100 years of memories
GABE LICHT
Editor
One hundred years
seems like a long time,
but local centenarian
Alice Noreen remem-
bers many parts of her
100 years as if they
happened yesterday.
Childhood
She, of course, does
not remember when
she was born Alice
Laverna Ida Elizabeth Alice Noreen is pictured in
Kuntz Aug. 14, 1918, 1945.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
at her family’s home in
Lyndale.
Her father liked the name Alice, her mother’s broth-
er voted for Laverna, and Ida and Elizabeth were her
grandmothers’ names.
She was baptized at home that September, with her
parents hoping it would help cure her colic, as they had
been told, but to no avail.
A coal stove in the dining room was tasked with heat-
ing the house, but Noreen remembers it not circulating
very well. Kerosene and gas lamps were used as light
sources until she was 5, when electricity was extended
from the nearby church.
“It was so much fun to push a button and have bright
lights instead of carrying a lamp from room to room,”
Noreen said.
All water came from a pump outside and had to return
outside, due to a lack of drains and indoor plumbing.
Church was always an important part of her life,
Noreen said, even though she remembers falling asleep
on hard wood benches there.
As an only child, she loved the songs, lessons, and so-
cializing that came along with Sunday school, as well as
the Christmas and Easter services that were well attended
because they served as the area’s main entertainment.
School in the one-room schoolhouse was also a so-
cial and educational experience. Each morning, the
students greeted the teacher by reciting the Pledge of
Allegiance and singing “Good morning to you. Good
morning to you. Good morning, dear teacher. Good
morning to you.”
With no running water, older students took turns car-
rying drinking water from the creamery to fi ll the drink-
ing fountains each day. An outhouse stood outside the
school, and when students needed to visit it, they lifted
one or two fi ngers in the air, so the teacher knew about
how long they might be gone from the classroom.
“Play day” each year consisted of competing in races
and games against other schools like St. Bonifacius, the
Lee School, and the Copeland School.
In the summers, Noreen and her friends, Millie and
Ev, ventured into the woods to pick fl owers such as
4
Senior
mayfl owers, Dutchman’s breeches, and violets.
She did so, and went on to high school in Mound,
When she was 7, she had a scary experience.
a daunting experience for someone coming from the
“We heard cracking sounds,” Noreen said. “Looking small Lyndale School.
out of the window, we saw fl ames coming out of our
Her father and her friend’s father successfully peti-
garage, and the wind was blowing from the southwest, tioned the school district for a school bus that traveled
and fl ames were coming toward the house.”
about 20 miles in order to get to Mound seven miles
Being afraid that the house might burn, too, she away.
grabbed her doll, doll carriage, and a few toys in case
To break the ice in a new school with new class-
she needed to evacuate, which was not necessary in the mates, she and a friend tried out for the freshmen
end. Neighbors arrived to
help extinguish the fi re,
which destroyed the ga-
rage and car, but spared
the house.
“I close my eyes to this
day, and I see it,” Noreen
said.
Though she has never
considered herself a tal-
ented singer, when she
was in seventh grade, she
had the opportunity to
sing on a WCCO Radio
program.
“What an experience
that was for us country
kids to go to the big city
of Minneapolis to prac-
tice one week, and sing
the next week,” Noreen
said.
Her father’s store next
to the creamery was open
Monday,
Wednesday,
Friday, and Saturday, and
she helped there starting
around age 10.
“My mother would ask
if I wanted to clean the
house or go to the store,”
Noreen said. “I always
chose the store.”
There wasn’t time for
much else. Exceptions
included church, an oc-
casional silent movie in
Delano, or a visit to see
family. Her father also
played baseball, so she
would travel with him
sometimes to watch him
play.
Back then, seventh- Alice Kuntz is pictured in her confi rmation dress made by a family friend in 1932. A fam-
and eighth-grade students ily friend also made her dress for her wedding in 1947, when she became Alice Noreen.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
were required to take and
pass state board examina-
tions in order to advance to the next grade.
More NOREEN on Pg 13
Connections November 2018
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