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Family Stories
A potpourri of stories about various family members or events
Haven Township Home
Introduction
I don't know any details about when and why Mom and Dad decided to build a house next door to Grandpa. Most likely, it went something like this. About April or May of 1962, Mom realized that she was pregnant. Soon after, she started showing more, and eventually Grandpa learned as well. I am sure that Grandpa would have used some strong words about it not being feasible for eight of us to live in a trailer this size. He may have suggested, or offered, for some of the land north of him to be used as a place to build a house. By this time of the year (likely by summer), it may have been too late to start this process of lining up a builder, the plans, and so on. So, Mom and Dad decided to hold out in the trailer for another year and use that time to continue to save for a down payment for a home to be built. Let me repeat that all of the above is just speculation, but it seems reasonable to me that it went something like this.
Now I will share something that I do know, based on evidence. On April 8, 1963, an indenture between Jesse E. Hibbard, a single person of Sherburne County, and Edmund A. Hibbard of Sherburne County was made and filed to sell 1.42 acres (with a very long legal description) from Jesse to Edmund for $1.00 (i.e., given). A copy of the pertinent portion of the indenture is shown below. The 1.42 was calculated for me by someone in Elk River when I called to learn about this transaction. She then sent me the full document (as well as other documents that she found).
Here is the main part of a two-page document.
Note that this land was the most northwestern portion of land owned by Jesse, and it was bounded on the west by the gravel road (now the paved airport road) and bounded on the north by a field owned by Howard Hibbard, Jr. On the east, it was bounded by other farmland owned by Jesse, and on the south as well, though I think it was also deeded over eventually.
This home had its basement and foundations dug in early summer, 1963. Bruce was born in November, 1962, and our trailer did not have capacity for eight of us. See the story Life in Our Trailer Home for more discussion along these lines. Perhaps my older siblings can confirm this, but I am fairly sure that Mom and Dad had a lot to say about the layout of the home and what they wanted. Mom always viewed it as her "forever home", and so our move to Fargo in 1968 (after only being here for five years) was not easy for her. See more in the story Fargo home. I vaguely recall that the approximate cost to build it was about $15K. They had it paid off before we came back from Fargo, I believe (thinking it was 7 years). That was a good model for me when I also paid off my Pella home quickly.
Floor Plans
Next, I want to look at the floor plans for each level (crudely drawn by me, but you can get the gist of the layout). Then I will discuss certain aspects of each level's rooms. First, we look at the main floor.
Here is the basic layout of the ground floor.
I showed these diagrams to Becky to confirm my accuracy, but we both missed something on this floor: the way I drew it, it seems like one can only get to the bedrooms from the bathroom. In fact, there is a short hallway off the long hallway, which gives access to these three rooms. The other clarification is that there is no wall separating the dining room and the living room. I also didn't show that the living room had a 5-panel bay window that brought in a lot of light and was a good place for Mom to place plants.
Now, I will walk through each of the rooms. As one comes in the back door, there was a large coat closet on the right with the phone just west of the closet. There was easy and quick access to the basement, which had a door that opened into the kitchen. In the NW corner (upper right) of the kitchen was the oven/stove, then a counter work area, then the fridge, where the wall ended. On the east side of the kitchen, there was a counter from the door all the way to the south end, which ended with a peninsula that came out, and there was access from the kitchen and dining room. Before the peninsula came out, there was a dishwasher in the SE corner (lower left) and then a double sink next to it (going north). There was lots of counter space in the kitchen. Cupboards were mounted above the counter (a certain space up) along the full length, including the peninsula.
The dining room could easily handle a large table for all eight of us to eat at. When we moved back after Fargo, neither Keith nor Ken were part of the home since they had their own homes. However, the table had leaves that could be inserted for larger groups. In fact, for Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter, often one or more tables were added into the living room to accommodate all the guests. From the dining room, it was easy to access silverware in drawers below the cupboards, and in the cupboards, within easy reach, were the items needed for meals. Later, Mom had some built-in bookcases added to the south wall of the dining room (and maybe extended into the living room?).
Some discussion was given about the living room already. Typically, there was a couch against the west bow window and chairs or smaller couches on the north and east walls. There was the head of the large buck that Dad got in western ND hanging on the north wall. For many years, there was a piano on the south wall. I know that Becky had piano lessons, but I don't think anyone else did. I don't know if the piano was removed at some point before Fargo, or before Dad died, or after he died, or not until Mom moved. The living room was well lit with the western exposure, but the row of red pines along the road made for a good barrier (visually and from wind and snow).
One of the features of the floor plan that was specified by Mom, but then later (perhaps) regretted, was the continuous path that the grandchildren could take chasing each other: through the kitchen, down the hallway, through the living room, through the dining room and back to the kitchen, ad infinitum. A feature that I liked about the floor plan was the (halfway) open stairway going upstairs. We could sneak down the stairs while our parents had a party and listen to the discussion. Or perhaps the better part of the parties was coming down early the next morning. Finding some half-full glasses of pop became my first introduction to such.
The two bedrooms downstairs were both an advantage and a disadvantage, particularly for Becky. First, she got her own room, though the first year or more she shared it with Bruce for easy access by mom. But she also didn't have to put up with being with the boys on the top floor. However, she did have to put up with the discussions, arguments, and other issues that accompanied having one's parents in such proximity. Becky's bedroom door may be the only door in the house that was decorated by the "toe-print" (i.e., indentation) by her next-younger brother. I must have been angry since only one other time in my life did I ever strike against an inanimate object (the side of my fist against a wall--but never against a living object).
I guess thinking about things from the past brings up memories, such as the toe-print above. Another memory that I want to bring up involves my parents' bedroom. At one point, they had a headboard for their bed, and upon the bottom shelf of the headboard, a tissue box was housed in a soft box designed for such. I have a clear memory of walking into their bedroom once, likely looking for one of my parents, but no one was there. However, the top of the tissue box was off, and below the box was a stack of $20 bills and perhaps other denominations. I didn't count it or even touch the money, but I found a strange comfort in seeing it. In hindsight, I guess that I felt protected against unforeseen events in that my parents were ready to address them. I know that much of my life growing up, I often felt poor, but I never felt desperately poor.
Here is the basic layout of the second floor.
As above, I will first comment on some aspects of my drawing that are incorrect. I didn't use drafting software but just an application that I didn't want to master, so I just put together a guide. First, the attic area in the upper left (western portion) was wider, I think. Also, at first, there were not a lot of boards covering the ceiling joists in that location, so I am very surprised that no one ever put their foot through the floor/ceiling. Regarding the attic portion on the right (and actually the whole west side was attic, some of it over the stairs), I think it should have reached more eastward since that part was definitely bigger than what I labeled as Keith's room. Regarding the latter, the room certainly butted up against the bathroom, and the portion between the stairs and what is shown as his bedroom was the closet for that bedroom. Finally, just as the bathroom was actually a dormer that came out of the roofline, there was an equal-sized (and contiguous) dormer that stuck out as part of the large bedroom, and I didn't do a good job showing that.
When we first moved into this house in August of 1963, Keith was 14 and an incoming freshman, Ken was 9 and going into 4th grade, Becky was 7 and going into 2nd grade, I (Al) was 5, kindergarten age (but there was no transportation), Louie was 4, and Bruce was not even 1 yet. As suggested above, Bruce was in a bassinet in Becky's room, and Keith was clearly in his room, and that left the large room for Ken, Lou, and me. I vaguely remember us having bunk beds in the SW corner and another bed in the SE corner, but I can't be sure. Ken? If so, Ken was likely on the top of the bunk bed (or me). I have a vague memory of one of us falling out of the top bunk. Perhaps later, these bunk beds became unstacked, and there were just three single beds. Actually, this upstairs bedroom was so large that I would guess it had room for close to 16 single beds if you permitted a foot of space between them - just a wild guess with no calculations.
With Lou being the youngest among Ken and me, he naturally became the butt of jokes. I recall one night Ken suggesting to me that we wake Louie up and tell him that he was in the wrong bed. We did so, and then we walked him over to the open bottom drawer of a dresser and told him that this was his bed. He tried to get in, but things did not work out so well, and he woke up then. For some reason, he didn't appreciate the humor. However, when Bruce later joined us three in this bedroom (before we moved to Fargo), I think it was Louie's idea to try this same trick on Bruce. I don't recall if Ken or I were involved or not, but I wouldn't put it past us to have helped. After Bruce joined us upstairs (and before we headed to Fargo), there was one bathroom for the 5 of us upstairs. It worked out. It helps if you don't know how to spell hsowre.
When we moved back from Fargo in August of 1972, Ken and Keith were already married (in Ken's case, just about to be at the end of the month), so there were only three of us boys and two rooms. I was 14 and an incoming freshman, Lou was 13 and an 8th grader, and Bruce was 9 and I think in 4th grade. I guess we never considered asking Becky if she wanted the single room upstairs, but that could have been an option. However, I am sure she would have readily declined it. Being the oldest of the three, it was only natural that I took the single room where Keith had resided, though I don't recall if there was ever any discussion about it. The other room contained only Louie and Bruce. One would think that in a room this size, they could each find their own space and be satisfied, but that turned out not to be the case. After so many harsh words, often coming to fisticuffs, I talked to the two of them and declared that Louie and I were swapping. (I think this was near the end of my sophomore year.) It was more peaceful, though the basement remained a brewing ground for arguments for these two, but at least these didn't continue to the second floor very often. I remember setting up my desk in the alcove associated with the dormer with the back of the desk toward the rest of the room. This helped me to set off some space where I was able to better focus on my studies.
Here is the basic layout of the basement.
A couple of changes that I could make on the map are both related to the bottom half. On the right, the top edge of Dad's office should likely be a little lower. In the other bottom corner, I forgot to show the fuel oil tank in the very SE corner. Related, the portion dedicated to "Wood" should then be moved upwards, but likely also increased in that direction. When modified, the top portion of the furnace should be at about the midline from north to south. Another minor omission is that in the NE corner of the laundry area was a sump pump, though I don't recall where the pumped contents emptied out. Along the east wall of the laundry was our hefty freezer. Just outside the SE corner of Dad's Office was the area where the water pump was, which brought in water from the well.
Dad's office was not used very much, though I think there was good intent. There were too many other shiny things to do. I understand. The laundry room definitely was used a lot, especially when there were eight of us living together. The freezer often had surprises. I used to go in there near Christmas looking for cookie dough that Becky or Mom were cooling before making cookies. Why waste all of that propane to bake them? Other times I found a turtle, an opossum, and other items (not all at once). The pantry room was closed off and cooler. There were stacks of jarred tomato sauce, canned corn, beans, fruit, and more. Also, on the floor, were sacks of potatoes and more. Often, spiders lived there to make life interesting for all those who ventured in.
After all the years of throwing wood down the narrow window to the outside, it is amazing that neither the fuel oil tank on one side nor the furnace on the other side ever got damaged. Additionally, there was the copper fuel line that connected the two. Did we ever gently pass it down and stack it? Maybe once. Mostly, we tossed the sawn pieces with a hard throw. Yes, some bounced off the frame on the outside, which required another toss. If this was done during the winter (which was often the case), it got cold downstairs. However, the fireplace (on the south wall about halfway between the furnace and west wall) was then used as a means of warming up the place, in addition to the furnace (which, hopefully, was briefly turned off while we tossed in the wood).
I remember the fireplace as a physical device to warm up the basement, as a social device to create atmosphere, and as a culinary device since Dad often used his rotisserie insert to cook ducks and other game. Perhaps we also used it for cooking s'mores, but I don't have any definite memory about that. But in the corner was the center of attention (very often): the television. There were many Sundays on either a fall or winter night, and the family was watching a Disney show of some sort (or another type of show). Then, all of a sudden, the waft of cooking chocolate slowly made its way down the stairs (or through the air system of the furnace). Then it was a race: who could be the first one to get to Mom to ask if 1. they could scrape out the pan, or 2. they could lick the spoon. The differential between those two was significant. When Mom would pour out the fudge onto a plate, the one receiving the pan to clean out might say something like, "Ok, I think you are done pouring" or something similar. I think Mom also had a mental notebook where she remembered who got what in the last few times, so that it was not quite "survival of the fittest". (Though some meal times seemed to take on that mode sometimes, or at least it could look like it.) So, the SW corner was a social room for our family. It was also where we gathered when there was a tornado warning, as I clearly remember when one came to our general neighborhood in about 1967. It touched down due south of us about 2 miles, and we helped pick up the debris that was scattered in farmers' fields.
There was another center of attention in this basement, but not marked on this map, even though its location was quite fixed. First (according to my memory, but I won't swear by it), we bought a pool table and put it in the middle of the large open space south of the stairs. We often played pool and tried not to throw balls at each other as we argued over the legitimacy of some shot. Many examples could be cited, but not now. Soon after the pool table, we bought a ping-pong table that could just lay on top of the pool table. While it was great, and all enjoyed playing table tennis, it became a hornet's nest. At first, we were all at different ages and abilities, so a natural (to some degree) "pecking" order arose about who could beat who. (This is the name of the game for everyone, right?) I think that in the year before we left for Fargo (or was it after we were back), Dad made a connection with a Chinese student from St. John's who would come to visit our home several times a semester (although Dad was no longer teaching there). I watched him hold his paddle with the "pen-grip", not with the traditional "handshake-grip". I asked him to teach me that method. I worked on it, and I liked it. And I got better. At one point, he brought as a gift to our house a paddle from China. However, since the pen-grip only uses one side, this paddle only had padding on one side. I think I was the only family member to use the pen-grip (though Lou and Bruce could correct me), so I partially adopted it as mine. After I got to the point of consistently beating everyone in the family with my right arm, I taught myself how to play with my left arm. Eventually, that arm proved to work better for me than the right. Everyone in the family played ping-pong, but the females tended to stay away from the bloodthirsty boys, and the younger boys were more thirsty than the oldest two. Even Dad played, and was not too bad, but he didn't have the speed or agility of the younger ones. I recall that after we came back from Fargo, there was an ongoing battle of who was best between Louie and Bruce. It got heated at times. In hindsight, I would have recommended that a wall be built to contain the wood and keep out the ping pong balls.
Outside Features
I hope the different stories that I shared conjure up some memories of your own. If so, please share them with me, and I will try to include them (with your permission). At this point, I want to venture to the area outside the home. To simplify things, I will discuss portions of the exterior that were located in the four major directions.
North: There are two things immediately to the north that I clearly remember. First, along the house there were many lilies of the valley planted that were appreciated by most. The other item was a tall wooden box about 5 feet high and maybe 18" by 22" with a door. This was our winter freezer. Once it was cold enough, we put our excess frozen food, purchased, hunted, or slaughtered. Sometimes the spring came without it being cleaned out as well as it should have. Did anyone get sick from this? Does anyone remember if this was used again after we came back from Fargo? I would guess not. Going further north was the driveway that curved out toward the road with some Russian olives in the corner south of the driveway. The rest of the region north was mostly many (7-10) rows of trees and bushes. The north-most trees were fast-growing cottonwood trees that were not the type that became massive, but just tall. Other rows had a large variety of other species. I don't recall the actual number, but I think I remember hearing the total variety of species for the entire lot was near 60 or 70, which is pretty good. However, some of us kids didn't appreciate it as much as our parents because there would be slips of paper (seemingly) every morning telling us to hoe certain rows, water certain rows, and so on. This was just for the items to the north, not counting other directions. Another important item on the north side, right along the protective red pine barrier from the road, was a picnic table, two benches, and a fire pit. The first two items were moved up to the cabin, likely by Mom. I sat on one of these benches today (that I helped repair about 20 years ago), and the table is still functional, but missing some of the lengthwise planks. We had family picnics there, friend picnics (e.g., Teders), and professional picnics (SJU faculty and SCSC as well). I remember that Mom and Dad had this LP record of wolf sounds and I had recently bought a tape recorder. I recorded the sounds from this LP and then snuck behind the picnic area and started playing it with a slight, ever-increasing volume. I don't recall if I told my parents, but they certainly recognized the sounds as coming from their LP, and they played along (either way) until some women became too frightened. I then came out and showed them, though I likely did not apologize.
East: Starting in NE, at first there was just the light pole that came on at night and then the dog house, and then many years later (after I was married) came a garage. Otherwise, the first portion eastward was just a parking area, and to the SE was the clothes line with a caragana hedge as a southern boundary. Beyond the parking region, there was a large garden that eventually extended beyond the line that the caragana were on. Beyond the garden was what became our private "road" between our place and Grandpa's place. There we walked, biked, and even one Thanksgiving, Ed's dog pulled us on a sled through the snow. Further east was a fence line with a field on the other side that was planted with corn, beans, rye, or whatever, whose size was XY acres. Along the fence was a large red ant mound that we all learned (eventually) was not a good place to diddle dawdle. Getting back to the garden, there were beans, carrots, potatoes, lettuce, broccoli, onions, tomatoes, peas (especially for Dad), and I am sure more that I can't think of now. Yes, those slips of paper that we found in the morning often had tasks for us to do in the garden that involved weeding or harvesting.
West: Various plants and flowers were growing along the house on the west side. On the far west side was the red pine barrier from the (formerly) gravel road (that later gave way to being paved). Parallel to that, I think some sumacs were planted (though not sure now). Along the southern side of the west front yard were a variety of other trees, including a hackberry in the corner by the house. There were matching Russian olive bushes in the SW corner like those in the NW corner. That left a fairly large open area of grass (intentionally, I am guessing). We set up a net to play badminton within the family or with others. We would set up another net to play volleyball, sometimes against the Teders and other times when some other larger gathering was happening. Additionally, we often played football in that large section, either as just our family, or when the Teders joined us, or when other groups had gathered. I know that we also had some family reunions in this space. I know that it was also used as a sunbathing location. This was well used.
South: There was not a lot of space between the house and the caragana hedge, but there was some space for other trees and a wood pile where it was cut up to be thrown in via the SE basement window. On the other side of the hedge, we had a strawberry patch and a section of raspberries. There was a break in the hedge where we had beaten down a path that we used to go back and forth to Grandpa's place, with first a small field and then a section of woods just north of Grandpa's garden. Sometimes there was sweet corn in this field, sometimes hay, but it was not very large.
Some time after Mom married Ron DeGree in May 1991, Mom moved into St. Cloud with Ron. I don't know the details, but at some point Mom sold the house to some other party. I don't think I ever learned anything about it. I didn't even know the marriage was forthcoming. I certainly didn't know Mom was going to clean out the house of many personal and historic items and then burn them in the silo at Keith's place. At some point later, the St. Cloud Airport thought that they were going to expand, and so they ended up buying the home from the current owner. It was then used as a place for firefighters to practice putting out a fire. I agree with the need for such a thing, but it seemed such a waste to do this to this house. If you can't tell, I really liked this home, and it was hard to lose it in this fashion. If anyone has more details about the last steps that happened with this house, I would appreciate being informed about what you know.
Published 2026-07-22.
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