Dear Katrina, I am writing with news. I met a man named Karl Johanssen. He is a big, dumb Swede and owns a wheat farm in Wisconsin. Of all the swell fellows I’ve known in Chicago, why did I have to go and fall for him? You can laugh if you want. I wouldn’t blame you for all my big talk about farmers.
Anyhow, he asked me to marry him, and I said yes. Your big-city girlfriend is headed to Wisconsin at the end of the month.
Love, Anna Lee
A tall, good-looking man of about twenty-five working in a lumber camp somewhere outside of Portland had just been handed a letter from his mother. It had taken the letter almost a month to reach him so far back up in the woods.
Dear Gustav,
Your father and I thank you so much for your last money order. You are very kind to your old mom and dad. We still miss you here, Son. I wish you could see how the town has changed. Downtown is almost one block long, and there is talk of a Masonic Lodge and a new Methodist church being built soon.
We are having a really nice summer. We just got another calf, and we are happy about that. That old Lindquist farm you asked about is still for sale. I am glad you are liking your job and doing so well. Everybody here still asks about you. All your cousins, even your old teacher, Miss Beemer, the one you liked so much, still asks about you whenever I see her. Birdie Swensen told me the other day that Miss Beemer is engaged to be married, and I was glad to hear it. She was always so sweet. There is also talk in town about building a new school, but I will miss the old one. Do come home soon. We are not getting any younger.
Love,
Mother
P.S. We got the roof fixed.
Later that night, one of the men in camp asked the guy in the next bunk, “What’s the matter with Tildholme? He keeps reading that same letter over and over.”
Birdie Swensen was not a gossip. She’d just overheard the wrong information about Miss Beemer. It had only been a rumor started by a jeweler in town who had seen bachelor Glen Early looking at engagement rings. Later, Molly Ballantine had set Birdie straight on the matter. “No, Birdie,” she said. “Lucille’s not engaged. I know for a fact she turned Mr. Early down flat, not once, but twice.”
Birdie was sorry to hear it. “Oh, that’s too bad. I guess it’s just wishful thinking on my part.” Mr. Early went on to marry his sixth cousin, Iris Loveless, and they moved to Summit Falls, Missouri, and both became Unity ministers.
Mrs. Tildholme never thought to write and tell Gustav any different. She didn’t know it mattered.
It was said by all who knew him that Lordor Nordstrom had a heart of gold. He had almost lost the farm twice, because he had often paid other people’s debts when they had been in trouble. But according to the doctor’s latest report, that same heart was slowly failing. Katrina was devastated to think she might be losing him, and she almost never left his side. They tried to keep it from the children, but as the weeks went by, Lordor became weaker and could no longer go to work. Soon, he was mostly bedridden.
Lordor knew his time was short, and he wanted to leave his family well provided for. The dairy had grown far too large for either Katrina or Teddy to run, and Ingrid had her heart set on going to college. He talked it over with the family, and they made the decision to sell the farm.
Soon after word got out in the dairy industry that Sweet Clover Dairy was for sale, people came from far and wide with more than generous offers.
Closer to home, young Ander Swensen had borrowed all the money he possibly could from his father and the bank, and made an offer. It was far less than the others and he knew it, but it was the best he could do.
Day after day, Lordor listened to men’s ideas about how they would run the dairy. They explained in great detail how they would add new ways to produce more milk from each cow.
One morning, Lordor called out from his bedroom to Teddy, who had been in the kitchen, and he came to the door. “Son, I want you to run over to the dairy and get Ander for me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Teddy rode over to the dairy and found Ander and told him that Lordor wanted to see him right away. Ander dropped what he was doing and asked Teddy if he knew what his father wanted to see him about.
“I don’t know.”
Ander arrived at the house five minutes later, still in his rubber boots and not very clean. He removed his hat and knocked on Lordor’s bedroom door.
“Come in, and shut the door behind you.”
“Yes, sir.” Ander then went over and sat in the chair beside the bed. He could see how pale Lordor had become.
Lordor pulled himself up and said, “Ander, I see how people run their farms now, and I don’t like it. It’s not so good.”
Ander nodded. “No, sir.”
“I want my cows to be treated well.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lordor then looked at the boy and said, “This is why I take your offer and sell the farm to you.”
A startled Ander couldn’t believe it. “What? But Mr. Nordstrom—”
Lordor put up his hand. “No…no arguments. You are the only one I trust to run it like it should be run. And you earned it.”
“But, Mr. Nordstrom. You taught me everything I know—”
“That’s fine, but, Ander, I want you to give me your word on something. Just between the two of us…You understand?”
“Yes, sir?”
“You promise me that the farm and the cows will always stay in our families. You don’t never sell it to nobody else. You agree?”
“I do.”
“You will put this in your will someday…for even after you are gone?”
A solemn Ander answered, “I swear it on my life, sir.”
Lordor smiled and leaned back on the bed. “Good. Now go tell the others.”
—
THE FAMILY WAS GLAD Lordor had chosen Ander to take over the farm. Birdie and Lars Swensen were their best friends, and Ander was like a brother to Teddy and Ingrid, and another son to Katrina.
Later, when the town heard about it, they were relieved as well. They couldn’t bear to think of strangers taking over Lordor’s dairy. He had worked too hard to make it what it was. Over the years, the Sweet Clover Dairy had become a part of all of them.
—
TWO WEEKS LATER, as only fitting, Lordor Nordstrom became the first soul laid to rest at Still Meadows. And, as planned so many years ago, he was placed right in the middle, under the big oak tree.
LORDOR NORDSTROM
1852–1911
A Good and Honest Man
Blessings on His Way
His family missed Lordor terribly, and his passing left a huge void in the community. Lordor had always been their mayor, and the town felt lost without him. Most communities would hold an election to determine who the next mayor would be. But the people in Elmwood Springs all got together and asked “Why bother with an election?” They just informed Lordor’s son, Teddy, who had recently turned twenty, that he was now the new mayor. They had all gotten used to saying Mayor Nordstrom, and they did not want a change. Losing him had been hard enough. They had all been at Lordor’s funeral, but they still couldn’t believe that he was actually gone. And in a way, they were right.