In 1948 two young girls, one from Sioux Falls and one from Salem, SD entered Augustana College. They and two other girls moved into a one bedroom basement apartment on the corner of 33rd & Summit. 72 years later they would once again find themselves together at Trail Ridge!

Edna Otten moved in to Trail Ridge and has been in precautionary quarantine for the past two weeks. Her picture was in the Trailblazer and Ramona Buchholz saw it. She remembered that she once knew a girl named Edna and that her boyfriend’s last name was Otten. She wrote Enda a note, left it at her door and within the hour Edna called her. They discovered that they had been roommates for a year in that small basement apartment with the heater in the middle!

Edna and Ramona as children, had gone to the same Lutheran church in rural Montrose and when the time came to find a place to live in Sioux Falls connections through family brought them together.

The women remember cooking and studying in the evenings and would occasionally go to a movie. Edna was busy with her new boyfriend, Orval, who she later married and her job working as a lawyer’s secretary. Ramona went home on weekends to help on the farm. She had no brothers and was her father’s helper in the field and with the animals.

The two women only lived together for one year and went their separate ways after that. Ramona became a teacher in Avon, SD where she met a very nice farmer named Nate! The two married and lived for a while in Mitchell but came to Sioux Falls in the 50’s where Ramona continued to teach. Edna and Orval married and she worked as a secretary for many years and also worked at Sioux Falls Book and Stationary.

Edna and Ramona look forward to when they can actually meet each other in person again. Ramona said she just wants to be able to give her a big hug!