August 19th, 2022 by Gary Osberg
It has been a year since attending the “Celebration of Life” of my ex-wife Marcia Julia Rudie Osberg. We were married on August 21, 1965. I could have gone to see the Beatles at Metropolitan Stadium, but I got married to Marcia at St. Olaf Catholic Church in downtown Minneapolis instead. The wedding reception was on the Rudie farm northeast of Upsala. They killed the chickens that morning. The beer and booze was in the milk house.
Marcia was born in the downstairs bedroom in the farm house on May 8, 1942. Her dad had built the house along with the barn, the shed and the milk house. During her final days, Marcia told our son Erik that her happiest times were on that farm. She used to say that she could run barefoot across a newly mowed alfalfa field and she was proud of it. Three of Marcia’s older siblings lived in California, so the evening of our wedding day we left on a four week honeymoon to California. Her mother’s half-brother Bill Heisick and his wife Maggie, who had been a model, also lived in California. Maggie made quite an impression on Marcia. So much so that when she got back to Minnesota she enrolled in the Patricia Stevens Finishing School in downtown Minneapolis. Quite a change for a girl from a farm northeast of Upsala.
Perhaps one of the most dramatic events in our marriage was the purchase of a small farm on the north side of Cedar Lake 3 miles west of Upsala. Marcia’s mother Irene had mailed an auction flyer to Marcia. We lived in Coon Rapids, Minnesota at the time. So on September 15, 1973 we drove to Upsala and parked in the hay field near the house. There was a huge turnout for the “Agnes Olson Auction”. The small farm had 900 feet of lakeshore. Marcia took me into the barn and said “Gary, I want this place and this is how you win at an auction. When it is your turn to bid, you do not hesitate. Understand? You react immediately.” I said ok and went to see the banker who was a very close friend of my father. In fact he was Best Man at my parent’s wedding. I had to tell Roland that I wanted to bid, but that I didn’t have the $3,000 earnest money check. I told him that we would go to town and get the check from Marcia’s mother if we were the high bidder. He took a long time thinking about it, but he finally said okay.
The auctioneer started out and I jumped in. After a while my bid was $50,000 which was the maximum that Marcia and I had set. The auctioneer milked a bid for $50,500 out of the only other remaining bidder. The coaxing went on and on. Finally the other guy said yes to $50,500. The auctioneer turned to me and asked for $51,000. I did as Marcia had instructed and simply nodded my head. It was over. Later it was reported to me that the other bidder stormed away with the comment. “That kid will never stop!” (I was 30 years old at the time) Marcia was 100% correct. The point is we never would have had the enjoyment and fun of 16 years of living on Cedar Lake if had not been for Marcia.
We were married for 32 years, 1 month and 8 days and we were friends for the next nearly 24 years. May my first date and my first love rest in peace.
“You react immediately! Understood?.” Marcia Osberg
August 5th, 2022 by Gary Osberg
In January of 1971, I attended a Coon Rapids City Council meeting to complain about the snowmobiles that were running up and down the streets in my neighborhood. I was not impressed with my representation at the meeting, so that fall I decided to run for the Third Ward Council seat. I had met a few folks at a caucus in 1970, so with their help, we managed to pull off an upset victory. The fellow that we beat was a lawyer and the Vice President of a large insurance company. He was going for his third three year term.
I think what did him in was his decision to distribute a legal sized document with all of his qualifications on one side, filling up the whole sheet, and my qualifications on the other side, taking up not even half of the page. Mine included notes like: “Attended college”. After all, I was 27 years old when we started the campaign. It was kind of mean spirited of him. Not Minnesota Nice.
I remember that when Dave Larson and his wife came to our house to congratulate me on my victory, I stood at the front door with my wife Marcia and hid my bottle of beer behind my back. Not sure what that was all about. Maybe I thought that I should have been using a glass.
One of the guys that helped me get elected was Gene Merriam. We had spent a lot of hours collecting rummage for a DFL garage sale fundraiser, so we got to know each other quite well. The next year Gene ran for Council at Large and he won that seat. Rick Reiter ran for the first ward seat and he won. In late 1973, the council filled a vacancy in Ward 2 by appointing Dave Therkelsen. We four served together in the year 1974.
In July of 2021, the four of us met at Kendale’s Tavern & Chophouse at the Bunker Hill Golf Course in Coon Rapids. Loren and Arnie were asked to join us. They had both worked very hard on our campaigns. Dave brought a copy of the Coon Rapids Herald dated March 22, 1974 with the headline “Ban the Can Ordinance Adopted”. Dave and the mayor Don Erlandson had voted no, but the rest of us voted for the ordinance. All five of the council were pictured above the headline. It looked like a Junior Achievement class photo. The citizens had to gather signatures for a petition to place a referendum on the ballot that fall to overturn the new law. The referendum passed. The young idealists were overturned. In the month of September of that year we had 20 public hearings. I did not even consider running for another three year term.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your wild and precious life?” from Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day”
July 29th, 2022 by Gary Osberg
Last Sunday, a Celebration of Life was held for Robert E. Andrews at the Des Moines Country Club. My beautiful niece Logan and Chris got married on Saturday and I had a graduation party to attend on Sunday, so I could not be there. I am blessed with an older sister and four younger brothers. A while back I adopted Bob as my other brother.
Marcia and I were married in August of 1965. Bob and Joyce were married in Des Moines in July of that year. We both moved into the lower level apartments in Century Court on Lyndale Avenue in Richfield. Later, Bob would name them the “Lyndale Barracks”. (Bob was a cook in the Army Reserve.) One evening we met the Andrews couple during a tornado warning. We both were outside watching the storm. It turned out we had apartments that were next to each other. Joyce hated being away from Des Moines, so it was not long before Bob and Joyce moved back. Bob went to work for his uncle C. Mac Chambers who owned an insurance agency. We would go to Des Moines every April so that I could do Bob’s income taxes and they would come to Minneapolis every Thanksgiving so that Joyce could shop at Dayton’s.
Bob was a shock jock without a microphone. Our bedrooms were back to back with thin walls, so we could hear Joyce scream when Bob would “Let one go” in bed and then pull the covers over Joyce to make her smell. Most of his jokes were not fit for any company, let alone mixed company. We both ended up divorced and sometime in the nineties we reconnected. There was no reason for us to be friends. We were exact opposites in many ways. He drove over 300 miles to Bowlus for my 70th and my 75th birthday celebrations and drove home the same day. In 2018 he showed up with a MAGA cap. Bob would do anything for his friends. One time he called me to ask about the special recipe for my Dad’s baked potatoes. He was going to be baking 70 potatoes for a friends get together. He would call me the day before my daughter-in-law’s birthday to make sure I would not forget.
There are way too many stories to tell about Bob. The point is that brotherly love does not care who you vote for.
As his young widow said to me this week, “Did you ever guess that we would miss those awful jokes?” Yes we do Bob. Rest in Peace dear friend.
“Grief is not a task to finish, and move on, but an element of yourself. An alteration of your being. A new way of seeing. A new definition of self.” Gwen Flowers.
July 22nd, 2022 by Gary Osberg
What a glorious summer day! Yesterday was even nicer. The winds switched to the north. One of the many blessings of living in Minnesota is that on occasion, we get a bit of cooler and dryer air from Canada during the summer months.
My daughter’s garden in Upsala is doing great. The Yukon Gold potatoes are free of potato bugs. I think Kerry goes out every day and picks them off.
There once was a farmer who claimed that he saw the initials P.C. formed by the clouds in the sky. He was sure it meant Preach Christ, so he sold the farm and went off to seminary. He had an awful time of it and never really caught on anywhere. Years later he died and went to Heaven and he asked God, “Why didn’t I become a great preacher and how come I ended up so unhappy as a minister? You gave me the sign in the sky and I was sure it would work out.” God replied, “P.C. ? I meant plant corn.”
I am sure that today the clouds are forming the initials P.H. It must mean “Play Hooky”.
“To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.” Confucius
July 15th, 2022 by Gary Osberg
Fisher’s Club is a restaurant next to a city owned swimming beach on the north shore of Middle Spunk Lake in Avon, Minnesota.
George “Showboat” Fisher was a major league baseball player from 1922 until 1932. He played for the Washington Senators and the St. Louis Cardinals. He was 33 years old when he opened Fisher’s Club. The dance floor was added in 1937. It was about that time that they started serving their legendary Fisher’s Famous Walleye. The secret recipe is still used today. The main dining room was added in 1953 and the porch in 1954.
When George Junior came home from a construction job in Greenland to work with his dad at the Club, ‘Showboat’ told his son, “Stick around to help me here at The Club or I’m going to sell it.” Junior and his wife Sally took over in 1959. It used to be a bottle club. The lockers that the regulars used to store their liquor bottles in are still on the wall with their names on them.
The owners, Cory and Jacob Voss, have added a full service bar. Jacob graduated from Upsala High School in 2011. The summer schedule is to be open Tuesdays from 4 until 8. On Wednesday Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday they open at 11am. Be sure to call for reservations, 320-356-7372. www.fishersclub.com
“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” Yogi Berra
July 12th, 2022 by Gary Osberg
In the summer of 1955 I was 11 years old and we were living in St. Louis Park. My mother signed me up for bible camp. I have no recollection of where it was other than “up north”. I got so home sick, that an older couple was enlisted to drive me to Upsala and my Godfather, Ralph Johnson, drove me the rest of the way back home to 1620 Colorado Avenue in his brand new Chevy. I turned 12 at the end of August.
The next summer Ma sent me packing once again and this time I remember packing a carton of Pall Malls so that I could make money selling packs to other campers. This is was the beginning of my “delinquent years”.
I left this off my resume when I applied for this job at MPR in 1999.
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” Henry David Thoreau
July 1st, 2022 by Gary Osberg
The 38th annual Hagstrom/Osberg Golf Open, H2O, will be held tomorrow at the Little Falls Country Club.
My mother’s sister, Leone, Auntie to me, married Duane Hagstrom, co-owner of Hagstrom Chevrolet in Upsala, Minnesota. Between the two families there were 10 cousins. Auntie’s youngest, Kevin, is a very good golfer and for many years he and I won this best ball event every year. For that reason, we named our team ‘Ming’. After all, we were a dynasty.
Because of my back surgery, all I can do is putt. When I was 12 years old we lived at 1620 Colorado Avenue in St. Louis Park. There was a Putt-Putt close by and I spent a lot of time there.
In 2020 I was able to sink a birdie putt on hole number 1 and another on hole number 3 so we were 2 under par after three holes. The rest of the team included Cousin Kevin, my brother Brian and his wife Jean Marie, plus brother Craig and his son Grayson. Craig’s daughter McKenzie drove the cart. We finished 6 under, which means that the trophy was back is in my living room for the first time since 2009.
After golf we gather at brother Bill’s house near the golf course for a picnic and the award ceremony. We are fortunate to have a number of traditions in our family. I trust that your Fourth of July Celebration will be a safe one.
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate on the present moment.” Buddha
June 24th, 2022 by Gary Osberg
My son Erik is the “Rural Rebound Initiative Coordinator” for Otter Tail County. According to an article in last Sunday’s Star Tribune Variety section, “presumably the only person in the United States with that title”.
I know that Erik has traveled to Maine and North Dakota accompanying Ben Winchester, a sociologist with the University of Minnesota Extension, giving presentations titled “Rewriting the Rural Narrative: Speak Softly and Carry Statistics”. Erik has also gone on the road with his “Inner Otter” hand puppet to promote the county with 1,048 lakes. More lakes than any other county in the country. Once he even made a trip to Omaha and Des Moines. A big huge thank you to Star Tribune reporter Rachel Hutton for writing a full two page spread worthy of being laminated for the Osberg family archive.
Then, on Tuesday, I picked up the latest Minnesota Monthly magazine and read another story about Otter Tail County written by Ashlea Halpern and Andrew Parks. Their mission is to promote the great State of Minnesota. In that article I read about Erik’s son Willie, aka “Walleye Willie”, age 12, hosting Ashlea and Andrew during the 2021 Governor’s Fishing Opener which Erik and his staff produced last May in Otter Tail County. Willie and his grandparents Kathy and Lee took the reporters out on a pontoon. You can read the entire story by simply going to your favorite news stand. You may also find it at www.minnevangelist.com
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” Henry David Thoreau
June 17th, 2022 by Gary Osberg
Randin Olson was raised in Otter Tail County. When he was a child, he used to catch frogs and bring them to the local bait shop. They would pay him a nickel each for the frogs. Twelve years ago Randin purchased a beat up boat for $800 and he spent weeks refurbishing the boat. He decided to try his hand at being a fishing guide. His first client was a woman and her young son. Randin took them to one of the 1,048 lakes in Otter Tail County and they had a great afternoon. When it came time to settle up, she asked “How much do I owe you?” Randin said “I don’t know, whatever you think is fair.” She handed him $200.
Three years ago Randin quit his job with a HVAC company and launched “Lock Jaw Guide Service”. For the last three years he has been part of the annual “Osberg Men Fishing” trip. There are 8 Osberg men and a couple of cousins that go to Holly’s Resort on the second Saturday in June. Due to a serious back injury, I have not been able to venture out in a boat since 2019. I stayed back in the cabin and read a book. This year my son arranged for Randin to take Erik and I out on Monday afternoon. It was an amazing fishing experience. I caught a 28 inch Walleye and now finally, after 20 years of trying, my name goes on the trophy. As an added bonus, 28 inches is the biggest fish on the “Big Fish Award”. The previous biggest was a 27 ½ inch Walleye.
If you want to experience some of the best fishing in Minnesota, go to www.lockjawfishing.com
“I love it when a plan comes together”. Gary Osberg
June 10th, 2022 by Gary Osberg
This weekend I am going fishing with my four brothers, my son Erik and my grandson “Walleye Willie” plus brother Craig’s son Grayson. A total of 8 Osberg men ages 13 to 78. Cousin John will also join us.
Sometime in the nineties, my youngest brother Craig was invited by his father-in-law, Jim Keeler, to go along on a fly-in fishing trip to Trout Lake in Canada. Over time, my other brothers, who were into fishing, were invited to go along. In 2003 brother Bill offered to pay the way for my son Erik, so I decided to go along.
I am the oldest of five Osberg brothers and it was a wonderful bonding time. I told the camp host, Murdoch, that I would be back every year for the next 20 years. The next year we went to brother Brian’s cabin near Aitkin instead. The year after that we went to Rainy Lake. Erik was working as a weekend sportscaster on WDIO Channel 10/13 in Duluth and he did a story on fishing with the guide and resort owner Woody for his TV show. Erik suggested that we try Woody’s instead of the fly-in in 2005. We had a great time and the greatest part was that Woody had a wonderful pub filled with memorabilia from his hockey days. For many years we went back to Woody’s. We never did do the fly-in again. You can check out Woody’s at www.fairlyreliable.com It is worth the drive just to meet Woody. In 2011 we switched to Brindley’s Resort on Leach Lake. A large home across the road from the marina worked well for the whole gang, but fishing was tough.
In 2017 we decided to try Holly’s Resort on Otter Tail Lake. Erik is an ambassador for Otter Tail County and we reasoned that we would have a better chance to find the elusive walleye. We had a great time. One of the cabins is right on the lake. Brother Bill is the chief cook and bottle washer, so we put him in that cabin along with brother Geoff from Chicago. Next Friday I will give you a complete report. There is a traveling trophy and guess who’s name has never appeared on it. Maybe this year.
“Dost thou love Life? Then do not squander Time; for that’s the stuff Life is made of.” Benjamin Franklin
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