Gustavson Family

Family

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Photos by Angie Pena (4)

Ruth Daniel Goodan Gustavson
October 1, 1892 – March 19, 1962

October 1, 2009
The woman whose heart and life went into her family of eight was born on October 1, 1892 and left us to be with her Father on March 19, 1962. She went by “Ruth”, “wife”, “Mom”, “Mama”, “Grandma”, “Mrs. Gustavson”….

In 2008, Carol shares this memory…I have many memories of Grandma but I’ll just share a couple. She had a way of making all of her grandchildren feel special. I don’t know how she did it! I felt really close to her because we were the
chubby ones in the family. She married into a thin Gustavson family and she always felt chubby. I remember staying overnite and sharing a bed with her. It was a double bed and we were pretty crowded in that bed! We got to laughing about that and could hardly go to sleep. Another time when I was about 14 yrs old she took me to the rest home with her to see Grandpa. He had had several strokes and she visited him often and would care for him while she was there. She ask me to help her to do that. I think that experience with her really inspired me to look at nursing for a vocation. I didn’t make it thru the nursing program but have always been a hospital volunteer.To all you grandmas you make such a positive difference in your
grandchildren’s lives! You may not see it now but never doubt it.
Carol  Bouttier Tonseth

October 1, 2009
In about 1927, the Ed and Ruth Gustavson family were undergoing  severe financial hardship while living in Fountain CO, due, primarily, to  the local bank failure where Pop and Mom lost all of their financial assets. In order to survive  Mom, Leona and Edward went to work for a Japanese family in Broadmoor adjacent to Colorado Springs CO. The remainder of the family remained in a Fountain rented house on the outskirts of Fountain where meals consisted mainly of cornmeal mush as a cereal, fried servings and about all cooked ways imaginable. Broadmoor was an affluent community of wealthy people and most of its families employed servants for house hold upkeep. Mom and Leona performed household chores and baby sitting while Edward did yard work Their earnings were little but a great help during almost complete family poverty. Due to the bank failure, Mom and Pop had been forced to abandon their dairy herd and business where they engaged in producing and delivering  milk to most Fountain families. The main  highlight I recall was Lindbergh’s solo flight from New York to Paris in May 1927, an event that was heralded internationally because it was the first air crossing of the Atlantic ocean.
Another event occurred somewhat later in the early 1930’s when I defied Mom the one and only time I ever recall such abhorrent behaveour by me which I always regretted. I had bought a used Studebaker straight eight touring car for $65 which I used to tow primary gliders aloft for the Colorado Springs High School glider club. She objected, as she thought it was too dangerous, and asked me to stop doing it. I said that I didn’t care if she objected or not, I would continue the practice.
Gene Gustavson