This is a portrait of the Swenson sisters. Clockwise, starting from the bottom left:

● My great-grandaunt Alma Augusta Swenson
● My great-grandaunt Hilda Caroline Swenson
● My great-grandmother 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻 (bottom right)

Clara was the youngest of five children, the three youngest of whom are pictured here. (Not pictured are the two oldest, Carl Erick “Charlie” and Anna Maria “Annie”, who were already married and had started families of their own.) There is no date written on the back but based on what I know, the photograph was likely taken in 1903. My great-grandmother was twenty years old at the time.

Alma and her husband were killed in a car accident in Graceville, Minnesota on May 15, 1928. The double funeral was held at the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church in Fergus Falls. Hilda and Clara both died from pneumonia in the old Thiel hospital in Bertha, Minnesota on February 25, 1965, “just a few hours apart”. Hilda had been in a coma for several days. A double funeral was conducted at the church in Bertha on March 1, 1965.

My Dad, who was 13 years old at the time, told me he remembers that day very well. He said it was snowing heavy as a blizzard was sweeping through the region. I found several newspaper articles that describe “a blinding blizzard” that “struck at about 2 a.m. Monday, March 1, 1965, and continued for about 48 hours.” The severe “snowstorm blanketed Minnesota” and battered the state “with one of the longest lasting snowstorms in many years.” High velocity winds had “piled up drifts as deep as eight feet” on rural roads and in some areas, the drifts were reported to be “house high.” Rural roads were blocked by the “massive blizzard” that left many people stranded.

Dad said his cousin Glenna was an excellent driver in snow. She drove over thirty miles with Aunt LouVera from Alexandria to Clarissa and picked up Dad, his sister Mavis, and grandmother Sophia on the way to meet up with his father Ralph and mother Betty in Bertha before attending the funeral. The church was packed in spite of the great blizzard. Dad said Grandpa Ralph had bought him a brand new outfit for the funeral which was the only time he remembers ever receiving new clothes from his father. Normally, his grandmother Sophia handmade or provided all his clothing.