Harland Eugene Troy, as written by his #2 daughter, SandyMy father, Harland Eugene Troy, was born February 23, 1919
in Fredicksburg, Iowa (Chickasaw County, Black Hawk Township). His parents are
Clarence E. Troy and Elizabeth (Owens) Troy. When dad was born, they lived on 1996 Tarrant Street in Fredricksburg, Iowa. Dad was nicknamed "Stub" because he was short in his
younger years; however, the nickname stuck eventho he reached 6'2" when he was in College. Dad graduated in 1937 from Cedar Falls High School at the age of 18. He was very active in sports during high school and
was on the basketball and football
team. Dad went to college on a football scholarship. The college he attended was the Iowa State Teachers College (now called University of Northern Iowa), and in 1940 dad received his
___________ teaching degree. After graduating from college, he taught for one year, then joined the U.S.M.C. Dad
went to boot camp for three months at Quantico, Virginia after which he attended Officer's Candidate School. He was commissioned in May 15, 1943 and the same day was married to my mom, Dolores Nyberg, whom he met in college. Dad and mom have added 19 new lives to this earth... Five Children:
Vicky Sue
(b.2/23/1944), Sandra Jane (b.5/23/1947), Nancy Lane (b.9/1/1953), and the twins Barbara Jo and Blake Lee (b.5/6/1957)Eleven Grandchildren:
Robert (b.8/15/1962), Kenneth (b.7/31/1965),
Stephany (b.2/10/1969), Kelly (b.7/12/1979), Darcy (b.4/15/1981), Dane
(b.7/10/1984), Haley Rose (b.12/21/1988), Caitlin (b.8/10/1989),
Jordan (b.11/17/1990), Audrey (1/13/1990), and Curtis (6/26/1991) Three great grandchildren: Sarah (b.12/13/1992),
Christopher (b.7/6/1993), and Robin (b.1/24/1997)Below is my father, Harland Troy, telling me the story of his life from when he was a little boy until he
graduated from College. My brother wrote a biography of dad, Harland Troy, a Historical Biography
, that gives an account of dad's life, while at the same time giving an account of the world events, including the depression and WWII. Dad starts his story.......   "Mother was a very good cook. She and dad managed a restaurant in Jefferson City, MO in 1916 (before I was born). Dad and mother packed up their 1927 Whippet
and we moved to Cando, North Dakota (40 miles north 0f Devils Lake) when I was a small boy. In North Dakota, we worked a 180 acre farm. Land was cheap in North
Dakota and the area was kind of a new frontier. We were only in North Dakota for a couple years and then moved back to Iowa. There was no one near the farm as I recall
looking out into many open fields, it was desolate and nothing else was around. There was a truck on the farm, but there were no tractors or cows that I remember. A river went through the
farm. Mother had some pet ducks that she would make me and brother Ray watch. The wild ducks would try to mingle with the domesticated ducks - Ray and I had to watch to make sure mother's ducks
didn't run off or get hurt. The wild ducks would fly away but of course the domesticated ones couldn't fly. We hated to watch those ducks but we did get to snar gophers.
We swam in the river a lot, it was where I learned to swim. Dad was a good swimmer and the river bank was close, so dad pushed us out and said "sink or swim." Dad was a very good marksman. He
used to go in the back porch with his rifle and shoot geese. Geese always would fly in formation over the farm. Dad would always hit his mark and the two dogs would run and bring the dead goose back.
The geese flew in a V shape – dad being the good marksman he was, he always would get the ones off the tail end first since you don't shoot the lead goose (or else all the ones following him are flying all
over). There were also big swans that would come on the farm. I remember it being REAL cold in North Dakota. Ray and I would go back and forth to a one-room school on a horse (I had to sit on the
back in the "rumble seat"). One morning going to school, it was 32 degrees below zero!  We moved back to Iowa when I was in the sixth grade. We moved in with mother's parents
(John Owers and Ida Fletcher Owens)
at their house on College Street in Cedar Falls. All I remember about grandpa Owens was that he was always sitting and chewing tobacco. At night he would take the
tobacco out of his mouth and put it in a ball on the table before he went to bed. Grandma and grandpa rented out rooms to make some money during
the depression. There were two renters that were alway good to us kids. They would always buy cases of pork and beans for me and Ray, which was
a real treat as we liked pork and beans! By then, I was about 11 years old and Ray 13 years old. It was during the depression and people were bartering for items because there was no work to be found. The gas station
owner was bartering with gas to get items he needed. "It was you pat my back, and I'll pat yours" environment in the depression.  Mother was a good cook so she got a job at the Regents cafe
to help out out. Ruben Anderson and his wife were friends with mother and dad. They had horses and Ray and I liked Ruben and his wife - they especially liked me.. Everyone was blaming the depression on Hoover
because the depression happened during his term. Mother had two sisters (Ocie and Della) and one brother (Grover), but we didn't see them much.
When I was in high school, I worked with dad digging ditches for plumbing on new houses. I also got a part time job with a hardware/lumber yard. On my first job, I learned the weight of a bag of cement – 94
pounds. I moved 50 sacks of cement from an outside landing to inside the warehouse– picking them up and throwing them over my shoulder carrying them inside. No fork lifts in those days.. Coal was like
gold back in those years. There was a coal yard in the lumber yard as it was on a railroad spur. They had different types of coal (soft, hard, briquettes) that people would come with buckets or trucks to get
coal. One day dad and I went over to the coal yard, and dad went to the owner and talked to him. They came back and asked me if I thought I could unload a railroad car full of coal. It was one of those open
railroad cars with sides on it (52 ton capacity the same as now). I said I would. It was chunk type coal so I had to throw each piece over the side of the railroad car. When dad came to get me there was
some left so dad helped me get the last of it out. The pay – one ton of coal! It was always a good feeling to have coal in the coal bin. They used the coal for heating and a pot-bellied stove fueled by
wood to cook. You could take the wood out the stove if it didn't all burn and throw water on it for later use. Later on dad got a job with Northern Pump as a Tool and Die maker. Dad and mother got enough
money together to buy a lot on Treemont Street in Cedar Falls and they built a home for $3,400. I dug out the basement of the house, and in those days you didn't have all the tools to get dirt out like we
have today. I used a slip behind a team of horses for digging the dirt out of the basement. We built most of the house ourselves but had people to come in for electricity and those things. I believe the
house is still there today. In 1937 I graduated from High School.  Dad got a job at John Deere as a tool and dye maker – which is the highest
rated mechanist (he later worked in the same trade at Sperry Rand). Dad worked slowly with extreme accuracy. I also worked at John Deere for 3
years on the second shift to pay for my college. I had a Plymouth that I drove in those years. For college, I carried 10-12 hours with classes in the
late morning or early afternoon. My Senior year was the hardest because courses were all 2 or 3 hours. I did various jobs at John Deere: ran a punch
press, radio drill, boring mill, lathe, and put rubber tires on tractors. I would go the paint line and get the tractors and drive them over to put the rubber tires on. I got paid 20 cents
for putting on 4 tires on a tractor and could do four tractors per hour.
 Your mom and I started dating in 1938. I was in the Alpha
Chi Epsilon (AXE) fraternity. Your mom was in the Tau Sigma Delta (TEA) Sorority. I played football and basketball and she was a beauty queen.. One of my good friends that was on the football team with me, Mike
Jenson, got killed in WWII. The AXE had a Boiler Maker's Brawl every year and we still have the boiler maker lunch pail that the pledges painted for us as momentos from the dance.
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