Can't: No Such Word

By Mervin D. Chantland

Mervin D. Chantland was born and raised in Badger and
Gilmore City, Iowa. Spent years unable to walk because of TB in hip bone. This story is about not giving up and knowing that "Cant" is not a word to use.

A thanks to Darlene McKimmey from Gilmore City, Iowa for editing my book. Was a great help to me.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465345790

Mervin D. Chantland

Mervin D. Chantland was born and raised in Badger and Gilmore City, Iowa. Spent years unable to walk because of TB in hip bone. This story is about not giving up and knowing that "Can't" is not a word to use. A thanks to Darlene McKimmey from Gilmore City, Iowa for editing my book. Was a great help to me.

Book preview

Can’t

No Such Word

Mervin D. Chantland

Copyright © 2011 by Mervin D. Chantland.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011913647

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4653-4578-3

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4653-4577-6

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-4579-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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102843

Dad and I around 1939

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Don’t worry, Dad. If I fall, I will pull myself up by my bootstraps.

Contents

Chapter 1 Here I Am, Ready or Not

Chapter 2 Gilmore City, Here I Come

Chapter 3 Back Home on the Farm

Chapter 4 Learning a Trade?

Chapter 5 The Big Adventure

Chapter 6 A Big Decision

Chapter 7 Gas Station Business in California

Chapter 8 Return to Iowa

Chapter 9 Mechanical Drafting

Chapter 10 Civil Air Patrol

Chapter 11 Oh, Married Life

Chapter 12 Labor of Love, My Job

Chapter 13 Retirement Sucks

Chapter 14 Out of the Mouths of Babes

Chapter 15 This Miracle, My Life

Introduction

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK to my family, starting in Iowa: Dad and Mom, five sisters and five brothers. Without their love and support, I can’t imagine where I’d be today. Most of all, my humble thanks go out to my sister Jeanette, who was like my second mother when Mom was sick. I also dedicate this book to my sons, Mervin Michael (wife, Davette) and Timothy Carl, and to my grandchildren: Timothy, Christopher, Nicole, Shanel, Bradley and Brandon. To my loving wife, Mary Ann, who passed away in 2008, here is the story you helped me live.

Carl Johan and Cora Malline Chantland Family

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Back row: Mervin (me), Florence, Gladys, Cliff, Kay, Jeanette

Front row: Lawrence, Mom, Doris, Dad, Kermit, William

Around 1940

In the year 1853, my paternal great-grandparents came to America from Norway via Quebec, Canada. Sailing across the Atlantic on the ship, Amelia, was a three-month voyage, followed by another month by ship, rail and stage. They finally settled in Primrose, Wisconsin. My great-grandfather was Torbjorn Tjentland, and my great-grandmother was Ellen K. (Storland) Tjentland.

Their son, Andrew Torbjornson Tjentland, was two years old during the trip from Norway and grew up to become my grandfather. Having changed his last name to the Americanized version, Chantland, he married my grandmother, Nettie (Vinsand) Chantland, on September 4, 1876, in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Andrew and Nettie Chantland Family, 1900

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Rear row Bert, Carl (Dad), William, Thomas, Anna, Andrew.

Front row. Father Andrew, Henry, Ellen, Dana and Mother Nettie.

My dad, Carl Johan Chantland, was born to Andrew and Nettie Chantland on June 10, 1889, at Badger, Iowa. He was the seventh of their nine children. As a young man, he went to farm along Battle Lake, Minnesota. My mother, Cora Malline (Myhre) Chantland, was born in Colfax, North Dakota, on February 27, 1897. She was the first of four children born to Andrew Myhre and Karene (Fashaug) Myhre. (Cora is between her father and mother in the picture below.)

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My sister Jeanette tells the story of Dad making many trips across the lake in a boat to court our mother. She and my father were married in September 29, 1913, in Fergus Falls, Minnesota; and Cora became a farm wife. After the birth of six children, my parents sold the Minnesota farm and moved to a farm in Badger, Iowa. Five more children were born to the couple in Iowa.

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Cora (Mom) and Carl (Dad) Chantland

CHAPTER 1

Here I Am, Ready or Not

Hang on to your hat; this is going to be some ride!

I WAS BORN DECEMBER 13, 1934, on a small farm just outside of Badger, Iowa, and was given the name Mervin Darvin Chantland. I was the ninth of Carl and Cora Chantland’s eleven children. My claim to fame in my first year of life was related to me by my sister Jeanette. She said I walked at a younger age than any of the other children—in my crib at seven-and-one-half months and on my own at nine months.

Mom had been so lonesome for her life in Battle Lake, Minnesota, that Dad said she should go back and visit. My sisters offered to take care of me, only two years old at the time; but Mom said she wouldn’t go without her baby. Jeanette tells the story of how she and the other girls went into town and bought me the cutest coat and cap set to wear on the trip. It was dark blue.

Dad sent the two of us off by first driving us to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where we took the train to Dalton, Minnesota, to stay with Mom’s relatives, the Fashaugs. All this time I had been fussing and crying that my hip hurt every time I walked. Mom couldn’t figure out why I was so fretful. This just wasn’t like me. And Mom wasn’t able to get very much rest as she tried everything she could think of to make me comfortable. From Dalton, we took the train to Duluth, and went from there to visit Mom’s brothers and sisters in Mahtawa, Minnesota.

After our trip, when Dad came to pick us up, Mom said. I never want to go back to Battle Lake again. It is not what it used to be. Mom was exhausted, and Jeanette says she believes Mom was also pregnant with my sister Doris at the time.

Walking at nine months! That turned out to be pretty ironic, considering the rest of my story.

Dad took me to a doctor right away, determined to find out why I had seemed to be in such pain during the Minnesota trip. The doctor moved my leg and I cried out. An x-ray of my hip showed I had Tuberculosis (TB) of the hip bone. I was taken for treatment to Iowa City University Hospital. Jeanette remembers that, when they took