Text is from a “Meet your neighbor” column from the Feb. 24, 1977, Tri-County News written by Robin Hasslen. Sociologists and psychologists and anthropologists and probably historians and even government officials are spending time researching and theorizing about “the family” in modern society. Is it still the vital unit of love and support and interdependence that it used to be? Or is it becoming anachronistic in an age of free love and divorce? The importance you might place on the family unit, no doubt stems from the personal experiences you have had within it. Shirley Good has had many family experiences – and many families, and I would venture to say that she would place the family unit above all else in priority of meaningfulness in her life. Shirley Sparks was born the youngest of five children in Yankton, South Dakota. When she was a year old and her oldest brother was 7, the family dissolved under the pressures of the Depression. The children were put up for adoption and scattered in different directions. Shirley and her brother Dick were adopted by the Pillsbury family of rural South Dakota. As she looks back, Shirley remembers it being a “really neat” experience to be an adopted child. The kids at school thought it was a very mysterious thing, and Shirley helped their imaginations along with her tall tales. When Mrs. Pillsbury passed away, Shirley was only 12, but she told her Dad that if he could eat her food, she didn’t mind cooking it. Bruce Good became Shirley’s husband and “third family.” They soon multiplied to include Diana in 1955, Allen, 1957, and Duane, 1958. The Goods moved to Litchfield where they remained for 15 years. Bruce was an interstate trucker at the time. Three years ago, the family moved into the first house in the “Haven Estates” in Fair Haven. When the boys graduated from high school, they joined the Navy and are presently on the same submarine. Diana was a beautician in Sauk Rapids before she married and moved to Rockford. Shirley, who had worked for eight years at Penney’s in Litchfield, was suddenly without a job or a family. Having contracted asthma some years earlier, she was hesitant to go out in search of employment just for something to keep herself busy. Meanwhile, Diana had been urging her Mom to look into foster care because one of her clients at the beauty shop was a foster mother and very excited about it. So Shirley inquired about the possibility of keeping foster babies through the Stearns County Social Services Department, and within a month she had her first baby. When I visited Shirley last week, she had a 3-day-old baby in one room and a 10-month-old boy in another. Her house is a perfect environment and the babies have a “House Beautiful” nursery set-up. While the foster children live with the Goods, they are part of the family (all of whom dote on the little ones). Shirley doesn’t mind getting up for the 2 a.m. feedings because with her asthmatic condition, “if I sleep more than two hours at a time, I think I’ve died!” And in her spare time, the “Mother” has managed to make 54 quilts!! (Just since 1972!) The Goods don’t mind it when the children leave them for adoptive situations or to return to their natural parents because they continue to correspond and are considered grandparents. A photo album of the baby’s early days is assembled for each set of parents by Shirley. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Shirley, her first family had been searching for years for her and her brother Richard who now lives in St. Paul. … to be continued in two weeks … Shirley has been one of our generous participants at the Kimball Days’ history exhibit in August, sharing a dozen of her beautiful hand-made quilts from her many dozens on hand in her home. Participation through membership is a real opportunity to strengthen the Kimball Area Historical Society. Our mission is to foster among people an awareness of Kimball area and Minnesota history so that all people may draw strength and perspective from the past, and find purpose for the future, by bringing history to life. Thank you for your continuing commitment to our mission. An application for membership is included this week for your convenience in renewing or beginning membership.
