|
a.
|
Note: Pearl Hamel Biography (1907-1997)
Pearl Florence Hamel was born at home on her parent's farm at Hamel Station, Medina Township, Hennepin County, Minnesota April 6, 1907. Her father Alfred Hamel was a farmer and her mother Emilie Lefebvre was a farm wife. She had one older brother, Archie and two older sisters, Lillian and Dora and one younger brother, Clarence. Charles (Charlie) Heidenwag was a young hired man who also lived with the family. The family farm was situated on land first settled by her great-grandfather Lange Hamel in 1855.
Pearl contracted diphtheria as a small child and it was feared that she would die. The family called the priest and she was given the Last Rites of the Church. Her mother despaired of her recovery. In the midst of the crisis a traveling salesman came to the farmhouse door and observed the sorrow of her mother. He told Emilie that he knew of a cure for diphtheria and that the child should be given a diluted solution of kerosene to drink. The remedy was given and to everyone's surprise, it worked! Afterwards, Emilie said that it was an angel that appeared at her backdoor and aided in the cure of Pearl.
The family moved to Washington State in 1911 and remained in the west for about 3 years. They returned to Minnesota in the spring of 1914 after suffering extreme economic hardships in Washington, which eventually culminated in the loss of their farm at Yelm, Washington. In later life Pearl often recounted that her years in Yelm produced some of her fondest childhood memories. She remembered returning from school and walking through woods near the farm and stopping to pick wild flowers. She forgot her lunch box in the woods because of her interest in the flowers.
Pearl was a sickly child and also quite shy. She missed many days of schooling and was forced to repeat the first grade 3 times. In later life she said that when called upon in class she would forget her name because of her shyness. It was for this reason that she said she could not answer the questions on the test given her to determine in what class she should be placed when she returned to school in Minnesota from Washington. Emilie did not place too much emphasis on Pearl's education because she felt that a woman's place was in the home.
Pearl met her future husband, Mel Soderlund, at a dance sponsored by the Farmer-Labor Party and held at a dance hall over a local drug store in northeast Minneapolis. She and Mel were married September 1, 1928 in the rectory of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Minneapolis. Mel was Lutheran and the Catholic Church did not allow "mixed marriages" to be held in the church. The couple both worked, Pearl as a seamstress in a pants factory and Mel at the Eklund Bus Body Company, as the parts and tool room man. Mel lost his job at Christmas, 1930 and the couple struggled financially through those years of their marriage because of the Great Depression. Mel worked as a cartoonist and Pearl continued to work in the dressmaking industry in Minneapolis. The couple rented a lower duplex from Pearl's mother and did eventually move into their own house in the spring of 1940. At the approach of World War II in the late 1930's they finally were able to become somewhat financially independent.
The first child, Bill, was born nearly 10 years into their marriage in 1937 and after another 8-9 years two more sons, Joe and Ray were born in 1946 and 1947. Pearl continued to work throughout World War II up to the time of the birth of Joe and Ray. The family again suffered economically when in the late 1940's when Mel's cartooning failed to provide adequate funds for the family. Pearl was forced to return to the work place to help out with the family income. A real crisis developed in the late fall of 1949 when Mel suffered a mild heart attack and again in November 1951 when he fell and broke his hip. He was unable to provide any help financially for quite a few months and Pearl's meager salary was inadequate to support the family.
It was in the fall of 1952 that Pearl began to take charge of the family finances and the couple purchased their first rental unit, an old house at 1711 Emerson Avenue North in Minneapolis. The house had been a doctor's house and was quite large. It had been converted to apartments and used as a rental property. Eventually they purchased several more buildings and were again able to return to financial stability. Pearl was the driving force behind the operation of the buildings. She had lost her shyness and became a driving force in the operation of the family rental business. Mel worked as the fix-it man for the operation.
The couple was able to provide an education for each of their sons and also to bring them up with a good moral and religious background. Once again in the early 1960's Mel's health began to fail again. He underwent several surgeries for his hip and became more and more lame as time passed. Pearl liked to travel but Mel did not, so she did little traveling. When Bill was on active duty with the Army in Fort Eustis, Virginia Pearl and Mel and Joe and Ray took a train ride to Virginia and visited Bill and Joan. It was the first long trip the couple took and it was a major undertaking because Mel's health was poor.
Mel passed away December 17, 1971. Pearl was left alone and struggled to overcome her grief. She had become very close to her sister, Lillian and they visited often. Pearl and Lillian took several trips together, both abroad and in the country. They shared a love for the opera and often attended the Metropolitan Opera performances when they came to Minneapolis. Pearl had a friend, Carl Swanholm, who lived with her for several years before his death in 1983. They were able to share several trips to Sweden and in the U.S. together.
Pearl was about 5 feet 4 inches tall. Her weight was always a problem for her. She had blond hair as a child but it became dark as she grew into adulthood and it became quite thin as she aged. She was shy as a youngster but overcame the shyness and grew to love the company of others. She joined the H�lsing lodge after the death of Melvin and eventually became the secretary for the group. She also loved to dance and partook in many square dances with her new friend, Carl Swanholm.
Pearl also liked to travel and joined the Elderhostel travel group. She took many trips to Europe and especially liked to travel to Sweden. She was able to attend a performance of the Lascala Opera Company in Milan, Italy, during one of her trips to Europe. Pearl often invited others to travel with her. She especially enjoyed the company of her sister Lillian LaBelle and her friend Carl Swanholm on her trips.
Music was her lifelong love and she had a large record collection of all types of music. Opera became a favorite of Pearl's in her middle years. She attended opera performances whenever possible and especially liked to see the Metropolitan Opera Company when it performed in Minneapolis.
Pearl had a very strong religious faith as an adult. She was raised in the Catholic Faith but became lapsed after her marriage. It was during World War II that she underwent a spiritual renewal and had a very close relationship with Jesus. In the operation of the rental buildings, she often spoke of spiritual encounters she had with her tenants.
She had a very close relationship with her grandchildren and loved to visit with them. After she became a widow, she opened her home to her grandchildren for extended stays. Bill, Jr. Stayed with her for several months in the late 1970's and Margaret and Patrick roomed with her while attending school in Minneapolis. Chris Mechura, Margaret's future husband also roomed with her prior to his marriage to Margaret. Her nieces and nephews and their children were quite close to her as well.
Pearl suffered a stroke in October 1994 and her health declined rapidly. She was forced to move to an assisted living facility and after a short time there, suffered another stroke. She was moved to Northfield, Minnesota to a nursing facility where she died April 20, 1997. She was buried next to Mel at Crystal Lake Cemetery in Minneapolis.
*****************************************************************************************************************
Personal Reminisces of Pearl Soderlund by Bill Soderlund, Sr.
I remember my mother with the fondest of memories. My earliest memory of her was while we lived at 1510 NE 5th Street in Minneapolis. It must have bee in late 1938 when I was about a year old and I can remember sitting on her lap in the living room of our house.
When I was old enough to leave alone with my father, Mom returned to work as a dressmaker. Dad always brought me to nursery school at the Northeast Neighborhood House and Mom went to work. Dad always had a set way of bringing me to school and picking me up after the day was finished. On one occasion in the summer of 1940, Uncle George Rooney was in Minneapolis visiting from California. Mom and Uncle George came to pick me up from Nursery School and she did not do it the same way as Dad. I can remember being very upset and crying.
Mom and Dad liked to go fishing in the summer. We got our first car in the spring of 1940 and that opened up the horizons of where we could go fishing. We usually went to Rock Lake out by Rockford, Minnesota, and Mom always packed a lunch for us to eat in the boat. We usually had liverwurst sandwiches and we a Thermos with coffee to drink. I remember it being unsweetened because Dad did not put sugar in his coffee.
When I was old enough to go to grade school, Mom and Dad decided to send me to a Catholic school. Our home parish, St. Austin's did not have a school so Mom decided to enroll me at St. Bridget's. We went to Mass one Sunday in the spring of 1943 and after Mass, Mom and I went over to the convent to visit with the sister who was to be my teacher, Sister Lea. My next recollection was being taken to school in the fall of that year and left by my Mother. I was not too happy, and I don't think Mom was either, but we made out.
Mom had not gone to church on a regular basis for many years when I started grade school. I came home from school one day and asked her why she did not go to church. She later told me that she was ashamed of herself and decided to return to Mass.
Mom used to talk on the telephone almost daily with her mother. They usually discussed the latest gossip, which usually included Mem's sister, Aunt Leonie. When Mem and Pep went to California in the fall of the year, it was always Mom's job to watch over their real estate, which were three duplexes and their home. It was because of this exposure to rental property at that time that she was able to undertake a similar endeavor for our family years later.
When I became old enough to say prayers before bedtime, Mom always sat on the bed and I knelt beside her. We always said the Now I lay me down to sleep and when we finished we always prayed for the whole family and asked God for a little brother. Finally in February 1946 our prayers were answered when Joe was born. Mom stayed in the hospital for a week and I was very lonesome for her. Dad visited her every evening and she sent home a note for me. In one of those notes she described our new baby and told me that his head was about the size of a grapefruit.
Not long after Joe was born she became pregnant with Raymond. I remember the day she told me I was going to be a big brother again. It was early May 1947 and we were on the way home from Sunday Mass at St. Bridget's. When she told me of the new baby on the way, I remember thinking that God was really answering our prayers! Ray was born about a month later. When Ray was about a month old and she was changing his diaper, Mom left him on the bed alone while she went to get something from the bathroom. Ray was able to wiggle his way off the bed and fell to the floor. It was in the evening and Dad was working in the basement and I was out playing at the neighbor's house. Mom stood on the back porch and screamed that her baby had fallen on the floor. One of the neighbor men came to the house and tried to calm her. Ray had fallen on his head and she thought he was going to die. Ray survived the accident.
During World War II, Dad's cartooning provided an adequate income for us together with Mom's job at the dress factory. When Joe and Ray were born, Mom quit her job at Julette's and stayed at home to raise her family. In mid-1948, Dad's cartooning income dropped drastically and Mom was forced to return to work sometime in 1949. The day she went back to work, we drove to a daycare house on University Avenue in Southeast Minneapolis and left off Joe and Ray. Mom wept greatly when she left her little boys.
My mother's best friend was her older sister, Lillian. She always called her Lil. Mom and Lil worked together at Julette Originals, a garment making shop First Avenue North and Fourth Street in Minneapolis. Mom found Lil her job at Julette. Lil was quite shy and Mom found most of her jobs for her. In the evening Dad always drove downtown to pick up Mom and Lil from work. The conversation in the back seat where they rode was always about the "girls" at the shop and the forelady, Vi.
After Mom and Dad started to buy rental buildings in 1952, there were many times that Mom would go into the bathroom and shed tears because of the stress of the rental business. She was the driving force behind the operation and she made most of the difficult decisions. Dad was the fix-it man and Mom was the renter and general problem solver. Many of the tasks were difficult for a woman, but Mom would put down her head and plod forward. At 10 East 15th Street, she had a large boiler to heat the building, which required a boiler engineer license. Mom took the engineer's license examination and passed it. She often preached to the tenants and counseled them like a mother and they respected her.
She often was called upon to aid one of the tenants. On more than one occasion she had a tenant die in one of her buildings. In one case she had the man anointed with the last rites and found out from his sister (a Catholic nun) that he was a fallen away Catholic. On another occasion an elderly man was found dead in his apartment and had no living relative. Mom and Dad paid for his funeral.
When one of their buildings, 1614 1st Avenue South in Minneapolis, was condemned for the new freeway project, they were given a date when all the tenants were to be moved. One of the men was a drunk and the police came on the eviction day to put the man out. Mom saw that he had no place to go and asked the police to allow him to remain longer in the building. The police refused, so Mom called a taxicab and gave the driver the money to take the drunken man to another building. Along with the taxi fare, she gave the driver money to pay for a weeks rent in the new building. Mom always thought of her tenants as individuals and treated them with Christian kindness.
After a difficult day at the buildings, Mom liked to retreat to her chair in the living room and listen to her favorite music on her hi-fi record player. Her choice of music ran to the classical and opera, but she also enjoyed some popular tunes. She often said that music was her escape from reality. She liked to sit in her favorite chair and turn off the lights and close here eyes and dream while listening to the music.
Mom was a very prayerful woman. She usually found time each day to recite at least one rosary. She and I went to a novena at our parish church, St. Austin's in the late 1940's when Dad's drawing was in trouble. Whenever she got into trouble, be it financial or some other personal problem, she always resorted to prayer. Later in life she would send The Society for the Propagation of the Faith a check for Masses if she could not find an answer to her problem. Her faith was her consolation and her strength.
She had certain lessons, which she tried to pass on to her sons and grandchildren. She believed that it was the duty of the husband to provide for his family. We were told to obtain a trade or profession so that our wives would never have to work as hard as she worked. While enrolled at the University of Minnesota as a freshman, I was having a very difficult time studying. I informed Mom that I was going to quit school. She told me that I would quit "over her dead body"! That was the end of that discussion.
She also presented us with very high moral obligations; i.e. if we ever saw someone we thought we might like better than our spouses, we were to turn and run away. Never, ever give into temptation to cheat on your wife!
Mom loved her grandchildren. She always seemed to have one of them at her house every weekend for "their day". Many times she and Dad took them to the buildings and would stop at White Castle for hamburgers. Como Park was also a destination for them and she like to buy them a treat or an article of clothing while they were out for the day.
Mom liked to travel but did not have the opportunity to do so while we were growing up. We planned in the spring of 1946 to take a trip on the train to Duluth because I had never traveled on a train and Duluth was a nearby destination for such a trip. There was a polio epidemic in the summer of 1946 and we never made the trip to Duluth. She did manage to take a trip to California in 1951 with Joe and Ray to witness Pat Rooney's induction into the religious order. She traveled alone on the train with the two boys for the 3-day and 3-night trip. Fortunately there were several sailors also on the rail car with her and they helped with the boys. We also took a couple of automobile trips to Duluth in the early 1950's. We had little money so we slept in private homes. The foghorns sounding in the Duluth Harbor is a fond memory of those times. The houses we stayed in were usually only a couple of blocks from the shore of Lake Superior.
In the summer of 1970 we had a Hamel Family reunion to celebrate the 115 years since Lange Hamel had come to Minnesota from Canada. We had a committee that planned the gathering. Mom was very instrumental in the planning of the affair. She had many cousins and was able to help bring together many different Hamel families to aid in the planning. On several occasions Mom invited cousins to her home so that se might meet one another and become acquainted. We had meetings in different homes over a period of 6 months prior to the August 1970 picnic. She always enjoyed those gatherings. When we finally had the reunion, we were hosts to over 600 relatives and spouses from all over the USA and Canada.
In the late 1960's Mom decided to sell her rental property and to become a real estate salesperson. Again she studied and passed the examination. Dad did not like her to be gone from home as much as the job required. He was used to having her close-by and when she was gone at many odd times, he felt neglected. He pleaded with her to quit the sales job and despite the fact that she had just sold a home and was waiting for the closing to obtain her commission; she called the real-estate office and turned in her resignation. She loved Dad greatly!
When Dad died in December 1971, Mom was terribly lonely. The two of them were inseparable for so many years and then she found herself alone. She tried to alleviate the pain by being with other people. She traveled and she joined a camera club. Eventually she found a friend in Carl Swanholm, an elderly Swedish man who was also widowed. He moved in to her house and in exchange a bed and meals, he did handy work. Eventually they joined a square-dance club. Mom and Carl traveled together to Sweden and visited Carl's relatives there in 1976. She loved people and loved to visit and always enjoyed meeting new people.
Lillian died suddenly in June 1979. She watched over Lil's husband Roy after Lil's death. Roy was incapable of caring for himself and the task of aiding him after Lil's death fell to Mom. She took on a trip to California with Roy to visit relatives in the winter of 1979. Roy's health declined decidedly in the spring of 1980 and he passed away in April 1980. Mom buried Roy and was executor of his will. Carl Swanholm died in 1983 after returning from a trip to Hawaii. He had suffered a stroke in Hawaii and became quite weak. He lived for several months but did succumb. Mom was alone again.
In June 1990 Mom and Bill, Jr. took a pilgrimage trip to Medjugore, Yugoslavia, where the Blessed Mother was appearing. The trip was long and very tiring for her as well as very fulfilling spiritually. There was little time to eat and sleep and she was very tired when they returned home. She did not consume enough liquids while she was away. A day or two after their return, she suffer a transient ischemic attack while I was having lunch with her. We rushed her to the hospital and she made a rapid recovery after a few days. This attack was the forerunner of things to come.
In late October 1994, she was invited to a Halloween party at Bill, Jr.'s house in St. Peter, Minnesota. Upon her return home she suffered a major stroke and was found in her home by Patrick's wife, Ann. She lost her ability to speak and was greatly weakened. Once again she recovered from this bout, but was forced to take up residence in The Lutheran Manor Assisted living home. She did not like the arrangement but had little choice in the matter. Eventually she had another stroke, which left her unable to speak and walk. She lived for a while at the Masonic Home but eventually came to live in the Northfield Retirement Center.
On the final day of her life, April 20, 1997, was a warm sunny Sunday and nearly all her family visited her. She lay in a coma but seemed to be aware of her visitors. Her grandson Bill was on a business trip to Texas but her sons and spouses and the other grandchildren were with her. We all prayed the rosary at her bedside that day. That evening after supper, her granddaughter Anne and great-granddaughter Abbie were with her. A call came to me at home asking me to return to Pearl's bedside because the end was near. Upon entering her room, I saw that she was struggling to breathe. I placed my hand on her head and told her that it was OK to go now, Mom. Jesus is waiting for you. She took her last breath at that time.
Anne and Abbie left. Joan and Daniel came in to her room shortly thereafter. We three sat at her bedside waiting for Joe and Sharon to return and while waiting we prayed her favorite prayer, the Rosary.
|
