The Wheat Dress

Dear Charlotte,

Thank you very much for your telephone call. I am still amazed that you found out about Grandma Torgey’s wedding dress. (By the way, her last name is spelt Torguerson. There’s a “U” in it that I’d forgotten about.) Here’s the story written down as per your request.

Granny Torgey was born in Norway. She immigrated to Minnesota with her parents when she was a toddler and that’s where she met Harry, who was from Winnipeg, at a state fair. He was working the fair circuit selling some kind of farming equipment. They met, I think, in 1933. This was during the depression, remember.

The story of Granny Torgey’s dress is folklore in our family. (Some of my dates or dollar amounts may be wrong.) All I know is that they got married in the middle of the worst year of Granny Torgey’s life.

When they settled, wheat had been something like $29 a bushel but the year they met it was getting around $2 a bushel. By the time Harry came down to marry Granny, their wheat was worth nothing.

The year they married they had the worst dust storm the US had ever had. Granny’s parents had to abandon their farm — they had no choice. They loaded all they could onto a truck to head west and left right after the wedding, so there was plenty of room in the house for dancing.

And boy did people dance, Charlotte. That’s what everyone remembers — the best party of the depression. People were fed up with being unhappy and worrying, so they let loose at the party. And Granny Torgey was the star, and not because she was the bride, but because her wedding dress— all made of wheat — was the perfect “if God hands you lemons, make lemonade” antidote to their feeling of hopelessness.

So was her wedding cake, by the way. It was made of bread, but iced like a cake.

I loved Granny Torgey and her wedding dress has always been one reason why.

Regards,

Dorrie Grant