My name is Jane Marie Thorson. I was born in New London, Minnesota, in the year 1936. The town was very little with a population of approximately 200 or so. Most people were farmers with a lot of children. They thought that the more children you had, the more people you had to work on the farm.

Downtown was just, about 1\2 dozen shops: The grocery store, flower shop, hardware store and others. In my family there were 6 girls and 2 boys. We lived on the outskirts of town. We had a small one bedroom, one bathroom house. I lived in that house till I was sixteen years old. When I was nine my father was killed by an overturned train. I was very young.

In my town the only race was Norweigen or what they called us then, " Brush Yankees." Most babies where born at home, and the doctor had to come to you. Also there was no T.V, no cars, and no indoor plumbing. Hair was worn long and down, and the clothing was made out of potato sacks.