Paul's maternal grandmother, Brynhild Nervig was born on November 27, 1881 in Selbustrund, Norway. She was the daughter of Peder Nervig and Gunhild Nervig (nee Lekvold). Orphaned at age 7, Brynhild lived for a time with various relatives, including the Nervig and Lekvold families. She was brought to Minneapolis, Minnesota by her uncle, Andrew Nervig in April, 1901, where she worked as a domestic. Andrew changed his last name to Wiggen when he came to America, and Brynhild adopted the Wiggen surname as her own.

While in Norway, 12-year old Brynhild wrote a letter to her uncle Andrew Nervig in Minnesota about a year after he invited her to come to Minneapolis. But Brynhild's aunt Ingeborg G. Lekvold thought she was too young to travel alone. Brynhild emigrated to America in 1901 at the age of 20. She stayed with her uncle Andrew in Minneapolis where she eventually met Peter Reno, a carpenter who also emigrated from Selbustrund to Minneapolis.

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Brynhild and Peder Reno were married in 1907. They moved to a farm near Fredrick, Wisconsin around 1915 where they raised 10 children.

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Back row left to right: Joel, Agnes, Palmer (baby), Bernice. Front row left to right: Eleanor, Gordy, Edna.

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Back row left to right: Melvie, Gladys, Florence. Middle row left to right: Palmer, Dad, Eleanor, Bessie, Joel, Bernice. Front row left to right: Edna, Gordy, Agnes.

Apparently Florence (right, back row) was not in the original picture, and her head from another photo was pasted onto this photograph at a later time.

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This photo of the adult Reno children with their mother Bessie, was taken outside of Melvie and Raymond Angle's home in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.

Left to right: Palmer, Eleanor, Gordon, Edna, Joel, Agnes, Bernice, Florence, Gladys, Melvie, Bessie.

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