Nordic American Voices Nordic Heritage Museum

Interview of Asbjorn (Ozzie) Nordheim September 19, 2015 Seattle, Washington

Interviewer: Brandon Benson

Brandon Benson: [0:07] This is an interview for the Nordic American Voices oral history project. Today is the 19th of September, 2015, and I’ll be interviewing Ozzie Nordheim. We are at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. My name is Brandon Benson. Ozzie, would you give me your name, and where you were born, and when?

Asbjorn (Ozzie) Nordheim: [0:29] My name is Asbjorn O. Nordheim. In Norway, it is said that way. Here in the United States, I go by Ozzie Nordheim. I was born on the 6th of January, 1936.

Brandon: [0:52] And you were born in Norway?

Ozzie: [0:54] In Hallingdal, Norway.

Brandon: [0:56] Very good.

Ozzie: [0:58] In a little town called Aal, A-A-L.

Brandon: [1:06] Did you know your grandparents?

Ozzie: [1:11] No. They passed away. I am the youngest of seven.

Brandon: [1:18] And your parents- did your mother work outside the home?

Ozzie: [1:22] No. My mother, she worked at home. They had a post office, and they also had a small restaurant right in the home. My father, he also had a fox farm, but when he drowned in 1938, that fox farm was still managed by mother, but she had to hire somebody to take care of it for her. But she kept it going for quite a number of years. And obviously she had a job, as a telephone operator in the small valley. That was sufficient income to raise the family.

Brandon: [2:26] So, your father’s death- how did that happen?

Ozzie: [2:30] That happened on a Sunday morning. The fox farm was on the other side of the river from where we lived. He had to either go across a big bridge, which was a very safe bridge, a little further up the road from where the fox farm was, but he had a small suspension bridge, straight across from where we lived. My mother supposedly said to my father, “You should go on the big bridge today, because the river has gotten really high.” It had rained a lot, and the snow was melting. So, he said, “Oh, that’s no problem.” This is what my mother told me later on.

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[3:38] He said, “It’s no problem. I am just going to run across.” He had two pails, buckets of fox meat in each hand. And he went down to the bridge, and he just started running across the suspension bridge. As soon as he got halfway, supposedly, the bridge got down in the water, which was running very high, and the whole thing just collapsed and swirled around. And of course, he disappeared. They found him about 1 km down from the accident from this bridge. Obviously he was dead. That was the way my father died.

Brandon: [4:37] So, essentially, you didn’t have a father growing up.

Ozzie: [4:41] No. I never knew him. I never remembered him.

Brandon: [4:45] What was it like living in that part of the world? What were the winters like?

Ozzie: [4:51] It is very severe winters where I come from. It is 800 meters above sea level, and the snow is on the ground up there for about six to eight months out of the year. So, obviously skiing is the favorite sport for everybody. When I started school, I had to ski in order to get to school quite often. The road, which was a one-lane road, was quite often so blown-in that cars or bicycles couldn’t get through. So an obvious thing for me was to use skis.

Brandon: [5:37] So you and your brothers and sisters skied a lot.

Ozzie: [5:42] Yeah.

Brandon: [5:43] And you stayed in that part of the country until you were a young adult?

Ozzie: [5:49] Well, I stayed home until I was fourteen years old. Then I decided to go to school, and I had to live away from home. I had to live down in a place called Nesbyen, where the school after grade school was run. That was a very good school. It was actually very hard to get in there. You had to go for an examination for about a week in the fall. Then they figured out if you were qualified enough to go to this school. This is the old-time way. That’s the way it was in those days. And I was lucky enough to get in.

[6:43] I went to the school… In order to brag, I was the second-highest graduate when I graduated from that school. Of course, from there, I went to gymnasium in Eidsvoll, which is considered one of the better places to go to school in those days. From there, I went to the University of Oslo for one semester. But then I ran into somebody who had been in the United States on a scholarship. I was in a big ski tournament for students in Norway, and I did quite well there. I got fourth.

[7:34] And he said, “Are you interested…” This guy took me aside and said, “Are you interested in going to the United States? You probably know how to do all the ski disciplines.” I said, “Yeah, tell me more about it.” He told me that he had a connection with a small college in the United States, and they were looking for skiers who could ski for them. I said, “Well, I could be interested.” It wasn’t more than two or three weeks later I got the letter, and they offered me a scholarship to come there, and that’s the way I came to the United States.

Brandon: [8:23] What did you study?

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Ozzie: [8:25] I studied economics. That is what I wanted to study, because my cousin had studied economics, and he ended up getting the Nobel Prize in economics. Of course, he was quite a bit older than I was. He was the oldest son of my uncle, who was much older than my mother. So there is quite a difference in age. But he got the Nobel Prize in 1979, I believe, in economics. So, that is kind of the claim to fame in the family.

Brandon: [9:12] That’s good. What was it like studying in the United States? Did you continue your skiing?

Ozzie: [9:21] Yes, I did continue to ski, because I had a scholarship for skiing. The classes were quite easy for me, but otherwise, being amongst the people in general, I hated, because quite often people were talking and laughing, and I didn’t understand what they were talking about, quite often. I knew how to speak English, but that was school-type English. I was quite often quite embarrassed, because I didn’t understand some of the jokes which were told. I just pretended like I could understand so they wouldn’t think I was stupid.

[10:07] But really, I did not understand English very well, just talking. But in class, I had no problems. As a matter of fact, the first big test I had in economics, I got an A-plus, which was pretty much unheard of. The professor was standing there watching, and I held the paper up, and I said, “What does this grade mean?” And somebody who saw it yelled out, “A-plus? That’s ridiculous!” [Laughter] Everybody laughed. The professor was standing up there taking it all in, and he was having a good laugh, too. Because he thought that I had answered the questions just perfect. And I had studied like crazy. I was afraid I wouldn’t do too well, but I did quite well, evidently.

Brandon: [11:01] It sounds like you had some good preparation from your schooling in Norway.

Ozzie: [11:04] That’s true. I was lucky to have done pretty well in Norway, and also have gone to Eidsvoll Gymnas, which was considered one of the better schools in all of the country. My biggest problem was the English language, actually. If I had had enough money to go home for Christmas the first year, I probably would have left the country. But I didn’t feel I could justify that, so I stayed. Then after I got more and more used to things, I loved it.

[11:50] Then I got an offer to go to the University of Denver. The coach at the University of Denver noticed me in one of the big ski tournaments in Nevada. He came over and said, “Would you like to come to Denver?” I said, “Most likely.” He sent me a letter and offered me a full scholarship, everything paid for. And that was it. I went there and got my degree in economics after two years.

[12:29] I had traveled all over in the United State. Because of being on the ski scholarship, you get to travel everywhere. We were all the way to the East Coast and as far north as Canada. I saw a lot of the country. When I saw Seattle and Portland, I decided that Seattle would be my choice if I could get a job there. So I moved to Seattle, and started looking for a job, and I interviewed at several. I did not particularly want to work in a bank, but People’s Bank offered me a pretty darn good job, so I thought I might as well start there. So, that’s what I did. And I was a banker for nineteen years.

Brandon: [13:19] That’s great. When you were in Norway, and you got this offer to go study in the

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United States, did you think that you would be staying in the United States, that you would move there forever, or did you think it was a temporary…

Ozzie: [13:31] I definitely thought it was going to be very temporary. I was planning on going back to Norway. As a matter of fact, I had a girlfriend in Norway, and she was dying to have me come back home. I kind of halfway promised her, but that didn’t hold water. I decided to stay in the U.S.

Brandon: [13:57] But you found a lot that you liked about the United States.

Ozzie: [14:00] Yeah. Definitely.

Brandon: [14:02] Skiing has been a big part of your life. Could you tell us a little about when you were in college, how the competitions were?

Ozzie: [14:14] Yeah, it was quite interesting. I competed in all four events. In 1960, when they had the big tournament for qualifying for the Olympics, I entered there, and I won the whole thing. People figured I was going to go to the Olympics. But I was not a U.S. citizen, so I could not represent the United States. Norway was far away, and I decided not to complicate things. I did not want to… I was not that eager to compete in the Olympics, in all honesty. I had a scholarship, and that was more important than anything. I didn’t want to jeopardize that situation at all. I just told them I wasn’t interested in going to the Olympics. When I think back on it, it was kind of stupid.

Brandon: [15:14] But you were considering your scholarship.

Ozzie: [15:18] That’s it.

Brandon: [15:20] When you say you competed in all four areas, was that like ski-jumping, and…

Ozzie: [15:26] And slalom, downhill, and cross-country.

Brandon: [15:28] Cross-country. And you won them all?

Ozzie: [15:30] No. The only one I won was ski jumping. I won quite often the cross-country. The last year I skied for the University of Denver, I asked the coach if I could just ski jump and cross- country. He said, “Well, if the team needs you in the other events, then I’m going to use you. But if not, I’m going to go along with that.” And I didn’t have to compete in the other events. We had a great team. We won the NCAA. And that was what was important. That is still important. The University of Denver has done very well, thanks to, particularly, the coach we had- was an Austrian guy, and he was an excellent instructor, particularly in alpine.

[16:28] Ski-jumping, he didn’t know too much about, but that was fine, because most of the people who were on the team as far as the Nordic skiing- the cross-country and the jumping- that was pretty easy, because we were all recruited from Norway, actually. We had only one American. His name was Jim Shea, and he was in the Olympics, competing for the United States. But the rest of us were Norwegians, and we did well in ski jumping and cross-country.

Brandon: [17:07] That’s great. So, after college, you went to Seattle and got a job with People’s

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Bank. What area of banking were you in?

Ozzie: [17:18] I was a trainee, so I was in ten different places- ten different offices, you can say. And I ended up in Ballard. I loved Ballard because of my Scandinavian background. I got very active in the community. I was President of the Chamber of Commerce in Ballard, and held all kinds of other positions in various organizations, and was pretty visible in the community. I loved every minute of it.

[17:52] However, I didn’t think I made very much money, so I was looking for something else where I could make some money. One day, one of my friends who was also banking there asked if I was interested in buying into a crab boat in Alaska. And I said, “Well, I don’t have any money.” He said, “Well, you don’t need any money. I just want you in my company.” And I said, “Oh.” “All you need to come up with is $50,000, and I’ll give you one-third ownership in this big crab boat. So I said, “Oh, really? But I don’t have $50,000.” “Well, how much do you have?” I told him I had $25,000 in cash, but I could probably raise some money, otherwise. And I raised the other $25,000. That’s the way I became one-third owner of this crab boat.

[18:56] Well, this was the first step. After a year in that boat, we had a million dollars in the bank. Then we decided to build another crab boat. Build one. And we had that done. Then after one year, we had two crab boats. After another year, we decided to build another boat. So we ended up with three crab boats. It was actually three of us then, partners. One thing led to the other, but then in 1981, there was a failure in the crab fishing in Alaska, and there was no season, and everybody figured that we were going to go broke. I figured differently.

[20:05] So, I kept all the payables current. I didn’t owe hardly any money, but I didn’t pay the bank, because I couldn’t afford to. So, the banker called me in and wondered if they couldn’t see my financial affairs. They were wondering why I was behind on the payments. So I told the banker. Of course, I knew how to talk to the bankers, because I had been one myself. I said, “Well, everybody else is paid. All my payables are current. You’re the only one who is behind.” They said, “Really?” I said, “Well, you’ll just have to extend my loans. That’s pretty simple for you. You’re the big bank.”

[20:59] So, they said, “Well, we’re going to have a meeting and discuss this.” They did, and they called me back into the meeting and said, “We have decided to go along with you. We are going to carry you, and hopefully next year it will be a crab season.” And it was. My boats did quite well, and within three years, I had everybody paid, including the bank, which was really lucky, more than anything. So that’s the way it went. It turned out to be a real success, financially.

Brandon: [21:47] When you were involved with the crab fishing, did you travel a lot?

Ozzie: [21:53] Not a lot, but I also bought into a crab processing plant in Alaska. The opportunity came, and I stepped into it, and got to be one of the big owners of a pretty good-sized factory. All we did was process crab. It turned out to be a multi-million dollar profit. It was just luck, really, that I got into it. Coming from the banking business, of course I understood financing pretty well. It was a big help for me. I think having an educational background like I had was a perfect thing for me. So it turned out to be a great success.

Brandon: [22:52] That’s great. All along, you continued to ski?

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Ozzie: [22:56] Yes. I have skied in the Norwegian Birkebeiner many times. The last time I got the prize there was after fifteen successful trips in the Birkebeiner, you get the big plaque, and I got that, which is something I put pretty high. But that’s within skiing circles. It doesn’t mean anything to people in general.

Brandon: [23:30] Besides competing, you also taught skiing, didn’t you?

Ozzie: [23:34] Yes. I taught skiing at Crystal Mountain for seven years, and then I ran my own ski school for three or four years. That ski school was called Sons of Norway Ski School. I did that at [inaudible 23:51]. But I got too busy with my business, so I told the Sons of Norway that I just don’t have the time for this anymore, so why don’t you get somebody else to run the ski school? They tried, but they never could get anybody who was willing to take it over, so it was just dissolved.

Brandon: [24:16] Have you been back to Norway lately?

Ozzie: [24:20] Yes. I was there only three weeks ago. I did have to make a hurried trip, because my brother called me and said his wife was really sick, and she probably will pass away pretty soon. So then I went back there, and he got seriously sick, even before I left the United States. He had a big operation. He had cancer of the stomach. And she was having a problem with cancer. Anyway, I was back there and visited. I figured when I said goodbye to her it would be the last time. About three or four days after I got back to the United States, she passed away. My brother is still doing okay, but he is not too well, either. Anyway, I felt fortunate that I got to go back and at least have a visit with her before she passed away. Because I stayed with them every time I was in Norway, 20, 30 times. I stayed quite a bit at my brother’s place right outside Oslo, which is very convenient to stay there.

Brandon: [25:54] When you go back to Norway, do you go back to the area in which you grew up?

Ozzie: [25:59] I try to. In my earlier years, I went there pretty regularly. In the later years, I have been staying in Lillehammer, where the place is really excellent for skiing. Of course, Lillehammer had the Olympics in 1992, or whatever. They really have very, very nice areas to ski. I’ve spent a lot of time there.

Brandon: [26:37] I was just wondering if the area where you grew up has changed a lot?

Ozzie: [26:40] It has changed a little bit, but not to the extent that it is really that desirable. Lillehammer is by far much better, even though they now have prepared tracks. When I grew up, we had to make our own tracks, and pack our own hills. That is not done anymore. Everything has to be prepared perfectly for all events, including even cross-country, even though it’s just a track. It is a totally different way of skiing than it used to be. That tells you a little bit how old I am.

Brandon: [27:28] It sounds like you were active with the Sons of Norway.

Ozzie: [27:33] Yes.

Brandon: [27:33] How about other organizations?

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Ozzie: [27:36] We have a ski club called Kongsberger Ski Club. That was started by Olav Ulland, who was one of the best ski jumpers in the world. As a matter of fact, he was the first man who jumped over 100 meters. He did that when he was down in Europe at a big hill. He was the founder of Kongsberger Ski Club. He was born and raised in Kongsberg. That’s why the name is Kongsberger Ski Club. That’s a little town in Norway where they were famous for having good ski jumpers. The Olympic champions in ski jumping quite often were training, and they were from Kongsberg, which is a little town in southern Norway, quite famous for ski jumping.

[28:40] Skiing has developed to be quite different. In the olden days, you had to be growing up in a place like Kongsberg in order to really do much skiing. Because if you grew up in southern Norway, they had no snow. Of course, those people didn’t have a chance to practice. Well, I grew up in the mountains in Norway, and of course, that was the only thing we did when we were out playing. As soon as we could ski, that’s what we did. Of course, we were also trying to compete. That’s the way you developed skiers in the olden days. Now it’s entirely different.

Brandon: [29:33] So, besides the ski clubs, you were involved in the Sons of Norway, is that correct?

Ozzie: [29:39] Yes.

Brandon: [29:41] Through the years, you’ve been a member, and probably participated in a lot of their activities?

Ozzie: [29:49] Yes. I have skied at the Sons of Norway ski area, which is called Trollhaugen, up at Snoqualmie Pass. I competed there about 25 or 30 times. I won that ski tournament even at my old age. I still had the best time of everybody. So that tells you two things. One thing is, a lot of Norwegians don’t care to compete on that level. And it tells you also that I’m nuts about competing.

Brandon: [30:30] You’ve made several trips back to Norway. Have any of your family members visited you in the United States?

Ozzie: [30:38] Yes. My mother came here when I had my last big crab boat christened. It was named in her honor, Birgit N. She came, and she threw the champagne bottle against the bow, and did the honors of christening the crab boat. It was a big party. It was about 500 or 600 people there. We had it at the Canal restaurant. It was quite expensive, but we made a lot of money in those days, so it was no problem.

Brandon: [31:23] So, you no longer work, is that right? Are you retired?

Ozzie: [31:30] I have an office, and I go to the office, but I don’t do too much work, but I still… My son is actually working in the office. He obviously is going to end up managing the affairs as time goes on.

Brandon: [31:52] And you plan to continue skiing?

Ozzie: [31:55] Yeah. I’m going to ski as long as I’m alive. And I probably am going to be going to

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the office as long as I’m alive, too. There are a lot of old people who keep on working. And if you own the company, you can keep going to work, or call it work, as long as you want to.

Brandon: [32:15] That’s great. You’ve also been involved with the Ballard community. Any interesting projects that you’d like to share with us?

Ozzie: [32:26] Nothing in particular. I was very active, obviously, in the community. I remember one specific time when the underground electric wires on Market Street… The Mayor came out, and I happened to be the President of the Chamber then. They made us take a saw and made us look like we sawed down the big light pole. This was just for show. Of course, the paper loved to get this picture, so they put that picture in the paper- that the Mayor of Seattle and Nordheim were cutting down the light posts on Market Street. That was in the 1970s, I think.

Brandon: [33:34] Is there anything you would like to say about your life, or about what you have done so far, for this interview?

Ozzie: [33:49] No, I think you can get a lot of information out of the film, which Steinar Hybertsen made, and also there have been other things published. But that is probably old, and a lot of that has disappeared. So I’m not too interested in boring everybody with any more information.

Brandon: [34:33] Okay. [Laughter] Well, Ozzie, I appreciate the opportunity to interview you. Thank you for participating in our project.

Ozzie: [34:43] Okay. It has been a pleasure. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview.

END OF RECORDING.

Transcription by Alison DeRiemer.

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