| Breda accommodationMary Ellingson Interview, Eureka, MT 11/00 Mary Ellingson was born on September 18, 1924. She was born seven miles west of Klein, South Dakota on a farm. Mary has three brothers and two other sisters. She was the fifth child born out of six. Her brothers are Owen, John, Joseph. Her sisters are Margaret and Marcella. Mary lost her brother Joseph when she was three and Joseph was eight years old. He died of spinal meningitis. 1880 Mary's fathers father homesteaded the farm. Mary's father was born in 1875. He was five years old when he came to the farm. Ever since his kids have lives there. The fifth generation is coming up. Mary's parents got married in 1915. Mary's brothers and sisters live in Arizona, New York, Minneapolis, South Dakota on the farm and Mary in Eureka, Montana. They lived in a small farm house. Only two bed rooms. Her brothers slept on a hide‑a‑bed couch. They made it up every night. The three girls had one bed. They took turns, two at the top and one at the bottom. They took turns on bed positions. They all learned to grow up and accept a lot of things that children now of days have separate rooms. They learned to grow up accepting one another. Mary was raised through the Depression. In September 1929 she got a beautiful doll, a great big one, it was the last present that she ever got. The banks all went broke in October. Mary's dad was forty and her mom was thirty years old when they get married. They saved a lot of money, but it was all in the banks. They lost every thing. She never had another Christmas present after that. Mary lost a brother in 1999, a brother in July, another brother in thanksgiving in 1999, a sister in October, sister‑in‑law in January 2000, and her husband John also this year. Mary had a very, very close family. Mary's oldest brother never went to high school. He took over the farm when their dad died. Mary was still in high school. Her oldest brother managed the farm, brought up his children and they had an education. Mary would like to have his knowledge. Mary went to business college for one year. Worked in the Agricultural Adjustment agency. She went right to work after business college. Mary meet John Ellingson while he was working in JCPennys there in Chamberlain, South Dakota. They married in 1946. John was doing all of the managers work when he was only the assistant manager. So they moved up to Kalispell. They had one boy named Dennis. And they adopted two girls, Teresa and Marsha. They abopted Teresa in Kalispell in 1955 and Marcia in Eureka two years later. John and Mary owned Eureka Commercial. They first month of business they were $175 in the hole. Pretty disappointing. They wondered what they were getting into. They had a good business though. |
| Mary and her sisters were in 4H when they were littler. They had lambs. They never fed them anything except the bottle. They had to sell them and Mary and her sisters would cry and cry wondering if the lambs could actually eat food. With the money they got they would buy school supplies. John could not get into the military because doctors thought that he has a leakage of the heart. Six months after they were married John had to go in and get a thyroids operation, his eyes were coming way out and bumping his glasses. It never grew back. The doctors thought that is would. Only twenty one years old. They have done lots of traveling. Took a trip to Europe. Ten countries there. Scandinavian countries. Visited all of those. Bed and Breakfast trip to Ireland. Spent ten days there. Hawaii was the first place they went. Flew to the three different Islands. They have been to 38 states. Two exchange students. One in 1965 and 1966 when their son was in high school. Mary worked in an office two blocks up from where John was working at JCPenny. Another girl and Mary worked in an office. At noon they would go and eat in the cafe and grab a sandwich. Mary would always try on shoes and have John help her and The girl Mary worked with. That's how they meet. The girl Mary worked with was after John too, but Mary got him. They were engaged for about and year. They got engaged on Mary's birthday in September and married in July. They had a lot of fun. Mary's mother spoiled John. Mary and John didn't have a car. Until about four years after they were married. Mary's brother was always giving them rides. Mary's brother would pick them up on Saturday night. He would have to work sometimes until eleven o'clock at night. Because the stores would close at ten in the old farm town. The people would go to the show first. The show would get out at a quarter before ten. Then they would all rush into the store to do their shopping, so you couldn't close the store until eleven at night. Mary's brother would take them out to the farm. Mary's mother would have a big old stake for John. And apple pie. Which were two of his favorite things. Mary and John took a short honeymoon. Mary's brother had to take them to Michel, South Dakota. Which is about fifteen miles from here. On Their wedding night they danced to Freaky Lain at the Corn Palace in Michel. They stayed there that night. They didn't have a motel, so they stayed at her sister's apartment. Her sister left it to them. The kids had tied alarm clocks under the bed in the matrice springs. And when they pulled back the covers it had signs under it. Real close to John's mother. They lived a few blocks from her. They spent a lot of time over there. John's mother always said that Mary was more of a daughter than her own was. Lots of friends they had. The Purdy's adopted them when they moved to Eureka. They took Mary and John in for all of the holidays and on the trips. People now and days just don't get together like we did back then. Kids now watch TV instead of playing cards and eating popcorn like Mary's kids did. In 1975 Mary and John got their first TV when they moved up here. It was a black and white one. Marsha thought that one of her friends was rich because they had a color TV. John worked with Dennis when he was a kid until he became an Eagle Scout. Mary worked with the girls, Mary was a Brownie Leader, 4H Leader and Scout Leader. Until the girls grew out of that. That really kept Mary busy. The responsibility when Mary was a child, they had lots, milk the cows all of the time, feed the calves. Mary really likes clouds. John would always say she would make remarks about the clouds. When they had to herd the cattle and lay out in the field, we noticed all of those things. That's why she has always had a fascination of the clouds formation.
A few years ago John, Mary and two of their grandsons, Gabe and Anthony. They all went through parts of the mine where Mary's dad worked. It was interesting to see that and to know that her father had worked there. Mary's father was the youngest of eleven. All of Mary's brothers and sisters a few years ago all made plans to meet at a brothers house for a week or so. They all were retired though. Mary just has memories now. When Mary and John were going together, John played the guitar and eight couples would go to this cabin at American Island and party together. John would play the guitar around a camp fire and sing songs. Mary had a teacher Mrs. Todman never married she was a lovely lady, but you minded her. You had discipline, yet we loved her. You had to mind her. After Mary got married to John. She worked for a guy for about two and a half years as a dental assistance. At that time they had no protection against radiation. The guy's hands that Mary worked for was all cracked from the x‑ray radiation. Mary had to hold the clip in someone's mouth while they took an x‑ray. Mary did that a few times. So different from now. A lot of difference when you go to a dentist now. Mary also had to develop all of the x‑rays by hand. She had fun and it was interesting.
You always have little disagreements. But nothing serious. It passed by the end of the day. They never had much money. Everyone was allowed five pheasants. They would go to the farm and bring home up to twenty pheasants on Sunday nights. Mary canned them all. That's what they lived on was pheasants. Mary could not eat one now for anything. That was the only meat that they had. Besides pork and stuff from the farm. Living conditions were ruff. They were all healthy. The cost of things now compared to then, there is just no comparison. John and Mary were always busy with clubs, school things and stuff in the community. The Ambulance and all of those things. John was making $75 a month. when they got married. Now he was making $100 a month. Even though they didn't make a lot of money, they didn't care how poor they were, they always arranged to put away $10 every month out of his salary. Then the JCPennys company matched it. When they left JCPennys Company they had enough to buy a car. And to make the move to Montana. So they always learned to save. They had the Eureka Commercial here for thirty years. They never made a big salary, but they managed to make enough out of it to put in for savings. They never had to worry about too much money. They were at a class reunion. There was 27 that actually graduated. And there was only 17 left. Mary graduated in 1942. It's been 58 years. John went to one of his and said ,some of those people look old. Mary said have you looked in the mirror lately. When you don't have good health you don't look as well. Dennis has four kids. Two boys and two girls. They two boys are married already. The oldest girl just graduated from St. Regis in Denver and is working in San Diego, California now. The youngest one is in Gonzaga and will graduate this year. Marcia and Teresa has little kids still. Mary and John have lots of grand kids. Mary and John take two weeks every year to visit South Dakota in the summer. Helped out Mary's mother and John's mother too. Dennis, Teresa and Marcia just loved it back there with all of their cousins. Lugano Hotel de lujoEntertainment was with the neighbors and Mary and John would square dance. They took lessons when they were in Kalispell in 1954. They did a lot of traveling in the motor home to square dance and they camped out with all of the square dancers. They would go every Friday night to Grasmere, they would square dance up there. They did a lot of square dancing in Canada. At Cranbrook and Golden. More so then in the states. They were just closer. Last summer in June, John and Mary were still square dancing. Mary hasn't gotten back to it yet, she doesn't think she can do it. Two years ago Mary, John, Anthony and Gabe went to Kennedy Space center. Went out and saw the launch pad. A The film came out that week on how they live in the space station. That was very interesting. They are building a little city, sixteen countries are working on it. There will be people living in it. There won't be any soil or anything. It will be all chemicals. When they were in Disney World they saw beans growing in chemicals. Who would want to be up in space and they couldn't put a foot on the ground. They are going to have a little city up there in space. What is the object. I don't know. Do they think that the earth is going to get too crowded or what.
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