Sharon (Johnson) McCully was born in September 1939 in Pipestone, the second of five children born to Fern (Kemnitz) and Harold Johnson. The Johnson kids grew up on the family farm near Verdi, in Lincoln County. Sharon’s oldest sibling was her brother Robert, followed by younger sisters Barbara, Melva, and Pam.

Sharon described her parents’ farm operation and her roles in it.

“My dad had pigs, milk cows, and chickens. His crops included oats, corn, and alfalfa. I’d help feed the chickens and take care of the baby chicks. I hated that job because they always seemed to torment me. (Sharon chuckled) I helped my dad feeding the animals and with milking. In early years Dad separated the milk, so you had the separator to wash besides the milking machine. In later years he sold the whole milk and trucks picked it up.”

Sharon attended the nearby Verdi Public School for her elementary grades.

“My first five and a half years I attended school at Verdi. It was (Sharon laughed) very small. It was a one-story, square building. The center of the building was the gym and around the gym were the grades. Classrooms went down the east and the west side. On the east side were the grade school classes. There would be two grades in one room; 1st and 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and 5th and 6th. At the end of that side was the cafeteria. Between the two (north side) entrances was a room called the assembly where the high schoolers met. High school classes were on the west side. The library was over there also. I don’t remember what else, because as a grade-school student, (Sharon laughed) that was foreign territory.”

The gymnasium in the center of the building was below grade, so students descended stairs to the floor. The gym had a stage for school plays and other programs.

Sharon remembered her favorite teacher at Verdi.

“My 1st and 2nd grade teacher was Mrs. Fink. She was a beautiful, kind of large, woman with such a pleasing personality. You were given individual attention. How could a teacher do that with all of her students and two grades?”

Sharon and her siblings rode a school bus.

“Our farm was no farther than four miles away, but our home was in the middle of the (section) on our route. We’d walk about half a mile to the west corner to the bus.”

The Johnson family attended a nearby country church with a unique, family connection.

“We attended the Altoona Methodist Church, located on Highway 75 about a half mile south of our county road. It was a church building that my dad’s family pretty much built. The pastor lived in Ruthton and preached in Verdi, then came to Altoona, and had his final service in Ruthton.”

Sharon described Verdi during the mid-1940s.

“If you came in from the south, the second block on the left led to the school and the Methodist church. That corner had a big, brick house. My mother’s family had lived there when she went to school. There was a Catholic church, but I can’t place where that was. Back to Main Street on the left were automotive or (farm) equipment repair businesses. Then there was Olson’s Store with a gas station out front, which was common in those days. It was a small-town, all-purpose store. On the right-hand side (of the street) was a saloon and Dial’s grocery. Dial’s was a typical, old, grocery store where they had things behind glass and barrels of goods. Then there was the post office and what had once been a city park. Verdi was a neat, little town once upon a time.”

Verdi was a railroad town and Sharon described its rail facilities.

“Off to your left was one of the few remaining roundhouses for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. Then there was a railroad station. Beyond the roundhouse there were some elevators.

Despite Verdi being a happening, little place, the Johnson family took their business elsewhere.

“My folks went to Pipestone for shopping and doctor and dentist visits. I thought it was a long way. Along Main Street was a Penny’s, the Red Owl grocery store, and another grocery. But you didn’t go in there and go around shopping. Rather, you’d bring your list and they would get them for you. Sometimes they had to run up their ladder to reach the high shelves. Off the Main Street was the creamery where Dad took his cream. That’s also where he took the eggs after you’d clean them. There was also an elevator where he’d get chicken feed.”

Sharon recalled a couple places that held her attention as a kid.

“North of Pipestone used to be an Indian school that had their own farm. On Saturday they’d bring these children to the movie at the theater in buses. As a youngster, I gawked at them (Sharon laughed sheepishly) as they looked a little different than I. Before you got to the theater there was Northlands Ice Cream. That was the height of my trip — an ice cream cone. The Rose Trading Post that had a parrot that talked. (Sharon laughed) We kids always wanted to go there and tease the poor parrot.”

Sharon explained how a family move took them from rural Verdi.

“We lived there until the winter of 1950, when my father sold out his part of the farm to his mother and we moved to Sycamore, Illinois for five years. I left the Verdi school at Christmas of my 6th grade.”

©2024 William D. Palmer