Video Archive: A Sunday Afternoon Walk on Central Avenue in West Duluth, circa 1940
This is the Helgeson family after church services on a Sunday in roughly 1940. They lived at 911 Central Ave. The parents are George and Rose. Their sons are G. Lewis, Robert, John and Paul.
The family moved to Duluth on St. Patrick’s Day of 1937. Lewis quickly met a neighborhood girl, Carolyn Nelson. Here’s how Lew tells the story on his website:
Bob Carlson, the kid who lived two houses south of us said:
Bob: “Get your bike and I’ll show you around West Duluth.”
Lew: “I can’t, it’s at the front of the moving van.”
Bob: “I know where you can borrow a bike, come on!”So we walked to 1021 North Central Avenue where he introduced me to Carolyn Nelson, who loaned her bike to me. Bob and I traveled all over West Duluth, including skidding on the partially melted ice at the skating rink. Parts of the rink were pure gooey mud, which messed up the bike quite badly. I returned the bike in this filthy condition. On September 8, 1945, she married me to get even!
They were married for 63 years, nine months and 10 days. Carolyn died last summer.
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Jim M
about 15 years ago