With the Very Impressive Francis Grahn at age 97

by Jeff Olsen

Sure, he's a certified old codger. But what a life he's lived! Plus, he can still kick up his heels.

Huck Finn never had a childhood like Francis, who was a commercial fisherman in Florida in his mid-teens.

What else has he done?

Outside of never attending high school, which rules out Harvard, the former Roseau area farmer has a doctorate in life experiences.

"Dad took over the family farm when he was 13 because Grampa Frans had severe rheumatism," said his daughter Shelley Peterson, a 1976 RHS graduate who lives in Starbuck, Minnesota, and visits the grand old gentleman every mo...