Memories of a Vent
Circa 1947

By Ella Ager Fossum

My earliest memory of the Ager House, when it was on Chestnut Street, is crouching with my brother, Tryg, and peering down through a floor vent in the upstairs hallway. Tryg was six years old, and I was about four. Rolf was still a baby. Our family had stopped on our annual trip to Wisconsin to spend the night at Grandma Ager’s house before heading to Chetek for two weeks at the lake. We children had been put to bed, but as soon as the grownups were safely downstairs, Tryg and I jumped out of our covers and headed for the vent to see what they were doing. It was a lovely vent – at least four feet by four feet – in my young memory. We could look down through it at the first floor to see and hear what was going on after our bedtime. There we huddled, taking in the scene from below and the adult conversation, which, oddly, switched from English to Norwegian as we listened. However, even a change in language didn’t deter us from our cozy, secret business of watching the older members of our family from our dark perch. It was a wonderful adventure!

Years later, when I came back to the Ager House after it had been moved to its new location on Madison Street, I discovered that our secret vantage point was not as large as I remembered it to be. In fact, “our” vent is only twelve inches by twelve inches. Our heads must have “clunked” as we leaned over it!

And last month, when I went upstairs at the Ager House to see the work being done on the library, I thought, again, about our late night adventure. Looking at the tiny vent, I marveled at how far a four-year-old’s imagination could stretch so many years ago.

illustraion: Ella Fossum

Ella Blestren Ager Fossum is the granddaughter of Waldemar T. Ager and Gurolle Blestren Ager. She is the daughter of Trygve M. and Elvira Gullixson Ager. Ella graduated from Eau Claire Memorial High School in 1961 and from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. She is a retired school librarian and lives in Racine. Ella is a member of the Ager Association Board of Directors.