Tales from grandpa

Menahga man shares childhood adventures with the next generation in the form of storybooks

By Vivian (Makela) Sazama

Grandkids like to gather around Eugene to hear his fascinating stories about the way things were like when he was their age. Contributed photo

For Eugene Kumpula of Menahga, childhood experiences close to his heart turned into a collection of seven children’s storybooks.

“These are not just any books; they are a blend of fun, true stories from my own childhood, growing up on a small farm near Menahga, during the 1940s and 1950s,” he said.

Eugene became inspired to write the books after his children gave him a computer program from Storybooks to write his life story.

“I wrote about my life from childhood until now, over 400 pages,” he said. “It took half a year to write! The kids and grandchildren enjoyed it so much, it encouraged me to take some of the stories, expand them a bit and turn them into these storybooks.”

Eugene continued, “At 81 years young, I have taken extraordinary joy in writing these tales to share with the next generation. Each book is filled with memories of simpler times, family adventures, and country life—with a dash of humor and life lessons woven in. Each tale is woven with the laughter, lessons, and simple pleasures that shaped my youth—adventures with mischievous siblings, the magic of Minnesota winters, sunlit days in the hayfields, and the gentle wisdom passed down through family and neighbors. I have aimed to capture not just the events, but the warmth and spirit of those times, hoping that children and adults alike can find a piece of themselves in these pages.”

Eugene was born the fourth out of 10 children to Swante and Olga (Makela) Kumpula.

“We moved to our farm near Menahga from Duluth when I was a year old in 1945 or ‘46,” he said. “Back then we didn’t have much for toys, so we made our own.”

One of his stories gives an account of one of those creative endeavors.

“My brother and I decided we wanted to play baseball, but didn’t have a bat or a ball. We took a cream can cover and flattened it, attached it to a broomstick and that became our bat! Our next dilemma was what could be our ball?” 

An idea came when they saw their little sister’s doll.

“We took the head off the doll, then cut all the hair off, and that became our ball,” he said. “We played a lot of baseball that way, until one day our sister said she wanted to play ball too. Our mother insisted that we needed to let her play, so we put her out in right field, with plans to not bat any balls her way as we were a little afraid she’d find out. However, eventually the ball made it to her; she picked it up and recognized it, and began to cry, ‘My dolly! My dolly!’ We got in trouble for that one!” he said.

Another life event that helped shape Eugene’s life...

Eugene Kumpula of Menahga sits with seven of his published books that all focus around stories from his childhood. Contributed photo

“Our mother went to the hospital for the birth of our brother on Halloween,” he said. “We got a nanny to take care of us while she was gone. The first morning she made us hot cereal, but it was really lumpy, and we hated it, so we left it on the table and went out to do our chores. We raided the garden of what was left there, so it was potatoes and carrots for breakfast!

“At noon, we were called back in the house for lunch. The nanny had taken what we had left at breakfast and fried it up - black blobs of cereal! The nanny said since we didn’t eat it at breakfast, we’re having it again! We couldn’t eat it, so when she wasn’t looking, we stuck it in our pockets and ran outside and threw it in the woods!

“As we were going out the door, she said we needed to kill a rooster for chicken soup that night. We cut the head off the rooster and hung it on the clothesline. Then we dunked it in hot water and took the feathers off, and left it for her to finish the rest. That night we went in for supper and she had filled all our bowls up already with the soup. I looked at mine closely and I saw feathers. Then I poked around looking for some of the meat and pulled out a claw. We didn’t eat that soup either!

“We were so glad when she left and our mom came back home again! Since it was Halloween, we called the nanny the Witch and said she came in on a broom!”

Another event happened when Eugene was just five years old.

“I had a slingshot and was shooting at glass jars when I climbed up a tree. The branch I was sitting on broke and I fell down onto shards of glass, cutting the tendon in my left hand, paralyzing it. My hand was clenched up like a claw. It eventually healed and I gained nearly full use of my hand again,” he said.

Eugene as a young whipper snapper. 

Other stories wrap around his experiences of cutting, gathering and storing hay before the modern conveniences of tractors and balers and electricity, detailed descriptions of horse-drawn plowing, planting and harvesting crops, and endless chopping, hauling and feeding a hungry wood stove, all with a sense of warm nostalgia, giving the reader a strong sense of place and time.

His stories are interspersed with humor and a rich comfort of home - the smell of fresh bread, the glow of the stove and the closeness of family.

These stories and more have given Eugene’s grandchildren and others hours of entertainment, and Eugene great joy.

“Times were tough growing up,” he said, “but God took care of us.”

Eugene and his wife Joyce love to travel and will be spending time in Florida, Arizona, and Hawaii this winter. In March, they will be celebrating their 60th anniversary in a 15-bedroom house in Utah with some of their 15 children, 81 grandchildren, and 40 great grandchildren.

“They are all blessings from God!” said Eugene.

Eugene’s books are available on Amazon