Book 2 - Nathan, Amy, Madison and Ethan Berga

Iva Lavine & Luella Josephine
We’ve been here all our lives so we don’t
know anyplace else.’ said Iva Nelson. Iva and her sister
Luella, live in a house on County Road B, in Spring
Valley that their family moved into 67 years ago. ‘We
grew up in a grocery store. We lived upstairs until we
moved here in 1912.’ Iva said. Their father owned
the J. L. Nelson General Store, which was located
where attorney Robert Gavic’s office is now. (1980) ‘I
worked in the store until 1948. Then I worked in the
dress shop and the drugstore,’ Iva said. Luella taught
grade school. ‘Most of the time I taught in North Dakota.
I taught in Minot for 20 years. Then I worked in
the store at the Cave for ten years.’ Luella said. ‘Now
we just live, and have done so for many years.’ Luella
plays the piano, ‘Just for my own pleasure once
in a while,’ she said. ‘We both took lessons when we
were kids, now only Luella plays.’ Iva said. They would
like to live downtown, preferring to be within walking
distance of the stores to get away from driving their
car. ‘We used to know a lot of people in town. Now
most of the older people are gone. There are a lot of
May 8, 1980
people we don’t know.’ Iva said. ‘There are no more
people here than when the town was new. There have
always been about 1,000 people, and that’s what
there is now. Of course there are a lot more houses
now. I guess the people have changed.’ She said. 3
(Newspaper clipping from unknown newspaper, May 8, 1980)
Iva worked in her parent’s store along with her cousin,
Minnie Emerson; who lived with them until her marriage
to Chris Owens.
Luella also worked in her father’s store along with
her sister, until she moved to Minot, North Dakota. 49
While in Minot, Luella lived in a boarding home
owned by W.H. Johnson and his wife, Marguerite,
along with sisters: Gertrude and Sarah Acheson. She
paid $50. 00 a month in rent during the thirties. 48 After
twenty years of teaching, Luella retired and moved
back home to live with her mother and sister in Spring
Valley.
After their mother’s death the sisters continued to live
Minnie Emerson
Minnie played the guitar and joined a band that brought together
the talents of five cousins; which incorporated Nettie
Nordrum and her violin, Martin Emerson and his fiddle, Larry
Olson with the base violin, and Anton Nordrum with his
trumpet. The group played for social get-togethers in Spring
Valley. Minnie was a small, thin woman with a crooked spine
and could not stand up straight, leaving her with a limp. She
and her husband did not have children. She continued to play
music all her days; when it wasn’t the guitar, Minnie was the
organist for the Lutheran church; she never allowed her limp
to slow her down. 23
Minnie Emerson
29