I was born November 17, 1924 at Dr. Cranmer's Maternity Hospital at 42nd and Bryant Ave. N. and Webber Parkway. I lived with my mother and father at 3310 Lake Drive in Robbinsdale. When the Minneapolis Park Board bought all the land and houses from 44th and Fremont to Lowry Ave. and west to Robbinsdale, there were houses on both sides of the gravel road. The gravel road would eventually become Victory Memorial Drive. The park board bought the houses and sold them on bids and the buyers had to move them to a different location.
The house my mother and father bought was a block east of the Victory Flagpole, where the Lincoln statue is today. They moved it to its present location at 3310 Lake Drive. This was part of my grandfather Nordby's farm.
On June 22, 1926 my brother Keith was born. We played in the backyard and had a lot of wonderful toys like a sandbox, a two-wheel wooden cart, and a wooden swingset. My cousins, the Meyer girls, lived behind the Victory Flagpole. Sometimes my grandpa would bring them over to play at our house and sometimes he would take Keith and me over to their house.
In 1929 we moved to a new house at 4315 Emerson Ave. N. It was a nice house on a hill across from Camden Park. The park had a lake and a swimming pool. We swam in the pool almost every day in the summertime and sailed our small boats on the lake. In the winter we played hockey and skated with the girls. We lived in a neighborhood with kids that were our own age.
When I was 5 years old I started kindergarten at Hamilton Elementary school at 44th and Humboldt Ave. N. We walked with our friends from the neighborhood every school day.
In 1936, when I was 12 years old, Keith and I wanted bicycles. Our parents told us we should find a way to make money. So Keith and I started to deliver the daily Minneapolis Star newspaper. We were going to split a big route in our neighborhood.
On January 12, 1938 my father suddenly died at home from a massive stroke. He was buried in Crystal Lake Cemetery. My mother was devastated and so were Keith and I. This was the beginning of a very different life style than the one we were used to.
Six months after my father died, my mother sold the house and we moved to my grandparent's (Hussey's) house at 4225 Colfax Ave. N. The house had three bedrooms upstairs where I shared a room with my brother and uncle Neil Hussey. Things worked out well that way and my grandparents were wonderful. Keith and I helped them with the housework as much as we could.
In the spring of 1940 my mother bought a tax-forfeited lot at 4210 Emerson N. and had a two-bedroom house built. Keith and I did all the work around the house. On Saturday mornings we had to do the laundry before we could go out and play. Keith and I still had the daily and Sunday paper routes.
After Hamilton school I went to Patrick Henry and graduated in 1943. I played baseball, football and lettered in hockey. I played cornet in the school band and orchestra for four years and marched in the first Aquatennial Parade. I was going around with Carol Hallberg, a cute little Swedish girl. We shared a locker down by the band room. This was a big deal at the time.
Carol lived on 38th and Vincent Ave. N. It was about two miles from my house and I would walk over to see her. In the winter we skated at Camden Park. We spent many hours together. I think we hoped back then that some day we would marry.
The biggest roadblock was WWII and the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. We were at a movie matinee, and they stopped the movie and made the announcement of what happened at Pearl Harbor. We were stunned, but didn't think of the effect it would have on our lives. Strangely enough, I felt at that time that my youth was nearly over, and I would have to do my part for my country by going into the service, which I did close to graduation time!
Note: Guest writer Dick Nordby grew up in Camden and went into the Navy near the end of his senior year in high school. When WWII was over, he returned and married his high school sweetheart Carol Hallberg. Their first home was a duplex at 42nd and Lyndale N. He had many occupations; mechanic at the Greyhound bus depot, owner of Shell and Phillips service stations, owner of a transmission shop and owner of a campground up north.
Dick was a member of the Civil Defense Fire Rescue unit at the Brooklyn Center Fire Dept., and after mastering the Advanced First Aid Course, became a Professional Rescue Instructor for Helicopter Ambulance Emergencies, teaching classes all over the state. He also flew as a medic for the State of Minnesota Helicopter Program and after 18 months of flying, was asked to work for the Dept. of Emergency Services at the Minnesota Dept. of Health. He was the first ambulance inspector in the entire state. Dick and Carol are parents of four children.
P.S. If anyone would like to be a guest writer for this column, email Wharrison5@cox.net. Barbara Meyer Bistodeau.