Every father should have his day! It doesn’t matter if he has only one child, one on the way or a whole lot of kids. They have our greatest respect.
For some time now fathers have become more involved in raising their families. Somehow, they have become just as good a caretaker as mom. Mom no longer has to do all the work, for which she is thankful. Of course, dad’s main job is supporting his family, but that is only part of it.
I decided to look up some of my classmates from the Camden area, who I knew were fathers, to see how their families were doing.
First was Robert Williams, graduate of Patrick Henry in 1943. He and wife, Rita Jalma, who graduated in 1947, had seven children, two girls and five boys. Bob had lived at 4404 Queen Ave. N. while attending Henry and was the photographer for the school paper and the “Orator” year book. After graduation, he joined the army, serving in the 755th Field Artillery in Germany and the Battle of the Bulge. Later, he worked at Honeywell, as an Industrial Engineer.
Bob was the breadwinner in this large family while Rita was a stay at home mom, making sure that everything ran smoothly. Their success for raising kids was based on religion and education. The children’s primary education was at Catholic schools, before public high schools. They were encouraged to get a higher education, with five having college degrees, including one that became a Doctor of Medicine, and two completing trade schools. Family ties were stressed, along with participation in sports, music, clubs, etc. making this a well rounded family!
Next, I found Cletus Thayer and wife, Rosemary Weis, who also had seven children. If you can imagine, all the children were boys with one set of twins! Clete was a ‘43 grad of Henry and lived at 4030 Girard Ave. N. His wife graduated from Perham High.
The outstanding thing about this family is that all seven boys were, and still are, professional musicians. Cletus inspired his sons to love music by playing guitar around the house while they were growing up. And mom, who could also play the organ, played the piano for the family music sessions. Clete had turned down a professional singing career in the late ‘40s to help raise his family, trading that career for another, that of being his sons’ baseball coach. This was the second fun thing they did together and resulted in a house full of trophies.
After high school, Clete served in the Army Air Corps Command, as a Flight Radio Operator from 1943-1946. When WWII was over, he worked as a printing paper manager at several different paper companies, retiring in 1986. His sons continued their musical careers playing not only locally, but in L.A., Las Vegas, Texas and Chicago, with Dan playing on a U.S.O. tour to Germany. Sons Bobby, who plays bass and Billy, who plays drums, have been part of the Knightcrawler Band playing “melodic classic rock” at the Break Away Bar and Grill in Robbinsdale. Their style differs quite a bit from dad’s, who favors classic country stuff like Buck Owens. Music and baseball being their passion in life, made quite a tight bond for this family!
Another good-sized family was that of Clinton Benson and wife, Rosemary Murphy, also a 1943 Henry graduate. These two were found to have a family of eight children, three boys and five girls.
Clint’s profession was working for the Minneapolis Police Dept. for 28 years, retiring in January 1979 as a Lieutenant. He had also been in the Navy Reserve and retired from there in November 1977 as a Master Chief Petty Officer, serving a record breaking 31 years!
Clint was the disciplinarian in this family, very loving but also very strict. If the children got out of hand (which they seldom did) they had to talk to him, and they never wanted that! Keeping them in line was a goal for raising this large family. (You see, this way they didn’t have to call upon the “nanny” to come and straighten them out!)
Rosemary was a stay at home mom, always being there when the kids got home from school, with some of their favorite treats waiting for them as they came in the door. To this day the family is very close, enjoying each other’s company when they can, and getting together often for dinner at their parent’s home.
And last, I found Harry Boquist who was a 1942 Henry graduate, and wife Marie Legatt. Their family consisted of 12 children, six boys and six girls, with two of the girls being twins. Harry lived at 44th and Oliver when attending Henry. He had been a clarinet player in the Henry band and orchestra, and after graduating joined the Vem Wellington Band, playing both clarinet and alto sax. He traveled around the country with the band until joining the Air Corps in 1943. There he served as a weather observer\forecaster.
Leaving the Air Corps in 1946, he worked at several different jobs: Auto Gear Company in Minneapolis, Bord-Wamer Service Parts, Rosemount Engineering, and as an Administrative Assistant to an Administrative Scientist at the U of M. Aside from several other jobs, sometimes juggling four at a time, he still played in a band. I asked him how he managed with such a large family and he said, “You just do what you have to do.”
Some of the practical things they did were to share hand-me-downs, have a good system of time payments at Wards, and have a big old hearse to drive the children around. One of their special tricks involved meal time, where they lined up five of the youngest children on small stools and fed them production-line style. And going to mass on Sunday involved going in several shifts.
I was pleased to find out about these four different fathers and their families and know that they are good examples of the fine people living here. And even though they all have made many sacrifices, they say it was worth it!