Writings of Mary Vogel McGraw

 Originally Written Between 2013-2015     In order to answer this, I’ll have to determine which “war” is in question.  If it was World War II, I’d have to say that I did a lot of crying since I was born just four days after D-Day in June of 1944.  During the Korean War, I was in elementary school, and during the Vietnam War, I was a new mother living in St. Paul.  In other words, I did nothing to help the war effort in any of those wars.  The same lack of effort went into the Gulf and Afghanistan Wars.   My parents were married a little over a year and had a two-months’ old baby boy – my brother, Steve when the United States entered World War II on December 7, 1941. Dad had poor eyesight, poor hearing, and flat feet and therefore, wasn’t drafted.  In 1978, my mom started writing historical articles for the hometown newspaper in Forest Lake, MN.  After several years of writing weekly columns, she was ask...

  Originally Written Between 2013-2015 Friday, November 22, 1963.  Fifty years’ ago.  I was 19 and working at my first “real” job at 3M.  Time?  A little after 12:30 in the afternoon.  I was taking dictation from my boss, Jim Schedin, and my back was to the door.  Jim sat behind his desk and had full view of his office door – which had a little window. I noticed that Jim was paying more attention to the door than his notes and I looked around to see Carolyn, a colleague of mine, jumping up and down trying to see through the little window to see if anyone was in the office.  Anyway, Jim waved her in and she shouted, “The President of the United States and the Governor of Texas have just been shot!” Jim and I quickly left his office and went into the main area and found Marvin who always had a radio at his desk.  The news of the shooting was just coming over the airwaves and a few minutes after 1:00, we h...

Originally Written Between 2013-2015 The little girl couldn’t contain herself.  She skipped along the hallway the led her from the church’s all-purpose room in the basement to the outside.  Barbie felt bad that she didn’t run into anyone she knew.  She was bursting inside and wanted to tell anyone and everyone. She skipped all the way home from the church and ran into the kitchen.  “Mom!  Mom!  Guess what?  I’m going to sing a solo in the church’s Christmas Program! Barbie’s mom was very excited and happy for her daughter; although, she secretly wondered how her daughter was picked for a solo.  She was only seven years old, after all, and didn’t seem to show any exceptional singing talent.   At least as far as she could determine.  Well, the Christmas program’s director must have seen something in Barbie to select her for a solo.   Barbie announced her big news to the entir...

Originally Written Between 2013-2015                                                              Ah – let’s roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy, days of summer!  Picnics --  sleepovers – swimming – water skiing – camping – sleeping until noon – summer romances – floating down the Apple River – A&W drive-ins (where you’d get a huge frosty mug of rootbeer for only a nickel) -- running through the sprinkler – no air conditioning – lemonade stands – parades – carnivals – doing nothing but lying on the grass and looking at the clouds.  I just knew you all were wondering when I was going to get to the topic of today:  Clouds. I remember my best childhood friend, Phyllis, and I spreading out a blanket on the grass in our side yard.  We’d have a picnic packed (usually peanut butter and jelly...

Originally Written Between 2013-2015          I started taking piano lessons when I was eight years’ old.  My mother took lessons as a child and her piano – an upright Stark piano – was in our dining room just waiting for a new student to play those ivories.  My piano teacher, Janice Mitsoff, was a neighbor and she had many students.  Oh, how I loved learning to play.  I would come home from my weekly lesson and immediately start practicing my new lessons.  Janice would reward me with gold stars on each piece in my lesson book. I advanced from Beginner Book #1 to Advanced books to the “big time” – the classics --  easier versions of Hayden, Mozart, Shubert, and others.  By the time I was ten, I was invited to play for the local “Women’s Study Club.”  They met once a month and invited lawyers, doctors, and other professionals to speak to the group.  They also had entertainm...

Originally Written Between  2013-2015 The house is completely decorated for Christmas.  The snow is starting to fall and the lights on the trees outside have just gone on for the evening.  Il Divo is singing  O Holy Night  and I am sitting next to the Christmas tree with all its twinkling lights glowing in the dark.  Il Divo is now on to the next selection on the CD, which is  I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas  and I’m all tucked in for a long winter’s night of reminiscing about my past Christmas holidays. I have to admit that a Christmas tree is the first thing I thought of when I heard the topic for today.  Well…. not only the first thing – but, the  only  thing.  I suppose I could talk about how we could save the trees if we recycled or trees are good for the birds and shade and other excellent reasons.  But, for the amount of knowledge I have about that, I would be done in less-than-a-minu...

 Originally Written Between 2013-2015                       In 1955, I was in 5 th  grade and my parents started a new business in my hometown of Forest Lake, Minnesota. They built a roller rink and quote “ran the rink” unquote for 14 years before retiring.  I spent three hours each Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday evenings and three hours on Saturday afternoons skating – in addition to selling tickets and concessions, and teaching the little ones how to skate.  Adult night was on Thursday and private skating parties were reserved on Mondays and Tuesdays.  Skating was my life.  Our skate guard, Joe Sahlin, was a professional dance skater and taught me how to skate waltzes, fox trots, marches, two-steps, and many other dances.  Every year, our house would be in a total uproar for four months while my mom would produce Skateland’s Coronation and Skating show – held on two c...

Originally Written Between 2013-2015 It’s hard to know where to start when I look at my mom’s little portable pink typewriter.  Dad bought it for her when they started the roller rink back in 1955.  The rink was mom’s baby.  She was the marketing, advertising, finance, communication and management department all rolled into one person.  First things first, she had to get word out that the roller rink was in business.  She created the ads on her little pink portable and placed the ads in the local newspaper.   Eventually, she wrote and typed a weekly column about upcoming parties, events, skating shows, and the skaters for that paper.  She named the column “Roller Ramblings.”  That little pink portable typewriter sure got a workout.  Besides writing the column, mom had created some marketing techniques such as the “Happy Birthday Club.”  All one had to do was sign up and give your name, ma...

  Originally Written Between 2013-2015 Okay, Mary.  Pick a day.  Pick a day in June.  Any day.  June 1 st  would be okay since it’s your second son’s birthday.  Or June 5 th  – the day you graduated from Forest Lake High School alllllllll those many many years ago.  Or maybe June 8 th  – your first day at a real job at 3M.  And, June 10 th  would be a great day to honor since it’s your birthday. Maybe the 14 th  of June?  It’s your nephew’s birthday and it’s Flag Day.  Also, your sister’s wedding anniversary.  And I almost forgot to mention that it’s one of your childhood best friend’s birthday… remember Suzie Andersen? Of course, there is always Father’s Day in June and oh, how you’d love to be able to give your daddy a big kiss and spend the day with him again.  Don’t worry.  You will… one day in that huge place called Heaven. Summer beg...

Originally Written Between 2013-2015   It’s a whole different holiday now, isn’t it?  Back in the “good ‘ol days” (forty or fifty years ago), Halloween was really only celebrated on October 31 st .  Maybe a week before Halloween, our teacher would have us draw scary or funny faces on our paper jack o’lanterns and they would be hung on the hallways of our schools.   And, on Halloween itself, we decorated a large grocery bag or grabbed a pillowcase and we were off and running throughout our neighborhood getting as many treats as we could.   Since I was a “goodie two shoes,” however, I never participated in the trickery on that spooky scary night – such as knocking over outhouses or soaping windows, among other devious deeds.     Times certainly have changed from oh, those-many-years ago.  First of all, my parent’s did not accompany us on our trick-or-treating route.  We were not afraid to enter a stranger’s ho...

Originally Written Between 2013-2015   I played a little bit with this topic – and re-named it  “I Wish  They  Were Here”  in honor of my family members who are no longer with me.  Our dining room table was a little smaller than usual this year.  My Aunt Bev and Uncle Tom who are in their 90’s are housebound and cannot maneuver the steps in our house any more.  And, complicated work hours for my nephew made it impossible to bring my brother, Steve, who is in an assisted-living facility in Wisconsin, to our home this year.    And, for some strange reason -- while preparing the house and food for this Thanksgiving, memories of past holidays kept coming to me.  I wished that my grandma and grandpa Lehecka, my grandpa’s sister (Aunt Mary Weiner) and her daughter (Cousin Bertha), and my own mom and dad could have joined us this year – like all those many years ago.   Thanksgiving and Christmas Day were holidays a...

Originally Written between 2013-2015 When Lyle declared  Water  as his topic for today’s writing assignment, I immediately thought that he would want us to talk about how the world is losing its water supply and maybe talk about the droughts in Texas and other southern states and in Africa.   And, maybe, how we should be more cognizant of our conservation efforts.   That got me to asking myself, “What have I done lately (or ever) to help the people affected by the drought or to conserve water?”  Well, we did send a check to a charitable organization for the children who live in drought-stricken Africa.  And, I don’t take long showers.  I don’t let the water run for a long time as I’m rinsing the dishes before I place them in the dishwasher.  We sprinkle our lawns on the correct odd-numbered days and only in the evening.   Hmmmm.  That’s it?  I guess on a scale of 1-10 of being water ...

 Originally Written between 2013-2015                                     The wedding dress was simply beautiful – not only because my Grandma Albina Valenta looked so stunning in it; but, because she – being a dressmaker by trade – sewed the dress by hand.  The year?  1914 – the tenth of January.  She married my Grandpa, John Lehecka, over one-hundred years ago. Fourteen months later, Grandma tore her wedding dress apart to make a baptismal gown for her first-born – my mother, Elsie.  Not only did she make the dress, she made a flannel slip and crocheted a bonnet and booties.  She added a pink ribbon to the bonnet and booties after she found out what she had.  This was the “have to wait until it’s born to find out what you had” era, after all. The dress was lovingly packed away in a box for twelve years when – surprise!!!! My Uncle T...

Originally Published Dec. 2012 What a topic!  How to STAY Fit.  My first thought is that there is a certain ASSUMPTION that I AM fit.  Because in order to STAY fit, one must already BE fit.  Which I’m not. I am HEALTHY, however.  And, I believe there is a difference.  I was not an overweight or fat child – or teenager – or young adult.  I exercised.  Back in those days, however, I did not use the word “exercise.”  I just did normal things; such as, walking to school or my friends’ homes, (instead of being driven by my parents or taking a bus), riding my bike to a girlfriend’s house, playing hopscotch, climbing trees, playing tag, running races, swimming, and roller skating three hours a day/ four days a week.  As a teenager, I had a job at the local drugstore and walked to and from my job…. No car.  No big deal.  That’s just how life was.  If I wanted to get somew...

Originally Published Dec. 2012 While hurrying to the bathroom last night, I happened to look out my hallway window and was startled to see the trees of the apartment complex across the street all lit up for Christmas.  We just celebrated Halloween and according to the calendar, Christmas is over seven weeks away.  The stores have been advertising holiday gifts, decorations, and entertainment items since Labor Day.  Some restaurants even jumped the gun with all the fake greenery and red bows placed all over the booths and tables!  I admit it.  I love Christmas.  I love decorating my home.  I love looking through the toy wish books with my grandchildren.  I love writing my Christmas letter.  I love singing  Handel’s Messiah .  I love listening to all the carols and holiday music nonstop on the radio while in the car.  But, I don’t love it in November. To me, Thanksgiving is the on...

  Originally Published Dec. 2012 The date?  Thursday, March 10, 2011 The time?  11:00 in the evening Where?  San Diego, California   Norm and I are in our rented condo for the month of March.  We had a busy day so Norm went to bed just a few minutes before the 11:00 news started.  I wanted to stay up and listen to the news and especially the weather forecast for Friday since I needed to know how to plan my day – you know – will it be a good day to stay by the pool?... or maybe we’ll have to go to a movie if it’s raining. Anyway, the news started out with this announcement:   “We bring you breaking news from Japan.  An earthquake measuring 8.9 hit northeastern Japan about 20 minutes ago.  And 15 minutes ago, a tsunami wave poured devastation across the land.”   Then, they showed the pictures of the huge wave and I was mesmerized – not only by the speed of the wave, but, the enormity of the...