The Way Wendell Was

This is a reminiscence about life on a small South Dakota farm, with a quiet man, the son of Norwegian immigrants. It's a story about how, in a small place, your history stays with you. Wendell was a man who asked for very little in life- until the men at the local cafe told him there was a miracle cure for his breathing problems. Despite his daughter's medical degree and her insistence that there was no cure, he was just as sure that it was true and that he needed to go to the clinic in Mexico to at least try to feel better. Eventually, he convinced her to take him. As they shared this adventure, she documented their funny conversations to capture his temperament and his sense of humor. He did not get the cure he was hoping for but it re-created the father-daughter relationship that had been lost. It's a story written for a man who would never write about himself.

Wendell identified himself as Norwegian. He fit the mold of those who had come to the cold harsh winters of South Dakota from southern Norway. He was quiet and simple. He had a dry sense of humor and loved to make up jokes, or recall others from his joke books. The author reminisces about the things she and her siblings did to pass the long days, mostly with each other, on the farm. She relates events in her father's life that seemed to make him the quiet and unassuming man he was. Finally, she tells the story of how her relationship was re-made by a crazy trip to Mexico, looking for a cure for his incurable breathing problems, just because the men at the local cafe told him it was so.

Sandra Skovlund is the daughter of a quiet farmer from South Dakota who now lives in Minneapolis and practices as an Otolaryngologist. She has not written anything beyond papers for college courses- many years ago.