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| email adress: sfortney@me.com |
Since Steve retired from teaching language arts in the Stoughton Area School District he has not rested on his laurels. He is writing books, poems and newspaper articles and traveling with his wife. When asked about any of his interests, such as gardening, writing, reading, traveling, literature, etc. the listener is treated to a wealth of information and a genuine interest in other opinions. So click away, dear surfer, and enjoy!
| 10 July 1906 Albin Leonard Fortney born in Viroqua, Wisconsin. |
17 February
1907 Anita Linnea Södergren born in Burlington, Iowa. |
May 28 1935
Minneapolis,
Minnesota. Marriage. |
| 1935-37
Cook Minnesota. 1st parish They lived in a tiny filling station. A Pure station, no less. First summer they had 60 out-of-town guests. Albin's camp meal of choice was Squaw Corn, creamed corn fried in a frying pan over an open fire. Steven born (2 January 1937): in Minneapolis, Anita didn't trust yokel doctors. He must have loved her, for the trip in the dead of winter in 1937 was arduous. |
1937-38
Rogers, North Dakota. Had a three-point parish, which was left over from a six-point parish. Part of his salary was in produce. A sack of potatoes, a sack of flour. |
1938 Left under unclear circumstances. Albin said he wasn't making enough money to live on. His part of the divided parish was the poorest, he said. Uncle Cliff suggests it was a dispute of some sort, because they always seemed to crop up. Albin went to Detroit with expectation he would work with his brother Tom as a social worker. Got a call to Rocky River before he settled in. |
| 1938-1939
Rocky River, Ohio. T'was here Albin discovered how enormously overweight he was. That, and the knowledge that Hitler was causing a ruckus, prompted him to join the army. Alan born (18 November 1939): The same day Albin received his commission as a second lieutenant in US Army. Alan's crib was an opened bureau drawer. |
1939
Charleston, South
Carolina Where Albin went through basic training and Steven because of his black nanny, Willa Mae Barnes, developed a deep southern accent, "Mamua, de doc aw gowan". He also heard from her many scary stories about the 'bookie man.' |
1940-1941
Boston, Mass. Albin attended chaplain's school. Fort Edward, New York (Fort Niagara). Kendall born 2 June 1941: We'd have to wait for his next posting, because Kendall had to be at least six months old for the army to move the family by ship to Hawaii. |
| 1941
Honolulu, Hawaii. Albin was there during the Japanese attack, and put in charge of burials, of which there were more than desirable. |
1941-1943
Portland, Oregon Anita and the boys stayed here, near her brother, Carl Södergren. |
1943
Muskogee Oklahoma Albin was stationed here. The whole family together again. Alan's toe bitten by huge fire ant. First experience with Epson salts. Steven broke his arm swinging from the rafters of a friend's garage. Had his tonsils out. |
| 1944-1945
Menomonie Wisconsin Family moved here, Albin sent to the European theater of World War II. Three houses here, one, at Tainter Lake, where we were bribed with ice-cream cones to eat cream of mushroom soup and ate the first fish we caught: a sucker; two, the Venes house, where Alan alienated the next-door-neigbor boy; and three, later the house Anita bought without Albin's input in Menomonie itself, where Phoebe called their chickens "dumb clucks" because they laid no eggs one day. Albin visited her once and shot a flare gun off into the dark night sky. |
1945-1947
Tacoma, Washington. Albin returned from Europe and the war was over so he was stationed at Fort Lewis. The family lived off post on Meadow Road. The boys embarked on a criminal career by holding up the GIs while dad conducted choir practice. Anita born (3 July 1947) |
1947-1948
Schweinfurt,
Germany. Albin had reupped in the Army, now rank of Major Chaplain, on the condition the whole family could go to Europe. Took U.S.S Callan over through Atlantic February storms Anita was not well. Steven cut his peas In half before trying to eat them, and threw up anyway. Kendall, Alan and Albin were unaffected by heavy winter seas. They lived at 7 Killiansberg, which Steven revisited in 1996. |
| 1948-1949
Vienna, Austria Live at 23 Gassgraben Gasse. Albin's second posting in Europe. He developed heart problems, and a discharge was planned for Carlisle Barrack in PA. The kids caught fireflies with Mary, Faith, Felicity and Angela. |
1949
Baldwin,
Wisconsin Camped at Aunt Nettle's home until the church could find Albin a call. Alan started 5th grade here, with his bald-headed girl-friend. Steven threw an apple at a robin and almost killed it. He also went fishing with his uncle Fred. |
1949-1953
Muskegon Michigan. Albin got a call to 1st Lutheran Church. Drove there in a snow storm, he almost slid the car into a telephone pole. Lived in 233 Giddings Avenue. They were in the midst of building a new church. |
| 1953-55
North Muskegon, Michigan. The church in the pines was finished. Albin affected Morning Suit and Homburg. Dispute with Lundgren's et al led to his resignation. |
1955-1957
Stoughton,
Wisconsin. Albin was called to Our Savior's Lutheran Church. Prospect Street house. Dispute moved to his third parish. |
1957-1959
Tomahawk,
Wisconsin. Albin's last parish. Again disputes caused dismissal. |
| 1959 - until
end Stoughton, Wisconsin. Sold Lutheran Brotherhood Insurance. Then got a job with Social Security. Albin died "in the harness" on 18 May 1968, 10 days before their 33rd anniversary; he was 62. Anita stayed in the house on North Street until she went into Skaalen Home where she died 4 July 1990, before breakfast; she was 84. |
This page updated by TiPi, 1/1/2012
