Rosemary Wulff was at the Albert Lea Public Library for Joan Claire Graham’s presentation last year on her second book, &uot;Minnesota Memories 2.&uot;

&uot;I talked to her afterward and I told her, ‘I have a story, too, but it’s not the kind you’d include in a book. It’s very sad,’&uot; the Albert Lea woman recalled.

But Graham urged her to write the story of her sister, Berniece Pennington, &uot;The First Miss Minnesota.&uot; In the story, Wulff lovingly recalls looking to her older sister for guidance and companionship.

Wulff describes how, back in 1925, state fair officials were charmed by Berniece’s beauty and asked her to be the first Miss Minnesota at age 17.

&uot;This was the flapper era where girls had short hair and short skirts, and Berniece wasn’t like that. She had very long hair and wore longer skirts,&uot; Wulff recalled.

However, happy times didn’t last long for Berniece. She survived a burst appendix, but doctors discovered she had tuberculosis of the stomach &045; the worst sentence that doctors could have pronounced. She was sent to Mineral Springs Sanatorium in Cannon Falls, where she was put in a ward with patients who had tuberculosis of the lung, and eventually her lungs also became infected. She remained there for eight years, before she died on Dec. 22, 1933, at the age of 25.

&uot;We now know that those severe precautions that prevented human contact for anyone with tuberculosis were unnecessary, and it still makes me tearful to think how many ways my sister suffered,&uot; Wulff wrote.

Graham has included this as one of the stories in &uot;Minnesota Memories 3.&uot;

&uot;I’m happy to have it included,&uot; Wulff said. &uot;It’s a story that needs to be told.&uot;

It’s especially meaningful for Wulff, because she’s read both &uot;Minnesota Memories&uot; and &uot;Minnesota Memories 2.&uot;

&uot;I love reading things like this,&uot; she said of the books.

The author will again be at the Albert Lea Public Library to entertain audiences with the extraordinary stories of ordinary folks. The presentation is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 17, in the multipurpose room. Graham will also sign her books at that time.

Albert Lea is well represented in the book. Also included are stories from Dex Westrum, a graduate of Albert Lea High School who teaches literature and film at the Milwaukee Center of Upper Iowa University, and Julie Westrum King, who was born in Albert Lea and now teaches speech, English and drama at Wauwatosa West High School in Wisconsin.

Graham calls herself a &uot;Purveyor of Memories.&uot; &uot;I spent my first 40 years in Minnesota,&uot; she explained. &uot;When I moved to the West Coast, and then to the East, I repeatedly fended off misconceptions about Minnesotans. Based on what they see or read on ‘The Golden Girls’ or the movie ‘Fargo,’ or the popular book ‘How to Talk Minnesotan,’ people perceive typical Minnesotans to be dim bulbs like Ole and Lena who constantly say ‘you betcha’ and eat hotdish for every meal. Nothing could be farther from the truth.&uot;

So Graham has made it her mission to gather extraordinary stories and memories from ordinary folks who might not have another forum for sharing what they have to say with an audience outside their families or social groups.

The three &uot;Minnesota Memories&uot; books offer the reader a total of 124 true stories.

&uot;Although these stories are entertaining and fun to read and share with others, they do not make fun of the real people involved in the stories,&uot; she said. &uot;These stories need no exaggeration or embellishment to be as good as they are.&uot;

For more information on Graham’s presentation, call the library at 377-4350.