Playing Softball with Sister Grace
Donald was born in 1936 and grew up near Wild Rice, on the farm homesteaded by his grandfather. Donald attended all 12 grades at St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy, the parochial school associated with St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, the state’s third-oldest Catholic church.
“When I was a junior in high school, we had a black nun [Sister Grace] that could hit that softball over the fence. I don’t want to call her a tomboy, but she sure as hell could hit a softball. I made the comment once that Jackie Robinson may have broken the color barrier [as the first black Major League baseball player], but she could have broken the color barrier and also be the first woman in baseball. She could really hit a softball.”
Sisters took in borders of families who wanted their children schooled in the Catholic tradition. The nuns were self-sufficient. “They had a little barn,” Donald remembers. “They had three, four cows and little chickens, a multipurpose barn. I wish the thing was still there. Maybe I like old things, but I would like to be able to see that again. Well, the nuns had milk and eggs. There were two who did the laundry and farming. For high school, there were at least two teachers; for grade school four teachers, one for two grades.
“When I was growing up,” Donald says, “there were 12, 15 in the first grade, but by the time I graduated from high school there were four of us. But the year before I think there were 11 or so.” The high school closed in 1964, and in 1965 the final eighth grade class graduated.
Donald spent his work life on his dairy farm and working at the beet plant in the winter. “I retired slowly,” he says. “I retired from milking in 1975, from the beet plant 15 years ago, when I turned 62, and retired from farming in 2006.” Donald’s first wife, Diane, died in 1995, a cancer victim. His second wife, Marjorie, died in 2011. He has two children. He now lives alone with his dog, Emma. “She is as healthy as a horse.”
Donald Tessier, Interview: March 17, 2014, County: Cass, City: St. Benedict
“A Little Act of Kindness Goes a Long Way”
Since his birth in 1930, Walter Rademacher has only moved twice. “I was born just north of Lake Darling [on a] rented farm, and when I was six years old we bought the homeplace. Lived there until I got married [to Anna Haugen in 1952], and then we moved over here.
“Me and my two brothers farmed together for 35 years. Each one had their own farm. We were busy. We didn’t goof off. We had about 3,000 acres. We [filled] my silo and then we chopped the other brother’s corn and we were all together.” When asked about how the cooperative effort was working out, Walter said, “You’re going to have some arguments, but you just forget, forgive. You just do it. There ain’t very many families that can do that. Even with our children, we all got along good. We went to church together, ate together. Even go roller skating together. The whole family; we’re always together.”
The Rademachers have five children, 13 grandchildren, and at least eight great-grandchildren. Although Walter has been alone since Anna died seven years ago, he leads a comfortable life. He rides one of his nine bicycles in the evenings when he is not invited to a neighbor’s home for a meal.
“I got a lot of good friends. And they’re always inviting me out. Like the neighbors, tonight. She called up this morning: they got a roast in the oven. Wants me to come. I’m not a real good cook. That’s why the neighbors always invite me down. So I make pie, and I take that along. I surprise them. I made an apple pie for them. I always bring stuff. I buy flowers and give flowers away. Flowers and teddy bears. Hundreds of them. After [Anna] was gone—that’s my hobby, you know.
“If you’re kind to somebody, they’re kind back to you. Like people that go hunting down here. So many farmers won’t let anybody hunt. I don’t have that problem. I tell these guys that don’t have any land, ‘Come on and hunt.’ And we get along perfect. So I always said a little act of kindness goes a long way. It’ll always come back to you in its special way.”
Walter Rademacher, Interview: August 21, 2014, County: Ward, City: Foxholm
Fulfilling Her Dream Despite a Club Foot
Much of Carole Ritter Sharff’s childhood and adulthood has been spent in and out of hospitals. Born in 1942 on a farm near Clyde, Carole says, “I was born with a club foot. It was rotated all the way around, so it was the bottom of my foot looking up. When I was three years old, I had my first surgery in Fargo, and they put like a sheep’s cord in the back of my leg to lengthen the foot so it would come back. My mother had to massage it and keep working it. Then I was in a cast. Subsequently, there were additional surgeries. The latest about 22 years ago.
“I always wanted to be a nurse. I just liked the way that they worked and how they treated you in the hospital. It was just kind of a dream of mine. When I graduated from high school, I said I wanted to go to [nursing] school, but my dad said, ‘Carole, I don’t know if your foot will take it [as a nurse].’ He kind of talked me out of it.”
Carole worked for a dentist, married, and later divorced. Then she decided to fulfill her lifelong dream. “I was like 36 years old when I went to [nursing] school.
“I worked 10 years in Devils Lake on a medical floor and loved it, just loved it, and then they had a layoff. I moved down here to Fargo, and got a job at Merit Care. First it was St. Luke’s and then Merit Care [now Sanford], and I was there for 23 and a half years in the heart department. I loved working with the patients. The patients always came first.”
Referring to her days back in Clyde, “The farm was the greatest. The kids were really down to earth when they came off the farm. Lot of good memories.
“You know, I did everything I ever wanted to do in my life with the foot the way it was. I played basketball. We took second in state. I never held back. I did everything.” Including fulfilling her nursing dream.
Carole (Ritter) Christianson Sharff, Interview: March 13, 2014, County: Cavalier, City: Clyde
(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.)
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