Retold by Marty Luebke
My guess is that not too many of our readers will recognize the above photo. Perhaps that is because this picture of Miss Hammer was taken before many of us were even born. If I tell you this 1938 prom photo is of Edna Bragstad, some of us may say—oh sure, I know who she is!
This is the first of what I hope to be a ‘mini series’ of sharing a glimpse of life experiences that many of our older community members have. I hope you will enjoy and learn from some of these stories as we look back in time. More importantly, I hope we will all take advantage of sharing memories while we still have to ability to do so.
As we might expect, Edna was not born in a hospital but rather at home. Actually her grandparents’ home in Flandreau on June 22, 1920. She was the oldest daughter of Louie and Marie Hammer.
As children, we all have special memories of Christmas, Easter or other special occasions. Each of you could recall your own stories of Santa or the Easter Bunny. When I ask Edna about this she had some very special memories.
“One of my favorite times of the year was Christmas. We didn’t have a lot but we always knew that ‘Santa Claus’ would come and bring us treats that we otherwise never would get. We would always watch for him and sometimes see him through a window. This went on for years but other kids at school would tell us ‘Santa is not real—he’s really just your dad dressed up”. Santa always came on Christmas Eve, so one year we were going to make sure Santa was real. We were going to keep good track of our dad to make sure he wasn’t Santa. It was evening and we kept a watch on our dad as he did chores. Sure enough, down our driveway came a sleigh with no one other than the REAL SANTA. So now we knew for sure the other kids were wrong and there really was a Santa.
"I don’t remember when it was but eventually we learned that Santa was really our Uncle Charlie (they had no children) who continued to give us gifts we couldn’t otherwise afford.”
Our memories of history are not only interesting and unique to each of us but also historically significant and educational.
If I ask ‘what were you doing on 9-11 when you heard about the ‘attack of our Trade Towers’ most could recall exactly where you were. If I ask where you were when you learned that John F. Kennedy was assassinated, a few of us could tell exactly where we were and what we were doing.
However, if I ask ‘what do you remember about the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, only a few have any idea or are able to tell us what that felt like. If I ask what it felt like to live though the ‘Dust Bowl of the Dirty 30’s’ even fewer can give eye witness. Well Edna is one of the few who can still tell us about that.
So let’s listen to what she had to say.
“My folks bought a farm North of Flandreau near Elkton in Brookings County. I had a happy childhood and although we were not rich we always had something to eat. But in the ‘dirty 30’s’ we had one crop failure after another. We pretty much lived off the farm and always had a big garden. But when it got dry we didn’t have enough water to water plants. In order to produce more food my dad planted peas with the field corn (which we also ate). One year we had a good crop of peas so we picked and picked and shelled a lot of peas. My mom would can them and it was my job to keep adding corn cobs to the cook stove.
"It was a hot job but we had a lot of peas to eat that next winter. With repeated crop failures we eventually lost our farm and had to move. We were able to continue to farm but were 50/50 share renters with a banker who owned the farm.”
Edna went on to graduate from Flandreau High School in 1939. She was dating Alvin Franz when WWII broke out.
“I remember we were all sitting around the radio in the kitchen when the President announced that Pearl Harbor was attacked and we declared war. There was a lot of excitement and many of the young men in our area volunteered. Alvin and I were dating but he said he would wait till he was drafted. He didn’t have to wait long.
"I wanted to do my part in helping with the war effort so I and 3 other girls went to California to help build airplanes. My factory job was called a ‘butter’. I went into the wing and held the back side of rivets while someone on the outside finished riveting.
"We shared an apartment but soon some of the girls got homesick and I was the only one continuing to work. So I moved in with another family. Living in LA was quite a culture shock but I learned a lot and everyone was helpful. After more than a year I was ready to come back home and when my dad asked if I wanted to come back to help on the farm I didn’t hesitate.
"Soon after Alvin came home on leave and we got married. It was hard to see him go but I wrote a letter to him every day. He likely received a bunch of letters all at one time. He was stationed somewhere in France. He never talked much about it. The day he was discharged was one of the happiest days of my life.
"I had become pregnant and he was back home when our first child Dennis was born. Sadly, Alvin passed away when our youngest was just 2 ½ and oldest was 10.
"Fortunately I was not alone and had a lot of good family support and help. We did what we had to in order to put food on the table. I did laundry for some neighbors and the school’s towels.
"All of the kids had their duties to help and we were able to make ends meet. After my marriage to Joe we moved to Sherman and raised our family. Joe was a good father and we had 40 good years together.”
Unfortunately, space does not allow to tell all of Edna’s stories as she could write a full book.
I want to commend Edna’s family for recording much of her life with photos and family history.
Edna can tell you about how it felt starting grade school and not knowing English (they spoke German at home). She can tell you about a time when the main activity for young people was dancing (how she and Alvin connected). She can tell you about her job as a car hop in Flandreau. Edna can also tell you how she made a living keeping house for others and scrubbing floors (which she still does down on her hands and knees and says she still hates round corners).
I would encourage you to talk to other elders about their life and learn from what they have to say. When they are gone, so are their stories.
When I ask Edna if she had any words of wisdom for younger folks she was very modest and too humble to give an elaboration. Based on what I know about her my guess is that her advice would include ‘be honest, don’t be afraid of hard work and trust in the Lord through good times and bad’.
Thanks Edna for your willingness to share some of your memories of ‘Days Long Ago’.
