Video tours of the construction process will be posted on this Web site and on Pioneer’s YouTube page. To find Pioneer on YouTube, use “pioneercare” as your search word. 

“I was involved in every extracurricular activity with the exception of the girls’ glee club,” he laughs.

After graduating from high school, Bill completed one year at what was then Bemidji State Teachers College before being drafted into the army. He began his military career in April 1943 as a member of the Fort Snelling Band.

While in the army, Bill studied the Japanese language at University of Chicago. Stationed at Camp Ellis in central Illinois, Bill’s commanding officer saw he had taken a biology class at Bemidji State and concluded that Bill would make a good candidate for a job using a microscope. Bill now admits he had little interest in science at the time, but his answer then was, “Yes Sir!”

It was an opportunity to get out of Camp Ellis. As a result, he studied Medical Laboratory Technology at O’Reilly General Hospital in Springfield, Missouri. He was then assigned to the 197^th General Hospital. In November 1944 he was sent overseas and was stationed in Saint-Quentin, France, where he remained until the war was over. Bill then surprised others by volunteering to serve three more months in suburban Paris instead of heading home. “It was Paris after all,” he says. “I decided to seize the opportunity and experience the Paris culture.”

After his discharge in June 1946, Bill attended Concordia College for the next three years, majoring in English and music. It was there that he met Gerrie. “I tell people that she was the best thing I got out of Concordia.”

Gerrie was born in Nome, North Dakota. Her father died when she was just 12 years old, so her mother was left to raise five daughters and a son who was not yet born. Gerrie went to live with her aunt and uncle in Little Falls to complete high school before going on to Concordia.

They were married during Bill’s senior year there. After graduating the spring of 1949, they moved to Leonard, North Dakota, where Bill landed his first teaching job. He taught English, history, band and choir. “That’s how it can be at a small school; I even ended up working as principal,” Bill says.

After Bill completed graduate work at UND, the couple and the first two of five sons moved to Maddock, North Dakota, where Bill taught English, band, choral music and served as the principal of Benson County Agricultural and Training School. In his fifth year there, Bill received the John Hay Whitney Fellowship, sending him to Yale University to “soak up as much East Coast culture as possible,” he says.

Gerrie and Bill’s next three sons were born at Maddock and the family moved to Fergus Falls in 1963. Bill taught English at the senior high school. They joined Bethlehem Lutheran Church and Bill became the church’s choir director, a role he filled for about 25 years. At some point the senior high school went to an elective course schedule that allowed for the more adventurous course offerings like Shakespeare, The Bible as Literature (one of his most popular courses) and a course that explored how language is used to influence society, such as in politics. Bill also has fond memories of traveling with students to London, Paris, Florence, Rome and other destinations as part of a course he taught as a comparative cultural survey of European cities.

In 1983, Bill took a break from teaching at Fergus Falls for an opportunity with the Department of Defense to teach at Lilly Hill Middle School on Clark Air Base in the Philippine Islands. After that, he returned to teaching at the senior high and retired in 1989.

Gerrie was a substitute teacher intermittently in those early years but for the most part, she stayed close to home to raise their five sons: Joel, Paul, Phillip, John and Richard.

Bill proudly notes that all five sons were confirmed at Bethlehem Lutheran Church and graduated from Fergus Falls Senior High School. The love of music and teaching spread to Gerrie and Bill’s sons as well; all five went on to college as music majors. Three are now band directors. All are involved in music on some level.

Gerrie and Bill now have 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The couple used to travel often to visit their sons’ families, but in 2009 all the Raaens descended on Fergus Falls to celebrate Christmas together. Some stayed with Gerrie and Bill; most stayed in a local hotel. All attended church that Sunday and the family provided special music. They also performed at Pioneer.

“Pioneer Pointe was the ideal place at the ideal time,” Bill says of their recent move. “We thoroughly enjoy it here. The staff is exceptionally accommodating and thoughtful. The facilities are so well planned. We’re totally spoiled.”

Arleen recently moved to Pioneer Pointe senior apartments from a twinhome she had built for herself in Fergus Falls about ten years ago.

Born and raised on Seventh Avenue in Fergus Falls, Arleen has stories to tell about Lincoln Elementary School, the swamp where Broadway Park is now located, skating on Lake Alice and other places and events that shaped many of those who grew up here. One such story describes the way she met her husband, Paul.

As a girl, Arleen had a babysitting job that paid ten cents an hour. Over time, she saved $18.00 in dimes and was ready to buy a bike. Spotting an ad in the Daily Journal for a used one, she called the phone number but was too late. However, the boy on the other end said he had a friend who also had a bike for sale, and that boy was Paul. He was repainting it that day, but maybe she could go see it the following day. She did, and later went home with the bike. It turned out to have a break between the handlebars and the front fork, but she had a friend who could weld and fixed it for her.

Sometime later, meeting friends at the Skogmos’ Café, she met Paul again and somehow the conversation came around to bikes. Not recognizing Arleen from before, Paul said, “Whoever got my old bike really got a lemon.” To that, Arleen replied, “That was me!”

Before they were married, Arleen had completed a two-year teaching certificate at what was then Moorhead State College and taught school for a year and a half.

Paul felt so bad about the bike incident that after they were married, he bought Arleen a brand new Schwinn, the bike she kept until she scaled down to move into her new apartment.

Arleen and Paul were married 45 years until Paul passed away in 1997. Shortly after they were married, Paul went into the service for two years and then to finish law school at William Mitchell in St. Paul. Together with their two daughters, they settled into family life in Minneapolis where Paul first worked for Miles Lord and later for Fritz Mondale.

The family returned to Fergus Falls in 1963 so Paul and his brother, David, could take over their father’s law firm. A very social person by nature, Arleen became involved in the community in many ways. Her teaching background and strong belief in affordable higher education positioned her to be involved at the state level. She was appointed to the Community College System Board where she served for 13 years.

Arleen is also active with Y’s Folks and is a member of Homemakers’ Club, two bridge groups and she regularly volunteers in the community. Depending on where you vote, you may run into her at the polls where she has served for years.

Arleen served on the Pioneer Retirement Community Corporate Board of Directors during the time Pioneer Pointe was being built. Moving in last fall, Arleen recalls seeing her name on a plaque in the lobby of Pioneer Pointe and thinking, “Oh boy, here I am.”

“I like it very much here,” she says. “There are many activities to get involved in, and that’s what I did right away.”

“It’s just like your house,” Arleen says of Pioneer Pointe. “You can get involved in activities, meet people, or if you want to stay in, you can do that too. It’s your choice.”