“Driving 12 Miles to Make a Telephone Call”
Howard Olson was born April 25, 1927, within a mile of Concrete. The town was named for the cement plant that had once operated over there. “Grandpa bought the whole thing once it closed down. He bought the machinery, buildings, everything.
“Oh gosh, I had a great time growing up. We had good saddle horses. We were hunters. Concrete was a good place for that. Off and on, there were ups and downs, but there were a lot of good deer hunting and trapping years in the area.” Howard attended Concrete’s two-story school until dropping out in the seventh grade. “I don’t remember why,” Howard says, “but I was just home after that. My mother was in the hospital. My older brother went into the Army. He was in China. We had about 50 milk cows. Milking cows was a seven days a week, five o’clock in the morning job.”
Later, Howard entered the military and while stationed in Washington State, Howard met this future wife, AnnaLee. Upon discharge and after a “few odd jobs,” the couple settled at the Olson farm where he farmed and raised cattle. Around 1970, he began working as a fireman at the military’s Perimeter Acquisition Radar (PAR) site.
One benefit Howard gained from his experience working with the military was his knowledge of computers. He says that he and his wife, AnnaLee, go on their own computer now all the time these days. They use social media and video calls to stay in touch with family. “We have grandkids in Fort Collins [and] Montana, grandkids in southern Japan and in Olympia,” he says. “When our kids were little and before that, my wife and I would drive to Walhalla [12–14 miles away] to go into the telephone office. We’d sit down, have the operator call her folks, and sit there and talk to them. This would be once every two weeks. They were living in Washington.” Howard says that with technology making distances closer, it is easier living far from loved ones. “It ain’t the same as it used to be.”
Howard Olson, Interview: June 22, 2010, County: Pembina, City: Concrete, Driving 12 Miles to Make a Telephone Call
“Visitors Always Welcome”
“We lived on the farm so we had to help with everything,” Ann remembers. “When it was harvesting time we had to go out and do shocking. Dad had the threshing machine. Then we had to help Mom do the cooking. Well, it was like this, they got breakfast and we would have to fix lunch. Then we would butcher and cook chickens for dinner. Then lunch in the afternoon. For supper they got the same. In the morning and evening we milked cows, too.
“Mom always cooked dinner on Sundays. We always had company on Sundays. That was the thing at our house. There was no problem having a drop-in stop for dinner. Even our Watkins dealer. He always managed to come at dinnertime. And then there was Si Umber out here—they used to live south of town. His brother lived in town, and they would come to the folks—always at mealtime. That was one thing about Mom that I remember the most. I don’t know where she got the meals sometimes, but she always found enough for the extras who came.”
No complaints? “No,” Ann laughs. “It didn’t do any good. They came anyway. Dad would always say, ‘Come in have something to eat with us.’” Would he check first with your mother? “No-o-o. He just figured there would be enough there. She made sure there was. If she needed more, we always had canned meat and stuff. We raised our own meat. When your relatives live around—like my uncles and aunts—when they come to visit, it was, it was really fun. If they were close, they went home, and if from far enough away, they would stay overnight.”
Which often meant Ann had to give up her bed? “Well, sure,” she says. “That is natural, isn’t it? I still do that when we get company. Is that odd? I guess I’m odd then.”
Ann married Peter Kraft, lives on a ranch, and had four children. Just as in the years of her past, her house is a gathering site for all the relatives. Mealtime, too? No doubt.
Ann (Hartman) Kraft,Interview: July 5, 2011, County: Grant, City: Shields
“God’s Little Helper”
Even with only one good eye, Donald Hammersmith served his country. Born in 1930, he grew up in North Dakota and graduated in 1949. “At age eight, we were playing in the barn upstairs in the hay loft. There wasn’t much hay up there, but we raked up the hay, and they stuck a three-tine pitchfork in a knothole and covered it with hay. I was the next one to jump. Well, I did. The center tine hit this bone here (he points), and the other one went in the eye. I lost sight in that eye.”
It didn’t matter to the Army. He served from 1952 to 1954. “I served in the North Atlantic and the Arctic and the Pacific. I spent six months and 20 days sea-time.”
After his discharge, Donald returned to Dazey; he married Donna, who died in 1986. They have a daughter, Cherry, who joined the interview. A son, Ronald, is deceased. Donald says his lifetime skills were, “plumbing, heating, building, painting and even pumped sewers.”
Daughter Cherry says, “Growing up in Dazey was wonderful. It was a very nurturing environment. Hard work was definitely on both sides of my parents. Hard work was everybody. Now you’re always welcomed home no matter where you’re at. That is very comforting.”
Now retired, why does Donald stay in Dazey? “I recently sent a woman a memorial for her mother. She wrote back and thanked me. She said the people in Dazey can’t live without you.” The locals know about Donald’s many skills in the trades and willingness to help out. Cherry adds, “Dad is actually a very well-thought-of person in Barnes County. Not just Dazey, but in Barnes County. We had his 80th birthday party down at the Legion hall. There must have been 200 people. On his 75th birthday, they even roasted a hog. That was quite a tribune. Even though he says he’s not spiritual, I think he is kind of God’s little helper for Barnes County.”
Donald describes it in his terms: “One time I had to take care of the preacher’s dog in the wintertime; he was going someplace. I don’t dare swear then.”
Donald Hammersmith, with daughter, Cherry Gannarelli,Interview: June 24, 2015, County: Barnes, City: Dazey
(Editor’s Note: These profiles of North Dakota residents were collected by author James Puppe between 2004-2018, covering 617 subjects and 113,000 miles. He has given permission for his book to be serialized in North Dakota Newspapers at no charge. To find out how you can read the entire collection of Dakota Attitude profiles go to dakotaattitude.com.)
