GENERATIONS
D8 | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021
WEST CENTRAL TRIBUNE — WILLMAR, MINNESOTA
Letters from a lifetime ago offer
a window to the past
BY MONA LACKORE I have been going through the letters my great-grandparents kept over the m yyears, typing them up so other relatives ccould enjoy them as well (the handwriting sometimes takes a long time to w decipher!) The letters show a slice of life d ffrom a different time. I have attached portions of two of those letters below. p These particular letters were written by my grandmother to her parents. b My grandmother, Velma McCrery Lackore (whose nickname was Pink), was at this time living in Leland, Iowa, with her husband (my grandfather) Norman and her two children: Leonard (my father, born in 1933) and Peggy (my aunt, born in 1938). Norman ran the farmers’ elevator in town. The first letter below was written during Prohibition, before either of the children was born. The letter describes a raid on their neighbor’s house. The second letter was written on Nov. 13, 1940, describing Velma’s experience of what became known as the Armistice Day Blizzard. I have typed the letters as they were written, with Velma’s spelling, punctuation and grammar.
April 28, 1930 A Dearest Folks, We had so much excitement yesterday that I feel the reaction to-day. Did I tell you about our neighbors to the back of us who were said to be boot lleggers? They moved in while we were back in Illinois. They have been next to b running an open saloon there for the llast two weeks. A big Catalac with an Illinois license goes and comes – stays about two days and then goes again. They have been keeping the neighbors awake at night – so they said. Norman’s and my slumbers were seldom broken – of course we are sound sleepers. Yesterday morning we slept late. Norman helped me get breakfast. We
This photo of Velma McCrery, provided by Mona Lackore, is believed to have been her college graduation photo from 1924.
him, and came back at such a quick pace I fell on the stairs & skinned both knees. We opened our kitchen door – and listened in on the excitement. One of the women (I don’t think she is as old as I am) was shouting that they had no right to come into a man’s house with out a warrent. The sheriff was apparently paying no attention to her however. Shortly before the sheriff’s arrival five men had just driven up and gone in. The sheriff & his deputy drove up & stopped their car down on the other side of Chizell’s garage one had come from the back, the other from the front – and entered the front and back doors at approximately the same time. The women screamed. The men apparently offered little resistance. After a while the Deputy came out – ran down to Chizell’s garage – got his car – drove up to the house – and they carried out two large paste board boxes – and a large Gunny Sack. The latter we immagined contained empty bottles. After that they marched out the man of the house and one customer. We supposed that the latter had been caught in the act of drinking. He is a regular boarder down at the jail any way. The deputy took them away in the car – but the sheriff stayed a while, borrowed a flash light from Carroll Senday – made further investigations in the house – and all-so dug around in the garden for a while. Then he left – after that the woman of the house & her sister came out, locked up the house and went “down to Mammas.” They have one child a girl, about six years old – but she was not here at the time, was probably down at her grandmothers. The Cadalac car with it’s man & wife were not here at the time. I’m sorry they missed them. They are here this morning.
did dishes, put on dinner and went to church. We came home and as it looked rainey & our car was clean, we thought we would stay home for the day. I called up Dows & asked if they were going to be home – as I wanted to see Mrs. Dow about some missionary work. While we were poking around with the work – I was doing dishes & Norman was down stairs singing lustily away on some church song. When all of a sudden there was a pounding on our front door & it was thrown open all at once & Mrs. Orville Anderson (our neighbor east) called – “The’re having a raid. The’re having a raid – the sheriff walked right up and broke right in.” I dashed back to the kitchen to yell down the stairs to Norman. He was thick headed & couldn’t understand it at first so I started in down stairs to tell LETTERS: Page D9
