The Gnometown tale of “Morrie and Kay”

Morris and Kathryn Benson
It was a time of great prosperity in Gnometown. The little village had grown into a thriving community. Commerce with the nearby towns of trolls and dwarfs was creating a business community that Gnometown had never had before with shops and merchants and traders. But with the new prosperity also came some new challenges that Gnometown had never had before, either. Roads needed to be upgraded and maintained, communication between the merchants appeared to be necessary and the fire flies in the street lamps needed to be changed routinely, as well.
Great debates were held over how to oversee the needs of the town, who was to be responsible and how the monies were to be raised and managed. One young gnome was selected to coordinate some of the work committees and chair a biweekly merchants’ meeting. His name was Morris. Morrie, as he was known to his friends, had organized some informal meetings of the merchants in the past and seemed to be very capable of the task at hand. It proved to be a huge undertaking, much more that the young gnome had anticipated,. At first, it went fairly smoothly, but for every problem solved, another appeared. Morris finally approached the town elders about the possibility of his getting an assistant. After a short debate the elders agreed and Morris began thinking of who he would ask to help him. Just then another young gnome name Kay walked past with a few of her friends. Kay ran a children’s group, organizing squirrel rides to the nearby woods in the summer and acorn cap sledding trips I the winter. Morrie knew her to be intelligent and well liked in the community, and therefore the perfect choice for his assistant.
Morrie approached Kay the following day, and she readily accepted his offer. Under their guidance, Gnometown continued to grow and prosper. A small landing strip was even built because gnomes from communities a great distance away were flying in on geese and ducks to confer with Morrie and Kay. Prosperity was not only limited to Gnometown, it seems!
As Kay and Morrie spent more and more of their time together, something wonderful began to happen. They began to fall in love. One clear winter day, Morrie asked Kay to become his partner in life, as well as business. As before, Kay readily agreed. Their wedding was the social event of the year, trolls and gnomes from other villages attending. The crickets and gnats rehearsed their music for weeks and when the great day arrived, everything was perfect. There, under the bluebells and before their family, friends, and all the others, Kay and Morrie were married in the traditional gnome ceremony.
Afterward, there was much feasting and dancing. Everyone in the community had contributed to the wedding feast, and the tables overflowed with the food. At the end of the evening, Kay and Morrie left for their honeymoon. A beautiful and festive wood duck carried them from the small landing strip they had helped to build. But, the honeymoon would have to be a short one; there was still much work to be done tin Gnometown!
Morris V. Benson was born on November 30th, 1916 in Elk Mound, Wisconsin to Emma and Thomas Benson, He graduated from St. Paul Johnson High School and attended Macalaster College. Kathryn Jackson was born October6th, 1915 in Dawson, Mn to Edwin and Gudrun Jackson. She graduated from Dawson High School and attended Macalaster College. It was at college that Morrie and Kay met and were married. They returned to Dawson after Joan was born.
Morrie served in the U.S. Army in 1945-1946. He was employed in several business ventures…which included owning a dry cleaning business, driving but, working for Lund Hardware Store and at a station until he went into partnership with Ed Jackson in the Dawson Oil Co. and later with George Trotter for a total of 34 years.
Morrie and Kay were active in the church and community. Kay served as organist and choir director at Presbyterian Church, and Morrie as soloist. Morrie was Mayor of Dawson and has served as Chamber Secretary and Lac qui Parle Count Commissioner for many years. He was an active member of the Lions Club and Kay worked for many years in the Girl Scout program, as well as the Red Cross Bloodmobile, and Meals on Wheels, and Welcome Neighbor programs. In 1981, Morrie and Kay were Jaycee Citizens of the Year.
Their son, John, was born in Dawson, graduated from Dawson Hugh School and from Macalaster College. Joan teaches special education in the Anoka School System.
Both Morrie and Kay were dedicated volunteers in the Dawson community worked to promote Dawson.

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