Independence Day

As we were growing up in Ekalaka, Independence Day was a lot of fun and very important to us. We always went out to the Grandparents farm to celebrate. Our cousins, Hans, Gale, Ronald and Doris would always come out with their parents, Joe and Sylvia Christiansen, who lived in Miles City. Sylvia was my mother’s sister.

They couldn’t leave Miles City until after Uncle Joe got off work and they always stopped in Ekalaka as they went. We were usually asleep when they came and they would gather around our beds and yell real loud to scare us. They scared us, but we loved it. Uncle Joe had a machine...