FEATURED RESIDENT-MARCH, 2009- ROBIN FORNENGO
In her charming home tucked off Rutabaga Road lives a quiet, interesting and good person named Robin Fornengo. Robin was born in Spokane, Washington, on October 1, 1951, to Fae and Carl Merritt. She has two older brothers. Robin’s dad was in the military service most of his adult life, therefore she became what is known as “a service brat”. Some of the places she lived in while growing up were Alaska, Montana, Louisiana, North Dakota, California, and Duluth, Minnesota.Robin attended many different schools in many different states, obviously, and graduated from high school in Fairfield, California, in 1969.
She came to Minnesota to visit a friend and met John Fornengo while she was working as a carhop at an A&W rootbeer stand in Sandstone for 75cents/hour plus tips.
They were married in 1971. John was drafted and they moved to Germany. John was there for 2 years, but Robin left after 18 months and moved in his parents Doris and Tony Fornengo here in Cloverton . When John’s service duty was over, he returned to Cloverton and worked on the railroad in Markville.
Robin and John and the 2 children they had by now lived in a garage which they had built first on their land on Rutabaga Road. They had no running water and no indoor plumbing. Their children Jason and Brannan had been born in 1974 and 1977 respectively. Their lovely house was completed in 1979.
In 1993, Robin started Licensed Practical Nursing classes at Lake Superior College in Duluth. After she received her nursing certificate, she worked at many places in Pine County. She was a county home health aid for awhile, then worked as a nurse at the Pine Medical Nursing Home, the Siren, Wisconsin, Nursing Home, and every clinic in Pine County at one time or another. Her last nursing job in the area was with the Lake Lena Clinic of the Mille Lacs Ojibway Band. She now communtes north to work at the Duluth/Superior Life Care Center.
A devout Christian, Robin is a member of the Siren Assembly of God Church. She enjoys many “women only” activities through the church. A hiking trip down the Grand Canyon and a canoeing trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area are just two of the wonderful experiences she has had with her friends. Her next adventure is to learn dog sledding by taking a course for women in the BWCA next year.
Other leisure time activities for this remarkable woman include reading, playing guitar, taking walks and spending time with her grandchildren.
We enjoy having you in our little township, Robin, and look forward to seeing you “mush” those dogs up and down the roads.