Photo by Jim Muchlinski Marshall resident John Strandberg, 93, keeps active working in his large backyard garden.

MARSHALL — John Strandberg is not only one of Marshall’s oldest gardeners, he also might be one of the best.

At age 93, Strandberg grows a vegetable garden that covers half of his good-sized backyard. He also built his own fence to surround the garden in order to keep out neighborhood rabbits, complete with a gate that he can use when entering or leaving.

His garden is in many ways reflective of how his family grew produce during the Great Depression. He moved with his family from Iowa to Minnesota when he was eight months old and spent most of his early life in the Butterfield area.

His parents farmed for six years until the Depression-era economy forced them to find a different option.

They included gardening in their plans after a neighbor offered to till ground for them. The garden was huge, encompassing about an acre.

Strandberg said it was a way of putting food on the table as well as an economic venture.

“We never could have eaten all of it by ourselves,” he said. “We traded most of it for groceries. People could do that in those days.”

He also learned how to cook and bake early in life since he and his sister handled some of the food preparation for their mother. About 80 years later, he often shares both garden vegetables and baked items with neighbors.

As a teenager he worked as a farmhand until he enlisted in the U.S Army. At first, he was destined for Europe. His ship was turned around after Germany surrendered in May, 1945.

“It surprised us,” he said. “We joked about it. We told each other they must have somehow known that our group was on the way, so it was time to surrender.”

He was re-assigned to the Pacific, where he was stationed in the Philippines and then Korea until Japan surrendered in August. After World War II he served in the Army Reserves. 

“I was very satisfied with my time in the military,” Strandberg said. “Nobody was considered special, even if they had a high rank. Even though my last rank was first sergeant, I exchanged salutes with colonels. We were all just people doing our duty.”

He met his wife, Eileen, after returning home. They were part of the same group of friends who eventually paired off as couples.

They were married for 53 years from Dec. 1951 until Eileen died in 2005. They raised six children, and moved to John’s current house in Eatros Place Addition in 1962.

His jobs early in his career included employment on farms, at Marshall Sand and Gravel, and at Rubertus Furniture.

He later was hired as a road maintenance worker for state highways.

Meanwhile, with some help from Eileen, he revived his interest in gardening.

“It was a good way to relax when I wasn’t working,” he said. “I could go out to the garden and just enjoy it. Now it’s a way to stay active.”

Strandberg’s 2018 garden includes a wide variety of vegetables. He’s raised his traditional large area of potatoes along with other produce such as cantaloupe, cucumbers, tomatoes and beets.

He likes to try some different vegetables each year but has always found that the greatest determiner of success is weather conditions.

“It’s been OK this year, but not great,” he said. “We didn’t have the right kind of weather in the spring.”

With more time on his hands after retiring in the 1980s, Strandberg expanded his carpentry skills. He learned some of his amateur trade abilities from Andy Maertens, a friend and neighbor around the corner who spent much of his career as a plumber.

Besides his garden fence, some of his best shop successes included a pole-supported roof covering over his back patio, a porch glider, and an automatic lift at his back entrance. He originally built the lift for Eileen. Now, because of knee-related health concerns that make it difficult to go up or down steps, he uses the lift for himself.

Bob and Trudy Madetzke have been next-door neighbors to the Strandbergs for many years. Bob recalls how his family’s garden was dwarfed by Strandberg’s when they grew one while raising their family.

He said they’ve enjoyed having both John and Eileen as neighbors. They have John over for supper regularly.

“We miss Eileen,” Bob said. “When I’d walk along the south side of our house, she’d sometimes be at the window by the kitchen sink and she’d wave. Even a year after she passed away, I still found myself looking up to see if she was there.”

He added that he’s impressed by John’s continued dedication to gardening, carpentry, cooking and baking at age 93.

“He’s out in his garden and his garage every day in the summer,” he said. “It’s interesting to see how he starts a new project. He just sizes things up and decides how to get it done.”

The only thing Bob and Trudy admire more about John than his talents are his qualities as a person.

“We’ve always thought of him as a truly good man,” Bob said. “Everything he says and does comes from the heart.”