Chapter 36
Reunion In Illinois

In the summer of 1989 some of our family were hoping and planning to attend the Truman-Karleson family reunion in Illinois on June 25th. Carl and Margaret Hauglum wanted to go, preferably by car but didn't want to do the driving. Accordingly they asked "Freck" and Marcie to go with them, and Freck would drive. I wanted to go but easily realized that five adults would be too many traveling that far in warm weather. So I made arrangements to go by bus. There is no bus service in that direction except to go by Winnipeg. I went to Regina on the evening bus 7:30 to 10300 p.m. I left Regina with a ticket about 24 inches long at 12:00 midnight. I arrived in Winnipeg by morning with a long wait until 10:00 a.m., arriving in Minneapolis at 11:00 p.m. via Fargo, N.D. I made a change by traveling out of Minneapolis five hours sooner after talking to a bus driver who was just ready to leave for Des Moines, Iowa. it was daylight by the time we arrived in Des Moines, and we almost immediately left for Davenport, Iowa. I was three hours ahead of schedule on arrival in Davenport. I called Dwayne Truman at 1:00 p.m. He said. "You're ahead of time". He picked me up and took me to their house. Joanne, his wife, was working away from home. He took one look at me and asked if I'd appreciate a chance to rest for a couple hours. Yes, I was tired. He showed me to a bed and said he'd be back by 4:00 p.m. I was asleep immediately and woke up just when Dwayne and Joanne arrived home. I washed to freshen up a little, it was quite warm, about 85 degrees Fahrenheit, had a cold drink and were on our way to Aledo, Illinois about fifty miles south. There were small fields of corn when we were barely out of Davenport and Moline. It was about three to four feet tall I guessed. The crops and grass were much improved all the way ever since traveling from Grand Forks, N.D. They were in need of rain even in Iowa and Illinois, but nothing showed it that much. We arrived at Laura and Randy McGinnis about 6:00 p.m. Carl and Marg, Freck and Marcie were at Glen Truman's, 40 rods up the road. All six of them, came over for supper. There were thirteen adults and one little girl seven or eight years old for sup-per. I suppose you'd call it another Truman "wing ding".

Dwayne and Joanne left for home after 9:00 p.m. They had a trip scheduled to Wisconsin the next day to visit one of their family and wouldn't be at the reunion. They had a lot of travel ahead of them as they were going from Wisconsin to Minneapolis to pick up their daughter, Patti, then off to Salt Lake City to a wedding, then on to California to visit other family members. Dwayne is close to retirement and still does some maintenance work for "Alcoa Aluminum Co. of America". Joanne does secretarial work, for whom I am not sure, some kind of dairy processing I believe.

I arrived in Illinois on a Thursday and Melvin came home from hospital the next day. Some of us went down to greet him but didn't stay long. We didn't want to tire him. After all, we were all planning to go to the reunion the following Sunday. Carl and Margaret were staying at Glen and Beulah's, "Freck" and Marcie and I were staying at the McGinnis house. I'm sure their beds were all full yet I had a bed to myself. We went out to supper in groups, ten or twelve or more. One evening we were to New Boston and after supper we all went to see a boat go through the locks. It was a number of barges, fifteen or twenty, three wide and as long as the look would hold pushed by a tug boat. Another evening we were in Keithsburg right down close to the Mississippi River.

The week or ten days we spent in Illinois passed very quickly. Although Melvin was still having some health problems, he was much improved in the week we were there. His family helped him decide to see a doctor in Iowa City in the near future. There he had further treatment which also helped him through to an improved condition. They had some good showers of rain while we were there and I believe the corn grew over five inches those few days. Later in the summer after they had started harvest, they wrote that Randy's oats had yielded close to 100 bushels an acre. The oats were more than waist high when we were there. During the winter of 89-90 we received a newspaper clipping from Glen and Beulah listing the corn crop yields for most of Illinois. The 1989 crop in Mercer County was the lowest in Illinois.

Beulah is very good at keeping us informed of what goes on with family and the community. Their family, though small, has been much involved in church, school, hospital, employment at "Thedes" and 4H activities. Beulah has worked in school kitchens, hospital kitchens, as a doctor's receptionist and later on in a retired care home. Besides their farm work which included selling milk for several years, Glen worked at Thedes as a mechanic, repair man, setting up new equipment and all around trouble shooter, also in school maintenance. Laura-Jean, their daughter, married a farm raised boy, Randy McGinnis, and they have three daughters: Amy is 20 years, Abby, sixteen and Allie, nine. Laura has been a nurse, Doctor's receptionist and 4H leader. The girls have taken an active part in showing calves, chickens, garden products and you name it. Glen and Beulah have owned an 80 acre farm for forty years, some of it is rough although about 60 acres is cultivated. There are two farm yards on it with a gully between. A deep well supplies both houses. Randy does the farming on weekends besides working for Illinois Government Telephones. At one time a family could make a living on a small farm. Now, something like Saskatchewan farming, one requires two cash jobs to maintain a farm. Recently Laura with her daughters as part-time help, have opened a cafe in Aledo. It was not open yet when we were there in June, I think it opened in September. I sincerely hope it is an economic success and gives them a way to mix with the public and a change in every day living. Melvin and Marian's family of two sons are married and have small families, Larry and Caroline have two sons, Bruce 25 and Craig 21. Neil and Pamela one daughter two years old. Larry runs a feed business which has been reported previously. He also has land off the beaten track, back in the timber where they have a new hog feeding station. The land isn't the best, thin soil, crooked fields between timbered gullies but probably a bit more lower priced and a clean area to raise hogs. Neil does more farming up in the neighborhood of 800 acres, mostly his and Melvin's. Pamela teaches school with the help of child care. Again it appears to be a case of two incomes to properly balance one's budget.

At this point I am always very sorry to admit that we don't ever make it a part of our visit to Illinois to get around to visit Mama's family. One has to add to the days we are there to travel to where they live, not far, some of them are still in the Galesburg-Rapatee area, fifty miles at the most. Our "Johnson cousins" are all in the 60-80 year group and not any more mobile that we are. Some day soon, I hope we can do better by them.