Bob Jorvig

I think it’s important for you to think about what you have. I think we tend to take for granted everything we have. Some people have what others don’t have , but still we live very well in this country. appreciate what you got and be creative about what you don. Be creative, to think about your friends and not think about yourself. Help them improve

Bob Jorvig

My name is Bob Jorvig. [I was born] March 14, 1921. I moved to St. Louis Park in 1930 when I was about your age. I’m going to talk about my life in St. Louis Park. I’m 86 years old.

I will talk about World War II, Korean War, working life, and retired. I’m dressed crazy today because I’m a ski instructor at Hyland Hills. We have a sixth grade program and teach them how to ski.

My folks were both telegraph operators. My mom worked in Owatonna and my dad in the main office. They used the morse code on the telegraph. What you did is tap on it—[tapping] a dot and [tapping] a dash—that was a really important part of communication up until 50s and 60s.

They had telegraph operators, telegraph baseball and football games. They had a telegraph operator that would let them know if it was a ball or a strike through Morse code, so the guy on the radio in Minneapolis could pick it up.

Anyway, sometimes moms and dads talk and don’t want the kids to hear it. Mom and dad would talk with a fork and lay it on the side and would click the knife against the fork and send telegraph messages across the table so we couldn’t understand them.

In World War II everyone was involved. Mom was making bandages or making money for the war drive or work[ing] in a war factory. In World War II I was aboard a sea ship as a Marine. I admired the Marines and still do.

I came home and was a civilian. One of the best things in World War II was the passing of the GI Bill that enabled every veteran to go to college or graduate school, and the government paid for it. People had been in war and lost a lot of time. Graduate school at Harvard was the best. I applied there and got in.

Later I got called back to [the] Korean War. It’s different going to war with a family and daughter. We went over there and I spent a year there. The Marines never retreat, and that was a tough battle.

The Great Depression made you realize the things you have are pretty great. I learned a lot about doing without things and making things for yourself. It gave you self-confidence. It was a good thing as well as a bad thing.

I think in the 1900s people didn’t have as much things as we do now. Now, even if you are poor you have a lot of good things. At least in this country, maybe we don’t appreciate it as much as we should. We have so many things and we need a way to stop poverty in other parts of the world.

We like it here. No plan to move anyplace. Hope my health stays. I feel like I’m lucky to be [86] years old and talking about it. I know a guy in the ski area who is a retired doctor. He’s a fully certified downhill instructor. He’s a snowboarder. He’s a really neat guy. He’s my role model. He gives a big high sign, “One more day.”