September 20, 2009
Thelma Sandland was born on September 20, 1919 near Grygla, Minnesota, on the farm where she grew up. She spoke Norwegian at home until she began school. She cleaned and scrubbed the house of the woman she lived with as she went to high school in Thief River Falls, MN. After high school she traveled to Minneapolis, MN to attend secretarial school. There she met Dorothy Wales who introduced her to Lionel (Bud) Carpenter. The were married on November 30, 1940 in Grygla, MN. Grandpa Sam Sandland said of his daughter: “She goes to the cities where there are thousands of Swedes and Norwegians and she brings home a Frenchman.”
Thelma and Bud lived in St. Augustine, FL during WWII; in Crystal, MN in the 1950 decade; in Anchorage, AK for 20+ years and retired to Turlock, CA in 1980.
Thelma plots her strategy for blowing out the candles!
Left to Right: Dan, Bud, Robert, Brian [all Carpenter]
