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In About 1917, Bert,(my grandfather) and Capitolia (my grandmother)
moved here from Rock County Minnesota to a farm south of Peever. There were six children: Ralph,( my Dad,) Mildred
Harold (Bob), Cecil (Shorty), Alice and Irene. Peever became their home town. Grandma was active in the Methodist
Church as were Cecil and Harold. Granpa enjoyed fishing and spent time in his retirement years fishing and also
playing cards at Flannery's Cafe. I remember seeing his old pickup in town when we came in on Saturdays with the
cream and eggs and we always got an extra dime from him. But now I am getting ahead of things. Grandpa and Grandma
moved the family to the Miller Peterson farm northwest of Peever in 1929 and Cecil and Harold remained there after
Grandpa died in 1950 and Grandma died in 1951. In 1969 Harold and Cecil moved to the A.M. Anderson farm west of
Peever as the Peterson farm was sold.
My Dad, Ralph, married Elsie Salewske from Claire City, (SD) in 1934. We three kids, Lyle, Loretta and LuVern made
up their family. Peever was the hometown for us and Dad farmed in the area between Peever and Sisseton until his
untimely death in 1958. I remember Saturday nights in the summer bringing cream and eggs to town and watching free
movies in the town hall. I even remember when it was too hot in the hall movies were shown on the south side of
Nels Hansen's Cafe. Our allowance those days was a quarter and Mom and Dad usually had a dish of ice cream and
coffee for their treat. Lyle graduated in 1953. He lives in Aberdeen now and has 5 children.I graduated in 1956.
Roger and I live in Kidder, SD, near Britton and are looking forward to retirement. LuVern graduated from Morris
Minnesota Ag School, joined the Navy, spent 20 years there, married a lovely lady from Aberdeen, Scotland. He has
three daughters. After he retired from the Navy he went to college, became a computer programmer and settled in
State College, PA. He passed away from cancer in December, 1998 at the age of 58. Mom married Harold Gerdes in
1961. they retired in Milbank. Harold died in 1985 and mom still lives in that house. Mom celebrated her 85th birthday
this year.
Mildred Chapin married Emil T. Larsen and they raised their family on a farm in the Wilmot,SD. area. Both Mildred
and Emil have passed away and some of their children are not too far from Peever.
Alice married Ed Lehrke. They farmed near Browns Valley, MN. I'm sure a lot of us have tapped our toes to the music
of various dance bands when bill Lehrke played with them. We also enjoyed Dick and Dean's music. Bill and Dick
both married Peever girls. Bill to Rae Pond and Dick to Vonnie Crooks.
Harold and Cecil never married. They were active in the Peever Methodist Church until Cecil's death. After Cecil
died, Harold spent some time at Mildred Larsen's and several years at the Ed Lehrke home. Harold passed away in
1998. He had been a resident of the Wilmot Community Home for about 18 years.
Irene Chapin married Ellsworth Shauf. He was killed by lighting and she later married Elton Buchele. Most of her
adult life was spent in the Twin Brooks-Milbank,SD. area. Irene was the postmaster of the Twin Brooks post office.
She retired to Milbank and at the time of this writing, she is moving to South Bend, IN. where she will be closer
to her children. She is the baby of the Bert Chapin family and will be 89 in December.
Below is a picture of the Bert Chapin family. In the back row is my Dad, Ralph, and Mildred. Seated is Grandpa
Bert holding Alice, Harold Cecil and Grandma holding Irene. Irene was born in 1911 so you can tell this picture
was taken a "few" years ago.
BERT CHAPIN FAMILY
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