Table of Contents for
Living with the Hazelnuts and Loving Every Minute

How I got to Hazel Ridge
Amenities at Hazel Ridge
The Staff and Volunteers
Activities
Meet The Hazel Nuts

Table of Contents for
My Light at the End of the Tunnel

Music to play while you read

Introduction by Helen Bowers
Introduction from the Interviewer Fay Choban

The Beginning 1922-1930

Ward of the State 1930-1936

• Meet Harry and Lucille
• Living with Uncle Harry and Aunt Lucille
• Orphanage Records About My Parents
• Reflection and Information Parents

The Orphanage 1936-1940

• My First Day
• The Cottages
• Daily Life in the Orphanage
• Reflection and Information on Orphanage Life
• Working in Homes
• A Brief History of the Owatonna Orphanage
• Reflection on Orphan and Abandoned Children Today and Working Homes

Courtship and the Start of Married Life 1940-1955

• Meeting My Future Husband
• Engagement and the Beginning of Married Life
• A Son Mitchell (Mitch) is Born
• A Daughter Elizabeth (Bette) is Born
• A Visit to See My Brother
• Reflection and Information – What does and Abused Woman Do in 1940?
• Childhood Illness
• The Accident
• Trip to My Mother’s
• Running Away
• Reflection and Information – Harold Le Vander
• Robert (Bob) My Second Son is Born
• A Daughter Barbara (Barb) is Born
• More Childhood Illness
• Getting Bob into a School

The Middle Years 1952-1965

• Prior Lake Cabin
• Vacations
• The Beginning of Volunteer Work
• Depression , Shock, and Insulin Treatments
• Reflection and Information on my Treatments
• The Sage of Getting Grandma Natalia out of Romania
• Mike’s Family
• Senator Hubert H. Humphrey and the Red Cross
• Natalia Arrives in the United States
• Reflection and Information on Senator Hubert H. Humphrey
• My Brothers and Parents

End of the Marriage 1965

• Life as a independent woman
• Retreats
• Making a New Life for Myself
• Sorority
• Reflection and Information – After the Divorce
• Domestic Violence

My Light at the End of the Tunnel 1966-1986

Marriage and a New Life 1986

• The Adult Family
• Revisiting the orphanage
• TV Interviews
• Birthday Party
• The Last Little Orphan

Epilogue 2005

Minnesota State Public School Orphanage

Resources and References