An Anniversary of an Anniversary

February 10

It is on this day in 1940 that Ella Doloris Lundberg and Stanley Kenneth Ranum were married in St. Hilaire, Minnesota.

From the pages of the Thief River Falls Times,Rosewood News, we learn Stan and Ella were in Rosewood visiting with his parents, Benhard and Julia Opseth Ranum.

FEBRUARY 1940
2 1 Stanley Ranum and Miss Ella Lundberg visited Mr. And Mrs. Benhard Ranum on Sunday

2 15 1940 Stanley Ranum and Miss Ella Lundberg, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Lundberg of Thief River Falls were united in marriage Saturday evening by Reverend Dahle. Their attendants were Mr. and Mrs. Harry Ranum.

The bride wore a powder blue dress with black accessories and her attendant wore a black crepe dress with gold accessories. The bride had been attending Lincoln High School. The groom is a carpenter.
(in an announcement in 2008, it would read Phillip Lundberg of Thief River Falls and Mrs. Clara Henry of Downer, MN.).

Have I told the story about how they had three flat tires on the way to the parsonage? Or that, because of the flat tires, he handed the minister his last bill and asked for change?

How they met remains a mystery; there is no one left close enough to her to tell me. I do know they moved in with Benhard and Julia for a time yet mother spent most of her time with her own father, Phillip and his second wife, Mae when Daddy was out of town doing carpentry.

We know that Mother and Daddy and Greg lived in Olaf Opseth’s house across from the Anderson’s. Later, the house would be moved to town, on Main Avenue, and the addition would double the space. As you remember, Olaf and his brother Gustav, lived across the ’road’ from each other; Lloyd and Ella bought Gustav’s house.

The house that was moved was not the first place the threesome lived first. They rented an apartment in Thief River Falls. The Rosewood News states, “Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Anderson and children and Ilene Rye visited at the Stanley Ranum home in Thief River Falls on Wednesday."

Stan took his carpentry skills to a new level and formed a construction company. He would build and design buildings and houses over a forty year span. The last project, was their home Kendall Avenue. Beginning with Olaf's house on Main, they would move seven times. The game was build, live, sell, make a profit, build, live, sell, make a profit. In 1975, they designed the house on Kendall with the luxuries they always wanted. There, they would sleep in the sand.

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