A Passion for Building

If you live in the Concordia area, there’s a good chance your house was either built or remodeled by Gene Ganstrom.
Ganstrom, now 92 years young, and his partner, the late Dean Johnston, built over 100 houses and remodeled at least 100 more over four decades.
“We both kind of fell in love with it,” Ganstrom said. “We built all kinds of homes.”
Ganstrom took a roundabout route to his vocation in life. His family has been in the Concordia area since his great-grandfather came from Sweden and helped found the Gottland community.
“He lost his first wife, and there wasn't any cemetery, it was that long ago,” Ganstrom said of his great-grandfather. “They buried her on a creek bank, and we don't know where that is for sure. But when he was applying for his homestead he told them: ‘When I get that homestead I want one acre of it to be a cemetery.’ And it was named Gottland because that's where he came from.”
Ganstrom’s Swedish family all lived in the Gottland community and celebrated the holidays together. “They had a lot of Swedish food that they always prepared,” Ganstrom recalled. “I remember one thing was called Potatis Korv. It was a link sausage, but it was made out of potatoes and hamburger and stuffed down to the end of that casing.”
Ganstrom grew up in a Christian home and helped his Dad on the farm. “We always had seven, eight or 10 cows to milk, and that was done by hand because until I was out of high school, we didn't get a milking machine.” He had two brothers that were 12 and 14 years older than he. One of the big events that Gene remembers from his childhood was when his older brother George shipped out on a train for World War II. “I remember we saw George off. That night he left we took him to the railroad station with a bunch of others. And the train was so slow as it turned away because there was a lot of tears.”
Ganstrom met his future wife Pearl at a very young age. “We knew each other almost our whole lives,” he said. “I always thought the world of her.”
It wasn't until he was a sophomore in high school – Pearl was a senior – that he got up the nerve to ask her out. “She was working behind the candy counter at Duckwall’s,” he said. “I went in there and I invited her to the senior play. I didn't think she'd say yes, but she did.”
Pearl was dating other boys, too, and Ganstrom said one of the happiest moments of his life was when she finally said to him, “I have decided I better come back to you or I'm going to lose you forever.”
They were married in 1951. With a wife and family to support, Ganstrom thought he would become a farmer, but he couldn't find any land to rent, which did not displease his wife. “Pearl didn't really want to be a farmer's wife,” he said.
Ganstrom finally found some land he could buy in the Ames area and had an uncle ready to loan him the money. He drove his tractor to the property and intended to plow it. “I got on the tractor and dropped the plow, and it was just like it was on pavement. The plow wouldn't go in the ground, it was so dry! Well, that scared me. If I couldn't plow I sure wasn’t raising any crops.”
Ganstrom backed out of the farm deal and looked for employment in Concordia. He tried various jobs: auto sales at the local Nash dealership, then implement sales, and insurance. He finally tried his hand at construction, which he liked a lot. Unfortunately, the construction business slowed down and Ganstrom was only working about three days a week. Things were worse for his friend, Dean Johnston. He had lost his job, and with three kids to support, he was taking whatever farm work he could get.
One day Ganstrom proposed an idea to Johnston: “I said: What do you think about building a spec house and going in the business for ourselves?”
Johnston liked the idea, but they needed financial backing. The lumber yard manager made them an offer. “He said: if you guys want to go into business and build a spec house, I’ll furnish you all the building material. You don’t have to pay for it until you sell it.”
That was a great start, but then their plan hit a roadblock. Bankers wouldn’t close a loan for some start-up money unless their parents signed the note. Ganstrom and Johnston both refused. If their venture failed, they didn’t want to take anybody else down with them.
Ganstrom’s brother worked at a bank, and the president of the bank learned of Ganstrom and Johnston’s plan. He agreed to loan them the start-up money.
Ganstrom and Johnston built their first house in 1956. “While we were building that house, this guy came over to visit. He wanted to know if we would build the exact same house in Manhattan. So when we finished the house in Concordia, we went and built it again in Manhattan. We told our wives: we'll be home every Wednesday and Saturday. And it worked out. Those were great gals.”
Ganstrom keeps a photo book filled with pictures of the hundreds of homes he and Johnston built and remodeled. Does he have a favorite house? “Oh, probably Dr. Lawton's,” Ganstrom said with a smile. “I think it was the largest square-footage house we ever built. The interior was beautiful. It had a spiral staircase.”
Ganstrom and Johnston built their last house in 1991, and then sold the business. Neither one of them was really ready to retire, but they had a very motivated buyer. Ganstrom took a job working for the Sisters of St. Joseph until he finally did retire for good.
His beloved wife Pearl passed away a few years ago. They were married 67 years. “God blessed me with a wife and I loved her dearly,” he said.
Ganstrom has five grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren. At 92 years of age, his best piece of advice for living was this: “Accept Christ as your Savior, and stay with it.”

Editor's note: many thanks to Janel Koons for her assistance with the article.