Chapter 23: Another Nelson-Hasselquist Get-Together

The Hasselquists: Peter, Gene, Miriam, Gladys, and Lynn in the Nelson living room.  A Thanksgiving gathering for two families whose closest relatives live more than 1,000 miles away.

The Nelsons and Hasselquists solidified their friendship in 1954.  It was the only time I recall my parents having a close relationship with another couple prior to Dad's retirement in 1981.  As a pastor's wife, Mom occasionally bemoaned the limits her role placed on her.  She didn't want to appear to be playing favorites among members of the congregation.  In the 1970s, she socialized with a group of women, none of them members of St. Paul's, who regularly went swimming at the Y.  Enjoying each other's company so much, they branched out into other activities.  Going out to dinner and leaving their husbands at home being a favorite, if I recall.

In the picture below:  Larry, Peter, Gene, Lynn, Miriam, Paul, and Barbara (who, all of 7 months old, appears to be highly amused at whatever Gene is reading to us).  Since I'm no longer wearing a cowboy shirt and Lynn no longer has bows in her hair, I assume this shot if from another end-of-year gathering.

Chapter 22: Miriam Hasselquist's Baptism

A number of thoughts come to mind when I view these two photos.

First of all, Gene and Gladys Hasselquist have chosen Mom and Dad to be their daughter Miriam's godparents, a relationship that, in my experience, has little significance in the Lutheran church and in Swedish-American culture.  I have no idea who my godparents are.   Or Larry's, Barb's and Dale's, for that matter.  Although they kept in contact with Gene and Gladys after moving from Great Falls to Warren, Mom and Dad never sent Miriam birthday cards or acknowledged other special occasions in her life  

Secondly, no one else is present in the church sanctuary.  Perhaps the foursome posed for these two pictures after the baptism service ended.  More likely, both Gene's and Gladys' families lived too far from Great Falls to attend, just as the case would have been at Barbara's baptism earlier in the year.  I'm sure this isolation had much to do with the bond of friendship formed by these two families.

Finally, the sanctuary of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church looks exceedingly spartan:  bare walls, wooden pews, not a stained-glass window in view.

Chapter 21: Dinner at the Hasselquists

The adults' table.  From left to right:  Mom's face cut in half lengthwise, someone who amazingly resembles Uncle Rudy (my Dad's sister Ruth's husband), Gene Hasselquist, three unidentified women, and a side portion of Gladys Hasselquist's head.  (Not your best work, Dad.)  My clearest memory of the Hasselquist's home is the dark woodwork.
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The kids' table.  Let's start with the boy in the maroon shirt who stands front and center.  I have no idea who he is or who at the adult table he belongs to. Peeking around his torso is Lynn Hasselquist.  Then we have a Shirley Temple lookalike.  The boy in the maroon pants with suspenders looks likeMaroon Shirt's brother -- look at the shape of their heads -- but it's Peter Hasselquist, Lynn's younger brother.  The girl standing in the doorway looks exactly like Miriam Hasselquist at age 6, at least as I remember her from Christmas photo cards, but she was only two months old at this time.  Larry has already taken a seat, probably thinking, "When are we going to eat?"  I don't know the girl who's wearing what appears to be an apron or oversized bib   She's definitely sending me a very friendly signal.  (Wonder if I responded)  At least I think that's my right ear and the sleeve of my blue cowboy shirt.  I was always tall for my age, but here I seem to tower over the rest of the group.

Chapter 20: Picnic with the Hasselquists

I have to check a map to determine where the Nelson and Hasselquist families picnicked on a beautiful and lazy summer's day.  My best guess:  Thain Creek, located in a small section of the Lewis & Clark National Forest about a half-hour drive from Great Falls, via Belt, a small community that we frequently passed through on family drives.

I'm sure the day has no special significance -- just two Lutheran pastors and their families getting together and enjoying one another's company.  In the first picture, you see (from left to right) Gladys Hasselquist, daughter Lynn (who had the most beautiful auburn hair), husband Gene, son Peter, Mom, Larry, and me.  Behind Mom is the buggy in which Barb is sleeping.  The Hasselquists would have one more child, a daughter they named Miriam whom I remember being close to Barb's age.  A close-up and adjustment of the exposure of the first picture confirms that Gladys is probably just into the third trimester of her pregnancy, although it certainly doesn't look that way when she is shown lying on her back in the second picture.

Although Lynn and I are the same age and got along very well together, we never saw each other outside of these family get-togethers.  We weren't regular playmates, in other words, probably because I had plenty of friends in the immediate neighborhood of the First English Lutheran Church and parsonage.

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, where Gene served as pastor, was located just 7 blocks from First English, two blocks north on 8th Street, and five blocks east on 4th Avenue North.  As a young child riding in the family car, it seemed to be a much longer drive whenever we visited the Hasselquist's.  (Like First English, the St. John's parsonage was located next to the church.)

Though Whittier Elementary School, where I attended kindergarten and the first two months of 1st grade, was located just 5 blocks from the Hasselquist's house, Lynn attended a different school, three blocks west and two blocks north.  If we had attended the same school, I sure we would have had a regular series of what are now called "play dates".