as 8 years old. I had two brothers younger than me and we had every now and then somebody to look after us. The so-called Red Rebellion started almost at the same time. My father (Pekka Tolvanen) was on the wrong side. The Reds were beaten and my father spent about six months in the concentration camp. My brothers (Veikko and Voitto) were looked after by the Salvation Army and they did their best, but there was a famine and we children were always hungry. It has not been any trouble at all for me to "bare the head before the bread" after that. We were pretty much by ourselves when father was working. When I look back I realize that we were becoming real street urchins. I was fortunate because the habits of the street didn’t seem to affect me too much. I must have had a special angel looking after me. Surely there was quite a lot of mischief and childish thoughtlessness, but I didn’t have to carry them into my later life.
My father married again in 1920 and we boys were lucky to get an excellent mother (Selma Lähteenkorva) to look after us. She kept us clean and fed and taught us proper behavior (about which we didn’t know very much). I did fairly well in the school and should have started working after six grades. I have many times thought how lucky I was that I was so small of stature - second smallest in a class of 40 - that nobody wanted to hire me. It was for this reason that I was sent to try entrance examinations to the Lyceum. I was in the top ten and got started on the long road of learning.
I could attend only 3 years when I had to start working. I tried night school, but it didn’t work out. Mathematics was a problem and money was another. I had been delivering papers then already 6 years, but had to give almost all my earnings to the family to help out. One thing I got from the Night School was the English language - the elementaries of it anyway. I was so interested in it that I read by myself and have been reading English ever since. All I know now about the English language is self-taught - even now I many times have trouble trying to find the right words to say or the right pronunciation.
I joined the Post Office and worked for it for 28 years. Last 9 years were in Lapland, first as a Postmaster then couple of the last years as an Expediter. I was ready to build my own home in 1957 in Rovaniemi when we had the general strike. In couple of months the Finnish currency lost 20% of its value. I realized it was needless to try any longer and emigrated to Canada.
We have been here for 21 years and as members of the LDS Church for 16. When we had been here couple of years I got work as field assistant in the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission. It was mostly working on rivers counting and caring of the salmon runs. In wintertime it was hatchery work sometimes - mostly lay-offs for a few months. But we managed, bought a small home, reared our two daughters and are now retired.
That’s my personal history in broad lines. At present I am alone - even my wife is visiting my daughter’s family in Provo. The other daughter is married too - she lives in Mantua on the way to Logan. I have lots of time to read and study - but I have to do my garden work on the side.
My first assignment was not what I wanted it to be. It is so long ago that I have had to do anything like this. I guess my thinking is rusty. We have to hope that it gets better when the time goes by.
At the present time I don’t have any questions. I want and see what you have to say and will ask then. Today is Friday the 28th of April and I got in the mail a letter from the BYU Bookstore. They let me know about their payment policy and asked me to send the price of the books. I am prepared to wait another two weeks before they are here. I will try to do something with my second assignment before that.
In conclusion I remind you again that all my English is self taught. Now is the time to get some polish and some solid direction how to write. The same goes with my thinking - it seems to be a little muddled at present. It could be only that, that I have been so concerned about the essay. I hope I can be more relaxed later on. This is by the way my first tape ever!
I hope to hear from you soon.
VAT to Don Norton, April 1978
Thanks for transcribing this tape, Leena, I remember this time so well, and how Mother thought Daddy, who was by then almost 70, was much too old to be going to school for an Independent Study degree. When I began my own work as an English professor at Brigham Young University, a colleague, Don Norton (the same one that was Daddy's professor over 20 years earlier), told me what a fine mind Dad had and that he was one of the last true Rennaisance men. What a high complement!
ReplyDeleteI was just reading Don's notes from 1978 to Daddy and they were so complimentary! What a pleasure to hear these positive comments about our Dad. :)
ReplyDelete