Died: 18 Jan 1978 at Butterworth Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI
Father: John Decker SAWYER
Mother: Carrie Elizabeth RACE
Spouse: Mabel Lorraine GRUNNET
Children:
At right, Clifford in 1944 ===>>
|
Born: 19 Jan 1900 at Waupun, WI Died: 18 Jan 1978 at Butterworth Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI
Father: John Decker SAWYER Spouse: Mabel Lorraine GRUNNET
Children:
|
|
Clifford was almost named Benjamin Clifford, but a relative (not sure who?) asked his parents to change the name around to avoid confusion with related Benjamins. His siblings agreed that Clifford had been "spoiled" by his Aunts Libbie and Alice when he was growing up, since he was so much younger than the others. He was the "baby" of the family. He'd been sent to live with those Aunts in Mankato to attend school there (i.e. Waupun apparently didn't have a good school at that time).
In 1924, Clifford graduated from the University of MN with a B.S. in Business Administration. He served in WWI. Clifford and Mabel were married May 18, 1926 in Mankato, MN. The Certificate of Marriage states that they were married at Mankato, MN (Blue Earth County) in the presence of witnesses Mildred L and John T Ballard (sister and brother-in-law of Clifford), with William Elbert Sawyer (Clifford's brother) as presiding minister. Their wedding announcement indicates their first married address (as of June 10) was 518 Hickory Street in Mankato. He served in WWI. He lived in MN for years and worked as an insurance agent. He later transferred to Denver where he became the chief for 3 states in insurance. He served until 1965 when he retired and moved to MI to be near his children.
He lived in MN for years and worked as an insurance agent. Early in his career, he worked for Aetna. Shortly after his marriage, they moved to Chicago, where Clifford worked for his oldest brother, a medical doctor, collecting on past-due accounts (he had some interesting stories about that work). In the 1930s, he was an office manager of W.T. Koop Agency in St. Paul and sometime later had an office on the 24th floor of the Foshee Tower in downtown Minneapolis. In 1942 he and his family moved to Atlanta with a new employer, The American Auto Insurance Co., but left them a year later and took job with The Ohio Casualty Insurance Co. (1943). He spent a year at their headquarters in Hamilton, OH before being sent back to Minneapolis to manage their very small MN branch. It was a very sucessful branch under his leadership and grew many times over. In about 1957, they offered him the manager's spot in Denver of a brand new company branch started by buying out a big general agency. It grew very fast, covering three states, soon to be divided into two branch offices (one of them in Albuquerque). In 1964, he was offered and accepted an early retirement package, one year before his regular retirement date. He found retired life a bit boring and worked at Denver Public Library to fill the time. He even tried selling Fuller Brush products. After a couple of years he decided to join his sons and their families in MI. First a year in Holland, MI (he briefly worked at Dutch Village and lived in an apartment right by the railroad tracks, which he enjoyed; always loved the big city feel), then to Wyoming, a suburb of Grand Rapids. From there he and Mabel moved to Rest Haven, a retirement home in Grand Rapids (Union St and College?), his home at the time of his death (his dau-in-law Lois had volunteered there for years, associated w/Plymouth Brethren).
Here is an interesting story about Clifford's religious convictions. When Clifford was 40 years old, he and his family regularly attended a Methodist church in Minneapolis, MN. One Sunday morning, the minister delivered a very clear-cut, "gospel" or "old time religion" sermon. After the service, Clifford went up the the minister to congratulate him for giving that sermon. The minister apologized, feeling a little embarrassed. It was then that Clifford decided that his church had become too liberal and had gotten away from true religion. The family "church-hopped" for a time (which bothered Mabel, since she had enjoyed many friends and being in the choir of their old church) and eventually settled on an Evangelical Free church in the area.
Clifford always enjoyed talking and being with people and was a bit of a tease, which Mabel didn't always appreciate.
About 1909 or 1910, Clifford went on a train with his Dad to Chicago. By this time, they had moved to Mankato, MN. JDS had lost his leg in an accident. He was crippled, but he had built his own wooden leg which, as Jim understands, was way ahead of its time in terms of how it worked and operated. But he of course could no longer work the ground, work as a farmer or whatever, so they had moved to Mankato, living on Hickory Street there. They had gone down to Chicago on the train to pick out a popcorn stand, which probably Tom, who had a very successful medical practice in Chicago, would buy for them. Clifford had a lifelong love affair with Chicago [and cities generally] that probably began at that time, 1909 or 1910. He never forgot the experiences of spending perhaps a week or so in Chicago area looking at all the sights and picking out a popcorn stand. That stand, of course, a very deluxe looking thing I’m sure with glass windows and painted attractively, pulled by a horse, was there in Mankato, and every day Clifford would go up on the hillside above their house, where they had a horse, and take the horse down and hook it up to the wagon, pull the wagon down to a main part of Mankato, where his Dad [JDS] would sell popcorn, pop and process popcorn all day long. I remember stories being told of how my dad [Clifford] would carry the raw product that was used, the popping corn, in big bags, carry it for his Dad [JDS] to pop. And he would even walk to the edge of town and get aboard a train that made apparently a couple stops, one there and one farther along the line and, my Dad, probably 11 (10, 11, 12) years old, would ride the train selling popcorn and get off on the last stop and walk back to the popcorn stand.
Well, I could probably fill in some other little details from those days of my Dad’s growing up time [rats, never did], but I think I’ll just skip forward to 1918, when Dad graduated from High School in Mankato. On the eve of his graduation, his Dad, who had been in failing health, passed away. Of course, WWI was in progress [ended that Nov], so Dad went to Minneapolis and was inducted into the US Army. Training was to be a 90-day period, they called the young men ‘90-day wonders.’ I believe he trained on the campus of Hamlin University, which is in St. Paul, adjacent to Minneapolis, So, about the time the training was done, the war ended, in November of 1918 aka Armistice Day, a memorial for the ending of that war that was called ‘the war to end all wars,’ and as we all know, that didn’t happen! So Dad continued his education at the University of Minnesota, graduating in Business Administration. He worked, I’m not sure quite what order, I’d have to think that through, but he worked for Standard Oil, for Kresge, the five and dime store chain, he worked at the Bell Telephone Company there in Minneapolis. Of course, it was prior to this time, while a student at the University of Minnesota, that he had met my Mom [Mabel]. His fraternity that he belonged to, also included Ernest HANSEN, who was a first cousin of Mabel's, and who was a star basketball player on the University of Minnesota basketball team, I think he was the center. And I think Uncle Les GRUNNET [cousin Jim’s Dad] was also there at the University, probably in that same fraternity. They invited my Dad out to some of their family fun times out in Morningside, on old Sunnyside Avenue where the GRUNNET house was, where my Mom had lived when they moved there from Stewart, Minnesota. And my Dad met Mabel GRUNNET, who was a nurse graduate from Eitel Hospital, which was located in downtown Minneapolis right across the street from Loring Park. I think my brother Bob was born in that hospital. And my Mom probably graduated there in about 1923 or 24. Their courtship progressed, and they were engaged, and then in 1926 my grandmother Carrie (RACE) SAWYER was failing in health and Mabel went down to Mankato to help care for her, probably considered a private-duty nurse. And when in fact she passed away, all of the family members gathered, most of them from out east, from Chicago, to come for the funeral. And it was probably discussed and decided that why not have a wedding now, everybody is here [and] has travelled to this location, which wasn’t an easy thing in that day. So, on relatively short notice, they did have a wedding there in Mankato, on May 18, 1926. And I think that my Uncle Bert, no probably Uncle Will, both Methodist pastors, one of them probably performed the wedding ceremony.
Jim recalls that JDS was born in 1851 and died the night that his Dad (Clifford) in 1918 was graduating from high school. Cliff's mother, Carrie Race, died actually in 1926. As noted, her death is what actually brought about the date of my Jim's parents' wedding. They had been engaged to be married and all of them had gathered in Mankato, the brothers and her [Mabel's] Dad’s sister and families were all there for the funeral for Dad’s mother and they thought, well we’re all here, why don’t we tie the knot here. So they were married there at the occasion of his mother’s death in Mankato, MN. Both of those grandparents [JDS and Carrie (RACE) SAWYER] are buried in a cemetery in Mankato, up on the east side of town, Jim thinks its called Agency Hill, and Cliff owned some lots, Jim thinks, adjacent to where his parents were born. Whatever became of those lots, Jim doesn’t know.
Also from JCS dictaphone talks, Clifford's addresses were:
- 1900-10? Waupun, WI (til sent to Mankato for school)
- 1910?-16? Mankato, MN (school til drafted into WWI)
- years? military postings?
- 1920-4 graduated 1924 UoMN in Bus. Admin (Minneapolis, right?)
- 1924-6 apparently stayed in Minneapolis area, met Mabel
- 1926 m. Mabel, lived in Minneapolis (Mabel worked at Eitel Hospital downtown)
- 1926-9 apparently stayed in Minneapolis?
- 1929-31 Chicago, IL(cf JCS.html)
JCS recalled that he was born (12-4-29) at Mercy Hospital in Chicago, where his Clifford's oldest brother, Charles, worked as head surgeon. While he was growing up, the family moved many times, most often related to his father's job as manager at an insurance general agency, then branch manager of Ohio Casualty Insurance Company. The family had moved to Chicago so Cliff could help his older brother Charles Francis aka Uncle Tom to collect bills from some crusty characters e.g. mobsters, some connected with Al Capone, who was VERY active in Chicago at that time. JCS said Uncle Tom lived in a 3-story mansion in Chicago area. Also, Jim's birth at (Catholic) Mercy Hospital where Charles practiced was apparently free of charge, which may have also influenced their move there. JCS remembers other jobs Clifford had around this time were at IL Bell, Kresge, Standard Oil. But by 1933 Cliff was in the insurance business (JCS was 4yo, in kindergarten). Cliff had met the HANSON boys from Stewart, MN at the Univ of MN, and thru them he later met Mabel, also from Stewart. Both HANSON bros attended the U of MN and were star athletes (basketball?).
- 1931-3 5212 Vincent Ave, Minneapolis, MN (", SW part of city)
- 1933-5 4220 Alden Drive ('Morningside' neighborhood), Minneapolis, MN (")
This NW? neighborhood was only 3 or 4 blocks away from Mabel's parents' home on Sunnyside Avenue in Morningside, a small community, it had a little school at the bottom of the hill on Alden Drive, but JCS remembers that when he was old enough to go to school (which was when he wasn’t quite 5 i.e. Fall 1934), he had to be bussed to the Edina school (now an upscale suburb on the W side). It was several miles away and he'd be picked up the 1st semester in the morning and the 2nd semester in the afternoon. JCS said he could draw a floorplan of that home on Alden Drive, you'd go down the hill from their place and the 1st house below them was Mr. PARSONS’, who'd built their house and now rented it to them. Next to him were the HAGGARTY's and they had 2 children; a son who was a bit older than Jim's brother [Bob], Jimmy HAGGARTY, and a daughter who was younger than Jim by about a year whose name was Greta, and Greta was Jim's friend and they played together. Right below their house just a half block was the little school where Bob went and it was on the front piece of a peat bog, and the kids were always instructed: don’t get out in the peat bog. The peat bog sometimes had fires going in it, it would smolder, and it had areas where you could probably drop into a crevice or a crack, so we were warned: don’t walk into that area.
Jim remembers the area there by Alden Drive up the street, maybe half or two thirds of a block, were cousins of his Mom, Delphin and Elva LARSEN, lived with their daughter Jeannette [4244 Alden Dr, see pics below]. Across the street were the WAXELBAUM’s, next door going up the street towards Delphin and Elva’s house was a man who drove a gasoline truck, which was pretty small in those days. He remembers significant little things e.g. this was before refrigeration, before refrigerators, and they had an icebox, and they’d hang out a sign and if you put the 25 number up you'd get a 25 pound piece, and if you put 50 up you'd get a 50 pound piece. The iceman would come in a horsedrawn wagon with a kind of a rubber thing over the top of it to insulate the ice, and he’d chop off a piece and carry it in with his tongs to put in their icebox that kept the food cold. Also their bread was delivered by the 'bamby' man, who also had a horse and buggy, and would come maybe once or twice a week and Mom would buy bread from the bamby man. A real treat was to go out to a root beer stand in Edina where they could for 2 cents buy a little child’s portion of root beer and for a nickel a larger mug for the adults. They'd go over there in their ‘29 Model A Ford [2dr sedan, #1 in CBScars] and they'd put a little tray on the side of the front door and that was a big treat.
Speaking of cars, Jim remembers very well when they bought what was Dad’s (Clifford's) first purchase of a car, for something like $175, a used ‘29 Model A Ford (cf CBScars). This was probably in ‘34 when Dad bought this Model A from a Mr. DAHL, Jim remembers very well it being delivered to their home there and the first winter they had it, Dad put it up on blocks in the little garage out behind their house. Garages in those days were just basically a shelter, just a dirt floor. They brought the spoked wheels in and Dad painted them kind of a yellowish color during the winter months and the battery also came in because roads were not plowed, there was no such thing as salt on the roads, and Dad had quite a drive to go downtown in Minneapolis, so the car sat on blocks during the winter and he took the streetcar, which was only about 3 blocks away for him to catch. Also about that time [Sep 1933] Dad and Mom went to the Chicago World’s Fair (actually Chicago's 'Century of Progress' celebrating its 100th bday). They brought Jim back a [model] car, a very nice little car, it was green and it was a Chrysler Airflow, which was all the rage, they came out in about ‘33, ‘34, way ahead of their time, streamlined and that was Jim's pride and joy, that little green car (cf JCS for pic).
When Jim was in kindergarten i.e. late fall ‘34, before he'd turned 5, Mom would occasionally be gone when he got home from school because she was with a group called the Mother Singers, and she'd leave Jim something to eat and he'd take care of myself, which was probably a little unusual [at that time i.e. a latchkey kid]. On occasion, Mom would send him to the store, maybe 3 blocks away, with money to buy a loaf of bread or a pound of hamburger and he always got a penny for candy at the confectionary store, which was down by the meat market in the grocery store.
In Morningside, the family attended Lake Harriet Methodist Church. It was located right on the west side, just up the hill, probably less than a block, from Lake Harriet, a very lovely lake entirely encompassed by the city limits of Minneapolis. The pastor’s name was Henry LOUIS. A youngish man, perhaps 30-35 years old, a relatively young pastor. And we were quite faithful, Mom and Dad both sang in the choir, went to Sunday School class there. We went there during those 2 years that we lived on Alden Drive.
- 1935-7 3212 39th Ave, Minneapolis, MN (")
After a year or 2 at Alden Drive, the family moved into [downtown? E side] Minneapolis after Jim's kindergarten year to be closer to the office where Dad worked. He worked for a man named Bill KOOP, it was the W. T. KOOP insurance agency, and they'd moved their HQ from Minneapolis over to the Hamm building in downtown St. Paul, I think Hamm building named for Hamm brewery, which was a St. Paul brewery, and that was the building that Dad worked in and it resulted in their moving way over to the east side of Minneapolis to 3212 39th Avenue. While living here, Jim attended 1st and 2nd grade at the John A. JOHNSTON school, and right across from the school was a little Methodist church called Epworth Methodist Church. It probably didn’t seat over 50 or 60 people. Pastor Thomas B. SHORTS and family, he was the pastor, and the family went to that church quite faithfully. Jim remembers Mr. BLACKFORD sang in the choir, and Mom and Dad both sang in the choir and Dad used to say that Pastor SHORTS would get his message together probably on his way to church on a Sunday morning :-) because the primary contents of his typical message had to do with no alcohol and no tobacco, and these messages at Jim's tender age made a significant impact upon him. Jim's first grade teacher was Miss FLAVEN and second grade was Miss RICHARDSON and after second grade the family moved then over, oh not very many blocks, to 41st Avenue (instead of 39th Avenue).
It was when they lived on 39th Avenue that they bought their 1st electric refrigerator, a Cold Spot brand. It stood up on legs maybe 15" off the floor, they bought it at Sears Roebucks on the installment plan and it was a great, great marvel for their family, and that same refrigerator that they probably bought in ‘35 was still with them when Jim finished high school in 1947 and were living on Park Avenue. So those were exciting days.
It was in probably early ‘36 that Jim's Dad bought his 1st NEW car and many of Jim's recollections, because he seems to have been a natural car buff, are related to cars that the family bought, and even later in life the cars that he bought. His Dad bought this ‘35 Ford, gunmetal [gray], 2 door sedan for under $500, about the time that the ‘36’s were coming out [Sep?], and when they said standard, it meant that it only had one taillight, one sunvisor, one horn, no heater, but it had an 85 HP engine. It was the pride and joy of the family, especially Dad. And on one occasion on the way to Mankato Dad opened it up, and it went maybe 83 mph! Jim remembers another occasion with that Model A between St. Peter, MN and Mankato on the way down to visit Uncle John and Aunt Mildred [(SAWYER) BALLARD], Dad opened up that old Model A and it went 72 or 73 and it was really bouncing around and frightened Mom, but Dad really enjoyed that.
Jim remembers many social visits to extended family members, though probably not as many as his own family [Jim and Rosena and boys] later enjoyed. They'd go perhaps at Thanksgiving go down to Mankato (about 80 miles south and a little west of Minneapolis [in Blue Earth County, where the 'Little House' Ingalls lived]) down through Shakapi, Belplain, Leseur, St. Peter, Mankato, just a 2 lane highway that pretty much followed property lines, making 90 degree turns here and there. Early on, Uncle John and Aunt Mildred (SAWYER, my Dad’s sister) BALLARD lived on a farm out in Blue Earth County. It was a farm that had been in the John BALLARD family (he was the oldest son) and it had thick (1.5 feet) brick walls, no electricity, kerosene lanterns for light and there was a telephone line that came in with one of those little jobs [boxes] where you cranked it and it made a ring and I guess everybody could get on the party line. It was a beautiful area, and Jim's family would look forward to seeing cousin Johnny and they had a dog, a collie-shepherd mix, Tippy, who took a special shine to Dad [Cliff]. They had some nice times with John, Mildred and cousin John down there in Mankato.
And then on occasion, they'd drive almost straight west, again going through Shakapi, out to Stewart, MN, also maybe 75 miles from St. Louis Park or Minneapolis, wherever they were living. There they'd visit with mother’s [Mabel's] side of the family, there were the HANSON’s and LARSON’s (a little town of about 500 people). In Stewart was the general store that had much earlier been owned in part by my grandpa GRUNNET, where it was LARSON, HANSON and GRUNNET (maybe not in that order). It was fun to go there, they'd visit with cousins and every night the Flyer (train, Northwestern line?) came through and Dad would typically take the boys down and they'd put their ears to the track and for a long, long way away they could hear or feel the vibration of the track and then the train would go through going maybe 80-100 mph and snatch off a mailbag (from the station) and it was just kind of exciting. It was a little town, no street lights, no concrete walks, just boardwalks for sidewalks and something you would picture way back for maybe the turn of the century, it didn’t look much different. But the HANSON family, Mom’s cousins, lived there, and old Uncle Enewald HANSON, whenever there were big family gatherings they would go to a lake nearby and he’d swim across the lake and it was probably a mile or so wide. He had sons, one Harold HANSON, who was an all-American football player at the University of MN and Ernest HANSON, who was a fraternity brother of Dad’s [Cliff's, hmmm, connection in meeting Mabel?], who was the center on the U of M’s basketball team. So it was an interesting family there in Stewart, MN [much later, Jim's good friends the HOLMs had a store in Hutchinson, MN, not far N of Stewart. They later sold it and moved to AZ where they met Jim/Rosena at SBC, but shared the Stewart/Hutchinson connection].
They also got together sometimes with [Mabel's sis] Aunt Myrtle and Uncle Dave [LARSEN] at their house occasionally for special occasions or with Aunt Florence and Uncle Emil [also LARSEN, bros m. sisters], who also lived in the Country Club area of Edina, just a couple blocks away from where Myrtle and Dave lived.
Once the family moved to 3212 39th Ave, they found a little Methodist church around the corner, on 32nd Street between 38th and 37th Avenues, on the South side [of the road, Avenues apparently ran N-S, Streets E-W]. A small frame structure, probably didn’t seat more than 60, 75 people maybe at most in the sanctuary. A little balcony up above, a full basement used for dinners and ice cream socials and Sunday School. But also the lower floor, the basement, of the parsonage, which was located just about a block and a half west, on the corner of 32nd Street and 36th Avenue, was where Jim recalls attending Sunday School class. There was a Sunday School Superintendent, a nice lady named Mrs. VETTER. Clifford commented sometimes on how it seemed the pastor (Thomas B SHORTS) must've prepared his sermon on his way to church i.e. not much depth or content, but Jim remembers he was very strong against alcohol and tobacco, that was his key theme. Pastor SHORTS had 2 daughters, oldest named Enid, a very nice young lady. Mabel invited Enid and her [i.e. Mabel’s] 1rst cousin, Allen HANSEN, to Mabel's home for dinner, introduced them, and it budded into a real romance, in fact they were married and Allen and Enid were Pastor and wife for many years in the Methodist church also. Primarily smaller Methodist churches through the Midwest, and cousin Allen HANSEN died at about 95yo in a little community in N Minnesota. Clifford's family attended that little church, Epworth Methodist Church, for about 4 years. We actually moved N about 4 or 5 blocks, and a couple blocks E to 2752 41rst Avenue after 2 years, and lived there 2 years. But all through those 2 sets of residences, 4 years total, the family attended very faithfully that Epworth Methodist Church. And Clifford and Mabel both sang in the choir and were very active in church activities and events.
- 1937-9 2752 41st Ave, Minneapolis, MN (")
After Jim finished 2nd grade, the family moved over north of Lake St. to 2752 41st Avenue, right across the street from the Harriett Beecher STOWE portable school (K-4). There was a big Maple tree that Jim and bro Bob and their friends thoroughly enjoyed climbing in. And across the street from the playground, which was pretty much weeds, but even so a place to play and have fun.
In 1938 the family made a trip down to Waupun, WI (where Clifford's gdad BenC had staked a claim many years before) in the ‘29 Model A Ford to Dad’s Aunt Alice’s funeral, and back in those days, the roads were pretty much gravel, very little paved road between Minneapolis and Waupun, maybe 300+ miles, so it was a great big trip. That was when they carried home in the back seat of that Model A Ford the marble-top table that presently DWS/J have as the [posthumous] gift from Aunt Alice (d. 23 Apr 1938) to Jim's Dad (it has, of course, been in the family ever since). Uncle Tom (Charles) arrived with his family, who were Malcolm and Helen Jeane, and Don, in a great big long Packard that had folding seats between the front and back seat. The whole group went on a tour through a Carnation condensed milk factory as an outing, which was kind of a special thing at that time. Jim was 8 years old and it was an impressive time with the gathering of his Dad’s brothers and his sister Mildred and family members. That was the last time Jim visited Waupun, WI, which was kind of a long-time family hub. It was while living at 41st Ave in 1939 that the family also made a trip out to Yellowstone Park in that old ‘35 Ford, it was an exciting adventure for all (and likely sparked the later idea of Jim working there).
Jim remembers his friends from 41st Avenue; Jack PELBICKY who lived down the alley, and Harold WALSTROM, better known as Gondy (rhymes with SCONE-dee) who lived just across the street, south of the side street there on 41st, and his friend Wesley PETERSON, and the three of them got along well together. It was a rough neighborhood. There was a toughguy [bully] who lived up the alley whose name was Dutchy VANDERHEIDE, who really terrorized the neighborhood a bit. They were maybe 3 short blocks away from Bracket Park, which was quite a large Minneapolis Park, and in the winter time it was a great place to go ice skating. They would flood a huge area and they would play hockey and Jim and his friends would play all kinds of games, and Jim guesses they'd go over there in the morning and skate as long as they could during their Christmas vacation, maybe all day long using skates provided by Aunt Florence. And it was also while they lived there that Jim got his first bicycle, also from Aunt Florence, who would give Bob and him clothing and things such as skates and even bicycles that her 2 sons had pretty much outgrown out there where they lived in the Country Club area Edina.
When Jim was in 4th grade, his grandpa [Niels] GRUNNET died at age 66 in 1939. This was quite a shock to Jim and was only the 2nd funeral he'd attended (1rst = Alice). Grandpa was 1st generation from Denmark (i.e. 1st born in USA, his dad was b. Denmark), and Grandma’s [Laura LARSON] line was also Danish and she was actually born in Denmark. Grandpa had earlier been part of the general store there in Stewart, [but had] sold that interest. The family, with 6 children, had moved out to Idaho in 1910 and staked a claim and proved it out [by working the 160 acres of land] but came back to Stewart in 1914, where Mom (Mabel) in fact finished high school. They later moved to Minneapolis to Sunnyside Avenue in Morningside. Jim remembers that on his birthday, probably in 1934 when he turned 5, he got a dollar as he usually did for birthdays, and what he most wanted was a pair of rubber boots. Now Grandpa worked downtown on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis at a shoestore. This was depression time, jobs were hard to get, and Mom took little Jim downtown on the streetcar and they went to the store where Grandpa worked. Jim told him he’d really like to have a nice pair of rubber boots, and he went out and came back in with just the nicest pair of rubber boots Jim had ever seen and, after he tried them on and they were just right, they asked Grandpa how much they were and he said, well, how much do you have? When Jim said he had a dollar, Grandpa said that’s exactly what they cost! So Jim got just the nicest pair of rubber boots that were enjoyed for several years after that. That was from Grandpa GRUNNET, who was an easy-going, gentle sort of man who in the years that followed, as Jim's family moved into Minneapolis, he would come occasionally and spend time and fix leaky faucets and fix up things, he was very handy. Jim remembers that funeral, probably the 2nd funeral that he'd ever had gone to (Dad’s Aunt Alice in Waupun was the 1st). It was held in Minneapolis at Lakeview cemetery, a beautiful place located where 38th street ended heading west in those days. The name was because it had a view of Lakes Calhoun and Harriett. It was in the Chapel in the cemetery and Jim still remembers that they had a soloist who sang Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me ... and it made an impression on Jim as a 4th grader and of course the loss of a grandfather. Grandma [Laura LARSON] GRUNNET lived into her 80s. Jim remembers the family visiting her whenever they could, and that she spent her last days at a Methodist retirement home called Walker Home in Minneapolis. She was a very strong, solid and godly lady, who really prayed for her family and came from the old Danish Lutheran background, but there were alot of Methodist folks on that side of the family also [probably converted from Lutheran].
- 1939-42 4080 Xenwood Ave ('Brookside' neighborhood in St Louis Park suburb), Minneapolis, MN (")
Jim remembers this summer of 1939 as certainly a very significant one in the life of the SAWYER family. It was the eve of WWII, which started in September of that year (when the Nazi's invaded Poland 9/1). Grandpa GRUNNET had died in March. That summer the family travelled in their 1935 Ford west through South Dakota, the Black Hills, the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming and into Yellowstone Park. Many of the roads in those days were not paved, and sometimes it was 50 or 60 miles between towns, it was a real adventure for all of them. Later that summer another significant thing happened; for the first time the family purchased a home. They'd always rented prior to that time and it was a new home located in a community called Brookside, which was part of St. Louis Park, a western suburb of Minneapolis. The address there was 4080 Xenwood Avenue. [The builder] had another job and lived in the house while he was building it and when it was finished, put it on the market. They spent $4850 for this home. It was on a corner lot in this newly developing little community. It had an attached single garage, there were two bedrooms, an unfinished basement and an unfinished attic. Not long after they moved there they converted the heating system from coal to gas, gas-fired radiators, which were quite common in those days. Bob started right out in 7th grade, which was the Junior High and was located maybe 1.5 miles away, but Jim went to a great little school called Brookside (K-6), with a room for each grade, just a block away from home. And it was a new adventure [Jim says, chuckling] really, all new friends, and a newly developing neighborhood. During this time Clifford traded off that faithful old ‘35 Ford and bought a used ‘40 Buick Special. The others like it, but not Clifford, so not long after that he traded it in on a brand new 1941 Ford Special Deluxe (see CBScars).
When the family moved to St. Louis Park they went to a little Brookside Methodist Church for a short period of time, just a tiny little church. They later returned to Lake Harriett Methodist Church over by Lake Harriett, where they'd attended probably when they lived on Alden Drive. It was in that church that, on a Sunday morning [in 1940, when Clifford was 40yo], Pastor Henry LOUIS brought what we'd consider to be a real gospel message. Clifford went up afterwards, shook his hand and congratulated him on such a good message upon which he basically apologized, said he got kind of carried away and didn’t intend to get into something like that. Well, Jim says the blinders kind of fell off Dad’s eyes and he decided that if he had to apologize for that kind of a message the family must be in the wrong place. That isn’t really where he wanted to raise his family, bring his sons. So they left that church, somewhat to the dismay of Mom, who sang in the choir and really wasn’t too excited about leaving her friends and activities there. The family spent months searching and visiting various churches e.g. Presbyterian, Baptist, etc. and going to special meetings with evangelists and going out to Medicine Lake to hear special evangelistic people and heard some great ones. Down to 1st Covenant church in downtown Minneapolis, but finally settled in at Bethesda [EV] Free Church, way over at 26th Avenue and east 38th Street which was way east yet of where the family was living. Dad was excited about the men’s ministry, and Bob and Jim went with him, because he really wanted his boys to go with him and Mom didn’t go, somewhat because Dad didn’t use great ways to encourage her to go. But that was the family's church background, and it was at Bethesda that a wrestling team from Wheaton College came to Minneapolis to compete against the University of MN. And this was starting into the war years, probably early ‘41, and Dad was so impressed with that group of young men that he kind of put in the back of his mind that he would really like to have his sons go to that school sometime. And of course that was the seed planted for Bob and then Jim to later go to Wheaton College. On reflection, Jim says it had to be either early 1941 or the middle of 1944 since they moved to Atlanta, GA in May of 1941 and didn’t return to Minneapolis until the summer of 1944. He's not sure.
More on Brookside Methodist Church: it was led by Pastor WALKER. Just a little church, probably started out way out in the boonies like a country church and the little community was built up around it. Went there not too long before deciding apparently to drive back over to Lake Harriet Methodist, which was probably 6 to 8 miles from their Xenwood home. So the family returned there for several years, living in St. Louis Park about 3 years total, and probably the last 2 attending Lake Harriet Methodist Church again. And it was during that period that Clifford had his 'epiphany' that a change in church was needed [i.e. left mainline, joined evangelicalism]. So they left that church. Sadly, Mabel was very disappointed, and really never became faithful again in a church as she had been to the Lake Harriet Church, then the Epworth Methodist Church, then back again after a year in a little Brookside church, to the Lake Harriet church again. She had a nice voice and enjoyed being part of the choir [and apparently didn’t share Dad’s concern].
More on the church-search: it lasted ~6months and included 1rst Baptist Church in downtown Minneapolis, where W. W. RILEY, who was fairly well-known back in those days, was a pastor, big church. Then there were 2 Presbyterian churches, and quite a few others. Jim also remembers going to special services e.g. Mordecai HAM, the evangelist, whose pianist’s name was Raleigh TREADWAY, and he was holding special summer services at the building called The Arena, probably used for hockey in the wintertime in Minneapolis. Interestingly enough, Mordecai HAM was the person [to whom] Billy GRAHAM attributes his stepping forward and trusting Christ as his Savior at a service down in [probably near Ashville, NC, since Billy's family lived at Montreat near Black Mtn, just E of there]. So Mordecai HAM made a very big impression Clifford and both of his sons. Mabel never attended those. But ultimately Clifford chose Bethesda [Evangelical] Free Church, located at 26th Avenue and E 38th Street [in] south Minneapolis, Pastor H. B. PRINCE was the pastor, interesting man. Clifford was especially attracted there because he had a friend, Mr. HOLMES, an older man who had left Lake Harriet Methodist and become very involved at Bethesda Free Church. They called the men's ministry ‘The 20-Minute Men’ and this strong men’s group would go out and share their testimony, and do it in 20 minutes. That became a very significant place of worship, a long long drive from their address out in St. Louis Park. Another significant point about Bethesda is that its where, just before WWII, a wrestling team from a little college called Wheaton in Wheaton, IL, had the morning worship service. Sharp young men, and they were competing in wrestling at the University of Minnesota. Now whether it was an invitational or just a one-on-one team Jim wasn't sure. But Clifford was so impressed with these young men that he apparently stored away in the back of his mind that that’s where he'd like his sons to go someday. This was probably mid-1941, before Pearl Harbor, and before the family moved to Atlanta.
Following those two good years at Brookside School, Jim started Junior High, about 1.5 miles north of his home. Though a bus ride was available, Dad thought such things were for softies, so Bob and Jim walked to school. It could be very cold in the wintertime in that part of the country, in fact, Jim remembers 25-30 below zero days where they'd bundle themselves up and follow a railroad track that took them most of the way to school and just keep their heads down and their faces covered. They’d have ice forming on the scarves across their mouths, but probably that kind of exercise was good for them. Not long after that, in fact it was a Sunday in December, December 7th of 1941, Bob and Jim and Bob's friend Smitty, Bob SMITH was his real name, were playing Monopoly when, over the radio, they heard the 1st report of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The next day, they heard President FDR over the school Public Address system declaring war, declaring US entry into WWII. Not many months after that, Dad had taken a new job with the American Auto Insurance Company, at that time it was one of the most prominent auto insurers in the United States. The family would be moving to Atlanta, GA, where Dad would be training to take an office management position at one of their other branches around the country. They thought at that time that it might be in California. Incidentally, when the war came, [there were] threats of food shortages, rationing, etc. and of course it did come to that a bit later. In order to beat the hoarders, Dad bought a 100-pound bag of sugar and a 50-pound 'wheel' of cheese in a round, wooden container. And when he, not long after that, left to drive the 1941 Ford to Atlanta, he carried these commodities with him in the trunk of his car. Jim remembers that they moved just before Jim finished 7th grade, so he had to do the last month or so in Atlanta, which was tough since of course they were studying different materials and of course the southern culture was very different than up north too.
- 1942-3 st-no? Virginia Ave, Atlanta, GA (")
Jim mostly remembered jobs he had there and also the very different culture of the south, who viewed northerners as 'damn Yankees' (Jim would say 'yam dankees' to be polite :-) )!
Clifford had gone ahead and was working for the American Auto [insurance] Company in Atlanta, while Mabel and boys waited for the house to sell, then headed south by night train (the 'Hiawatha' to Chicago, then another S to Atlanta on the 'Southern RR'). It was early May when they arrived, unfortunately 1.5 months before their school year ended, which made it tough for them to finish in GA. They initially moved into an upstairs apartment at 975 North Highland NE. Bob was in 9th grade, Jim in 7th, and it was kind of a painful deal since they got down there just probably 6 weeks before the school year was done and had to take tests on materials that were very much different than what they'd experienced back in St. Louis Park. They visited a number of churches there too. There was an area called Druid Hills maybe 2 miles from where they lived, also a (probably Southern) Baptist church and a Methodist church, and they visited both. But they eventually found their way to a Christian Missionary Alliance [CMA] church, and of course they'd not been acquainted with that denomination before, but there was a little Alliance church and a pastor named Dr. David Ira FANT, an older gentleman. But apparently Clifford was taken up with the message, with the Missionary Alliance position on things [i.e. conservative], so for about a year they attended this [CMA] church. Also a pretty good drive from where they lived, maybe 6-7 miles. It was during that time they visited a special evangelistic series of meetings by a (Messianic) Jewish evangelist named Hyman APPLEMAN, a good Jewish name. Jim thinks it was at the Grant Park Baptist Church. That was in May of 1942, and it was at one of those services that Jim felt led to raise his hand and go forward and get some instruction related to inviting Jesus to be his Savior [age 12]. And Jim has often thought back and noted that date, it was Sa 30 May 1942.
- 1943-4 324 Ross Ave, Hamilton, OH (")
The family moved to Hamilton, OH, in summer 1943, after only about a year in Atlanta. Clifford had left the American Auto and gone with the Ohio Casualty Company because apparently the hope that he had of being transferred to be manager of his own branch with the American Auto had stalled, nothing was happening, so we went to Hamilton, OH (a relatively small town ~30mi N of Cincinnatti in S OH), the headquarters of the Ohio Casualty Insurance Company, where Dad would be trained to take the responsibility of one of their branches at a later time. So, its between 8th and 9th grade for Jim, he's 13 years old, in the first part of the summer, with some pressure from Dad to get a job, he rode his bike way out into the country and got a job with a farmer whose name was Karl STAHLHEBER. He also had a trucking business and was gone, so Jim got a job, room and board and 1 dollar a day pay working for his hired man, and that job entailed all kinds of things; driving a tractor, doing some really messy things like cleaning the henhouse out that hadn’t been cleaned for probably a year or two, and shoveling out a full basement of rotten potatos, all kinds of fun things. After about 5 weeks of this Jim came back into town and got a job at a place called Handy Pantry, a little deli that was only about a block away from where they lived at 324 Ross Avenue in Hamilton. It was owned by a bachelor alcoholic named Bill BOYD. He lived upstairs from the little store property and oftentimes didn’t get down from his apartment until middle of the morning, so Jim was 13 years old and would go over and open up the store and deal with the suppliers who came in with fresh bread and that kind of thing, and waited on customers until the owner would come down. He made 30 cents an hour and probably worked 50 to 60 hours a week for the rest of the summer. It was a good job in some ways but had some down sides. When school started that fall, and Jim entered 9th grade at Woodrow Wilson Junior High in Hamilton, OH, he got a better job. He worked at Beeler’s Drug Store after school, sometimes in the evening, sometimes weekends. He managed the ice cream and the soda side and obviously enjoyed the product himself. He got maybe 35 cents an hour for that job and it was a good job, but at the end of that school year [June 1943] the family moved back to Minneapolis, to 3441 Park Avenue South.
Jim supposes that because of their experiences in Atlanta, they found another little [CMA] church. And for those who don't know much about the Alliance church, it is and was a very solid, biblical church. Still is, still active. A[iden] W[ilson] Tozer (1897-1963 66yo) came from that persuasion. There were several others that were pretty significant writers and biblical scholars. So the family spent a year there and were quite active. And then the company transferred Clifford back to Minnesota. It was the 1rst management, office management, state office management position that would come available, he was being groomed for that. And Minneapolis became available and so back they went to Minneapolis. This time in the southern part of Minneapolis, Park Avenue South, 3441 South Park Avenue. But probably within about 4 miles of Bethesda Free Church. Probably the church location had some bearing on choosing the address they chose. Though it was just across the street and down the block from Park Avenue Methodist, which was a solid, old time Methodist church, where some relatives went e.g. cousin Jim GRUNNET and a number of Jim's friends from High School. But they went back to Bethesda Free Church that summer of 1944. Jim subsequently went to his 3 remaining years high school at Central High in south Minneapolis, finishing of course in 1947. Brother Bob just had his senior year, so he graduated from Central High in 1945 and, kind of interestingly, brother Bob wanted to go to the University of Minnesota with some of his best friends from Central High. That seemed to be where the activity and action was, but our Clifford hadn’t forgotten about that little college called Wheaton down in IL and his desire prevailed there, and so Bob in the Fall of 1945 left home and went away to college at Wheaton.
Jim wanted to say more about Bethesda church and its influence on him. The young people’s group, a fairly significant number of young folks, representing Roosevelt High School and Central High School and Minnehaha Academy, about his age, were involved at Bethesda Free Church. And they had a man who'd returned from the service, in fact 2 of them, Don ORTLUND, who was actually the younger brother of Ray C ORTLUND Sr who you’ve all heard of [m. Anne, longtime pastor of Lake Ave Congregational church in Pasadena, CA, also Mariner's Church in Newport Bch, CA, and fnd'd Renewal Ministries], and another man named Irv CARLSON, who'd grown up in Bethesda church. These 2 young men, coming out of WWII, were very much [spiritually] alive and desirous of honoring the Lord and so they headed up the high school youth group at Bethesda Free Church. And Jim recalled this as really one of the most significant times in his young life. Ken Peterson and Barb, who was Barb VERHIGH [Dutch] at that time, were part of that group. Jim said he could go down the line and mention many others that were very special to him and in fact continued to get news on via Ken and Barb e.g. Bob LINDGREN and Patty PANGBURN and Ginny BERNSON and Dale BJORKLUND, and different ones. A number of friends who were part of that group for 3 years. In fact Jim was part of that longer because he stayed in the area after finishing high school for another year [i.e. worked at Sears, joined Navy Reserves]. And so those folks were very significant in his young years.
- 1944-8 3441 Park Ave S (St Louis Pk suburb), Minneapolis, MN (")
After Jim and Bob finished 9th and 11th grades in Hamilton, the family moved back to Minneapolis. Interestingly, Jim remembered that school ended Tu 6 Jun 1944 aka D-Day, as the Allied armies stormed the beaches of Normandy. Back in MN there was again pressure [from Dad] to find a job and way south of where they lived, out at Chicago Avenue, there was a drugstore, HANEY’s Drug Store he thinks was the name of it, that was the next job, 40 cents an hour. He worked there, then at a STILLMAN’s Grocery Store, then at STRONG’s Bakery and, most significantly, after he'd gone into 10th grade at Central High School, probably late that [school] year [so Spr 1945], he got a job at Sears Roebuck, the big mail-order house, a big multi-story building, which was only about a mile from where they lived, working at the employee’s cafeteria. Turned out to be a great job. So that was that year [10th grade, ending June 1945]. Then the summer between junior and senior year in Central High in Minneapolis, Jim worked on construction, it paid a dollar, 15 cents an hour, and Jim thought it was, you know, a good conditioner for going out for fall football there at Central High. Jim was a common laborer and every morning a bricklayer would pick him up and they’d drive up to north Minneapolis and spent that summer building a big addition to a linseed mill, a [mal]odorous location sometimes. He’d carry 12-inch blocks and mix morter, they called it 'mud', for the masons, and it was probably a great conditioner, it was hard work. He thinks the blocks weighed 80 pounds a piece, one on each side, you’d walk across an opening, a basement opening, with one of those in each arm, and put it on a little pully deal and run it up to the masons.
Jim graduated from Central High School in Minneapolis on June 13th of 1947 and about 3 days later was on his way out to Yellowstone Park on an overnight train along with a number of other young guys primarilly, but girls too, from Minneapolis/St Paul area. He had a contract to work for the Yellowstone Park Company and his particular job took him to Canyon Lodge [in] about the middle of Yellowstone Park where he'd receive $90/month plus some tips and a round trip train fare if he finished the summer and finished his contract. It was a very interesting summer, he was a busboy there. He enjoyed many opportunities to get around the park and ... more details of that summer on another occasion, but at the end of the summer came back, had not been accepted at Wheaton, though he'd applied a month or two before high school graduation, so with [chuckling] strong urging from brother Bob he signed up to go to St. Paul Bible Institute, which was a long ways away, it was actually he thinks 3 or 4 streetcar rides, which later led him to buy his first car, which was a 1934 very much used Ford rumble seat Coupe (cf JCScars), and he’ll talk about that at another time, but he went to St Paul Bible Institute for a semester, and it was an interesting experience, a long commute, but didn’t really feel led that he'd be a pastor or a missionary which was basically what that school was in the process of training people to do. So at the end of the first semester he transferred to Bethel College, also a long commute, by that time, however, he had the old ‘34 Ford and drove to school to Bethel College. It was just a junior college at that time across from the state fair grounds in St. Paul [later called the Snelling Rd 'old' campus]. He took alot of math courses and during that time was actually being processed at the University of Minnesota with their counseling and testing department that finally culminated in their suggesting that he pre-enroll in their industrial engineering program. He did that. But because of, again, some strong urging from brother Bob and Dad, instead of going to University of MN that fall of ‘48 he went to Wheaton.
The next 4 years of Jim's life took him to Wheaton College, where he joined his brother, in fact lived down the hall in the dorm, called Unit 2, as it was later renamed. Pretty primitive by today’s standards, but that’s where he began my Wheaton College experience. He recalls that Clifford took his 2 sons out to the edge of town in Minneapolis, and they each had a suitcase carrying pretty much all of their worldly possessions, and they hitch-hiked down to Wheaton to start Jim's Freshman (Bob's Senior) year.
- 1948-51 ? maybe Clifford/Mabel stayed put, tho Jim left for Wheaton
- c1951-? 7104 Harriet Ave S, Richfield, MN (suburb on S edge of Minneapolis)
See below for pic of Bob/Lois by this then-new home c1951.
- ... other addresses in twin cities? moved to Denver c1957
- 1 1957-? 6213 E Valley View Drive, Littleton, CO (see pic below)
- 2 19xx-xx 2nd addr of ? St in Englewood, CO
- 3 19xx-64 3rd addr of Gaylord St near Denver Seminary (tt DBS), retired '65, moved to MI
I'm not sure of the order of these, but pic of #1 was taken in 1957, so seems to be 1st. Assuming they moved ever closer to the downtown region from outlying (SW) Littleton, the 2nd address would be Englewood (just S of downtown, DBS remembered they'd lived there, but didn't remember street address), then finally right into the downtown region at Gaylord Street.
In a conversation w/DBS on Mo 4 Jan 2015, I mentioned the pics I got recently from JCS (orig saved by RAS from Bob, see list below) and especially the one of their home at the corner on 6213 Valley View Drive in Littleton, CO, taken 1957 w/My Evans in distant background (so looking W). Looks like a new neighborhood w/dirt roads and not many homes yet (and no big trees). DBS said he's not familiar w/that home but remembers the one on Gaylord St by Denver University. Also that Clifford used to work in a bldg (now gone) on Speer St near downtown. DBS also mentioned the very bad 1965 flood in the region which k. many people. And later in 1976 another flood near Estes Pk k. 130k!
- 1964-70? addr? (1st and only Holland addr, by RR tracks, 1st MI addr)
When Clifford retired in 1964 (see below), they moved to Holland, MI (addr? N of US31, apt by RR tracks, he loved trains). He thought Holland was a nice little town and wanted to be near his sons and their families. His 'dream' was to read thru all his back-issues of 'National Geographic' and other reading, but he got bored w/that and later got a job at 'Dutch Village' in the area. But it wasn't a good job fit. He found the Holland Dutch culture to be kind of exclusive and clique-ish.
- 1970?-75? xx Taft St SE, Wyoming, MI
They moved from Holland to Wyoming, a suburb of GR (to an apt [1st or 2nd bldg?] on the W side of Taft St just S of 28th St, SPS drove by 4 Jul 2012, rats, should've taken a pic).
[hmmm, wasn't there another SE GR addr, Wyoming? red brick apt ...]
- others?
- 1975?-78 Rest Haven (727 Rehoboth NE unit #668, GR, MI 49505)
At Rest Haven (where Lois had worked for years, initially as a volunteer, til govt regs required her to be paid) Clifford/Mabel initially moved into a 1-bdrm apt (#?), where they lived til he d1978. He was home watchingn the Superbowl and got a little too worked up. When he felt strange, he quickly took his nitroglycerin (blood thinner), which he'd been told to do. But when it got worse, he was rushed to Butterworth Hospital (via Mabel? ambulance?). Clifford died in Grand Rapids, MI (Butterworth Hospital) 18 Jan 1978. He was home watching the Superbowl and got a little too worked up. It was later discovered that a blood vessel in his brain had burst. He had been told earlier to take nitroglycerin (blood thinner) if he felt strange, which he did. As it turned out, this prolonged the internal bleeding. he died a few days later at the hospital.
Mabel stayed til c1985? when her failing health forced her to move into the main bldg ('Faith/Hope' wing? she always dreaded the thot of living in the 'Love' wing for those requiring the most care).
Here's a list of Clifford's cars, since he was a car buff, like his son JCS.
Clifford's siblings were:
Charles Francis (1878-1953)
William Elbert (1880-1962)
Herbert Allen (1884-1967)
Mildred Lucinda (1890-1944)
(Clifford was the 5th and last child, 1900-1979)
We 3 Aug 2016, I searched Joel Stoen looking for info on him and his mtn home near Denver, and also Tiny Town near his home, which our fam visited when I was a kid. The funeral home site was http://www.drinkwinemortuary.com/notices/Lucile-Stoen. His son Tim was connected w/Jim Jones fiasco back in 1970s (cf article tucked in Colson's How Now bk).
Lucile V. Stoen [Dad/Mom called her 'Lu'], 95, a resident of Westminster [Denver? rest home], passed away January 17, 2008. Her maiden name was Lucile Verne Oliver. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 14, 1912. Her father, then in medical school, went on to become a successful family physician, assisted by Lu's mother as his consummate helpmate. Beloved of her family and friends, Lu Stoen is known by many as a "loving Christian prayer warrior." She survived her devoted husband, Joel A. Stoen, to whom she was married for 66 years. Joel passed away in June 2003 at the age of 93. Lu is survived by two sons, J. Thomas Stoen of Colorado Springs and Timothy Stoen of Mendocino, California. A third son, Jonathan D. Stoen, passed away in 1992. She is also survived by daughters-in-law, Marilyn and Kersti; and by grandchildren, Eric, Erin, Alex, Anne, Magali, Andi, Shannon, Amy, Jordan, Renee, and Eva; and she is survived by great grandchildren, Christopher, Jonathan, Mackenzie, Evelyn, Preston, Kienan, Cale, Emily, Grayson, and Henry, with three additional great grandchildren scheduled for arrival. She is also survived by the spouses of her grandchildren, Antonella, Missy, Brad, Laurent, Greg, Kevin, Pard, Chris, and Stefan. Lu Stoen graduated as a registered nurse from Mt. Sinai Hospital in Milwaukee. She had made plans to attend Moody Bible Institute to become a missionary until she met Joel in December 1936. Within days, each knew they were meant for each other, and they married on April 15, 1937. Within nine months and a day, they had their first child. They lived in Milwaukee, then Minneapolis [likely where they met Clifford], and, finally, in 1952, moved to Denver. Lu relished her role as a housewife, a mother, and a Bible class teacher. Her hobby was hospitality, her home being constantly filled with the happy sounds of visitors. She was an excellent cook, and her kitchen was her kingdom. She and Joel especially enjoyed traveling to France and Fiji, where their son Jonathan lived and worked as a geologist. "My mom and dad," says their son Tim, "adored each other. They were the happiest married couple I have ever encountered." Lucile Stoen will be greatly missed. A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, January 19th at 10:00 a.m. at Southern Gables Evangelical Free Church, 4001 S. Wadsworth, Littleton, Colorado.
Cliff retired in 1964 due to extreme high blood pressure and high cholestoral [this was apparently before adequate meds to control these]. He was branch manager of the Ohio Casualty Insurance Co. [and] had agents all through Colorado, part of Wyoming and Nebraska, all of New Mexico when we first moved there [i.e. to Denver, CO]. [Later] NM had its own branch office. He had around 500 agents - the business [was] processed in his office. There were 23 in his office, girls and men, and 4 claims attorneys, of which Joel STOEN was one. He [Cliff] took many trips over the mountains in all kinds of weather to call on agents. I went along for a few. Sometimes, if he went to NM, he'd be gone for 2 weeks. I stayed home to water the lawn and shrubbery every day (also to dig dandelions).
Despite Doris' date, Dad says he was there when this pic was taken, i.e. in 1951 when he drove his folks out east to visit various family members. Then stopped to visit Rosena in IN (Peru or Nappanee?) on the way back to MN. Bert had shrewdly used his Mill Rift ancestry to get this house there for his retirement (free?). Oddly, just as his Dad had lost his leg in an accident, so had Bert at around age 50, while sawing tree limbs after a storm had felled them i.e. sitting on a limb that was being sawed! Will and Bert had both attended Yale Divinity School and had bought into the theological modernism there that had come out of Germany ('the higher criticism' e.g. explaining away miracles, low view of Bible as just a collection of Jewish folk tales, etc.). Both were pastors in the Methodist church. Cliff was worried about their souls after his 1940 decision to leave the Methodist Church. Charles had done medical work for Chicago mafiosi and had employed Cliff to collect on bills to them (yikes)!
- 1957 Littleton home:
OK, JRS did some 'sleuthing' in Jul 2015 after I sent him this pic, and amazingly discovered that this neighborhood is only 5 minutes driving from his Geddes St. home! He assumes this pic was taken FROM the front yard of the home Clifford and Mabel bought there. JRS visited the area, used the view to ID the 3rd home from the left i.e. 2-car garage on right chimney and picture window at left (1st pic below Jul '15) and then other homes in the pic, which meant the one C/M bought (2nd pic) was 6116 E Valleyview St. (neighbor explained that in late '50s the numbers changed to 1 block lower). Both homes pictured were built in 1956 (JRS discovered from Zillow.com).
Cliff/Mabel's old home as of Jul 2015
Rexford Tugwell, one of the principal architects of FDR's New Deal, put it plainly some 30 years after the court had completed its [constitutional] revolution with U.S. v. Carolene Products Co. 1938. In a 1968 essay entitled Rewriting the Constitution, Tugwell declared: 'To the extent that these New Deal policies developed, they were tortured interpretations of a document [the US Constitution] intended to prevent them'.
- quoted by Roger Pilon at CATO website, cf br-pt
Sources:
- Family papers and stories.
- BN HT = History's Timeline, Barnes & Noble, 1981, own.
- CHME = Christian History Made Easy, Dr Timothy Paul Jones, Rose, 2005, own.
