Peter and Anna grew up as next-door neighbors on adjoining farms in Trier Township, Cavalier County, ND. I’m sure nobody was surprised when they married. They remained on or near the land where they had grown up. Their children were Ethel (Hettwer, 1920 – 2008), Jeanette (1924 – 1938), Harvey (1928 – 2018), Eileen (Beck, 1933 – 2023), and a daughter (b. 1937) who is now living with dementia. Ethel, Harvey, and Eileen have descendants.

Peter was primarily a farmer, following his father’s path. According to his obituary, he “took a very active part in church and community affairs.” He attended business college and worked in the Calio Bank (now gone) for a while. He has also been described as the community’s de facto veterinarian, although not trained as such. Peter’s lifetime did not overlap with mine, but he is still well within living memory. Eileen joked that Peter did not know the meaning of the word “hurry.” When the family was ready to go out somewhere, he would bide his time in the house, “and if we honked the horn, it only made him slower.” Peter’s granddaughter Avonne recalls that he liked to sing, play pool, and drink whisky. He was kind to his grandchildren. He carried dimes and bought candy and bottles of pop for them. Everyone who knew Peter agrees that, around the adults, he swore a blue streak. They all say they can still imagine him drinking whisky, shooting pool, and cussing at the billiard balls.

Peter died in 1967 while making a veterinary house call. As my grandmother recalls it, “He was at Harold Jorgenson’s working on a cow when he just up and died. We figured he must have died instantly, since he didn’t have time to curse.” (According to his death certificate, it was a coronary occlusion.)

Anna moved away shortly after Peter’s death, probably to be closer to some of her children. Her obituary indicates that she moved to Devils Lake in 1967, East Grand Forks in 1988, and Fargo at some point in between.

Anna was 72 when I was born, and she lived until I was 17. I have some early memories of her living alone in an apartment. More often, she left home and joined family gatherings. Her Christmas tradition was to give us cookies the size of pancakes. I later learned the history behind this practice. On the farm, she had baked a lot of cookies for Peter’s hired men. They always asked for more. She eventually figured out that, if she made them jumbo-sized, she would only need to serve everybody once. I remember Anna as old and frail, with a little old lady’s voice and laugh. She had silly names for everybody. She called her children “beans” because they grew so tall and thin. Eileen’s nickname was “Pinnie.” When I was a teenager, she still called me “Little Scottie”.

Peter’s Find-a-Grave profile

Anna’s Find-a-Grave profile

My Facebook group for descendants and other relatives of Peter & Anna Korb