Andrea Blessum

Rugby-born author Andrea Blessum has loved writing stories since childhood.

Blessum, who grew up on a farm north of Rugby, said her first writing job came when she was 11 years old.

“I used to collect pigs, and I wrote for a pig collectors’ magazine out of Minnesota,” Blessum said. “It was a pretty big deal.

“I got a $25 check in the mail one time for a story I wrote about someone in Rugby who collected pigs,” Blessum added, recalling the excitement she felt when she learned she could be paid for doing what she loved.

Blessum said she contributed a story to the Pierce County Tribune about Darryl’s Racing Pigs, a familiar attraction at the Pierce County Fair in past years.

“They were holding a contest during the fair and I entered and won,” Blessum added. “I think I was the only entrant. I think I was maybe 12 when that happened.

“I think the Tribune held the contest. It was in about 1994,” Blessum added.

Blessum graduated from Rugby High School in 2000. She attended the University of Mary in Bismarck, where she received a degree in communications.

“I’ve been working in that field in Bismarck ever since,” she said.

Blessum said her mother, Kathy, lives in Rugby, where she volunteers with the Heart of America Germans from Russia. Blessum’s father, Jerry, was a certified John Deere mechanic who farmed land that had been in his family for four generations. Jerry Blessum died in 2021.

Traditions from Andrea Blessum’s mom’s German-from-Russia side and her father’s Norwegian side sometimes found their way into family meals, she said.

“We definitely ate kugen. We also ate lefse,” she added.

Andrea Blessum, a descendant of large farm families, often had visits from aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives when she was growing up. Her great-uncle, Roger Blessum, had a story different from most.

Although Roger Blessum had moved to Minnesota long before his great-niece was born, Andrea Blessum said, “I had heard about Roger’s story my whole life, just bits and pieces of it. I was very interested in it because it’s unusual.”

Roger Blessum spent part of his childhood in Rugby and married Rugby-born Janice Peterson in Rugby. Once a year, Roger Blessum visited Rugby on hunting trips, Andrea Blessum said.

“He was visiting my mom in the fall of 2020 and he jokingly said to her, ‘You should write a book about your life,’ and she returned the comment to him and said, ‘I think someone should write a book about your life.’ And she was telling me about this conversation, and I blurted out, ‘Well, I’m going to do that,'” Andrea Blessum recalled. “I had been feeling for a long time that his story should be told.

“It turned out, that winter was a great winter to have a project because it was the first winter of COVID and no one was really going anywhere,” Andrea Blessum added. “We started talking in November 2020.”

‘Unique childhood’

“I was intrigued by the unique childhood he had,” Andrea Blessum explained. “I also was intrigued by him as a person. I certainly learned more about him talking with him over the course of several months.”

Andrea Blessum tells the story of a man who begins his life with the stigma of a child born out of wedlock, spending the first years of his life in foster homes. He struggles with failures in school and other areas in life before he rises above them to succeed in the military, business and as a husband and father.

“One of the points I make in the book is just about how there are a lot of people who have an unusual or difficult childhood and sometimes they struggle with that through their lives,” Andrea Blessum said. “Maybe it makes them angry or depressed or it undermines their success in life. I feel like the opposite happened for Roger. He’s just such a positive person and he has accomplished a lot and has had an interesting life beyond his interesting childhood.”

Andrea Blessum said she enjoyed writing her great-uncle’s unique story.

“He really racked up the car accidents in his younger years,” she noted with a laugh.

“He talks about Rugby as though he lived all of his young years there, like someone who’d grown up there. He was really passionate about Rugby. His wife, Janice, was also from Rugby,” Andrea Blessum said.

She points out familiar Rugby landmarks and mentions people well known to longtime Rugby residents in her book.

Roger Blessum’s life story takes him from Fargo, to his parents’ home in Rugby, then to several parts of the United States, France, and Vietnam.

Military intrigue

“He had a really interesting military career, “ Andrea Blessum said. “He’s lived all over the world.”

Roger met a variety of people during his time in the military, including a spy sending secrets to the Soviet Union.

Andrea Blessum said her great-uncle “has three great kids and several grand kids and now a great-grandson.”

Roger and Janice Blessum settled in Minnesota after Roger Blessum retired from the military. Janice Blessum died in 2021 of Alzheimer’s disease.

Andrea Blessum said she enjoys coming back to Rugby to see “lots of friends, lots of relatives, aunts and uncles and cousins and all kinds of people.”

‘Good place to grow up’

“I loved the safety of our community,” Andrea Blessum said of her school days in Rugby. “I had a childhood where you felt you could pretty much go anywhere and do anything, and you were surrounded by people who were going to look out for you, or you knew them. There are so many people related to each other (from the large families who settled in Pierce County) that it’s a comfortable, good place to grow up.

“I have so many classmates who’ve moved back there and have kids,” she said. “I think it’s awesome. I totally get why they want to be there.”

Andrea Blessum said Roger Blessum is “a little bit shy about (having his story told) and the attention, but, there’s probably something in him after all these years that it feels good to have people know more about his life story, especially relatives or longtime friends of his.

“There have been a lot of people out there who knew him but didn’t know what had happened in his life or what his background was,” Andrea Blessum added. “And I’m happy for him that people are learning about him. A lot of people have said nice things about him and the little bit difficult of a childhood he had and what a great person he’s become.”

“Count Your Blessums” is available in Rugby at Market on Main. It’s also available on Amazon.com.

Heart of America Public Library has the book available for borrowing.

“All of the proceeds from the sales I’m making off the books are being donated,” Blessum said, adding, “I’m not covering any costs. I’m donating 100% of the income to Alzheimer’s Association of Minnesota and North Dakota.”

“Market on Main has also waived their consignment fee,” Blessum added. “They’re selling copies in the store and they’re not taking any portion of their own.”