Driving Miss Peggy...
Back in 1950 Dean McConn owned a new yellow convertible and when Peggy Lee came to Valley City... Well, read more about that in the following Fargo Forum article.
By Bob Lind
November 13, 2005
If Dean McConn were the mayor of Wimbledon, N.D., he says he'd have straightened out the news media, including The Forum, years ago. That's because Jamestown, N.D., always is listed as Peggy Lee's hometown.
That's wrong, Dean points out. She was born in a Jamestown hospital, yes, but she lived in Fargo as a child, and briefly in Nortonville, N.D., but she grew up in Wimbledon.
Dean, formerly of Valley City, N.D., didn't know her personally, but his sister did; she taught music at Wimbledon High School and once drove Norma Egstrom, then a junior, to the state high school vocal music contest in Grand Forks.
Dean doesn't know how she came out in the contest, but of course, he knows she later became the famed singer Peggy Lee.
Years later, because of Peggy, he was able to wow his Army Air Corps buddies.
Dean was an Air Corps navigator who flew 49 night combat missions over Europe during World War II.
When the war ended, he returned to Valley City, becoming, he says, a "protégée" of Herman Stern, owner of the Straus Company clothing store. Dean managed the Valley City store from 1958 to 1969.
He and Eddie Stern started the Jamestown store in 1970. Then, in 1974, he joined John Stern at Straus' new West Acres store in Fargo. He retired in 1984.
Now he and his wife divide their time between their condo in Detroit Lakes, Minn., and a place in Bradenton, Fla.
No, he never was mayor of Wimbledon - and in fact never lived there - but he is concerned the community doesn't get credit for being the town where Peggy Lee grew up.
After Norma Egstrom left Wimbledon High School (either by graduation or just pulling out - the records aren't clear about that), she went to Valley City by thumbing a ride on a bread truck, became a waitress at the Rudolf Café, and began singing professionally for the Doc Haines band on KOVC Radio.
Then she moved to Fargo (which, she wrote in her autobiography, she thought at the time was "the biggest city in the world"), where the socalled rest of the story is well known: She sang in the Powers Hotel Coffee Shop and on WDAY Radio, and that station's Ken Kennedy boosted her career and changed her name to Peggy Lee.
She became a star, singing or acting with the likes of Woody Herman, Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, Ronald Reagan and Cary Grant, and she won a Grammy Award.
One night during the World War II years, Peggy, then the "girl singer" for Benny Goodman's band, which was performing in Newport Beach, Calif., was startled to hear someone in front of the stage call out, "Norma! Norma Egstrom!"
She knew it had to be someone from back home and it was: Dean McConn.
Well, she told Dean to meet her backstage. He did so, accompanied by a half dozen of his unbelieving pals, astounded that their buddy was standing there exchanging pleasantries with the famous Peggy Lee.
Dean and Peggy's paths crossed again in 1950, when she and her husband, musician Dave Barbour, performed at the Valley City Winter Show.
Dean was assigned to drive the car in which Peggy and Ken Kennedy's wife, Jeanette, rode in the parade "probably," Dean says, "because I had the only convertible in town." Peggy died in 2002 at age 81, but in music circles, she'll never be forgotten. Dean McConn wants to be sure Wimbledon's connection with her isn't, either.
If Dean McConn were the mayor of Wimbledon, N.D., he says he'd have straightened out the news media, including The Forum, years ago. That's because Jamestown, N.D., always is listed as Peggy Lee's hometown.
That's wrong, Dean points out. She was born in a Jamestown hospital, yes, but she lived in Fargo as a child, and briefly in Nortonville, N.D., but she grew up in Wimbledon.
Dean, formerly of Valley City, N.D., didn't know her personally, but his sister did; she taught music at Wimbledon High School and once drove Norma Egstrom, then a junior, to the state high school vocal music contest in Grand Forks.
Dean doesn't know how she came out in the contest, but of course, he knows she later became the famed singer Peggy Lee.
Years later, because of Peggy, he was able to wow his Army Air Corps buddies.
Dean was an Air Corps navigator who flew 49 night combat missions over Europe during World War II.
When the war ended, he returned to Valley City, becoming, he says, a "protégée" of Herman Stern, owner of the Straus Company clothing store. Dean managed the Valley City store from 1958 to 1969.
He and Eddie Stern started the Jamestown store in 1970. Then, in 1974, he joined John Stern at Straus' new West Acres store in Fargo. He retired in 1984.
Now he and his wife divide their time between their condo in Detroit Lakes, Minn., and a place in Bradenton, Fla.
No, he never was mayor of Wimbledon - and in fact never lived there - but he is concerned the community doesn't get credit for being the town where Peggy Lee grew up.
After Norma Egstrom left Wimbledon High School (either by graduation or just pulling out - the records aren't clear about that), she went to Valley City by thumbing a ride on a bread truck, became a waitress at the Rudolf Café, and began singing professionally for the Doc Haines band on KOVC Radio.
Then she moved to Fargo (which, she wrote in her autobiography, she thought at the time was "the biggest city in the world"), where the socalled rest of the story is well known: She sang in the Powers Hotel Coffee Shop and on WDAY Radio, and that station's Ken Kennedy boosted her career and changed her name to Peggy Lee.
She became a star, singing or acting with the likes of Woody Herman, Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, Ronald Reagan and Cary Grant, and she won a Grammy Award.
One night during the World War II years, Peggy, then the "girl singer" for Benny Goodman's band, which was performing in Newport Beach, Calif., was startled to hear someone in front of the stage call out, "Norma! Norma Egstrom!"
She knew it had to be someone from back home and it was: Dean McConn.
Well, she told Dean to meet her backstage. He did so, accompanied by a half dozen of his unbelieving pals, astounded that their buddy was standing there exchanging pleasantries with the famous Peggy Lee.
Dean and Peggy's paths crossed again in 1950, when she and her husband, musician Dave Barbour, performed at the Valley City Winter Show.
Dean was assigned to drive the car in which Peggy and Ken Kennedy's wife, Jeanette, rode in the parade "probably," Dean says, "because I had the only convertible in town." Peggy died in 2002 at age 81, but in music circles, she'll never be forgotten. Dean McConn wants to be sure Wimbledon's connection with her isn't, either.
ooo
Here is a link to a video of the parade Dean mentions. Thanks to Wes Anderson and Barnes County Historical Museum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apZCXJ2PkUg
Very interesting story. In Valley City there is a Peggy Lee concert. It is in the summer so look for the date and attend.
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