Luella Margaret Rosenquist, the first-born child of Emma and Joseph Rosenquist, was born on August 16, 1895 at St. Charles, Illinois. When she was four years old, she and her two younger siblings and parents moved to Minnesota. Joseph had heard of the good soil in Clay County, so they moved to the Glyndon/Downer area and settled on a farm. After finishing eighth grade, Luella helped her parents in rearing her brothers and sisters. She also worked in a millinery shop as a young woman.

Luella married Walter Sauer on May 27, 1915 at Moorhead, Minnesota. Their family began with the birth of Florence on March 27, 1916, followed by Evelyn, Mayme, Melvin, Glen and Loraine. They lived in Spring Prairie Township, a few miles northeast of Glyndon. In 1925, Luella and Walter moved to Minerva Township, in Clearwater County. Their new home was a few miles south of Bagley, in northern Minnesota. Walter's desire to work in "the woods", rather than live on "the prairie", was a good reason for moving. It was time to buy land rather than rent, as they had been doing in Glyndon. Luella wrote a letter to the State of Minnesota to find a good country school in northern Minnesota for their growing family. They bought 160 acres from Ole Lee for $5.00 per month mortgage payment. Walter, together with Luella's father, Joseph Rosenquist, built a log cabin on their land and Luella and the children arrived by train when their new home was ready. The school was Minerva Consolidated District #8. It was a relatively new school (built in 1913) with living quarters for the teachers, library and kitchen, with attendance-up to 100 students, three teachers and bus service, and this pleased Luella. The school had its own power plant, which facilitated electricity and indoor plumbing.

Luella and Walter's family continued to grow. In 1927, their seventh child, Kenneth, was born. He died in January, 1929, just a few days before their next child, Marrian, was born. Two more daughters, Clarice and Margie, arrived later.

Luella raised large gardens for commercial and home use, canned record amounts of vegetables, wild fruits, pickles and preserves. All this activity (and a growing family) called for more space, so a frame building was added to the log house to give Walter and Luella a separate bedroom and a more spacious kitchen for Luella. The log house was later torn down and replaced with a frame living room and dining room with two bedrooms upstairs for the children. Luella's community functions included active participation in P.T.A., school and town boards, county nutrition and canning programs, art classes, church activities and endless others. The first Oak Hills Fellowship Sunday School was organized on the Sauer lawn, and developed into what is now Grace Chapel. Luella was a very patriotic person. During World War II she knit sweaters and scarves for the men in service. One of her projects during World War II was organizing and supervising a group of ladies (and a few men) in the community to make clothing and surgical bandages for the Red Cross. This was done in Grandpa and Grandpa Rosenquist's house, since it was empty at the time; and later in a building on the farmstead built especially for this purpose by Walter. She also taught Red Cross First Aid during that time. Luella had her own 1931 Ford, which made it possible to do these extra things.

One of Luella's many talents was writing poetry, some of which was published in the local newspaper (the Farmer's Independent), and also read on the Breakfast Club radio program from Chicago.

In 1944, Walter and Luella left the farm and moved into Bagley. Walter was employed at the Bagley Mercantile Company. Luella supplemented the family income with several years of employment outside her home and with many at-home projects. Her sewing and cooking talents (in Bagley and at Douglas Lodge and the University of Minnesota Forestry School in Itasca Park) became a means of income. She was also a creative, champion quilt maker, and did extensive rug weaving on her loom. She was active in the Faith Lutheran Church, serving as librarian, and in women's service and study groups. She was a member of the Bagley Hospital and American Legion Auxiliaries, Garden Club, and competed at the county fair with her flowers, quilts, baked goods, canned fruits and vegetables.

On August 8, 1968, at the age of 73, Luella had a severe stroke which left her paralyzed on the right side and unable to speak. She spent her last 13 years, until her death on April 24, 1981, in the Greensview Nursing Home in Bagley. Luella's greatest gift was her love and dedication to her family, her church, and her community. She was a most remarkable woman!

(Walter Henry Sauer was born in Moorhead, Minnesota, on February 10, 1891, and grew up in Clay County. His parents were James and Minnie Sauer. He preceded Luella in death on March 17, 1980.)

Poetry was one of Luella's many talents. She wrote poems from the time she was very young. Many of them were published. The collection presented here includes some of her very best.