Jorgenson Family Memories

The Jorgenson Family Story

This is the story of four people who were lucky enough to be born into the loving family of Ray and Est Jorgenson in the close-knit rural community near Milan, Minnesota, where people cared for and looked after each other.  This is where they learned their values.  They all attended the same small school and even had many of the same teachers.  It was a simple, peaceful life filled with many friends and activities. 

After graduating from high school, they each set out on the own paths only occasionally all getting together as a family.  Their mother died in 1993 and their father almost 10 years later.  It wasn’t until then that, sitting around a table following their Dad’s funeral, they decided to make a pact that they would get together every year somewhere to make sure that they would share some life experiences as a family.  The rules were simple.  On a rotating basis, each year one of the siblings would choose a time and place for the family getaway.  The annual choice would rotate to each of them so that they all would have opportunities.  There was to be no obligation to go, however.  But if they decided to go, there was to be no complaining. 

Since that pact was made in 2003, annual getaways have included far away places like Korea and China.  And they have visited many locales in the U.S. such as New York, New England in the fall, Pensacola, Florida, New Orleans, Branson, Missouri, Alaska, and the Gold Rush area of California including Yosemite National Park.  They also took a cruise of the St. Lawrence Seaway that includes ports in Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, and Boston.  And they enjoyed more local getaways in Door County, Wisconsin, the Black Hills, Afton, Minnesota, the north shore of Lake Superior and Lutsen, and even beautiful Minneapolis/St. Paul and the famous Minnesota State Fair.  There were also several unofficial family trips that included the European countries of the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Monaco, and Italy.

This is the story of those adventures…..