On February 28, 1975, a friend of my grandmother's was shot multiple times and left for dead. She lived to tell the tale, but her husband was not so lucky...
Richard and Esther Cleem were attacked by two men from the twin cities, one of whom was an estranged boyfriend of their daughter Marlys.
The next morning, Dad brought home the news from the post office. We were all in shock. Murder? In St. Vincent? This was a town where many still left their doors unlocked - my parents were NOT among those people...my Mom didn't share others' optomistic outlook on human nature. Gossip in town was that if you drove by the Cleem house, you could still see blood on the curtains of a window facing the street. We later had to drive by their home that day. The gossip was true.
We later learned from Mrs. Cleem herself, that she had to play dead after being shot point-blank in the head, laying on the floor, while her husband tried to fend off the two men with a hammer. She always seemed so brave to me when she told the story. She was shot multiple times in the end, but that shot to the head had to stay her constant companion, a reminder of that night, until the day she died; it was lodged in a spot that was too dangerous to operate, the doctors said, and probably wouldn't hurt to leave alone, so they did...
this is such a sad story. This is my Aunt and Uncle and I remember when the story reached us. My dad was Dick's brother Gus Cleem. Would love to hear from the family, it's been such a long time.
ReplyDeleteDrop me a line and maybe we can put you in touch with someone...you can reach me at trishymouse @ gmail.com (take the spaces out when you use it - I just put them in to foot bots online from harvesting my email...)
ReplyDeletein 1975 word came back to the Cleem family in Ellensburg Washington, Harvey Cleem Sr. received word of his brothers death. In the Early fifties Harvey Sr. Relocated his family to the Beautiful pacific Northwest. While living in st. Vincent most of his life, his oldest Daughter moved to Moses lake Wa. And then later Moved to Ellensburg Washington to Attend college. Sending letters back to the family....she wrote, there is lots of work and it is much warmer and very beautiful here in the state of Washington. Harvey Cleem Sr. soon had the ich to be closer to his daughter and find better job opportunities.Packing everthing they owned, Harvey and his wife Stella, loaded there household items, hooked a small trailer up ,and then began there journey to Washington state. Relocating was difficult for the Cleem family, leaving family members back in St. Vincent, left behind would be 3 brothers and 2 sisters. Dick Cleem, Gus Cleem, Cecil Cleem and sisters Violet and Mamie.Harvey Sr. soon found work as a automobile Mechanic in a small shop. working and supporting his family, he was now in a better job situation and reunited with his daughter. They finished raising there 2 children in Elensburg, Betty Thrasher Cleem, and Harvey Ronald Cleem Jr. Back to 1975, Harvey Sr. and Harvey Jr. made trip plans to travel back to Minnesota for the funeral. Boarding a Amtrak passenger train, Jr. and Sr. traveled the rails all the way back to his brother Dick Cleems Funeral.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Matt, and sharing some of your family's history with us. If you have any further history of your father or his family during their time in St. Vincent, I'd love to hear from you...you can directly contact me via email which you can find through the profile link on the front page here on St. Vincent Memories...
ReplyDeleteI remember this so well. I can still feel the horror we all felt over this. How could this have happened ... in OUR town? How awful!! It never completely left us..not really. The innocence we grew up with, the freedom we took for granite - was gone, forever. I remember Mom always having the doors locked after this - and always remembering.
ReplyDeleteI remember that one of the defendants go loose in court and nearly strangled Dennis Sobolik who was DA. It was a near miss. These were some moral monsters.
ReplyDeletethis was so horrible.. Allan and I were on a date and actually passed them as they walked out of St. Vincent... weird enough... I told Al not to stop at Cal's after he dropped me off that night... They had broken in there..(eventually caught a ride to Pembina via law enforcement vehicle.. cannot remember if it was border patrol or what... but that was before she came to and called for help.... .. scary... The guilty party was let go from jail a few years ago...I remember going to work the next day(after murder at hospital) and worrying about the whole thing after hearing the nurses report that she was sent on the Grand Forks.. It was horrible... still a nightmare to so many of us..
ReplyDeleteI was in the sixth grade when this happened. I got up to watch cartoons that Saturday. I don't remember who called, but I remember wondering why someone would call so early on a Saturday. Mom answered the phone and she could barely speak when she heard. I couldn't imagine what could have happened, but I knew it must be serious, so I turned the TV off (The cartoon I was watching was "Hong Kong Phooey."
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