A Knack for Knowing Things

by Boxmeyer, Don

• ISBN13: 9780873514651
• ISBN10: 0873514653
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Pr

Summary

This book is a collection of characters and places that stand proud and robust over thirty-six years of newspapering in Minnesota. Some of the people you read about here are well-known and others are not. They share, however, a knack for accomplishment. Whether it was building a community, running a restaurant, caring for the sick, making ice, writing poetry, selling groceries, baking bread, tending a bridge, winning at poker, or merely trying to stay alive, all the people here knew or know something important, something of value.

Author Biography

Don Boxmeyer wrote for the St. Paul Dispatch and St. Paul Pioneer Press for over three and a half decades. Now retired, he lives in St. Paul

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Palatable Pleasures and Community Gatherings
This Guy Thinks Lutefisk Is Finger-Lickin' Good	5	(2)
Italian Renaissance for Little Italy	7	(7)
Wheels Roll at Noon on Wednesdays	14	(2)
Down on the Flats	16	(6)
Harriet Island Beckons Anew	22	(5)
Remembering Rondo	27	(6)
Iced Whiskey and Boiled Cod	33	(3)
Legends of Swede Hollow	36	(7)
Men of Distinction	43	(6)
Angels and Charmers
``Bobo'' Betts and the Boys	49	(6)
Joe Loved the Trip	55	(2)
A Life without Limitations	57	(5)
A Traveler Drops in at Avalanche	62	(2)
Matt the Boss: An Exuberant Congregant	64	(3)
Iowa Blackie, King of the Hobos	67	(1)
Tony Crea: A Character with Character	68	(3)
It Was His Vision, Not His Sight	71	(4)
Serving Up Goodwill
Surprises in Store at Crazy Louie's	75	(2)
A West Side Horatio Alger	77	(6)
A Crackerjack Restaurant in a Cracker Box Location	83	(3)
Flowers for Elaine	86	(6)
A Laidback Little Old Waterfront Shanty	92	(3)
Leaving ``The Hustle'' Behind	95	(4)
St. Nick	99	(7)
A Real Grocery Store	106	(2)
An Airport in Plane Peril	108	(5)
Healing and Serving
A Palace Full of Children	113	(4)
Windows into a Hospital's Past	117	(3)
The Preventorium	120	(6)
Volunteering among the Vets	126	(3)
A Clinic's Final Hours	129	(4)
War Veterans
Trip to Pearl Harbor	133	(3)
Still Living ``A Day of Infamy''	136	(3)
Bataan Death March Survivor	139	(2)
A WAVE Yeoman	141	(2)
Explosion in the South Pacific	143	(3)
Margaret Was a Welder	146	(3)
Last Voyage of an LST	149	(4)
Chosin Reservoir and Heartbreak Ridge	153	(5)
Memorial Hall and One of Its Sons	158	(2)
In the Trenches for Korean Vets	160	(5)
A Knack for Knowing Things
The Guardian Angel of Lower St. Clair	165	(4)
He Could Do Anything	169	(3)
Baking Bread by the Carload	172	(3)
Ascending the Shoreview TV Tower	175	(2)
Making Music in the Park	177	(4)
Breakfast with Betty	181	(3)
Tending the Lift Bridge	184	(6)
No One Made Better Ice	190	(3)
Facing the Storms on Lake Superior	193	(8)
A Small Town on the Prairie
Jake the Drake at Pelican Lake	201	(1)
Ice House Plows into a Plymouth	202	(2)
A Prairie Home Halloween	204	(3)
Everybody Needs an Ashby	207	(2)
The Ritual of the Hunt	209	(3)
Here's to Buddy	212