canned
sermons.
In the 1940s the town of Annandale
was busy until midnight on Saturday nights.
One Saturday night the town police officer called and asked if he could
bring a young man over who was having marital problems.
He brought him by and as the officer was leaving he said to the man,
"You get right with the Lord before you leave here."
From 1940 to 1955, Bert H. Thayer (1887-1966)
and his son, Gordon, owned and operated a department store in Annandale
located on the northwest corner of Oak
and Chestnut. Thayer's Department Store
was Viola's favorite store. She admired a red coat on a mannequin in the
window. It was a tuxedo coat, red
with black fur around the neck and down the front.
Her husband bought the coat for Viola after it was marked down.
Next door to the Advocate office was a former bank that
became the funeral home (now a lawyer's office).
On a Monday morning in 1947, while on a rare visit to Sandstone, Pastor
Larson got a call to return for a funeral. When
they got back to Annandale, Pastor Larson went to the funeral home to talk to the funeral director, Tubber
Dunton. Viola went to the Post
Office, which was across from the funeral home.
The man that they thought had died opened the Post Office door for Viola
and gave her quite a shock. It was
the man's son who had died (they had the same name).
Viola said that Edwin E. Dunton (1895-1976) was a very dignified and
handsome man and she didn't know how he got the nickname Tubber.
Dunton Funeral Home operated until 1960 when it was sold to David
"Dub" Ferrell. The undertaking
business had been started by Tubber Dunton's father, Edwin H. Dunton
(1854-1943), in the back of his hardware store.
Art Dingmann purchased the funeral home from Ferrell in 1980, and it is
now called Dingmann Funeral Care.
On one of the Larson's visits to
Annandale
to stay at the Brown's cottage on Clearwater
Lake, Pastor Larson dropped Viola off to visit
with Martha Hawkinson. He came back
about two hours later. He had walked
in the cemetery and stopped at graves of people for whom he conducted funeral
services and prayed for the families that were left.
Note: Birth and
death dates added by Secretary, Annandale History Club
Summary by Secretary
Annandale
History Club
| 