Donna and Sue

 Donna and Sue Stories

Donna Michels and Sue Blomgren shared a lifetime. They were friends from their time as little girls through their years as old women and till the end of Donna's life. Here are some shared memories. There may be many more. Feel free to share your favorite Donna and Sue stories.

Conversation With A Farmer

We used to visit the two horses that belonged to a small farm in Ishpeming.  We'd bring sugar lumps and apples for them to eat. We were in about Fifth Grade. One day on such an occasion we noticed the old man who owned the horses was in the stable, and we had some questions to ask about the horses, so we approached him and chatted briefly. Then he asked us where we went to school. We answered, ' St. John's Convent School.' 'Catholics, then, eh?', he said. We nodded, then after a slight pause he remarked, 'Well, we can't help what we're born, can we?' 

    

Donna and I were shocked and baffled by his remark. I guess it was the first intimation in our little provincial world that there were people who believed differently from us.     – Sue Blomgren

Sue added a recollection after re-reading her story, “The old man's horses were named "Babe", and "Buddy". Babe was an older huge black workhorse, and Buddy was sleek, lively, brown in color, meant for pleasure riding.”

Raiding Vegetable Gardens in Ishpeming

[Mike Hinko] I don't know if I have this story right. Young you and Donna ate rutabagas from a neighbor's garden and Donna got sick. Do you remember this? She would never get pasty with rutabagas.

[Sue Blomgren] Donna said once that there is a difference between rutabagas and turnips. We dug up some raw TURNIPS once, and they were awful.  Rutabagas are milder and palatable.  Either this is true of this vegetable, or we have been brainwashed by the pasty people.

A big thing was raiding peoples' rhubarb patches. We'd bring our own sugar for dipping. But even more popular was sneaking up to a neighbor's apple trees after dark. We liked the green ones, and we brought salt shakers, of course. Lots of tummy aches if you ate too many. 

[Mike Hinko] That's so funny. Ishpeming's vegetable patch thieves.

[Sue Blomgren] You don't know what you missed. 

Performing Tom Lehrer Songs

I must say that no one warned me (or I didn’t heed) that aging would bring so much sadness. I do remember some great times with my Claw friends. One in particular occurred at a member’s camp where we had gathered one weekend when Donna and Sue introduced us to the songs of Tom Lehrer!  “Be Prepared” “I’ll take Your Hand” etc.  They had memorized them from a record. So when I heard about Donna’s passing, I poured a glass of wine and listened to Tom on You Tube. Salute.                       – Beth Trondson Raddatz

The Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library

Donna told me great stories about going to this library. In such a small town little children can walk most everywhere. As a young child Donna often walked to the library and checked out all the dog story books, and then all the horse story books. Over the years, Sue and Donna made the library their second home. Along the route to the library, Sue and Donna stopped at a building with a loose brick, behind which they hid a pack of cigarettes. They shared a smoke and took another with them to the Teen Loft. They'd put a record on the phonograph, open the window and share the second smoke while they conversed and argued and laughed about everything under the sun. Donna once summed it up at the end of a long email thread with Sue, “This is like arguing with you in grade school. Just the kind of thing we'd go on about for days.”  I feel fortunate to know these two women. Such a joy.      – Mike Hinko

WHO PLAYED WITH ME A LIFETIME 

Sue Blomgren notes, “Each line of this ode represents a world of shared life experiences.”

Our friendship is seagulls, 

A dark, moonlit night with crisp, cool breezes, 

Sun shining on the bark of gnarled, old trees 

Tanned boys' hands 

And green apples and stories in a huge maple tree. 

Our friendship is street corners, 

Psychology at a basketball game, 

Scraps of paper with scribbled notes, 

Signs and wonders, 

And dreams told over the telephone. 

Our friendship is the Barnum Bridge, 

A treasure-box filled with valuables, 

Notes of a harmonica piercing the air, 

Pilate's Knob, 

The treehouse, the theater, and walking home after a dance. 

Our friendship is singing, 

Frozen fingers clutching a whiskey bottle 

Walking along a dusty road, 

bicycles, books, 

And a shining white dam bordering deep, clear waters. 

Our friendship is campfires, 

A man and woman dancing to sultry music, 

A cigarette glowing on North Slope, 

A slinking wolf, 

And Rachmaninoff's 3rd movement on a scratchy record. 

Our friendship is knives, 

And ocean waves pounding on rocky shores, 

Standing on a cliff, hair wet with rain and tossed by wind, 

Tall, graceful ships, 

Adelaide Proctor, Daphne DuMaurier, 

And a five year old Satan on a blackboard. 

Our friendship is a tired cowboy 

singing to his horse, 

A silent figure kneeling in a dusky church, 

An Indian girl running through sunlit meadows, 

A Finn boy with strange, restless eyes, 

And a husky sailor astride a weather-racked yard. 

---- From Donna Lynne Michels (the Parasite) to Susan Bussiere Blomgren (the Creature)

Shared during their High School years.

Donna Michels and Sue Blomgren. Friends.