lutheranoutrider

Wichita was a very special city and time in our lives. Our 2 younger children, Tim and J’Nell, Kevins little brother and sister were born there (go Jayhawks). We joined and worshiped in a Catholic Church and as they grew older joined Cub Scouts I worked as a leader and we got to go camping some in a private lake owned by the Boy Scouts of America. It is very sad what has happened to this group over the last couple of decades. Working 2 and sometimes 3 jobs was not ideal as I could have spent more family time. The printing industry was fun but the 2nd job on weekends was washing semi-trailers (reefers) that transported hanging meat for Thermo King. At 100 degrees or so these were not the ideal working conditions but it paid some bills. I would then on some evenings do a little remodeling work on neighbor’s houses. Helped keep us in beans!!

A very close friend, Ray Shepherd, who was paralyzed (Quadriplegic) from a diving accident at age 18 was a fantastic mechanic. I helped him build a model-T roadster with a Chrysler Hemi engine.

We did spend a lot of time at Wilson Lake a man made reservoir close by, picnicking and swimming. My wife and kids were all like fish, swim, swim, swim.

Fridley here we come and on to Hart Ski Manufacturing.

Last week was a sad but joyous day for our family. Carl (#3) left us to be with the Lord. And now there are 9. He and Ellie lived in Mesa AZ, and Layl and I enjoyed some closer time with him. Carl was always up for having some fun. He enjoyed his family and was very proud of all his children. As always each and every brother and sister are special. I thank God every day for the values that our parents taught and led.

We had a great family meal with about 70 last Friday night. Then Saturday afternoon we celebrated his life with a memorial service at the Covenant Church followed by lunch and fellowship time.

Thanks to the family for the great send off and memories to carry forever.

After graduation it was, “Now what are you going to do?” I had no plan and was influenced by a couple of friends to try Auto Mechanics at Northwest Area Vocational Technical School in Thief River Falls. Kenny Hunter and I started a week later than the normal class. The instructor gave us a catch-up project. He had us dissemble a Mercury 312 horsepower V8 and using a micrometer document all measurements and put it back together. We started on a Monday and by Thursday it was done. The instructor came checked our findings and then hit the start button. It started on the first turn! About 7 months into the 9-month first year course, I was called to the directors office as I had been missing many classes. My grades were good but I was working at Shetler’s Turkey Hatchery and cutting class. He gave me an ultimatum of quitting work or dropping out of school. On to work I went as my plans did not fit with auto mechanics as a vocation and I needed to work. That summer I worked for a local farmer, P.W. Pearson with my brother Jimmy.

In September I got married and departed for the “Cities” to seek employment. North Star Concrete here I come. My one and only experience working in a Union job. They cut back in late winter and just before Christmas I got laid off. When I went to Union headquarters I was told it would be several weeks or months for me to be placed in another job, I then started looking for employment and applied at the Minneapolis Police Dept., AT&T (Western Electric) Phone Company but a friend got me a job with a company from Wichita KS as an apprentice Silk Screen Printer. L&N Company was a startup manufacturer of letters and numbers for house and mailbox identification. They held a patent for this and were growing fast. I was approached by the owner about moving to Wichita and accepted. After 7 years it was apparent that he was working to pass the business on to family members and there was no chance for growth.

After another screen-printing firm started and closed it was time to try manufacturing. A gentleman, Lou Sweeny, was in the process of starting to manufacture mower sections for combines, swathers etc. Team Industries was my next stop as General Manager. My first “Sales Job” came when Lou was in Atlanta, GA for a meeting nad thought he was experiencing a heart attack. He called me and asked me to fly to Chicago and meet with the Product Manager for the Farm Bureau to set up a program where several states could sign up and we (Team) would sell to and directly ship to member farmers. Having only been on an airplane once and never to Chicago, I called Braniff (that’s dating the time) and off I went. The meeting was set for lunch and upon arriving I asked where his favorite lunch spot was. He said a local hamburger/malt shop. After explaining the program Team was proposing, we went back to his office where he promptly set up a program including all 50 states. When Lou returned from Atlanta, after being diagnosed with heartburn he was quite pleased. Alas the tooling would not stand up to the process and it was too costly to keep manufacturing. Team Ind. was closed.

After several months of working with Lou consulting with some manufacturing companies it felt like time to move back to MN and closer to family.

More ramblings later!

Living on the North Branch of Two Rivers made for something to do when the work was done. From learning to swim to catching crawfish to fishing in the summer. Ice skating, with or without skates, to sledding in the winter. Swimming was interesting as there was a large rock in the middle of the river from which to jump off. How I learned to swim was by asking a couple of my brothers to teach me how. They said OKAY and threw me in and said now swim!!! Believe me I did. The riverbank from the house was about 20 feet down, so it made for great sledding. We at times would pour water down the hill to make an ice path to the river. One time a Cousin Pinky Burnell put on his skates and attempted to skate downhill. He made it to the river before he crashed.

When school started, we would walk to our mailbox about 3/4 of a mile from the house to catch the bus. This was not fun in the winter at sometimes -40 degrees. After a couple years they came into Uncle Leonard’s yard (the original homestead) and eventually into the farmyard. Sometimes if the weather was good the bus driver would drive across the pasture to pick up the neighbor kids. This included someone to open and close gates as the cattle were in the pasture.

School was fun as we had a lot of classmates, about 30 if I remember right. I was proud of my spelling abilities and did well except for one girl who could outdo me every time. As time came to start Junior High, which was grade 8-9, and then on to High School grades 10-12. Sports came in the form of basketball and football. Being one of the tallest, I would play end in football (offense and defense) and center in basketball. We played 11-man football the first year I was on varsity. Until then it had been 9-man. Consequently with 11 boys in our senior class they were all on the team. Our Junior year was memorable as the chorus teacher came to several of us guys and asked if we would help start a mixed chorus, Up until then it was girls only. We did great the first year taking second place in the district match. Along with sports and chorus was the class play. I participated my Junior and Senior years. The Senior play was memorable as in one scene a was patient in a hospital bed that rolled. It was in the middle of the stage and I was standing talking to the Dr. when a madman was to come running onto the stage and jump on the bed to stab the patient. The wheels hadn’t been locked and the bed rolled toward the edge of the stage. Fortunately we caught the bed before it rolled off and of course it was the biggest laugh of the night for the audience not knowing it was NOT part of the planned scene.

Graduation was great as I was the 6th to graduate from our family. Six more followed over the years and as the last one graduated Mom’s brother Ross presented her one dozen roses in front of the community symbolizing the 12 that brothers and sisters that had graduated from LHS. As was the custom our parents gave an expensive wristwatch to each as we graduated.

Stay tuned for Vo-tech and on.

Don’t get me wrong. It was not all work. From playing in the dish pan (for baths) to playing ball with neighbor kids and functions from church (ie. ice cream socials, Sunday School, Confirmation etc.) life was great growing up in a large family. Being number 6 of 12 (eight boys and four sisters) we enjoyed squabbling and loving one another. My mom asked me one day as I had just got home from school and was having some caca bread (just some homemade dough and flattened out and baked) if I had ever thought of being an only child. I replied, “not a chance”. I did not envy those with only a few siblings or none. After all how could those kids in town lay in a strawstack and listen to the Bobcats, Wolves and wildlife while looking at the Northern Lights.

Dishpan baths were the norm as there was no running water unless you ran down to the river to get it. I remember when I was about 12 we added our first indoor toilet and running water to replace the hand pump. I was one of several helpers my Grandpa Julius had to help (hinder) him. I believe it was a year or 2 before we built the new barn. That consisted of many trips across the river (at Toms Crossing) hauling stones on a stoneboat with the horses to put in the floor and foundation. Along with this Grandpa had built a sawmill with which we cut the lumber for the barn. The upper supports for the hayloft were cut from some creosote logs that the county had rejected from a bridge being replaced on Highway 59 just North of town. Brother Dennis was working as Assistant County Engineer and helping the Highway Department with this project.

Oops here i go working again. How about the Sunday School parties and the neighbor kids having fun at the ALC Lutheran Church East of town. There are many memories from this as that is where I was confirmed with 7 other school and classmates. Four boys and 4 girls were in the class and we studied hard. Pastor Brethiem was great. We rode the school bus out from town and he gave another classmate, Jimmy and I a ride home to the farm. It was a fun ride in his 1956 Ford down the river road at about 60 miles an hour sliding in the gravel singing hymns from the top of his lungs.

I missed the Country School experience by one year as Jimmy had his first grade there but the school in Lancaster had built the elementary grades that year 1950. The Poppleton Town Hall is where Lois through Jimmy started school. The elementary addition in town was not completed for about 3 months so we would be dropped off the bus at school and then trudge down the alley to the Lutheran Church to attend our classes.

Some of the best times were with neighbor kids playing baseball, hockey or playing cowboys and Indians (I know this is not politically correct). With baseball it was with a haystack for the catcher as we did not have enough players. Hockey was on a pond with tree limbs for sticks, crushed cans for pucks and catalogs tied to our shins for protection. I don’t recall if anyone ever won! When some new neighbors moved in the next farm with riding horses it was great to not ride workhorses. One of my first experiences was on Necco, about 15 hands, a quarterhorse who would buck on command. His companion, Tony, was a lot taller, about 17 hands and liked to RUN. I was a little over a mile from his barn when he decided he was going home. As he whipped into the yard, headed for the barn, all I could see was the top half of the barn door was closed. Just before I bailed out he skidded to a stop. Thank you Lord!

More later if you are not bored yet!

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Having been encouraged to write down some experiences that have brought me to my 76th year I will attempt to post them starting at about age 8-9. We were taught a good work ethic early on. Prior to this we would milk cows (by hand) and various farm chores. Our neighbor needed help with his turkey farm from time to time. My brother and I would be called out at any hour (sometimes at 3-4 in the morning}. The neighbor, not having any children that could help yet, had contacted my parents for assistance. As they had 12 it was easy for my parents to spare some workers. So off we would trudge across the field/pasture to work with the turkeys. Be it health issues like shots/debeaking or artificial insemination it all paid the same. In the fall it was to capture the birds for loading trucks for the shipping to processing plants. We were rewarded with a great meal and good Christian company. Need I say we were paid well also, if I remember right, over $1.50 per hour. The sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of a job well done was as much a reward as the pay.

Farm work was a great way to learn responsibility. Aside from milking there was barn cleaning wood cutting/splitting and hauling getting ready for winter. Some of the best memories were of harvest time when we would not only thresh our own crops but would go around to several neighbors to do custom work as dad owned the threshing rig. One of my tasks was, at age 11-12, to drive the bundle team hauling the shocks to the rig to be thrashed. The shocks were in the field and you would drive down the rows with workers loading them on the hayrack. When full you would drive in to the rig and unload. The only downside of this was that at the end of the day everyone got to go into a great meal after the rig shut down. But having the team of horses to care for first made us last to eat. As time went on and we started sports activities in school this became a challenge as we needed to do our chores first and fit in sports when it was possible.

Installment 2 coming soon. Starting with hiring out for the summer.

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There are many reasons for this statement.

o First and foremost is our leaving behind the Judeo – Christian values this country was founded on.

o Electing law makers who have no regard for human life i.e. aborting (murdering) babies.

o The USA is falling in debt faster than ever with the President(s) and congress issuing checks to people for not working or contributing in any way. In doing so we are creating a dependent society ( a new form of slavery ). Why work if we can make more staying unemployed?

o Enough with the reparations. Moving forward is the key we all have a chance to grow by taking responsibility. A prime example is Dr. Ben Carson. Many lessons can be learned by reading his books and following his example.

o The size and scope of our Nation has changed, our government has grown to such a large size it is unmanageable. The way to balance the budget is to cut the size of government by turning back responsibility to local control.

o At best government agencies need to be reduced by 50%. The employees could then get jobs in the private sector helping eliminate the worker shortage.

o With taxes collected at record levels each month, this would self correct is a short time.

o Welcoming and granting citizenship to people like George Soros who has stated he is going to convert the USA into a Socialist Country.

20 January 2018
To: Editor – dhill@trftimes.com
From: Ron Nordin, Lancaster, MN – ecs.ron@gmail.com Phone – 815.351.1220
Subject: Letter regarding ELCA bishops
With all due respect I would like to respond to the front page article dated January 20 2018. It appears the bishops of ELCA disrespect our President and want to indoctrinate the public to their way of thinking. He does not hide his beliefs as does the ELCA.
First it has been challenged that the President used the language. And even had he done so, was he not referencing the nations, not the people? The same nations that receive millions of our dollars.
These same bishops need to look in the mirror about the ELCA and their teachings. My wife and I left the ELCA in 2011 after being exposed to their seminary teachings. Having worked with several interns we were growing very concerned. Their teachings that the bible was not God’s Inspired Word as well as cursing in their sermons was alarming. Then my wife was invited to participate in a (CREDO) workshop at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkley, CA (PLTS). What an eye opener. Discussions were that:
1. God may or may not be He.
2. The Bible is a collection of fairy tales/folklore.
3. The Holy Spirit is she.
4. The Miracles of Jesus did not happen. The only Miracle was when He was raised from the dead.
5. Jesus was just a man not divine, until risen.
It has been proven that Planned Parenthood, whom the ELCA enthusiastically supports both financially and publically, perform abortions as in the killing of babies. These babies, about 1 million per year, are from OUR country. I have seen video evidence of this practice.
In 1988 my Mother came from a meeting where our church voted to join the ELCA. She prophetically said “We will regret this day”.
I would invite anyone to discuss or ask for a copy of the letter my wife and I sent after the meeting at PLTS.
We as a people need to search our hearts for answers. As this Nation, I believe, was to be a “Shining Light” to the World. The ELCA sadly is putting out these lights one by one.

Ron Nordin
815.351.1220

21 March 2018
Dave Hill
Editor Northern Watch
For publication:
The decline of this country can be directly attributed to several things:
• The breakdown of the family unit.
• Political correctness.
• The decline of Christianity.
For now I will focus on the latter – Christianity. The failure can be attributed in large part to churches and our education system. In using the excuse of giving people “what they want” the Christian message gets watered down.
Case in point is the ELCA to which I have witnessed first-hand the decline in teachings/ministry of this organization which range from; supporting Planned Parenthood while they abort/murder over 800,000 babies annually to supporting, even celebrating homosexual activities, and changing the meaning of different bible passages to suit their agenda. Understanding Christianity is needed. It is defined as: Religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Added to this is Lutheranism. It is defined as: Followers of Martin Luther who believe that it is through the Grace of God that Jesus Christ is professed as Lord and Savior accepting the bible as the complete Holy Spirit inspired inerrant Word of God. Changing His Word throws out any professed belief claimed and where is the Christianity? Are you really a Lutheran if you are not following Martin Luther’s teachings? Martin Luther was a Catholic who changed a lot of man’s laws to more closely follow Gods Word. If the Word is not followed as the Father commanded is it really Christianity? Maybe it’s “Nibbling your way to lostness” a term borrowed from an Intern Pastor. A recent book I read defined Christianity as “Cultural” or “Biblical”, does not the Bible take precedence over wants or what makes us feel better? So what the ELCA practices is it Christian much less Lutheran?
It has been proven many times “Democracy cannot survive without Christianity”.
If you are far from God, guess who moved!

Ron Nordin
PO Box 76
Lancaster, MN 56735
815.351.1220