My Danish grandparents, Chris and Helga Nelson, lived most of their married years in Enumclaw. They were married in 1911.
Many of us who went into the seventh grade in the old Enumclaw junior/senior high school were excited to leave our grade-school years behind. We felt so mature, not little kids anymore!
Back in the 1940’s and 1950’s we didn’t have Burger King, Dairy Queen or McDonald’s to grab an good hamburger. So where did we go when we got hungry for a good burger? We had a good selection of the places in Enumclaw.
This month’s story is about my “little brother”, Grant Rogers, even though he is 6 feet tall and I’m 5 feet 2-3/4 inches, but I was born first.
One of the places in Enumclaw my grandparents, Chris and Helga Nelsen, lived was a farm in the Osceola area where a few Danish farmers lived. Chris and Helga had three children – Melvin, Bob and Doris. The farm was around a mile from the school house where the kids had to walk to school.
My grandpa Chris Nelsen worked at the White River Lumber Company. I don’t know what his first job was but when he was older he developed a bad heart.
I remember going to old Rochdale with my grandma helping her carry things home. The main floor had the groceries. There was a downstairs where there were clothes and a lot more things a person or farmers could buy. I was young but I remember the downstairs and I thought it looked creepy because it wasn’t bright.
I went to school in the old, three story J.J. Smith building since I was in the first grade. I came to J.J. Smith after spending my first and part of my second grade in Auburn. I had some good memories of J.J. Smith. My grandma, Helga Nelsen, was one of the cooks that prepared the meals for all the schools. She also collected the money for the lunches, so I saw her every day.
When I was kindergarten age we lived in a small rental house by where Runland’s little store is now. At that time there were no buses to ride to school so I walked.
