Anderson, Ethel Mabel-[359]

  General Notes:

Ethel was born in 1903 and attended school at Pleasant View grade school
north of Regan, ND. She did not start school; until age nine. (maybe the
first year that the school was open)
She attended high school in Bismarck, but did not finish. She always said
that she was so embarrassed in Gym Class to have underclothes with "CLIMAX" printed on them as they were made from Climax flour sacks. She went to work in
Bismarck as a housekeeper for the Culligan family and also took a sewing
class. She married Ralph R. Falkenstein in 1926 and they settled down on
a Farm in Croft township east of Baldwin.
Betty was as born in 1929 and Richard was born in 1934. Ralph was
killed by lightening in August of 1937 while working in the field, and Ethel gave up the farm to her brother Albert and moved to an apartment on 15th street in Bismarck where Eileen was born in Feb. of 1938.
She later moved to an apartment on 14th. street an from there she rented an apartment house at 116 Broadway in 1939. The next move was to 412, 6th Street where Ethel ran a boarding house This was in late 1939 when Richard started the first grade at Will school and Betty was in the 6th. grade. We spent about a year on grandpa Falkenstein's farm,where Betty and Richard attended Croft # 2 school.
Betty in the sixth and Richard in the second grades.
In 1941 Ethel moved to Regan, where she ran/owned a restaurant. We were
there celebrating Ethel's birthday on Dec. 7th. 1941 when we heard on the
radio that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. We must have left
Regan in early in 1942 as Betty says she finished the 7th & 8 th. grades
in Wilton, where Ethel owned/ran the Garden Cafe. It was also the bus
station, the phone messenger service and we had the button to sound the
fire siren in our living room. During the war it became very hard to get
restaurant supplies from Bismarck to Wilton. Ethel would order 20 lbs. of
hamburger and the butcher could only send 10 lbs Everything had to come
by train as gas rationing made trucking difficult.
was going thru some old papers and in the "Wilton News Files" from way back when: 60 years ago on July 23, l943: July 24 will be an auction of Mrs Ethel Falkenstein who will sell household goods and restaurant equipment at public sale at the Garden Cafe on Main Street in Wilton. Don't have sale bill but just thought I would let you know about that quip in paper. some of those things feel like they happened a long long time ago. the auctioneers in that era and afore was of Les' grandfather JM Thompson. Hope all OK at your house. we have head colds but that is usual for this time of year. phyllis

We moved back to Bismarck and Richard attended the 4th., 5th., and
sixth grades and Eileen, the (? 1st., 2nd., 3rd.) at Will school. Betty
attended Bismarck High School During this time we lived at 222 2nd.
street, which Ethel rented and rented out several apartments. She also
worked as a cook at Dick's Buffet on Main St. and Jim's cafe on 5th. St.
She also worked as pastry cook at the Grand pacific Hotel somewhere
around this time.
In 1946 we moved to Kickul's farm in Croft township where Ethel kept
house for the father and son. Richard and Eileen attended school at Choft
# 2. Richard for the 7th. and 8th. grades and Eileen for the (? 3rd and
4th)(? Betty stayed at Grandpa Falkenstein's house in Bismarck and
attended High School.)Betty married in 1948 and moved to Montana.
In 1948 we moved back to Bismarck and lived at a basement apartment on
15th street.(Jim Glocks house)
Richard attended high school and Eileen attended Richholt grade school for
5th and 6th grades,and 7 grade at Bismarck Jr. High
Sometime in 1949 we moved to an apartment on third street and later moved to
200 1/2 Main street.
In 1950 Richard quit high school and entered the military and in 195? , Ethel and Eileen moved to Columbia Falls, Montana. (Dick-362)
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Ralph and Ethel Falkenstein were married June 24, 1926. They moved their meager belongings to the farm NE of Baldwin. Some of their wedding gifts consisted of cows, pigs and chickens. They were reluctant to eat them, because they were needed for reproduction. Mom told me that they got married too late to have a garden the first year. She said they practically lived on potatoes that had frozen in their basement, but they did have milk, and a few eggs.

Farm life revolved around weather, seasons and animal needs. The cows had to be milked every twelve hours, horses, pigs, and chickens had to be fed too. Planting crops and garden in the spring, harvest in the fall, hoping that hail or drought didn't wipe out everything. Potatoes, carrots, squash, and onions were stored for the winter. Corn, peas and string beans were canned, using a big boiler that covered half of the coal stove. This had to boil for hours. They used this process for chicken and beef too, but butchering was done when the weather was cooler. Much of the pork that wasn't smoked, was cooked, put in a crock, covered with melted lard and stored in a cool place.

It's hard to imagine living with no electric appliances anymore, but they had kerosene lamps, and lanterns to take to the barn, water carried from the well, and a washing machine that had a push-pull handle on it. Sometimes Dad started up the little gas engine to run it. That was easier, but a real noisy thing. I don't know when the folks got an ice box. Neighbor men got together and made an ice house at Kickuls place. A hole dug in the ground had a roof over it. In the winter, they would go together to the river, and cut blocks of ice to store in the ice house for summer use.

Dad used his team of horses, Roy and Queen, for most of the farm work. he got his first tractor in 1934. I can remember how happy he was with that. At harvest time, grain was cut and shocked, until they moved the thrashing machine in to separate the grain from the straw.The straw was used for bedding for the animals. They sold grain, and used some for feed. They took cream and eggs to Baldwin to sell too.

For entertainment there were whist card games, horse shoe, croquet, baseball, school programs, and community dances. Most of the women took turns hosting church clubs. Dad usually called for square dances. He and his cousin Lucille Kling, really kicked their heels up with a polka! I think they were both on the "life of the party" list.

Dads' birthday was Jan. 2nd. The neighbors would come over on New Years night, play cards until midnight, then dunk Dad in the water tank--- even if they had to chop a hole in the ice to do it. If Dad went to see someone that wasn't home, he always did something like putting the chairs on top of the table, or some other crazy thing. No one ever locked their doors in those days.(Contributed by Betty (361))

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CURLEY'S CAFE
Mom started working at Curley’s Cafe, after moving back from Kickuls farm. I think this was also after Dick went into military service, in 1950. Mom did not want me home alone, so talked her boss, Curley into letting me work there with her. He could not pay me wages, since the child labor law prohibited anyone under the age of 16 working. So he raised Mom's wages, so she could pay me.
My job was to wash the dishes, which was done in a large stainless steel double sink. I had to stand on an egg crate to reach into the wash sink. The dishes were then put into the next sink to rinse. That sink had a basket in it and the water was heated by a burner under it. When the basket was full, Mom would help me lift it out, onto a drain tray.
The cafe had a counter and three or four tables, and later I was allowed to serve the counter customers. There was a window, by the grill to call in the orders, but I was too shy to talk that loud, so I would go into the kitchen and get right close to Mom and tell her what each customer wanted.
Most of my customers were truck drivers-at least that is what Mom told me-and I received many silver dollar tips. I saved them and hid them in my room, but evidently not well enough, as they were stolen from me.
There was a bar on one side of the cafe, and a drug store on the other. The drug store had a soda fountain and I would go there to have my favorite drink, a chocolate coke.(From Eileen-363)

Ethel married Ralph Richard Falkenstein-[358] [MRIN:76], son of Ira Jacob Falkenstein-[176] and Emma Alvina Anderson-[357], on 24 Jun 1926 in Bismarck, Burleigh Co., ND. (Ralph Richard Falkenstein-[358] was born on 2 Jan 1899 in Croft Twp., Burleigh Co., ND, died on 6 Aug 1937 in Farm, Baldwin, ND and was buried in Aug 1937 in Sunne Lutheran Cemetery, Wilton, ND.)

Ethel also married Clarence Saurey-[360] [MRIN:77] in 1961 in Kalispell, Mt. (Clarence Saurey-[360] was born on an unknown date in Unknown and died in 1988 in Kalispell, Mt..)