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Minnesota woman celebrates 100th birthday
Charlotte Tommerdahl was born on the White Earth Reservation in Calloway, Minnesota on Oct. 29, 1924 and moved to Minneapolis during WWII.
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — With friends and generations of family standing around her, Charlotte Tommerdahl blew out the candle on her 100th birthday cake.
“The years just flew by,” she mused from an oversized armchair in her Brooklyn Park apartment several days earlier.
The world has certainly changed since her first birthday. She was born in Calloway, Minnesota on Oct. 29, 1924, the second of nine children.
“Our town was Calloway, about 15 miles north of Detroit Lakes, which is the Becker County seat. I went to grades one through eight in my town, grade school and then we went into high school and we had our choice of going to Detroit Lakes or going north to Woburn on the reservation,” Charlotte recalled.
On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, Charlotte shared stories from her life on a reservation in northwestern Minnesota, where she graduated high school at 17. She moved to Minneapolis not long after.
“I got a job in the creamery but it was a nothing job and my cousin called from Minneapolis,” Charlotte said. “The huge Twin Cities Ordinance Plant was operating with, they made 350 caliber bullets for the war effort, shipping them by crate loads overseas.
“They hired many, many, many people and they needed office workers,” she laughed. “My cousin worked in a production building, loud and noisy and all that, but she liked it. But she needed someone to help her pay her rent.”
So in March, she got on a bus for the city. After a short-hand typing test and a spelling test, Charlotte had secured a job as a secretary in the War Plant. She worked there until the war ended in 1945.
Still needing to pay her rent, Charlotte searched the papers and found a job working as the secretary for a chief engineer at the Bemis Bag Company in Minneapolis.
While working there she married her husband Wally, a man from Detroit Lakes she had met at a dance when they were both in high school.
“… Had our wedding in Calloway. Mother was by then the Postmaster, and she invited everybody in town. There were 200 people in our town!” Charlotte remembered.
The two were married in 1948 and two years later, their son Skip was born. Two other children, Barry and Diane, followed over the next eight years.
Charlotte was at home, the one Wally built for the family by hand, for 17 years before returning to work as a secretary for the Anoka-Hennepin School District. She was with them for 21 years before retiring in 1987.
Wally died in 1997 at the age of 72, from cancer.
Charlotte’s voice still tells of how much love they had in their marriage.
“We had a long, good marriage, [Wally was a] good role model for those kids. Never had a problem with those kids.”
While Charlotte lives alone, she has clearly maintained connections with her community and has many friends in her building.
Charlotte recalled a conversation with her building’s manager earlier that day.
“She said, ‘Here’s what you’re gonna be asked: What do you attribute to your long life? How did you happen to reach this age?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know what to say!’” Charlotte laughed.
When she talked about her life, she recounted hardships from growing up on the reservation with only her mother to care for nine children.
“… She was washing clothes all the time and they didn’t have wringer washers, either. She would have to rinse the boys’ overalls and wring them by hand and hang them on the clothesline. Imagine nine kids at a table eating!” Charlotte exclaimed, remembering the meals. “The boys like to stand up and grab the bread, you know. Table manners were real import to her and we all learned well.”
Times were often tough. But she also told stories of good times: Game nights, get-togethers with friends, lunches with other couples and her children’s many adventures.
Charlotte also loves Minnesota sports, especially the Vikings and the Twins.
“But you know, you can’t live in there,” she said, gesturing dismissively toward her TV.
So, what’s Charlotte’s advice for reaching 100?
Stay busy. Even at 100, Charlotte goes to activities in her senior co-op’s common room. She worked hard as a secretary for decades and after retiring, continued to volunteer.
Play cards. Being with groups of people, either friends or family, still makes Charlotte’s eyes light up. Be around other people that make you happy.
Get a dog. “Barry got himself a new dog and he said that ‘I lost a lot of weight with my new puppy,’” she shared about her second son. “He runs it every day… I think… when we have get-togethers, [we] have dogs and the dogs are here, and there, and everywhere!”
All things in moderation. Charlotte said she enjoys a single cocktail or a glass of wine from time to time, but as she cautioned: “You shouldn’t eat too much bacon. I had a nutritionist sit with me, I remembered everything she said and that taught me moderation in everything you do and eat.”
And her final point, which came up several times and was spoken like a lifelong secretary and editor:
“I read; always have a book. I feel sorry for people that don’t read. There are so many good books out there.”
Explore Minnesota partnered with Hospitality Minnesota and the Minneapolis Federal Reserve to conduct a statewide survey of business owners in the tourism industry.
MINNEAPOLIS — There’s a saying in Minnesota that when things go wrong you can blame it on the weather.
Lauren Bennett McGinty from Explore Minnesota said there is some truth to that phrase this year regarding the state’s travel and tourism industry.
“The weather this summer has been a huge factor,” Bennett McGinty said.
Explore Minnesota partnered with Hospitality Minnesota and the Minneapolis Federal Reserve to conduct a statewide survey of business owners in the tourism industry.
The survey included responses from 266 Minnesota business owners. About half of the respondents said their business saw fewer customers this summer. Around 48% of the business owners in the survey said the excess rain this summer hurt their business.
“When you look at many businesses involved in tourism, of course they are outdoor focused, and in the summertime especially. All the days of rain this summer, it was really challenging for them to have more people come and spend their time outdoors and experience all they have to offer,” McGinty said.
But weather wasn’t the only issue business owners had to deal with this summer. Around 60% of business owners say rising costs of goods and services was a major challenge this summer.
In the survey, business owners say their three biggest challenges this year were higher prices for goods and food, wage increases, and more government regulations.
Jami Olson is the CEO of the Centro Restaurant Group, which owns five restaurants in the Twin Cities. She said a lot of restaurant owners in the Twin Cities are seeing fewer customers and higher costs of doing business.
“Overall, we have seen a downtick,” Olson said. “I think in general the Twin Cities are going through a lot of things right now. I think we will continue to see a lot of changes within restaurants. A lot of things are getting more expensive. Minimum wage went up, so obviously that drives up prices.”
On the northeast side of the state, in the Brainerd Lakes Area, business owners were more optimistic.
Nichole Heinen with the Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce said many hotels and restaurants did see a slight drop in revenue this summer.
“It’s been down maybe a tiny little bit, but it is not something that has been a really big worry for us up here,” Heinen said.
She is hoping the warm fall will help business owners earn back some of the revenue they lost this summer.
“We just got done with Crosslake Days in Crosslake and there was a huge turnout. So many people were out there, and the businesses I spoke with out there were just really excited for the Fall. They’re already seeing a lot of people coming up to see the leaves and change of colors,” Heinen said.
Business owners statewide also say it was easier this summer to find staff to fill their positions. 42% of the business owners surveyed said their staffing levels are stable, which is higher than in years past.
The survey also showed very few business owners had to cut jobs this year, with around 8.5% of owners reporting job cuts in 2024.
Explore Minnesota is also hopeful for the future. McGinty said the Twin Cities metro is seeing higher hotel occupancy this Fall, and she is hopeful that trend will continue this winter.
“We’re very excited to just get back into those seasons and have people experience all four seasons in Minnesota,” McGinty said.
Karl-Anthony Towns volunteered with several organizations over his nine-year career in Minnesota.
MINNEAPOLIS — It’s easy to see the impact Karl-Anthony Towns had on the basketball court, but what he did off it might not be as obvious.
In just his second season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, prepping Thanksgiving dinner for families in need in 2017, Towns understood how he could be a catalyst for change.
“Whatever we do on the court is what we do on the court, but a true man’s legacy is left by the effect he does on the community,” he said at the time. “I feel I can do more off the court than on it.”
He’s been living by that statement ever since, organizing a winter coat drive for kids and teenagers who don’t have jackets, fundraising for the Boys & Girls Club Twin Cities, helping formerly incarcerated people restore their right to vote, giving to families in need, and spending time with kids who are ill.
“The thing that I like about KAT, he shows up, he’s personal, he’s caring, and he’s made a really big impact on HopeKids and he’ll be deeply missed,” said Executive Director of HopeKids Minnesota Brian Anderson.
HopeKids helps children who have cancer or other life-threatening medical conditions along with their families.
“Every Christmas he would invite 100 people out to the Timberwolves facility, and we would go into the theater that they have, and we would watch a movie, a kid’s movie, and sometimes he would actually sit there and watch the movie in entirety with our families. It was pretty cool,” he said.
Anderson said he’s been hosting a Christmas party for HopeKids since 2018. He said KAT has made a big impact on their kids and has given them hope.
“The timeout that he took for people really showed that he cared makes a huge difference,” he said. “We’re going to miss him a lot.”
He isn’t sure if their relationship will continue, but he’s hopeful Towns will stop by when the New York Knicks come to Minneapolis in December.
Kai Glinsek will also miss KAT, but he’ll never forget how he helped his family through a hard time. Glinsek’s mother had pancreatic cancer, and the medical bills were piling up. The family started to a GoFundMe to help, but they were thousands of dollars short, until KAT heard about it.
“He changed my family’s life,” he said. “What KAT did for me and my family, I’ll never forget it. I’m never not going to be a KAT fan.”
Glinsek’s mother has passed away, but Towns got them to their goal, donating thousands of dollars.
“That meant the world to us and KAT didn’t want any recognition for it, he just did it. I believe it comes from the struggles he’s had,” he said.
He’ll never not root for KAT, and hope when people drive by Parkway Pizza in Northeast Minneapolis they’ll honk if they love KAT, too.
A pilot from Eden Prairie landed his small plane on Highway 27 in Morrison County.
PIERZ, Minn — A man flying over Minnesota had to make an emergency landing Monday.
Aaron Casper, 53, was flying from the Brainerd area to his home of Eden Prairie. While 3,500 feet over Morrison County, authorities said his engine lost power.
According to the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office, Casper made an emergency landing on Highway 27 in Agram Township, which is located four miles west of Pierz. He drove the plane into a ditch to avoid traffic.
The emergency landing left Caper without injury, officials said. The FAA is investigating the crash.
