By Delta Daggett

Guest columnist

The correct way of pronouncing Frazee is FRAYzee.    I once read that the most important thing  to many people is their name. They like to hear it and hear it pronounced correctly.  

Delta is unusual for a human and I know of no other towns named Frazee.   Daggett is not unusual but not common. When I would make a first call to a company for the truckline, I would introduce myself over the phone as Delta Daggett, of Daggett Truck Line in Frazee, Minnesota wanting to talk with someone in transportation. I sometimes received a response, “Boy, that is a mouthful.” But once, I had called a few times, when I said this is Delta calling, they immediately knew who I was and who I wanted to talk to.  

I did know of a dog named Delta though. We were at a charity auction for a cancer patient and a very good dog was being auctioned off at a ridiculous low price considering the pedigree of the dog.  I began bidding and was high bidder. One of our drivers was also bidding, so I went over and gave him the dog.  He told me the next week, he named the dog Delta. At our next banquet, I asked Dan to give us a report on his new dog Delta. He announced that the dog was dumber than hell, would not listen, could not be trained and he often had to kick him to get him to do something­—brought the house down. 

I was in the process of ordering trailers many years ago and my trailer contact was going to be traveling during the week, so I wanted to finalize the order. I was still researching some new options I thought we should try. This was long before cell phones or even before Al Gore invented  the internet, or so he claimed. He gave me the phone numbers of the motels he would be staying at each night and I told him once I had things together I would call and leave a message for him at the desk.    This is why I called a motel near St. Louis, Mo. and left word for John Dorso to call Delta when he checked in.    

The desk clerk responded,  “Oh, you lost his luggage and now you found it?”

Many of you know that Karen and I raised eight children of our own and usually an extra from time-to-time.   Once the dating began, the traffic at our house increased with boys and girls bringing home dates or boys picking up girls. I was having trouble keeping up on the many new names coming through our doors. Mothers are much better at that! Also dates would change. After I welcomed a son’s girlfriend by the previous girlfriend’s name, I announced to our children that henceforth all boys would be called Henry and all girls would be called Pam and they should just explain to their dates that their Dad is a little weird. 

I digressed from my original idea for this column but once I start writing, my brain causes thoughts to just roll out and I write as they roll.   And, as I said in my first writing, my stories would be on a wide variety of topics.  

Frazee is named after Randolph Lafayette Frazee, one of four children born to Ephraim and Margaret Petty Frazee who lived in Ohio before they moved to St. Cloud, Minn. in 1865. The Frazee name is thought to have originated in Fraisse, France where some family ancestors must have lived.   

Fraisse is a commune of about 150 people in southwest France about 250 miles south of Paris. An English version of the word commune is town.  

You can expect more about Frazee in the 40’s and 50’s once I get names out of my head.