A Cowboy Rides Away

The weekend of March 8th, 9th and 10th was different from what you usually see her.  My cousin, Bobette, her husband, Mark and I travelled to Morristown, TN for our uncle’s funeral.

Like most good Anseth stories it should probably start with a beer.

Airport beers 

The Berno logistics team arranged a seemless plan.  Direct flight to Knoxville, sleeping accommodation near the airport since our arrival was so late, ground transportation to Morristown and direct flight back to MSP.   All I had to do was get to the right spot at the right time.

The flight was uneventful and the Airport Hilton was nice.  We were up on on the road to Morristown without an issue on the morning of the 9th.  We arrive at Morristown to the great little Luthern Church.  We were promptly greeted by a great group of church basement ladies who made us feel welcomed immediately.  We spent a little time talking as the family rolled in for the survive.  

The church before the service.

A view of the memorial at the front of the church.

The church service was really great.  My Uncle Keith read a poem called “A Sailor Died Today”.  Uncle Shorty and Keith both serviced in the Navy and it was the perfect poem for this occasion.  

Hopefully, Uncle Keith will go to Noonan and read it there as well.  The long and short of the poem is this, some men are more than happy to talk about loyalty, honor, courage and hard work but when it actually come to living your life by those principle many can’t.  It is one thing to talk about walking the path and an entirely different thing to actually walk the path.  Uncle Shorty like all the Anseth boy walked the path.  If their friends needed them they were there, if family need them they were there and if their country needed them they were there.

At this point I was a little nervous for Bobette since she had to follow Uncle Keith.  Bobette was probably a little nervous but she received two words of encouragement from Emily Rose  via text to set her on her way.  Bobette has a real talent for writing and this eulogy was really amazing as it captured the essence of Uncle Shorty.  The kindness and the mischief, love of family large and small, the importance of a nickname and the stories a family shares.  It was great.  The eulogy is below in bold if you are going to Noonan you might want to wait to hear it.

My Aunt Sharon asked me to share a few words today, so here we go…

 

A nickname is defined as a substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or a thing.  It is commonly used to show affection, a form of endearment and amusement. 

 

How appropriate that Glen Milo Anseth went by a nickname much of his life because two of the best words to describe him would be: endearing and fun.  

 

How did Glen become “Shorty?” 

 

Well, family lore states that he was born trying to keep up with his big sister, Eleanor(my Mom) and his three older brothers, Duane, Donald and Leslie.  The brothers were his biggest challenge. 

 

 

On the farm in rural North Dakota where they grew up he was oft heard shouting,“Wait a me, guys.  Wait a me,” while running as fast as his little legs could carry him.  His brothers would respond with “C’mon, Shorty!”

 

He remained short in stature, but he grewtall in character.  

 

When their younger sister, the last of the 6 Anseth kids, was born, 3 year-old Glen had a hard time saying her “proper” name, which is Louise.  After calling her “Lousy” time and time again, his mother, my Grandma Gladys,said, “Glen, can you say Becky?”  The response came back loud and clear. And, so… Louise Rebecca became Becky, thanks to Glen.

 

I was the lucky recipient of one of hisnicknames.  In the early 70s, Uncle Glen was staying with our family while working on a new grain elevator project north of Fargo where my family had just moved from Jamestown, ND. We were both going through transitions.

 

While neither of us was particularly happy in that season of our lives, we discovered that we shared a belief that humor could make tough times more pleasant.  I learned thatmy Uncle Glen loved Westerns, and John Wayne in particular.  So, when he was downhearted, laying on the couch exhausted from work, I would slide my skinny little legs into his way-too-big for me cowboy boots, put his cowboy hat on my head and walk around the family room saying, “A man’s got do what a man’s got to do.”  

 

It never failed to draw a smile from him, sometimes even a laugh.  He called me “Duke” every since.

 

Years later… when my husband, Mark, and I moved into our first home, Uncle Glen sent me a beautiful, hand-painted commemorative plate featuring John Wayne.  I still have it.  But, what I didn’t know, and just learned in the last few weeks, was that the plate originally belonged to Sharon’s Mom. When she passed away, Glen asked for it because “he knew exactly where it needed to be.”  The guy knew how to share joy.  

 

Like a good nickname, my uncle was endearing. If you call someone endearing it means that their behavior makes you feel loved.  His behavior made us all feel loved. 

 

When Glen (Sharon never called him Shorty)met the love of his life and married her in 1976 that was his time to shine.  Nothing defined his life more than his roles asHusband, Dad, Step-Dad, Father-in-Law and Farf.

 

What’s a Farf, you ask?  Farfar is Norwegian for grandfather. Kevin shortened it to Farf and another perfect nickname was born. One rooted in Glen’s Norwegian heritage.

 

He adored Kevin and following him around a golf course became one of his favorite retirement activities.    

 

Glen loved, and he was loved.  

 

 

 

 

He was also funny. Not the dance on the tabletop in Medora kind of funny (he left that trait to other members of our family), but rather a wink of an eye kind of funny.  Kaycee describes her Dad as “a prankster.”Simply put, he was fun to be around, and easy to have around.

 

My cousin, Jeanne shared this:  “Uncle Shorty (I can’t remember how old I was when I found out his name was actually Glen) was such a happy place for me. One time, during my teenage years, he was visiting us and I had a date that came to over to the house to pick me up.  He greeted him, and then said, “Would you like to see her dad’s gun collection?” He followed that up with a wink and a “Have a good time, Baggy Pants!” Even with all the teasing, he always made me feel loved.

 

The real Duke once said, “Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.” We can all learn so much from how Glen Milo Anseth lived his life.  Reflecting on it gives ushope for tomorrow.  

 

We can honor him by taking a lesson out of his playbook: Show affection.  Share joy. Have fun!    

 

No matter what you called him, or what he called you; we are going to miss him. He left us way too soon, and way too suddenly.  

 

Now it is time for us to be courageous, saddle up and carry him with us as we ride into the future.  

 

Until we meet again.  Rest in Peace, Uncle Glen.        

After the service we spent time hanging out as a family.  Lots of great stories some we have heard many times some I don’t think I have ever heard.  Sandwiches, cakes, sweet tea and lemonade were consumed.

Bobette,Aunt Becky, Andrew Anseth, Uncle Keith, Uncle Les, Aunt Becky and me

Uncle Les, Mike and Aunt Sandy

Kevin and Bobette.  

Andrew and Uncle Les

The coolest things were the tables that Sharon and the family has set up as memorials in the basement.

This one represented his career as a member of the IBEW, International Brotherhood of Electrical Works.  It was actually amazing to see how many places Uncle Shorty had been while working as an electrician.  

This table reflected the cowboy in Uncle Shorty.  I can remember Dad and Uncle Shorty as the only people who liked Marty Robbins.  There is a tin of Copenhagen with a brass or tin custom lid that I remember him having forever.  The picture of Shorty in the cowboy hat in the middle is classic ND cowboy.

Couldn’t leave out the cowboy hat.

The last one was family.  These are two of my favorite pictures of the family.  There were many more from reunions in Canyon Ferry and in Anaconda.  There are a couple of the boys sitting in lawn chairs in the sun smiling and laughing.  There are a couple of large family photos where 1/2 the grandchildren of Clarence and Gladys are smiling and the other 1/2 look like the have some explaining to do. 

From the church we all went to Mike and Lori’s house.  We sat and talked and laughed.  I had never heard the story of Keith filling Les’s car with hay bales or the events leading up to it.  I had forgotten the story about why Dad’s hand is so swollen in Uncle Donald’s wedding photo.

Eventually Andrew convinced Jason and I that a beer run was in order. After ensuring that Andrew has spent his tax return wisely, I was able to drive his truck to a from the grocery.  I am still an excellent driver of  jacked up trucks.  Erin, Kaycee, Jason, Kevin and their friends engaged in the longest rummy game in history. While Casey strummed his guitar.

Pizza arrive and that was great.  Aunt Sandy polished off two IPAs.  We FaceTime Alan, Nate, Dawn, Sheri and many more.  Time seemed to fly by and eventually we had to head back to Knoxville for a flight home on Sunday.

Lori, Erin and Sharon at Mike and Lori’s house.

Casey boy rode back to Knoxville with us for a flight back to Oregon as well.  It was bed because the flights were leaving early.  Sunday morning, I check to make sure Casey was at his gate and Bobette texted Sharon that he was.  Mark handled all the detail and we were all off and home without a hitch. Your family is always watching out for you even when you don’t know it.

Odds and Ends

The program

The service 

The obituary in the program

One final picture from Uncle Donald’s funeral 

The Anseth boys are legendary-ND Legendary. There wasn’t any trouble they wouldn’t get in, anything they couldn’t build or fix or anything they couldn’t hunt or fish.  The world is a less interesting place now but we  have the family stories to prove how great it was

This image may be from Google but.....

This seems like the appropriate end for this post.  

SA