Looking for my Grandmother
My grandmother grew up in Saint Paul, poor and Irish. A McDermott, she was the youngest of the six children, and the only girl. Some say that she was spoiled. I have tried over the years to learn more about her, but she is a hard one to pin down.
Saturday Morning
It was around 9:55 a.m. I was waiting for the library to open.
I saw a cute Ethiopian girl coming toward me. She had dark brown skin, short hair, and a pretty baby face.
“What time is it?” She asked me. Her English accent was very good.
The Dead of Winter
We speak of it
as though it were a place,
a battlefield strewn
with corpses,
a burial ground
of shattered statues
hooded with snow.
Radio Crew
Although I live in Minneapolis, I have a strong connection to Saint Paul. When I worked as a legal secretary in downtown Saint Paul, I could see across the Mississippi from my twenty-second-floor window to where my mother, Ione, worked in 1943 during World War II: Holman Field. Born in Spicer, Minnesota, Ione moved to Minneapolis in her early twenties. During the war, she had a long commute from North Minneapolis to her job in Saint Paul: A bus took her to downtown Minneapolis, then a streetcar brought her to downtown Saint Paul, and a shuttle carried her across the Robert Street Bridge to the Northwest Airlines Modification Center, where she worked on a radio crew for the B-24 bomber plane known as the Liberator.
Share Your Memories of Deb Torraine
Deborah Torraine volunteered for the Saint Paul Almanac as a community editor, hosted two Lowertown Reading Jam events, authored short stories for publication and, in February 2011, took on a new role as Director of Community Engagement. In June 2011, Deb tragically passed away, leaving behind bereaved friends and family, but leaving behind a community very aware that they were blessed to know her and deeply grateful for her gifts to them. In the comments section at the bottom of this page, please share your memories of our sister... Deb Torraine.
