2026, books, History, Uncategorized

The Boys

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Ever since Luverne was included as one of the four US communities featured in Ken Burns’ The War, townsfolk have been intent on highlighting veterans and their stories.

It was with great excitement that we heard about the heroism of yet another local veteran. Writer Nina Willner recently published a book called The Boys In The Light, the story of how her teenaged father and a teenaged companion were saved by a Luverne local after they had escaped from a Nazi death camp.

Elmer Hovland was a 23 year old Luverne native and a commander of a tank unit. They were rolling through northern Germany in 1944 with instructions to stop for nothing and no one, when Elmer spotted the two emaciated teens along the side of the road. Despite orders, Elmer immediately stopped the tanks and picked them up and took them along. He discovered that Nina Willner’s dad, Eddie, spoke English as well as German. He convinced his superiors that Eddie would make a great translator, and he was put to work doing just that. Both Elmer and Eddie survived the war. Elmer returned to his immigrant Norwegian parents’ farm near Luverne. He became a carpenter. Eddie eventually immigrated to the US and built a successful life.

The two men didn’t meet again until decades later. Nina Willner attributed Elmer’s actions to his Norwegian heritage and the values that were important to people from Luverne. I vaguely remember Elmer since he attended the same Lutheran church as I did. He died in 2012 at the age of 90. Very few people in Luverne knew anything about this story until the book was published late last year. It is next on my reading list.

Any notable people from your town? Any books written about your community or residents?

37 thoughts on “The Boys”

  2. When I first moved to Minneapolis, I read a whole bunch of city and state histories; I worked at Hello MInnesota for a year so they were readily available. One of my favorites is Bring Warm Clothes which was re-released last year. I’m lucky enough to be friends with the author – Peg Meier.

    I’ve also enjoyed Patricia Hempl books and last year I read Thirty Rooms to Hide In by Luke Sullivan about the Mayo Clinic doctor (his father) who became an alcoholic and eventually killed himself – during the sixties. Not exactly a feel-good book but one of my besties went to school with Luke.

    Can’t forget Sinclair Lewis and Maud Hart Lovelace!

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      1. Yep. When I headed off to college (Northfield), I knew I was never returning to the city of my birth (St. Louis). So, 18 years in MIssouri, 2 years in WIsconsin and 50 years in MInnesota. Math (and my heart) wins.

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        2. Yes, yes, I got your point, but I’m not willing to limit myself to just Minneapolis. My heart belongs to Minnesota. And yes, the list could go on and on and on and on, but I thought I’d just mention books/authors that I thought of off the top of my head or that were particular favorites of mine.

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  3. The town I think of as “home” is Coon Rapids, Iowa, home of Roswell Garst, who hosted Nikita Khrushchev in 1959. My 3rd grade teacher told us the story.

    Roswell and Kate Garst’s farmhouse is now part of the White Rock Conservancy and you can book the room the Khrushchevs stayed at in the farmhouse.

    Everyone knew the Garst’s. I read their granddaughter’s Nancy Drew collection and jumped on their trampoline.

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  4. Not an important historical person from my hometown, Hills MN but when my parents built their new home in 1952, they had a local carpenter build their kitchen cabinets. Lars Hovland. He and my mother went round and round regarding what she wanted and Lars what he thought she needed. Mom won. Wonder if Lars and Elmer were related? Just a thought.

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  5. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I think of my hometown as LeMars, Ia. Thomas Starzl was a local boy who went on to pioneer organ transplants in Pennsylvania. His parents were part of the local newspaper. His half sister is still a part time reporter there. Another guy, Alan Marty, went on to play a role in the Palo Alto tech culture, inventing a computer program that measured the arc of a basketball shot and assisted players in improving their game.

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    1. RE: books about home town. An author named Greg Severson has written several. My sister’s books (Jolene Stratton Philo) refer frequently to the town, but she locates it in nearby Sioux City for privacy concerns. There are many relatives still in LeMars.

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  6. My boyhood home of St. Louis Park can boast of Al Franken, Tom Friedman, the Coen brothers, Marc Trestman (QB for U of MN, then eventually an NFL head coach. He was a year behind me in school), sportscaster Mark Rosen (WCCO years ago), classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, and Bud Kraehling (long time WCCO weatherman from wayyyy back in the day. I played the French horn next to his daughter in HS concert band for 2 years. Twins broadcaster Halsey Hall, pro football player Bob Stein (Eventually became first Timberwolves president.), TV broadcaster Jeff Passolt.( My wife had huge crushes on him and his other brothers (4?). I played soccer with Jeff and his brother, Dan.)

    Chris in Owatonna (not so many famous folks here, but I’m sure there are a few I’m not aware of.)

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  7. Here in Franklin, Ohio, there have been few noteworthy individuals.
    It was the site of Johnathan’s Cafe, owned by Pete Rose’s bookie, Ron Peters. Pete was heavily in debt but after the federal government got done with Peters, he died destitute.
    Franklin was the hometown of Nightingale, a late 1890s harness race horse. Her defeat in an 1895 race caused a local depression as many residents and businesses bet their life savings. The local bank failed.
    It’s a good thing that I rarely gamble.

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  8. I grew up in Canoga Park, California. It is a suburb that is actually part of the City of Los Angeles. Brian Cranston (star of Breaking Bad) and Lisa Kudrow (star of Friends) both have roots in Canoga Park. I knew neither of them. So, am I “fame adjacent”?

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    1. Well, speaking of fame adjacent, yesterday at elections, I learned one of our township resident’s is a sister to singer Cori Kennedy, of ‘The Voice’ fame. “Fame”?
      Meaning I know a guy who know’s a guy, who’s wife knows Cori…

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  9. Waaaay OT: I just noticed that Ed Sheeran is coming to town. This is VS’ favorite singer (wink,wink) who is here Saturday, August 15 at USBank Stadium. How did I miss this?

    VS, Whadya think?

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    1. my daughter just called and asked me if I’d like to go to see Phoebe Bridgers with her in Chicago in September. I love going to conf with my daughter so I’m out of here the weekend of September 15 or so Phoebe is a great solo artist who’s taking a couple years off? She thrived during the pandemic when she get to stay home and write and has not been as prolific now that the world has opened up I’m drawn a blanket with the name of her three woman music group is I’ll look it up after I hit the post button here and they are wonderful and one of the other two people in the group is outstanding as well. I just don’t know the third One.

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  10. I have a question. Why is our “home town” always the one we grew up in? It has always seemed to me that our home town should be the one we live in.

    So, is my home town Owatonna, where I lived until I was 12? I still have friends there. Or is my hometown Faribault, where I graduated high school? I didn’t live in town, and I always felt like a transplant.

    I feel like my home town is Northfield. I came here on my own when I was 18, left and came back again, repeatedly. I choose Northfield, over and over again.

    I agree with VS, too. I think of Minnesota as my home. I love northern MN, but I choose to live in Northfield. Minnesota is just a great state, and I’m so proud to be from here.

    Here in Northfield, we had Joseph Heywood, who gave his life trying to protect the First National Bank in the infamous robbery. We also had Ole Edvart Rolvaag, who wrote Giants in the Earth, and his son, Karl Fritjof Rolvaag, was the 31st governor of Minnesota.

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    2. Also Thorstein Veblen, author of Theory of the Leisure Class and coiner of terms like conspicuous consumption. (The Veblen farm was in Nerstrand, but close enough.)

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  12. I grew up in Storm Lake and Marshalltown, IA… Marshalltown was home to Ina Mae (Middleton) Gaskin, who’s considered the “mother of authentic midwifery”; she and her husband Steven Gaskin founded The Farm in Tennessee in 1971…
    There are probably others, but she’s who I’m aware of without searching.

    Apparently Gene Hackman went to Storm Lake High School, and romance author Janet Dailey is from there…

    Krista has a good point – I am now from Winona, but would have to do an internet search about notable residents, or books written about them.

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