[Magdalen] Mardi Gras.

[Sibyl Smirl]

One other thing about him: he was just a kid when he joined the army --a 
lot of boys were champing at the bit to go, and joined as soon as they 
were old enough-- seventeen with parents' permission.  I don't know 
whether he finished high school.  The School Board gave those who came 
back without finishing honorary HS diplomas, figuring that fighting in a 
war was an education in itself.  I don't know the exact sequence of 
events, but he asked my parents for a baby picture of me, saying he 
wanted to carry something to remind him what he was fighting for, and he 
got it.  I have other copies of the same picture.  I was born 10 days 
before D-Day.

On 3/1/17 12:27 PM, Lynn Ronkainen wrote:
> Great story about your special uncle.  My dad was born in MN, both
> parents were at least 2nd generation Americans (one with roots in Norway
> - Hagen, the other migrated across the country to MN with roots in
> Ireland - Tully). My dad was also 'great generation' ww2 Veteran. Funny
> how names and nicknames can be so complex!
>
> Lynn
>
> website: www.ichthysdesigns.com
>
> When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have
> not a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You
> gave me." attributed to Erma Bombeck
> "Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a
> talk by Richard Rohr
> "The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom
> they oppress." F Douglass
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Sibyl Smirl" <polycarpa3 at ckt.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2017 10:40 AM
> To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
> Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Mardi Gras.
>
>> On 2/28/17 10:27 PM, Lynn Ronkainen wrote:
>>> Interesting Sibyl. My dad's name was Eugene and he was 1/2 Norwegian
>>> from MN. I'm wondering if that was a popular Scandinavian name? When
>>> he left home he was called by his last name by friends for the rest
>>> of his life - Tully.
>>> Lynn
>>
>> Uncle Gene was an exception.  He had a lot of names, and didn't really
>> belong in my example.  His birth name was Harry Eugene Anderson.  He
>> was native-born American, and his parents came from Sweden already
>> married. For some reason, we had quite a few Swedish immigrants here
>> in this little rural area who arrived in the early 20th century, many
>> of them already related (came here specifically probably because they
>> had a brother or a cousin here before them, and knew that this was a
>> good place for farmers). The mother of one of my friends didn't speak
>> any English when she entered the First Grade of one of the rural
>> schools (those schools didn't have Kindergarten, nor did mine. That
>> was for town kids).  She managed just fine, and grew up to be a
>> teacher herself.  My Uncle Gene had an Uncle whom I knew here, who had
>> a thick accent, called "Tory" (that was how I heard it, and assumed
>> that it was similar to the Tories from the American Revolution and the
>> British and Canadian political parties.)  I had read a lot of Norse
>> mythology, and was amazed when I saw the proper spelling on his
>> tombstone when I was an adult: it was spelled "Thor"!  I had never
>> connected the American farmer I knew with The Thunderer!
>>    Anyway, back to Uncle Gene, one of the Greatest Generation, fought
>> in Europe in WWII, and totally American as far as anybody could
>> notice, except for the nickname "Swede".  Besides the ones I
>> mentioned, the people who worked at the fertilizer plant with him all
>> called him "Andy", for Anderson, his surname.  If somebody they ran
>> into in town when he was with my aunt, his wife, called him "Andy",
>> she knew where he worked.
>>   He was the finest of men, almost as perfect as my dad.  I miss him.
>>
>>
>>>
>>> On Feb 28, 2017, at 9:55 PM, Sibyl Smirl <polycarpa3 at ckt.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2/28/17 9:24 PM, ME Michaud wrote:
>>>> This makes no sense to me but, of course, it's cultural.
>>>>
>>>> I cannot imagine calling someone by a name that's not theirs.
>>>> His first name is Youssef, not Tony.
>>>
>>> Ever hear of nicknames?  He bought the nickname with the business, in
>>> this case, but I knew a lot of men when I was younger whose real
>>> first names I didn't know at all until I was adult and looking at the
>>> Farmer's Union accounts, and then never used them to call name.  We
>>> didn't use the title-firstname (or nickname) convention in my area,
>>> though. "Frenchy" Lawson even used his nickname on his election
>>> posters, and if I ever knew his real first name, I've forgotten it.
>>> Then there was my uncle, who went by "Swede" among men, but his
>>> wasn't so firmly attached: I called him "Uncle Harry" or "Uncle
>>> Gene", and some called him "Harry Gene", real first and middle names
>>> (Eugene, actually, but for some reason he hated EUgene, and everybody
>>> respected that).  Then I knew several "Shorty"s, a couple of "Bud"s,
>>> and one "Red".
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Sibyl Smirl
>> I will take no bull from your house!  Psalms 50:9a
>> mailto:polycarpa3 at ckt.net
>
>
>


-- 
Sibyl Smirl
I will take no bull from your house!  Psalms 50:9a
mailto:polycarpa3 at ckt.net