Anderson, Werner W. , June and Family (Green Gables Road)
The decision to move to Gull Lake: In the fall of 1949, our parents (Dr. Werner W. and June Anderson) bought a cottage at what is now 968 Green Gables Road. Dad grew up in Brainerd and returned after completing medical school and serving as a doctor for the army in World War II. Mom was the daughter of missionaries and spent much of her childhood in China. For Dad, the lakes in the Brainerd area were a great draw. Mom loved to swim and spent much of her childhood living in beautiful settings. Both of them were drawn to the water and were excited about the idea of living on a lake. When the time came for them to buy their first home, they boldly decided to live year around on a lake. They found an ideal location with a cottage, decided the place certainly had potential, and bought their first house at this location on Gull Lake. Their friends and dad’s fellow doctors were skeptical of this decision. Dad was a family physician who needed to get to his office and the hospital quickly. He was convinced this would work, and it did. Ernie Johnson, who plowed roads during the long winters, did his best to keep the roads open so that Dad could get into town and back as needed. Dad often spoke of how much he enjoyed the drive home from the hospital in the wee hours of the morning, especially after delivering a baby. He was proud of his driving abilities in the snow and ice. More than once he managed to keep the car on the road after hitting a snowdrift or an ice patch. He told tales of spinning around 360° and continuing on down the road.
Remodeling: Getting through the first winter was rough. The “cottage” was not designed for year around living, but we made it through the first winter. Dad and Mom started the first remodeling project the next spring. The house was jacked up and a basement dug out beneath it. The old kitchen was removed, and a new kitchen and dining room added above the new garage. A new master bedroom was added on the north end of the house. The front porch was removed and the living room extended toward the lake. During this entire process, we continued to live in the house! One of the major challenges was drainage for the new “bowl” that was now behind the house to provide entrance into the garage. The solution was to put a complete septic system in to handle the water. This worked beautifully with one exception: on one occasion, a sealer company put sealer on the asphalt surface just before it rained. After that error was corrected, the sealer was cleaned out of the system and the drain again worked like a charm.
The new basement, kitchen-dining room, living room, and master bedroom were great, but the family continued to grow. In 1955 the next remodeling project was initiated. We needed more bedrooms and another bathroom. The two “attic” bedrooms were removed, with three bedrooms and a bath built in that place. This created a legitimate second floor. Now the house was complete. It looked like a big box on the lakeshore. The roofs over the kitchen-dining room and the second floors were flat.
Neighborhood: When we first moved to our cottage, there were no other children living near-by. During the years we lived there, four more families with children moved to the lake to live year round. Our five families in a row spent much time together. The Andersons, Snyders, Sundbergs, Reeds, and Ruttgers had a path between the houses. It was grand fun: swimming, water skiing, agate hunting, fishing, tree climbing, and bike riding in the summer; sledding on our hill, (we did not have a retaining wall), ice skating on Gull and Ruth Lakes, snow skiing behind the car, building snow forts and visiting the ice houses in the winter.
Another neighborhood tradition was to travel by boat up the channel to Nisswa for breakfast. Sometimes we would start the journey in the fog and our fathers had to figure out how to miss Rock Island. As time passed, we older children often took our boats across the lake to Bloody Cove and walked up to the forest tower.
The family size: In 1949 when we moved into the house, there were 3 children in the family: Kristi, Sheryl, and Tom. The following year, Sally arrived, and every two years after another boy: Steve, Mark, Kim, and Joel. (We called the youngest the 4 little boys). If you are counting, yes, there were 8 of us.
School: When Kristi started school at the East Gull Lake School in 1951, she was one of 8 first graders. This particular class was unusually big for this one room country school. That was the last year that the 7th and 8th graders were in attendance because consolidation with the Brainerd School System was beginning. Every two years after that, another Anderson child started school. Six of the Anderson children attended EGLS. We loved it! We really liked recess, and spent a great deal of time in the woods behind the school building forts and climbing trees. As we got older we tutored the younger children, helped the teacher order library books, and kept order in the classroom. We swept the floors and washed the chalkboards too.
In 1957 Kristi’s class went to “town school” for 6th grade. Sending 8 of us off to Brainerd reduced the overcrowding. The next 2 classes stayed at EGLS for 6th grade but in 1959 consolidation moved ahead in earnest. A couple years later the school was closed.
Anderson’s leave Gull Lake and move to the big city: In 1965 Dad decided that he wanted to become a psychiatrist. He was accepted into a federal government training program for training in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and Mom tried to convince us that living in the big city would be fun, but we were not excited about moving. Our house did not sell as quickly as our parents wanted it to, and we children hoped that no one would want it. But we knew in our heart of hearts that our environment was very attractive. Of course it did sell, and we were packed off to the big city. It’s no surprise that we, the “Anderkids” (as one neighbor child called us) continue to be attached to Gull Lake and the house we once called our own. We are happy to see that it is well taken care of and continues to be enjoyed.
We children, now adults and getting older ourselves, are scattered all over the US and don’t often come back to visit the area. After a long absence, the sibling set (except Sally who died in 1976) came back to stay on the Lake and to reminisce. “Yes,” sister Sheryl said, “it was wonderful and our visit exceeded our expectations.” We were able to connect with some of our old neighbors, get inside the school (now the city hall) and boat. We were especially excited about seeing the Bald Eagles on the lake. Gull Lake has not lost its magic. We had a wonderful childhood here.
As reported by Susan Kristi Anderson on August 26, 2014