Oral History as related by Minnie Russell to Stacy Vancas in February , 1997.

Minnie Russell is very determined that no one would tell her that she couldn`t do anything. She was a woman in the early 1900`s that worked and went to college after she was told that woman don`t do that. Women just stay home and raise a family, but she did much more.

My name is Minnie Riegel Russell. I`m going on 98 this year. I was born the 30th of July in 1899, five miles out of LeRoy, Minnesota. LeRoy, Minnesota, was a thriving little town. My folks were born in Norway. Mother had 9 children.

There was a closeness then that we are missing today. You and I live less than a block away and we don`t see each other. I don`t get much company and I`ve lived here a good part of my life. There are a few special friends that will come in, but people don`t neighbor like we used to.

I remember on Sunday my mother would have the neighbors in--usually just one family because people had so many children at that time. Now the ones that we had most of our dinners with were the Sorensons. They had 12 children and there was 9 of us kids. That was a lot of cooking to get ready. Whoever was hostess did all the preparing of the food. The visitors didn`t bring anything in with them. Then they next Sunday we went to their house and she had the Sunday dinner. All families would exchange Sunday dinners.

Holiday dinners were special. You put your best foot forward. . . cakes, pies and things like that. Especially at Thanksgiving time. . . there was a big feast. Everyone would go and eat. Then there was Memorial Day, we called it Decoration Day. We always had a parade with it. I rode on a hayrack one time. We were all to be dressed in our best white dresses. . . it was all girls, you know. We drove from town to the cemetery. I can`t remember that we did anything when we got out to the cemetery. I suppose some people probably distributed flowers but I don`t remember that for sure.

Sometimes on Sundays we would go to this picnic area called Wildwood. It was a natural, grove that hadn`t been cleaned out. A little river came close to it and we could go bathing in it I don`t think there was hardly water enough for swimming.

We had to make our own entertainment. I remember there was this running game we used to play to see who could run that fastest. We had to figure out our games for ourselves. There were a lot of wild flowers in Minnesota at that time. We would go out to the field and pick beautiful flowers if we wanted to. There were so many flowers there, wild flowers. . . beautiful, wild flowers. Now that ground has all been broke up and put into fields.

Before I left the farm, my father went out and bought a Ford car. He says, ``I`m never going to drive it, so, you kids got to learn to drive the car.`` Well, my oldest brother was living at that time. Of course he had the first chance of driving. After he learned to drive, then my sister that was older than I. . . she was a timid, timid little soul. She says, ``I don`t want to drive a car.`` I said, ``Well I do,`` so I was the second one to learn to drive the car.

I remember when I was a little girl that the home remedy for a tooth ache was Watkins Linament. We didn`t have a hospital that was close enough to drive to every time something happened. When I was younger my desire was to be a nurse. When mother had to go to Austin, Minnesota, I went with her to see the college. I had never seen a college before and it was nice to see the college that I might someday attend. I went to the University of Southern Minnesota (which was a very imposing name) because it was the closest hospital we had.

At the hospital in Minnesota, they had a questionnaire for me to fill out to be a nurse. But I wasn`t 18. You had to be 18 to take the test. I probably would have got tired of being a nurse. So instead I took up bookkeeping and stenographic work. Mother went with me and enrolled me in Business college at the University. It was an outstanding day for me to know that I was going to go to school. I spent two ten month terms. It was a 30 mile train ride to go home and I didn`t have the money to do that very often. I went home for the holidays. Then I started working as a secretary for the president of my college. While I was working there I got a telegram from a bank in Minnesota. But the telegram came from its branch office in Iowa. So then I took the job in Iowa.

Shortly after I moved to Iowa and started working, I met Oscar Riegel. I was still working for the bank in Iowa. After a couple years I got married to Oscar. Back then married women didn`t go out and earn a living. They were expected to sit at home and cook, clean, and raise the children. At this time Oscar and I lived on a farm in Iowa. Then I didn`t work for a long time. The land in Iowa got so expensive that we stayed there for only about a year. We moved to South Dakota and just went here and there. We never left South Dakota though. Then we moved to New Underwood and stayed there for about five years. Oscar started a wheat crop and it was coming along pretty well. It didn`t look quite ripe, but it looked like we were going to have a bumper wheat crop. He had quite an acreage of wheat. Just a few days before Oscar thought he was ready for harvest, here come the grasshoppers. They demolished our whole crop. Then I moved to BelleÊFourche to be a bookkeeper for a lumber yard. Then Oscar came up to Belle with me in June of 1933 after the wheat crop had been demolished. Then we adopted a daughter, Helen Stearns, in 1937. That was the only child we ever had. Oscar lived in Belle Fourche with me until he died in 1969. Well actually I worked for about three companies. I did quit working there, business wasn`t doing anything so I went back to college.

Belle was a very thriving city at the time I came here. Not like it is now. It was a good business town. There was a JC Penny`s, dress shops, and things like that. Belle also had a very good theatre when I came. And that was a beautiful theatre, good seats, it was just a high class theatre. It was mostly black and white I think. I suppose it probably got into color before they quit. The only show I ever went to and probably the only one when I lived in the country was when Uncle Tom`s Cabin came to town as a show. Real people played in it. That was the best show I ever saw. It was here for many years. Eventually I think it was the TV that took over. There was an outdoor theatre east of town but we had one right downtown too.

I also attended the first 4th of July was after Oscar and I quit farming. It was decided that who ever wanted to attend the celebration they would close down the jobs for the duration of the 4th of July in Belle Fourche. About 8 years after Oscar`s death when I was working as a secretary for the Catholic Church I met Roy Russell. I think men were a lot sweeter and romantic back then, more so than what they are now. Men always used to bring me candy but I don`t ever remember that they brought me flowers. Then I was going to marry Roy. So Roy said, ``You have to quit your job, I don`t want you working.`` So I married him. I was married to Roy until he died in 1986.

Back in the early 1900`s women were not suppose to have jobs. They were suppose to stay home and cook, clean, and take care of the children. Also back then college wasn`t really that popular and she went to college numerous times. She was a very talented women and worked for everything she got. She was determined that she wasn`t going to let anyone tell her what to do. She also traveled a lot after her husband passed away. The only state she has never been in is Florida. She lived in Belle Fourche almost all her life and she has worked for everything she has got. She is 98 years old and still living alone and taking care of herself. She has touched the lives of many and she will always be remembered.