A Day in June
Originally Written Between 2013-2015
Okay, Mary. Pick a day. Pick a day in June. Any day. June 1st would be okay since it’s your second son’s birthday. Or June 5th – the day you graduated from Forest Lake High School alllllllll those many many years ago. Or maybe June 8th – your first day at a real job at 3M. And, June 10th would be a great day to honor since it’s your birthday.
Maybe the 14th 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 begins in June. Although unofficially, summer starts over Memorial Day weekend. And as a child and teenager, summer always meant almost three months off from school. And swimming and beach parties. Summer jobs. Hometown carnivals or festivals. Did I mention “no school?”
Well, since I have already written about most of things that happened on those June days, I’d like to focus on one super sunny and warm day in June. I can’t remember the date but the year was 1955. I had just finished 5thgrade.
The place? Just outside the local Red Owl grocery story on Main Street, Forest Lake, Minnesota. Main Street in those days was actually called Highway 61.
Who was involved? Joanne and I. One of my best friends, Suzie Andersen, and Joanne's best friend, Patty Corbett, and another girl named Claudia Holmbeck (I don't remember her!!)
What were we doing? Selling candy.
Why? The entire townspeople were holding fundraisers to build the first community hospital in Forest Lake. This was to be a 35-bed hospital at a cost of $250,000 donated only through subscriptions and fundraisers. Dancing was a fun way to raise money, along with pancake breakfasts, variety shows, and parties to name a few ways to get the funds. One of the two doctors in Forest Lake, Dr. Mensheha, even flew to New York to participate in the TV show, “Strike It Rich.” He won $400 answering five questions perfectly and another $400 donated from listeners.
Well, Joanne and I decided that we wanted to do something, too. So, we asked the grocery store owner if we could set up a card table outside the entrance to his store so we could sell candy. He agreed.
So, where does one go to get boxes of candy to sell? Well, when you are 11 years old and very naïve to “the business world,” one goes to her father. Since dad sold refreshments at the roller rink, he had boxes and boxes of a variety of candy on shelves in the back room. He generously gave us the candy and we sold each bar for five cents each. After one day of “selling,” we sold 260 bars and donated the $13.00 to the hospital. We even got our picture taken that landed on the front page of the local newspaper. (Must have been a slow news day, I guess.)
Selling candy was a real learning experience for me and my best friends. We learned how to talk to adults, sell a product, add and make change. I don’t think the calculator was invented yet; and if it was, we certainly didn’t have one. So, we learned to think on our feet.
The one thing we didn’t learn until many years later? That was that one has to buy the product at a certain price and sell it for a higher price in order to make a profit. And then you donate the profit to your charity. I guess my dad just wanted us to learn to give to our community and not take anything for ourselves. He, of course, actually donated the $13 and we got the credit. What a dad! I still wish I could give him another kiss and a hug on Father’s Day this June. I definitely will think of him and remember what he taught me.
Comments
Post a Comment