Today (Wednesday) my mother Minnie Vogel Vorland would have been 95. She died in 1991, a few days after my father, Kermit Vorland. They are buried next to one another in a cemetery near the former family farm south of Wellsburg, N.D.

This picture (above) was taken by Dad, from whom I inherited an interest in photography. I was about 4, my sister Susan about 2. Our younger brother, Dan, arrived four years after Sue.

Mom had a wicked sense of humor. She loved to tell the story of how, sensing she was pregnant again, she had consulted with a doctor in Harvey, N.D., 15 miles away.

After examining her, the doc said mom had likely been experiencing indigestion.

A year or so later, he greeted her while she was shopping in Harvey, looked at the baby she was carrying (Dan) and asked “who is this?”

“That’s my case of indigestion,” mom replied.

One last comment about the photo. My once robust shock of red hair now appears pretty much as unruly as it did in this picture