Book 2 - Nathan, Amy, Madison and Ethan Berga

L.D. Veltum, was waiting to take him to Kansas City.
Mother was taken to St. John’s hospital, in St. Paul.
There they waited ten days to build up her strength
before operating. When I took dad to the hospital to
see her, his chewing tobacco made her sick and we had
to leave. This confirms Helen’s statement that most of
her earlier ‘sick headaches’ were caused by his tobacco
when he came home.” 3
Mildred’s T.B. had taken her from the family. She was
placed in the sanitarium to await her death, which
took her as a young lady on the second of March, 1921.
Her sister, Helen said, “Mildred’s illness was difficult
for mother, and my father.” 23 After Mildred’s death,
Lena was very worried that she would lose another of
her children to Tuberculosis, her fear was substantiated
by the fate of other families having the disease;
the Volds, Emersons, Parks; and eventually the Ellisons
in Washington; for both Lena and Nettie would
lose a daughter to the disease. Lena’s precautions are
credited to saving the other members in her family. 3
Helen had contracted polio as a teenager. Her surgery
left her weak for several years, limiting her activities.
23
“When in college in River Falls, every person was
required to have a chest x-ray. My photo showed
a spot on my right, upper lung and I was required
to have regular large x-ray photos made. Dr. H.P.
Conway gave me the required shot in the arm, but
scoffed at the idea that TB was present. Mildred,
then, was the only fatality in the family.”
Theodore Vanasse
“Grandpa Will was a man of few words
and ate large onions like apples; he loved
to fish in quiet boats, was up at 4:30 a.m.
and to bed when the sun went down.
Following Lena’s death he was a lonely
man and died two years later. Their marriage
was strong and with purpose, no
complaining, and always welcoming to
family.” Joyce Alton Wada
The West Calls
There was a time when the west called to William;
and almost claimed him, were it not for Lena’s
refusal to leave her home. 3 William left home to work
in North Dakota threshing grain; and in Washington
with Lena’s brothers, in the logging camps. Victor
said, “Dad made a down payment on rent for a house
in Washington. Mother refused to go because she had
enough of pioneering.” 3
Lena would write Nettie for years and remained close.
Helen remembers a visit in which Lena brought her
51
children to Nettie’s home in Kamilche, Washington.
“My mother and Nettie wrote to each other for a long
time, when I was young. The time we went to Washington
long ago, Nettie bought me a gift – a little
jacket – lavender in color. We had a good time and
laughed a lot.” 23
“I am certain that while Lena worked in the garden,
she spoke to the Lord in prayer. Many of her worries
and concerns were buried deep in the dirt and left
there. She was refreshed as the Lord ministered His