Random Photo -- November 5, 2021

November 5, 2021, wearing my new O. C. Taylor Elementary School t-shirt -- the school where Sophia attends school.

Map To The Oksol Farm South Of Newell, SD -- October 6, 2021

Drawn during one of my trips back to Williston, probably around 2017?

1909 -- 1951: Manson, Birthplace Of Edna To Ruth WIth Baby Bruce

On August 12, 2021, I received a two-page typewritten letter from "Margaret Ann" and six photographs, which completed the mosaic I had started some time ago, trying to piece Ruth's life together. 

Below, the original photo plus a duplicate with a description. Six original photos/twelve photographs altogether. The original photos are now in a binder with Bruce.

1909: home in Manson, where Ruth's "Aunt Edna" was born.

 

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1917: photograph of Reka. At age eighteen, this was most likely a graduation photograph.

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1938: Margaret Ann's baptism; she was born one month after her father was killed in a farming accident in 1938. Her brother, Gil, is standing to his mother's right. I believe that is Ruth to Margaret Ann's immediate left, and to Ruth's left, her brother, Don.

Would that be Reka right behind Ruth? Most of the others in the photograph is the Wessel family; Edna was married to Roland Wessel. Where was Ekke?  Did Ekke take the photograph?

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Perhaps my favorite photograph in this series. This is Ruth in 1946. The war had been over for one year. She is standing next to her cousin Margaret Ann, probably about eight years old; considering how often Ruth talked about Margaret Ann, I do think these two were very, very close. 

Margaret Ann was born one month after her father was killed in a farming accident. Her brother, Gil, a little over one year old at the time, was sent to live with one set of grandparents, the Folkerts, while Margaret Ann was sent to live with the other set of grandparents, th Flessners. 

Ruth would have visited her grandparents at the farm often and played with Margaret Ann. 

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1951: four generations -- great-grandma Hinrika (I think this is the first photograph of Hinrika that I have ever seen); grandma Reka; Ruth and Bruce, born August 14, 1951.

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1951: Great-grandma Hinrika and baby Bruce, born in August, 1951. I wonder if this is the farm house near Manson?

Letter And Photos From "Margaret Ann" -- August 14, 2021

Letter and photos received from "Margaret Ann," postmarked August 9, 2021.

 

 

 

Photos pending.

Letter And Photo From Don Flessner, July 14, 2021

Letter, note: Mrs Roger Berg is "Margaret Ann," 85 years old, I believe, which means Ruth was about nine years older than Margaret Ann. If Margaret Ann came to live with Ekke and Reka Flessner about age two years, Ruth would have been about eleven years old and her brother Don about fifteen years old.

Photo, undated, perhaps, 1930?

• Don b. 1923
• Ruth b. 1927

Paul And Christine's Farm

 

Oscar (b.1912), patriarch Paul, Eddie (b. 1911), Carl (b. 1922);
Clara (b. 1916), matriarch Kristine, Myrtle (b. 1914).

If photo taken in 1936: Eddie, 33; Oscar, 32; Myrtle, 22; Clara, 20; Carl, 14.
Carl could not have been any younger, but if Carl was 16, then
Eddie and Oscar were 35 and, respectively.

Myrtle Alfreda Oksol Wilson

From "Legacy," Rapid City Journal, November 21, 2003.

Myrtle Oksol Wilson, 89, Rapid City, died Wednesday, November 19, 2003, at Fountain Springs Health Care in Rapid City. 

A prayer service will be held on Friday, November 21, 2003, at 7 p.m. at Kinkade Funeral Chapel, with Pastor LeRoy Flagstad officiating. Visitation will be Saturday from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Kinkade Funeral Chapel. Burial will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Wilson Cemetery near Newell, with Rev. Al Jacobson officiating. Family and friends may gather at Kinkade Funeral Chapel prior to leaving for the cemetery or meet at the cemetery. A memorial service will be held Sunday, November 23, 2003, at 2 p.m. at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Rapid City, with Pastor Al Jacobson and Pastor Don Brendtro officiating. 

Myrtle was born October 9, 1914, near Castle Rock, SD, to Paul and Christine (Tangvold) Oksol. 

She was raised on a farm south of Newell and graduated from Newell High School in 1933. On June 1, 1940, she married Russell Wilson. To this union two children were born, John Paul and Charlotte. 

After Russell's death in 1959, Myrtle began a career working for the federal government and later the South Dakota State University at the Newell Experiment Station. When the office moved to the Research and Extension Center in Rapid City, Myrtle moved to Rapid City, and retired after nearly 20 years. She also worked for several years at the Town and Country Ladies Wear in Rapid City. 

Throughout her life, Myrtle devoted many hours to church service. She was organist at First Lutheran Church in Newell for over 30 years and she also sang for hundreds of weddings and funerals in the Newell area. After moving to Rapid City, she joined Trinity Lutheran Church and sang with the sanctuary choir for another 30 years. She was active in many church groups including Trinity Lutheran Church Women and Abigail Circle. 

She was a Charter Member of Sons of Norway, Borgund Lodge, where she served as the social director and taught beginning Norwegian for several years. She enjoyed spending time with friends and family, dancing, playing bridge and telling Ole and Lena jokes. She was a volunteer at the Chapel in the Hills, wearing her traditional Norwegian Bunad and being photographed with visitors. 

Myrtle is survived by her son, John Paul Wilson and his wife, Marlene, Charlotte, NC; her daughter, Charlotte Wilson, Sturgis; one brother, Carl Oksol, Willison, ND; and numerous nieces and nephews, and a wide circle of friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, two brothers, and one sister.