Sponsor To A Better Life

By Emma C. Clawson
dictated 12/31/1976

In the fall of 1915, Uncle Otto got the bright idea that Louis and I should come to Princeton and pick potatoes. So we did and that's when we stopped in Minneapolis and Uncle Charley asked if I would come and stay with Anna (his wife). She was ill. He would send me to school and confirmation; so Charley Lundgren was my sponsor to a better life.

I did get confirmed, but Aunt Anna died before I was enrolled in school. So then I went to stay with Aunt Lena - Uncle Charley did pay for my clothes, etc., and he also gave me advice ... which I ignored. I would have been better off if I had listened.

Aunt Lena found me a job and I had fun. Dancing almost every night and going out with Aunt Lena and Uncle Alfred. They were newlyweds, so they went a lot of places. They had a summer home at the lake, so I went dancing at Stubbs Bay. There is where I met Hal.

I did have a wonderful life and was lucky in most things I did. But I guess it was because I did not whine - I just tried harder.