Country School Kids – Larry Van Moer – Creating a partnership
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We have been learning about Larry Van Moer who grew up in rural Amiret. He attended the nearby country school and finished school at Marshall's Central Catholic High School. He recalled that transition.
"It was a big school, but I wasn't scared. Sister Saint Joseph was my 8th grade teacher and she was nice. I had good luck with all the nuns, actually. (Larry laughed) I didn't want to get crossways (with teachers) where my folks found out because that wouldn't have been good."
Larry gained a new classmate in the 9th grade.
"Adeline Bossuyt was a farm girl from Ghent who attended a country school. She went to 9th grade in Central Catholic High School. We were in the same class, but didn't really know each other until later in high school."
He described the beginning of what became a lifetime partnership.
"A bunch of us attended a Tuesday basketball game in the balcony's top row. Addy and some friends were sitting in the balcony's first row. Toward the end of the game I told the guys, 'I'm going to ask Adeline if I can take her home.' I asked her that night if she would go with me to a wedding dance at Don's Ballroom in Ghent that Saturday. She said, 'Yes.' That was the beginning of our romance. We were 16 years old."
Larry and Addy became a couple.
"We dated junior and senior year and went to prom both years. We graduated in 1958, were 18, and really liked each other. I helped my dad on the farm, but he didn't pay much. Addy had a good job as a bookkeeper for Simons and Gregoire Insurance, where Mainstay restaurant is today. I thought I had to have a good job before we married. Addy and I talked about it and I talked with one of Addy's cousins, who had been in the Navy. I enlisted in the Navy."
Larry's Navy training separated the couple for extended periods.
"I went to Basic Training at Great Lakes Training Center by Chicago in April 1960 and came home in July. I told Mom I was going to buy a diamond ring for Addy. She asked, 'Are you sure?' (Larry laughed) I said, 'Yes, I am.' I bought a diamond ring set at Marcotte's Jewelry and gave it to her. I went back to Great Lakes Training Center to Electronics School for Communications for six months."
Larry received orders to join the fleet.
"I was assigned to Internal Communications on the aircraft carrier, USS Kitty Hawk. She was a new ship and not ready, so my first ship was the amphibious ship, USS Oglethorpe. I spent four months on her in the Caribbean. The Kitty Hawk was commissioned in '61 at Camden, New Jersey, and 5,000 of us went aboard. So, I'm a plank-owner (member of the original crew) on the Kitty Hawk. We went to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for a six-week shake-down cruise and then went around South America. There were many problems with that new ship, so they brought her to Hunter's Point in San Francisco to a Navy dry dock. I took leave and Adeline and I got married."
They had an unexpected adjustment to their wedding plans.
"We were supposed to get married the last Saturday of November, but I couldn't get leave. So, I called Addy and said, 'I can't come home.' She had already written the invitations, but hadn't mailed them. So, everybody's invitation had the date crossed out and re-dated as December 2nd."
The wedding took place in Ghent.
"Our wedding was at St. Eloi's Church. The wedding reception was in the church basement and the wedding dance was in Don's Ballroom in Ghent. Weddings at that time were in the morning, so it was a whole day affair with the reception, lunch, dinner, and dance."
The young couple travelled back to California overland.
"We drove our '56 Ford there and got a little apartment in San Francisco. The Kitty Hawk was preparing for a seven-month deployment to Japan. I didn't think that was going to be much fun."
Another sailor with the same rating (Navy job title and rank) as Larry wanted reassignment from San Diego so the Navy reassigned Larry to the USS Sperry, a submarine tender in San Diego.
"We drove to San Diego and rented a one-bedroom house near the beach five miles from the base. We settled there and the next year (1962) our son, Curtis, was born. Addy wanted our families to see him, so in spring of '63 we drove to Marshall with him on a little bed in the back seat we made with the crib mattress. We stayed about a week, but it was wearing out Addy. Everybody wanted us to come for visits and she was almost sleeping on her feet. We went back to our San Diego beach home for a week's leave with the baby."
He recalled an Amiret reunion while serving aboard the Sperry.
"I went to country school with Kenny Schultz. When he joined the Navy, he was on a submarine and our tender serviced his submarine, so we spent time together."
Larry completed his enlistment in April 1964 and the little family drove back to Minnesota. Larry accepted a job with Northwestern Bell Telephone, eventually working his way into the Marshall office. He and Addy continued their partnership in Marshall with their three kids. Addy passed in March 2024, but Larry, the country boy from Amiret, might well say his partnership continues with Addy, the country girl from Ghent.
©2026 William D. Palmer.