Life on a Shoestring: Making Memories

Tom 1915-2008; Irene 1920-1998

John Thomas Ferrel II (known as Tom) and Irene Norma (Rost) Ferrel, (pictured at left) lived in a sheep wagon for a short time when first married. Life was difficult, but the young lovers didn’t care much about where they lived, as long as they are together. Their first “real homes together” were established in Cabin Creek near Ollie and later, Baker, Montana.

Tom and Irene were married in a double wedding ceremony in Hardin, Montana, with Tom’s brother Allie and his wife Florence (a cousin to Irene) in 1937. Brother’s married cousins, making the blood ties closer than most relatives. Tom and Irene raised five children together: Larry , Myrna, David, Cheri, and Kim.

Tom worked for Montana Dakota Utilities as a skilled arc welder, following the pipeline through Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. It was a secure job which allowed him to be a good father and family man.

Irene attended Black Hills Teacher’s College in Spearfish, South Dakota. She taught in a one room country school for a short time in the mid 1950s. I remember her showing the children coins and teaching them how to make change correctly. Some of the children had never held coins before. Irene was a talented artist and found time to draw portraits of us children. She inspired me to become a professional artist.

Childhood memories in Baker recall a home where apple boxes covered with a cloth served as side-tables; telephone party lines where the operators said, “number please;” Slim Niccum’s main street barbershop, the Red Owl store, buying shoes at Russell's, the ice cream shop with a giant ice cream cone on top, getting store bought clothes at J.C. Penny’s, the Flint’s movie theater, shopping at La Cross’s grocery store when a couple bags of groceries cost $5, postage stamps that cost 3 cents and a kindly kindergarten teacher named Mrs. Loveless. Printed flour sacks, old overcoats and skirts from hand-me-down dresses were great for remaking into children’s clothes. My brother and I had a matching shirt and dress made from the flour sacks. It was very special to have something that matched with my older brother! Card playing with family and neighbors and evening desserts were the most common form of entertainment. Many nights I fell asleep on a pile of coats in a guest room where we were visiting. Shivaries and barn dances (the older generation teaching the younger to dance); church socials; the laughter of friends and the taste of hot cocoa after a fall hayride; the sounds, the smell, the taste, the memories linger; they are the stuff family histories are made of! Thanks for sharing mine.

After 23 years, Tom and Irene went their separate ways but remained friends until Irene’s passing in 1998.  Tom passed away in Baker in 2008 at age 93.