Twin boys, Melvin and Manley, were born to Henry and Aase Amelia Kjonaas at home in Starbuck, Minnesota on Feb. 23, 1917. When the twins were not yet 3 years old, their mother died in the flu epidemic in January, 1920, leaving the father, Henry, with six children and he was confined to a wheelchair.  At home Henry could take complete care of himself with the aid of  pulleys and a rope hanging from the ceiling. He could get from the wheelchair into bed and even into the bathtub all by himself.  Away from home he had to be carried from place to place. He earned a living for the family by repairing clocks and watches and selling a small amount of jewelry.
  The twins grew up without any memory of their mother. Manley's earliest memory is the day, probably in May, 1920, when Uncle Ole Kjonaas brought Grandma Ture Olson Kjonaas from Park Rapids to Starbuck in a model "T" Ford truck without a top over the seat. Manley remembers seeing Uncle Ole back that truck up to the front porch and unload her only piece of furniture, a dresser with her clothes in it. That night after supper Grandma Kjonaas went into her bedroom and Manley remembers hearing her speaking loudly in Norwegian which he could not understand. He asked his dad what Grandma was doing. Henry said that she was praying for us.  She was having her "private" devotions. So the earliest memory that Manley has is of his Grandmother praying for him.
   A series of neighbors, family members and housekeepers came to help the family during those growing-up years. Manley remembers when Aunt Anne Heegard came for a time.  She had at least two children with her.  They didn't stay very long.  I guess  it was decided that that was just too many kids in one household. Manley remembers Aunt Anne and a bunch of the kids being out in the tomato patch and the kids started throwing ripe tomatoes at each other.
   Melvin and Manley attended school in Starbuck through the third year of High School. Their dad then purchased a small Jewelry Store in Grandview, Washington and they finished the last year of High School there in 1936. Their dad got sick with lung cancer so they moved back to Starbuck where their dad died a month later. That was during the Great Depression and there was no work of any kind near Starbuck.   The twins went back to Washington State where they knew they could get work at 25 cents an hour in the orchards. Their sister Hazel lived in Washington State at that time and they made her home their headquarters in between times.
   Hazel persuaded the twins to go to Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho, so they spent the next three school years there. During the next four summers they worked in Southeast Alaska.  Two summers they worked in a limestone quarry on Dall Island and two summers they worked in a salmon cannery in Ketchikan.
   In the fall of 1939 Melvin and Manley transferred to Washington State University in Pullman, Washington.  June 1, 1942 they both received B.S. Degrees in Chemical Engineering and on the same day were married in a double wedding ceremony. Melvin married Hilda Bartole from Tuttel , North Dakota and Manley married Phyllis Markham from Pullman, Washington.
  Melvin and Hilda moved to Bremerton, Washington where Melvin worked as a Marine Engineer in the Bremerton Navy Yard.  They stayed there until World Was II was over and then moved back to Indiana where Melvin worked as an Engineer for Standard Oil of Indiana.  In about 1952 Standard Oil built a new refinery in Mandan, North Dakota and Melvin went there to work.  He was Chief Engineer in that refinery when he suddenly died of a heart attack in February, 1966.  Hilda and the two daughters, Margaret Ann and Melvalyn moved to Nampa, Idaho where she and Melvalyn have remained.
   After graduation from WSU in 1942 Manley and his hew bride, Phyllis, moved to Joliet, Illinois where Manley worked in a war explosives manufacturing plant. Five months later explosives manufacturing capacity had increased so much that the work force was cut back.  Manley then went to work for the Sinclair Oil Co. in the Research and Development Department. Sinclair later became part of the Atlantic Richfield Co. After 33 years of work, Manley took early retirement in 1975. Manley and Phyllis moved to Indianapolis, Indiana where they now live in a house right next door to their daughter, Diane and her family. Manley and Phyllis are still in good health and will be celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary on June 1, 1998.
 

   Written by Manley Kjonaas
 

 
Left to Right   Manley, Phyllis, Hilda and Melvin.
June 1, 1942    Pullman Washington.
 
 
Kjonaas family history         Doty family history
 
 Knudson family history
 
 
 
 
 
 
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