Recently Neighbors carried an item about a sign reading "The Coffey House" which was stolen from a home in Fargo owned by Mike and Lorraine Coffey; a sign which had great sentimental value for them.
At last report, the sign hadn't been returned. But the story clicked with Levi Parmer of Fargo. It reminded him of a similar and sad incident in his hometown of Pekin, N.D., southeast of Devils Lake, about 30 years ago.
Levi's story centers on Oscar Saugstad, a "wonderful man," he says, who was a blacksmith in Pekin. Everybody liked him. He was a good-hearted guy, especially with the kids in town. Kids like Levi.
For one thing, the kids would borrow money from him: a nickel, a dime, a quarter. But if they asked him for another loan, Oscar would insist they first pay back the nickel or dime they'd borrowed earlier. "He gave us our first lesson in economics; you had to pay your debts," Levi says.
Oscar was a bachelor. Maybe he was perfectly content to stay that way, too.
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But then a pretty teacher named Florence came to town and changed his mind. Because he fell in love.
The feeling, fortunately, was mutual, and they soon married.
They lived happily in Pekin for many years. Levi says they were "a beautiful couple, friends to everyone."
Then Florence died. Oscar's heart was broken.
But he wanted to do something special to memorialize her. So he put his blacksmithing talent to work, created a wrought iron sign reading "Florence" and placed it beside her grave.
Levi says he always admired that sign, and it made him think of this special couple every time he visited the cemetery.
Then the sign disappeared. "Somebody stole that beautiful memorial to Oscar's wife who he loved with all his heart," Levi says.
Oscar now is dead, also. And the sign is still missing.
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The chances of it being found after 30 years are slim. Still, Levi is hopeful someone might know of its whereabouts.
Should you know of where that sign is, you can call Brenda Bjorlie at (701) 296-4515 in Pekin; she would make sure the sign is placed where it belongs: beside Florence's grave.
"What a shame," Levi says, "that someone would steal that memorial of love a man had for his wife."
That is for sure, Levi.
Remembering Squeaky
Anybody out there remember Squeaky Sherman?
Well, at least one does: Jim Mullen.
Jim, of Underwood, Minn., got in touch with Neighbors because of a column about Jake Simonitsch, formerly of Moorhead and a World War II POW in Germany.
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Jim was one of those from this area who went to St. Paul to enlist. Of the group of six that signed up for the military that day, Jim and Jake were the only ones to survive the war, he says.
All this got Jim to reminiscing both about the war and about those days when things were a little different. For one thing, there were streetcars in Moorhead then and they ran all the way to Dilworth.
Those were the days, too, when Squeaky Sherman owned the Bluebird Café on Center Avenue in Moorhead.
"I remember Squeaky sitting at the end of the counter making meals out of leftovers," Jim says.
More on Jim: Before going into the service, he attended Interstate Business College in Fargo.
He joined the Navy and wound up flying with a Navy wing over the Mediterranean Sea looking for German submarines lying in wait for American ships coming by Gibraltar.
Jim didn't say, however, if Navy chow was as good as the meals cooked back home by Squeaky Sherman.
If you have an item of interest for this column, mail it to Neighbors, The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, ND 58107; fax it to (701) 241-5487; or e-mail rlind@forumcomm.com
