At last…the journey begins.

Paula with her grandfather Durward who won’t see each other again until she is 7 years old.

1961, August. Glendive, Montana (no date on the letter, no envelope)

Letter sent from Ina to her sister Willa Titus Tonn sometime late August. Ina must have received a letter from Willa asking for details of her journey to Glendive. Alvin Erickson Jr spent the summer of 1961 in Grand Forks, ND getting linguistics training. He went back and forth all summer between Grand Forks and Carlos, MN where Ina was living with her parents. Ina travelled from Fargo ND to Glendive, MT in August 1961 with her two children by train without Alvin. She stayed in Glendive for an unknown amount of time before Al was done with his trainings and meetings. Alvin’s brother-in-law, Charles Mason came to Grand Forks doctors to deal with his ear problem and likely drove Alvin to Glendive. From Glendive Al and Ina and kids rode with Alvin Sr and Louise to San Francisco to board the ship to New Guinea.

Durward Titus and Estelle, drove Ina, Paula and Tom to the train station in Fargo.

Dear Willa, Martin, Micky, Lainey, Jenny and dog,

Sure glad you got Toppy replaced -especially for Elaine’s sake. He used to be her refuge like Paula’s bottle and blanket are hers. Dad took the day off from the park and drove down to meet the 2:30 C.S.T. train. We left Carlos about 10:00 then stopped in Alex for a few errands. When the kids were quiet, I drove. We stopped in Fergus to bid goodbye to Bill[1].  My, his hair is gotten so grey. He enjoyed Paula. She ran around the lawn teasing the birds and flowers and picking some “pretty” weeds. Bill held Tommy for little while but was afraid he would drop him. 12:30 DST we left for Fargo with an hour to spare and I got my big trunk as baggage- the one we bought to ship to San Francisco and a big suitcase.

Dad bought us some cool refreshing pop. Paula sat at the counter so big sipping soda through a straw. Mom talked to a conductor and said they could help locate me and the kids. When the train arrived, it was full so they had to pick up another extra car. You know how the end seats turn facing each other? Well, I grabbed the back one near the biffy. First, I tried folding that car bed into a car seat and she looked at books for a few minutes and waved bye-bye to grandpa and grandma (Durward and Estelle Titus). Then was ready for a nap. So, I put the bed folded out again across the 2 seats. But when the train started and stopped, I was afraid it would tip over. So, then I got the things that fasten it to the back of a car seat and put it cross the back of the seat. Tommy’s infant seat fit underneath with the diaper bag and purse and lunch, so I had the seats across from it all to myself, to sleep as I could. Paula slept for about an hour so I was able to feed Tommy behind a blanket. He was fairly well settled before Paula woke up again. She discovered the water fountain and kept playing with it. She didn’t wander too far down the aisle. She would play with some corn curls I had bought to eat and her books and toys- so it wasn’t too bad.

The air conditioning did not work so it was a bit warm at first, but we got used to it. At Mandan the train stopped for about half an hour and both kids were crabby. So, I took them for a little walk. Paula found stones. Per usual she didn’t want to get back on the train when it was ready to go. I had Tommy in one arm and dragging her, as she threw herself backwards. I got her to the door of the car and as I was opening the door she escaped, starting down the train stairs again. The conductor came and helped me. We had noise for awhile but then silence. So, I was happy for the noise as it made a lonely journey much more bearable. Tears welled up frequently this end also.

At first Paula wasn’t very happy. But everyone oohed  and  ahhed over Tommy so I could give solace to her. We arrived in Glendive (Montana) about 12 (midnight) mountain time. Helen and Charlie and Mrs. Erickson met us. Al had to go to Conrad which is about 450 miles away for a meeting.[2] Mom (Estelle Titus) called them before they left Fargo, which was a blessing. I thought most probably dad Erickson would be gone so I had planned to take a cab so not wake anyone. Mrs. Erickson was so sure I would be on the Tuesday train that they had planned to meet at anyway.

On Wednesday, Tommy cried in fussed a lot, but Thursday he slept all day. Today I took him in for his first DPT and polio shot. Paula for her booster polio shot. Tommy had not had a BM, so after we got home he had a tummy ache.  I gave him an enema. He pushed while I had the syringe still in. That fellow had such force it sprayed about 4 directions including my face, blouse, gramma Erickson’s lace tablecloth and stuffed chair. Tommy’s belly ache was relieved.

Paula seems to be adjusting. I guess she’s beginning to realize that where bottle, blanket and mommy are, it is home. Her last molar is sticking one point through, but she doesn’t mind too much. She was so afraid of the big potty, I couldn’t get her to use it. So they borrowed a small one. It still wasn’t her potty chair and took lots of persuasion to use it. She loves to play with Greg and Vicki. They are so good to her except they like to carry her and she doesn’t like to be carried. She plays so well with them. Grandma Erickson was so happy with Tommy. She says “I shouldn’t be partial, but I like little boys better than little girls”. She keeps remarking that Son[3] used to look and do the same things Tommy does. She’s proud of his fatness and his bigness and his strongness. She goes way overboard more than even mom did. We had Tommy weighed today and he weighed 11 pounds 9 ounces. He isn’t growing as fast as he was at first. Now, aren’t you sorry that you asked all those questions!

I sure love hearing from and about you. I want to know about Mickey’s school and Lainey’s reaction to her new dog, Jenny’s new antics and about mama and Papa Tonn. Al will be coming home this weekend, -goodie. At least I don’t have to say goodbye to him for awhile. We will have to ship more stuff anyway. The suit cases and trunk and this suitcase won’t even fit into the trunk of the car. We haven’t gotten our ship tickets as they are trying to get better accommodations. Our plane tickets should arrive any day now. Our passports and visas arrived yesterday. No heart attacks yet so I guess we’ll have to go through with it. It should be a lovely journey. God will give us courage to enjoy as well as endure this exciting though fearsome adventure. I bet when we’re done we will even recommend it.

You’ll always be with us in our prayers and thoughts. Thank you so much for Tommy’s chair. I was so glad to have it on the train and I have used it so much here. Greetings to Beryl and Bruce and thank them for coming this weekend and thank you so much for all the effort you put forth.

Love from the Erickson’s

Footnotes:

[1] Bill Dunleavy, Durward Titus’s Irish cousin who was at the Fergus Falls state hospital for 8 years.

[2] Al here refers to Alvin Sr. He and his brother Joe set up a trust from some oil revenue that funded their brothers missions in Africa. The worked together to handle all the finances of their brothers on the mission field. So very likely Alvin Erickson Sr was meeting with his brother Joe Erickson at the family farm in Conrad MT.

[3] Grandma Erickson called her only son Alvin Erickson Son or Sonny. So everyone in their family did, including his nieces and nephews -Uncle Sonny.

Durward and Estelle Titus, Ina’s parents. They are the recipients of the majority of the letters from PNG and Estelle kept the letters and passed them to Alvin and Ina sometime in the 1980’s. Ina passed them to Paula in 1995. Many are written in small cursive so often hard to read. So when Paula retired has the time to dictate them, edit and post. My thanks to grandma Estelle for the forsight and organization in keeping these letters which are now 60 years old as I am doing this project.~ Paula

Farewell family photo taken in Carlos MN: Ina Titus Erickson’s parents ( Durward and Estelle Titus and sisters, Willa and Beryl, with their families in August of 1961.