A Shared Birthday

Our birthdays are September 1. She was born in 1909; I was born in 1946. She was my mother-in-law, Alvina Bertha Forster Oliver. 

Alvina, 18 months old, 1910

Alvina was born in Greenbush Township, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota – the oldest of five children, and a granddaughter of German and Norwegian immigrants. 

Her education, and that of her siblings, stopped after the 8th grade. Her father, a farmer, felt that education was not necessary, especially for girls, after 8th grade. Perhaps that was because he only completed the 6th grade and had done well with his grade-school education. My husband, Alvina’s only child, thinks it was because he was a such a strict German. 

Alvina married Robert George Oliver (1906-1975), a local farmer,  on October 16, 1935, in Princeton, Minnesota. 

Alvina liked to cook and bake, and she loved to share her talents with others. When friends and

Alvina in 1943

neighbors would drop in for a visit, she always had goodies on hand: bars, cookies, cake, pie. When we visited and it was time to go home, she would send with us a load of sweet treats for the kids – which they absolutely loved.

She loved making things. She made rugs, intricate quilts, colorful afghans, beaded Christmas ornaments, cross-stitched tablecloths, and anything else that piqued her interest. 

When I married her son, James Robert Oliver, I remember her saying, “I can now die in peace as I know that he’ll be taken care of after I die.” She was a gentle soul who died on October 5, 1989.