Dorothy & Norman
Hallsten Family
Photo taken, Christmas - 2006
Dorothy Lilyquist Hallsten – the first 40 years
Dorothy Elizabeth Lilyquist was born on November 10, 1919 at the
Lilyquist home with the assistance of Ms. Micelbus, a professional midwife.
Dorothy remembers that, as a child, the typical school day started
with a nice breakfast of cereal or toast. Fully dressed and ready for the day, Segrid sat
in the kitchen waiting to hear the children’s footsteps coming down the stairs, and
as soon as she heard them, she would pop the toast into the toaster. Her timing was always perfect.
Dorothy attended Ensign grade school.
One memory she has of the school was standing in line waiting to get into
the building each morning. Before the school
doors were open, the students stood in line (rows of two – boys on the right, girls
on the left), and “Sornie” (Mr. Sorenson the janitor) would ring a hand bell and
then open the doors at 9am.
In high school, Dorothy especially enjoyed her cooking and sewing
classes, but definitely disliked gym class. Reflecting
on school, she humbly describes herself as, “an average student; school was just
something you did.” She didn’t
really like school but she went every day, got acceptable marks and stayed out of trouble.
On Sundays, Dorothy and her sister, Margaret, walked (rain or shine!)
to Sunday school at First Covenant Lutheran Church. The actual church service was in Swede
so, she explains, she “didn’t get anything out of it,” but her attendance
was expected. She laughs as she remembers
sitting in church with her friend Donna Anderson and trying to sing the hymns. Unfortunately, the only word they recognized was
the letter “I,” and when they got to that part they proudly sang “eye”
when it should have been sung as “eeee”. Children who attended the church
services all year would get a prize, and one year she won a blue purse as a prize for her
attendance! That, however, was the only prize
she ever received.
As a youngster, Dorothy learned to play piano from Donna’s
sister, Del. The lessons were in the
Anderson's living room, and Dorothy had to play and learn with Mr. and Mrs. Anderson right
there. She found it terribly intimidating,
but she endured it. Unfortunately, the
Andersons eventually lost their house in the depression and moved to the country. At that point Dorothy’s was no longer able to
take lessons.
Dorothy and her friend Julie sometimes took the bus downtown to
“bum around.” Occasionally Julie
wanted a soda, so she would go into a store and have one while Dorothy waited outside. Dorothy laughs about it now, but said the
situation really didn’t bother her at the time – it was a matter of fact; she
just didn’t have the money for a soda, while Julie did.
Upon graduating from high school, Dorothy took a job at West End ice
cream parlor that was new to the area. After
the owner had a stroke and closed the business, she went to work at a restaurant that was
owned by Tille Abrahamson. While working for
Tillie, a regular customer of the restaurant suggested that Dorothy should meet a friend
of his with whom he worked. Not long after
that, the two men came in for dinner and Dorothy was introduced to Norman. That very night Dorothy took him home and
introduced him to Ernest and Segrid. Poor
Norman! Segrid was celebrating her birthday
with all the relatives at the house so he definitely “stepped into the picture with
both feet.” The next day he returned,
and together with Allen and Margaret they walked up to Enger Tower.
Norman and Dorothy knew each other for a year before they were
engaged. She was so excited about the ring
that Norman bought her, and she proudly showed it off to everyone at work! The couple were
married on June 8, 1940 at Ernest and Segrid's house.
Clarance Hallsten (Norman’s twin brother) was the best man and
Margaret (Dorothy’s sister) was the bridesmaid. Margaret made Dorothy's dress and let
Dorothy use her veil. The bride's bouquet was
made of Gardenias and Lilies of the Valley. Norman
and Clarence were both dressed in the same style suit – the only difference between
them was that Norman had a Gardenia in his lapel while Clarence had a white Rose. The lapel flower was the only way Dorothy could
tell them apart!
The actual ceremony was in the living room. The bride walked down the stairs -- not down the
aisle. A friend of Jo’s played the piano
and Jo sang 2 songs. It was a wonderful
celebration – and there was quite a houseful of people! Norman's father, Emil Hallsten, was in attendance
and played the accordion and sang for entertainment.
“It was wonderful,” Dorothy recalls with a smile, “he could
play anything and played so well – he was really something!”
After the ceremony the newlywed couple walked to their apartment on
26th Ave West and 4th street, where they spent their wedding night. Their “honeymoon” consisted of a train
trip to Minneapolis and one night visiting Norman’s cousin, Doris.
Shortly after they were married, Norman took a job with Zinsmaster
Bakeries as a driver. Later, he accepted a base + commission job with Grennan Cakes as a
route salesman. This was a wonderful
opportunity, and Dorothy didn’t work out of the house again for many years, which
pleased Norman greatly.
Their first son, David, was born February 6, 1942 at St Luke’s
hospital. Their second floor apartment had a
little living room and a big bedroom that the 3 of them shared. With a baby in the house,
it was very close quarters, indeed!
Dorothy enjoyed having neighbors over for coffee during the day. Norman would walk to get the cake truck in the
mornings, and then he would take a bus home at night, where he would always find David and
Dorothy sitting on the steps anxiously waiting for him.
David would be all cleaned up, patiently waiting for his Daddy to come home,
and when he arrived, all three would go into the house and enjoy the dinner that Dorothy
had waiting for them. After dinner, Norman
would finish his day doing his ‘bookwork’ for the route, placing orders for
product and reconciling the cash for the daily transactions. Of course, there was no charging anything to an
account in those days; the store owners paid cash for the product he put on their shelves
The family would often take the bus to visit friends and relatives,
and they especially enjoyed visits to Pike Lake to Aunt Bertha’s farm. The swimming there was great and it was a perfect
getaway on Thursdays, Norman’s day off.
To make a little bit of extra money, Dorothy gave women permanents. After a while she had to stop, though, because the
chemicals ate away her hands. When the couple
decided that they needed a car but didn’t have enough free income to purchase one,
Dorothy started making earrings out of sequins (Margaret showed her how). She also decorated sugar cubes that Norman would
sell when he was on the route. It was the
earrings, and not the sugar cubes, though, that made the most money.
Dorothy saved her earnings, and eventually they put money down on an
order for a new 1947 Ford at Sterling Motors. They anxiously waited for the car to arrive,
but it never came. Finally she went to the
dealer to get the money back, but the dealer wouldn’t give it to her. She was so upset that she cried – and only
then did they finally return her money. She
took it and they purchased a used 1946 Chevrolet. After
they bought the car they would “go,go,go all the time!” The freedom the car gave
them was such a novelty - just getting in and
going somewhere, anywhere, was a treat! It
wasn’t long before the family regularly began driving to Rice Lake and Island Lake to
go fishing. They would rent a boat and use a motor that Norman had purchased with his
friend. Norman would clean the fish they
caught, and then they would pick up Segrid and Ernie and bring them to Enger Park and cook
the fish on a charcoal grill. Enger was a
favorite picnic spot and the fish was always delicious
On October, 25, 1951, Jerry Hallsten was born. When Jerry was 1, the family moved from the
cramped apartment on 4th Street to Devonshire Street. The new house looked
terrible from the outside and needed work on the inside.
It was quite livable, though; the $45 a month payment was affordable and
there was a bedroom for each of the kids. The
house was continually improved over the years.
The Devonshire house was
always filled with warmth and love, and the door was always open for relatives and
friends. Dorothy loved to be in the kitchen,
and the love she still puts into her cooking and baking for everyone feeds both body and
soul. To me, she truly is the best mom in the
whole world.
- Jerry Hallsten
ADDICTED to CAFFEINE!
Some years ago Kathy and I were
staying with Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Norman.
Within 36-48 hours of arriving I was feeling ill--dizzy, nauseous, just awful. It was
morning and feeling sick when her incredible tea rings were waiting to be consumed for
breakfast--bad timing.
However, I recognized the symptoms from a similar incident when we had visited my folks on
another occasion.
"Aunt Dorothy, is your coffee
possibly decaf?"
"Why yes, we switched recently".
She was so proud--and I was so sick. Kathy came to my rescue with a quick trip to
McDonald's for a couple of very large cups of the real stuff.
The tea rings were great! Did I tell you I'm addicted to caffeine? Dave & Kathy Maddox
SURPRISE!
About a year before my grandpa Norman died, I surprised them. Nobody
told them I was coming into town. So there I go to their apartment with empty ice cream
bucket in hand, as that is what she would always mail her best chocolate chip cookies to
us in. I was let in the apartment as not to
spoil the surprise, and I knocked on the door and waited for the answer. There she was, my
lovely grandma, I simply looked at her and said, "I am here for a refill,
please". The look on her face was priceless. Her jaw dropped and I thought she would
too! Later that evening we were sitting around the dinner table and she looked at me and
asked actually kind of sternly, "LeeAnn, please do not ever surprise me like that
again." We still laugh about it to this day as she looks at me from the corner of her
eyes! A 2200 mile cookie refill.
Canned Soup and
Sandwiches....Another time during the same visit, we sat around the table eating
dinner uses. Grandpa looked at me with a mouthful of food and said, "Yeah, your
grandma was never any good with spices!" The look on grandma’s face
was....well...I laughed so hard and asked him why he had been married this long and never
told her that before. I think after that day, grandma started serving canned soup and
sandwiches!!
LeeAnn and David Wesley
Dorothy Elizabeth
Lilyquist-Hallsten
Was born November 10, 1919, she married Norman Hallsten on June 8, 1940
in her parent's home. Norman was a route salesman for
Taystee Bread in the Duluth area. They had two sons.
David Norman Hallsten
was born on February 6, 1942, David married Mary Atkinson on May 4, 1987
David & Bonnie Mazuka's (divorced
in 1968)
children are:
buddies. We were
fortunate to have seasonal spots for our campers at Sun Bay Campground on Sand Lake from
1984 until 1992. We had fun times there; walks on the bike trail, card playing, time to
relax and gab, outdoor cooking, or just sitting on the lake shore watching the boaters and
swimmers, and we socked up the sunshine.
