Kathryn Leigh Scott , born Marlene Kringstad in 1943, grew up on a small farm jsut a few blocks from Robbinsdale High School. Her Norwegian immigrant parents created a warm, creative household where hard work, community, and the arts were equally important. The family farm became a gathering place for neighborhood children, with sledding, skating, woods, forts, plays, and parades. Scott remembers Robbinsdale as a largely rural, close-knit, lower- and middle-class community, where many children had fathers who were away or had died in the war. She also recalls the Robbinsdale Library, the Terrace Theater, black-and-white television, and the many ordinary details that made the period distinctive.
Scott’s talents in writing and performance emerged early at Robbinsdale schools. She participated in theater and journalism, interviewed poet Carl Sandburg for the school newspaper, and won state awards in both journalism and drama. She was also named Miss Robbinsdale, an experience that gave her opportunities to speak publicly and participate in parades and community events. A summer scholarship to Northwestern University, where she studied theater and journalism, helped convince her that acting and writing were what she wanted to pursue. Scott credits District 281 with giving her an exceptional education and remembers the teachers and classmates who encouraged students to pursue careers in journalism, theater, and the arts.
After leaving Robbinsdale, Scott went on to a long career as an actress, novelist, and publisher, eventually becoming nationally known for her role as Maggie Evans on Dark Shadows. Yet she continues to look back on Robbinsdale with enormous affection, crediting her childhood, her family, and her District 281 education with giving her the foundation to pursue a life in the arts. Her memories capture a Robbinsdale that has largely disappeared. A place of farms and open land, neighborhood children, small theaters, soda fountains and a high school everyone was so proud of. Her story is a reminder of how a seemingly ordinary hometown can leave a lasting mark on the people who grow up there.
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The picture at the top of the post is Marlene Kringstad and John Schweigert at a Youth Center dance above the Robbinsdale Fire Station in 1961.