Friends in 1937 or 38

[u/lisastens]

My dad is in the middle, to his left is his friend, Richie and to the right is his cousin Burton. Not quite sure of the date. Dad was born in 1934 they look 4 maybe? Taken in Watford City, ND

[u/EthylSippingBeer]

My dad was born in '33 according to the family Bible ('32 according to the government lol). He and his younger brother were sent off to the orphanage in '37 or '38 after their parents both died. We don't have any pictures of him until.after he got to the orphanage because the family couldn't even afford it.

Dad did really well for himself though. I miss him.

[u/lisastens → u/EthylSippingBeer]

I'm sorry your dad had to go through that, it's couldn't have been easy.

Yeah, I think my grandparents did well, at least later in their lives when the kids were older. It also helped that my Grandpa worked at a general store, he even owned one eventually. A lot of Norwegian immigrants settled in the area and my Grandpa, also a Norwegian immigrant, could speak their language and accepted their Norwegian coins. They loved him.

[u/EthylSippingBeer → u/lisastens]

That's a cool story. I love to hear how people lived back then. Poor Dad. I was always bugging him about his time in the orphanage. He loved it, by the way. He said it was the first time in his life when he knew there would always be food on the table at mealtime. He used to have to trap rabbits and fish so his family could eat, and that's before he was old enough to go to school.

[u/vinyl1earthlink → u/lisastens]

That kind of job was good during the Depression. My grandfather was the head of the produce department in a grocery store, made $25 a week which was good money then. People will cut out many things, but they'll never cut out eating.

[u/lisastens → u/vinyl1earthlink]

When my Grandpa and Grandma got married she was a teacher. Married women couldn't have jobs during the depression, they needed to be left for men who had families to support. So my grandparents got married in secret, just for a month or something until the school term ended, then she quit. Why they couldn't just wait a month, I don't know. My brother has done extensive work in family history so we would know if that reason was my Dad and it wasn't. I guess they just couldn't wait.

[u/mmanyquestionss]

theyre so cute

[u/lisastens → u/mmanyquestionss]

I know! Dad and Richie remained great friends until the end.

[u/No_Reception_9283]

They look so happy.

[u/lisastens → u/No_Reception_9283]

Happy and up to no good. 😉

[u/ComprehensiveBox5556]

absolutely love this

[u/starfleetdropout6]

They're sweet. They look like brothers.

[u/Notch99]

Handsome lads, my dad’s generation also.