Introducing Laurie
Jo: I was born at St. Mary’s
Hospital, part of the Mayo Clinic complex in Rochester, MN. We lived a few miles south of there in Chatfield, MN.
The youngest in a minister’s family, I was a shy, blonde pixie who loved books, music, climbing trees, spinning, and dreamed of being the next Jacque Cousteau. My talents included holding my breath longest underwater, never getting sick on fair rides, and messing up my hair just by walking down the stairs. My mother’s family is actually the religious one. I grew up with odd things from different areas of the world where they were performing mission work. (You mean you don’t have a Chinese tapestry of dragons on your wall? Why not?) Yet my folks were not the preaching type. They lived their belief and were involved in many activities over the years such as starting both a Big Sister program and a self-help housing program for low income and Native American families. The only preaching they did was to drag the family camping every summer so we could see the wonders God has made. When I was five, we moved to Red Lake Falls, MN. We lived one block from the beach on the river and I was in Heaven every summer!
Seven was a big year!
When I was seven, I decided I wanted to teach music when I grew up. I spent the next ten years learning
everything I could in preparation and actually sang my first solo when I was
six. (Did I forget to mention that Mom
was the church organist AND choir director?
I grew up performing, lots!)
Seven is the age I learned that telling Dad everything can get me put
into a sermon. (Yikes!) Another big event was seeing the musical, “An
American in Paris.” I fell in love with
Gene Kelly and began creating dances in our living room. I had an unusually supportive and tolerant
family who vacated the area whenever they saw I wanted to dance. I also found that using my niddle name separated me from the other "Laurie" in class. I liked knowing people meant me, and not someone else, and continued using it most of my life.
I was eleven when Dad became a campus minister and we moved
to Bemidji, MN. Moving to Bemidji gave me the opportunity to
take lessons in ballet, jazz, and tap. I
sang often; in choirs, solos, duets,
and in trios. When I was 13 I became the youngest performer in the Bemidji Sate College
production of Handle’s “Messiah”. I sang
in church choirs for two different religions (since Dad didn’t have a church,
we all drifted around a bit. I told
people we were “UniMethEpiscaTerians”.) My
dance studio was active and I was able to perform in many different venues
around town. When I added theater to the
mix, I found that I liked being backstage, often running lights, just as much as
performing.
I also performed on my instruments and knew how to play six by the time I was ready for college. My major instrument was French horn, but I also played piano, trumpet, clarinet, guitar, and learned enough accordion for our high school production of “Fiddler on the Roof”. Unfortunately, I was forced to end my music plans when I hurt my breathing and my doctors could not discover the problem. I struggled through two years of college but was in constant pain with every breath. I couldn’t bear starting over on another career, but decided to continue long enough to obtain an AA in library science.
The one place I didn’t feel like a failure was dance
class. My teacher was a strong
support. During my third year of
college, my sister convinced me to teach the students where she taught. It was the Center for the Hearing Impaired in
Bagley, MN. I had always dreamed of
teaching dance on the side so when the opportunity came, I took a leap of faith
that this must be what God wanted me to do.
I moved to Roseau and opened Laurie Jo’s Dance Studio.
The Villwocks revisited:
Robert was a Presbyterian minister. He taught me everything I know about collecting rocks. Dad was a conscientious objector during WWII
and participated in The Minnesota Starvation Experiment.
Dorothy was a school social worker. Both of my parents knew how to create magic when working with kids. One of Mom's best counselling successes was with a group of seventh grade trouble-makers. No one knew how she was motivating their change in behavior until the last day of school when they shot off the rockets she helped them build.
Peter became a computer programmer. He is either Asperger or high-functioning
autism. As he puts it, he lacks inertia. He has been an avid Barbershop singer since college and I love attending his shows. He also introduced me to science fiction books which is still my favorite style.
Jenny is a speech therapist at an elementary school. She spent two years in the Peace Corps in Jamaica at an all-deaf school. Of the Villwock girls, she was the one who didn't know any sign language! She married an old college sweetheart and I hear they make all their important decisions together, as pictured here.
(Scissors beats paper, right?)
Robin and her husband are school
psychologists. When we were kids, she brought home every stray or hurt animal in the neighborhood. Then she began bringing home stray and hurt people... Her husband was one of them!
My Married Life:
I met my husband, Norrell Nelson, after I moved to Roseau and began teaching
dance classes. Norrell and I have been
married for 27 years. Since Norrell is a carpenter, we celebrated our first
anniversary by removing the topsoil where our house would be built.
I went back to school for an English teaching degree. I used it briefly and had a disagreeable
principal who soured me on being in a school.
I went back to teaching dance and we began our family.
James was born early and at 25 is one of the nicest people I
have ever met. He followed my footsteps by being involved in band, he layed drums for a Christian Rock group for several
years, and went on several church mission trips. He recently married his high school
sweetheart and became a physical therapy assistant. She hopes to become a family therapist.
Ben is
my spitfire child. A real mover and
shaker, if it didn’t move he shook it!
He followed in Norrell’s steps and played hockey. He began college but moved
back home in order to decide what he wants to do. He is interested in the mechanics of
everything from engines to bodies. He
just needs to choose what type of thing he wants to tear apart. His girlfriend, also a high school
sweetheart, is going to school for engineering and wants to be a professional
moto-cross racer.
