I was three or four when I met Frannie, my first "girlfriend." I've only a couple memories of her. Francine Kay McDonald was born in April 1951 at Breckenridge, Minnesota, but she grew up a block away from us in Wahpeton, North Dakota, on the other side of the Red River. Her two-story home had a warm, enclosed, wood-paneled entrance porch. Her dad, Cecil McDonald, typically wore a three-piece suit from which he sometimes pulled out a shiny gold pocket watch. One wintry afternoon in 1955, Frannie and I decided we'd explore one snow-covered side of her house. We trudged along, snuggly bundled in our kid-sized parkas. A gleaming object where the ground met her house caught my attention. I reached down to touch it. Snap! The ring and the little finger of my right hand were snatched in her father's rabbit trap. Frannie must've run to fetch him, because somebody stronger than a little boy got those nasty steel blades to release my tiny fingers from the trap. They'd be swollen for a couple weeks. That was the last Wahpeton winter I spent with Frannie. Spring and summer came, and we moved to California.
Word came that one of Frannie's sisters had died. We heard that she'd pulled down on a heavy flowerbox attached to the outside of their house and that it came loose and crushed her little body. It was another rumor, because no records show it. Afterwards, the McDonalds moved to Anoka, a Minneapolis suburb where my Swenson cousins lived. On one of our annual summer vacations to North Dakota and Minnesota in the late '60s, I asked a guy if he'd heard news of Frannie. He told me that she'd gone to the Twin Cities and was a hooker there. I'll never believe it. Fifty years later, I have some facts. Fran McDonald was a junior at Wahpeton High School in 1968 and was a wrestling cheerleader – coincidentally, I wrestled that year at Vista High School.
In 1976 Fran married classmate Jeffrey Bohn and with him had two girls, Corrie and Jenna, both born in the Minneapolis area. I'm sad to say that Fran Bohn died March 16, 2002, in Minneapolis, a month shy of her 51st birthday. I'll always believe that "Frannie" was a wonderful person and a good mother to her girls.
Word came that one of Frannie's sisters had died. We heard that she'd pulled down on a heavy flowerbox attached to the outside of their house and that it came loose and crushed her little body. It was another rumor, because no records show it. Afterwards, the McDonalds moved to Anoka, a Minneapolis suburb where my Swenson cousins lived. On one of our annual summer vacations to North Dakota and Minnesota in the late '60s, I asked a guy if he'd heard news of Frannie. He told me that she'd gone to the Twin Cities and was a hooker there. I'll never believe it. Fifty years later, I have some facts. Fran McDonald was a junior at Wahpeton High School in 1968 and was a wrestling cheerleader – coincidentally, I wrestled that year at Vista High School.
In 1976 Fran married classmate Jeffrey Bohn and with him had two girls, Corrie and Jenna, both born in the Minneapolis area. I'm sad to say that Fran Bohn died March 16, 2002, in Minneapolis, a month shy of her 51st birthday. I'll always believe that "Frannie" was a wonderful person and a good mother to her girls.
I was three or four when I met Frannie, my first "girlfriend." I've only a couple memories of her. Francine Kay McDonald was born in April 1951 at Breckenridge, Minnesota, but she grew up a block away from us in Wahpeton, North Dakota, on the other side of the Red River. Her two-story home had a warm, enclosed, wood-paneled entrance porch. Her dad, Cecil McDonald, typically wore a three-piece suit from which he sometimes pulled out a shiny gold pocket watch. One wintry afternoon in 1955, Frannie and I decided we'd explore one snow-covered side of her house. We trudged along, snuggly bundled in our kid-sized parkas. A gleaming object where the ground met her house caught my attention. I reached down to touch it. Snap! The ring and the little finger of my right hand were snatched in her father's rabbit trap. Frannie must've run to fetch him, because somebody stronger than a little boy got those nasty steel blades to release my tiny fingers from the trap. They'd be swollen for a couple weeks. That was the last Wahpeton winter I spent with Frannie. Spring and summer came, and we moved to California.
Word came that one of Frannie's sisters had died. We heard that she'd pulled down on a heavy flowerbox attached to the outside of their house and that it came loose and crushed her little body. It was another rumor, because no records show it. Afterwards, the McDonalds moved to Anoka, a Minneapolis suburb where my Swenson cousins lived. On one of our annual summer vacations to North Dakota and Minnesota in the late '60s, I asked a guy if he'd heard news of Frannie. He told me that she'd gone to the Twin Cities and was a hooker there. I'll never believe it. Fifty years later, I have some facts. Fran McDonald was a junior at Wahpeton High School in 1968 and was a wrestling cheerleader – coincidentally, I wrestled that year at Vista High School.
In 1976 Fran married classmate Jeffrey Bohn and with him had two girls, Corrie and Jenna, both born in the Minneapolis area. I'm sad to say that Fran Bohn died March 16, 2002, in Minneapolis, a month shy of her 51st birthday. I'll always believe that "Frannie" was a wonderful person and a good mother to her girls.
Word came that one of Frannie's sisters had died. We heard that she'd pulled down on a heavy flowerbox attached to the outside of their house and that it came loose and crushed her little body. It was another rumor, because no records show it. Afterwards, the McDonalds moved to Anoka, a Minneapolis suburb where my Swenson cousins lived. On one of our annual summer vacations to North Dakota and Minnesota in the late '60s, I asked a guy if he'd heard news of Frannie. He told me that she'd gone to the Twin Cities and was a hooker there. I'll never believe it. Fifty years later, I have some facts. Fran McDonald was a junior at Wahpeton High School in 1968 and was a wrestling cheerleader – coincidentally, I wrestled that year at Vista High School.
In 1976 Fran married classmate Jeffrey Bohn and with him had two girls, Corrie and Jenna, both born in the Minneapolis area. I'm sad to say that Fran Bohn died March 16, 2002, in Minneapolis, a month shy of her 51st birthday. I'll always believe that "Frannie" was a wonderful person and a good mother to her girls.
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