Ostestaden News Newsletter for Ostestaden Lodge 5-642, Monroe, WI 53566
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Ostestaden News Newsletter for Ostestaden Lodge 5-642, Monroe, WI 53566 Vol. 15 No. 3 Founded June 14, 1996 May / June 2010 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sons of Norway Ostestaden Lodge 5-642 (The Cheese City Lodge) with news from Norway, Sons of Norway, Ostestaden and area lodges; Ole and Lena jokes. Membership Profile – Jim & Anita Huffman Fra Presidenten: Frank Ackerman I mowed the lawn today, so spring is really here. It seemed like an awfully long winter. The May (Syttende Mai) potluck is fast approaching. If you haven’t given Karen names and addresses to invite to the Syttende Mai, it is not to late to do so. You can still invite a guest that could get a reduced rate membership. Bring some extra food since guests are not required to bring a dish to pass. The highway clean up was interesting this spring. Grace Robertson did the hwy from Pleasant View Park to the Overpass, while Jerry Thompson did the other side of the road. Bill & Elaine Bethke picked up from the park down the center of the highway. Marsha Wilhelms, Jeannie and I picked up from Hwy J to the park. Marsha found several un- Jim Huffman has spent his entire life living on the same opened cans of beer. Then we all went to the Moose for a roast farm that his father, grandfather, and great grandfather beef supper. Next time we could use an extra pairs of hands. all also lived on and worked on their whole lives. They See you at the Syttende Mai Potluck. Frank did not have the advantage of being of Norwegian descent, but Jim is fortunate enough to have had a Business Notes by Jean Busker mother who was all Norwegian, Mildred Olson, The International Sons of Norway Convention is in Idaho. We daughter of Severin and Mable (Johnson) Olson of received some historic Norwegian photos of the Viking ship, Woodford. Jim spent most of his life as a dairy farmer, Gokstad, at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. but sold the registered Holstein herd in 2000. For the past six years he has worked for Brennan’s Markets, Convention is at Marriott in Waukesha on June 9-12. The cost packaging cheese in the New Glarus distribution center. is $133 per delegate. The Dinner Saturday night is $38. Bill Bethke, Elaine Bethke and Karen Thompson are delegates. Anita (McKenzie) Huffman also comes from a dairy Chuck and Della Moen and Jerry Thompson are alternates. farm background, having grown up on a farm between The lodge will pay for members for the Saturday night dinner. Blanchardville and Hollandale. She is fortunate enough We will place a quarter page ad in the convention booklet. to have had three grandparents of Scandinavian A photo of Chet Johnson, Ancil Norland and Karen extraction as her father’s mother was all Norwegian Thompson at the October auction was in the March Viking. (Marie Paulson) and her mother’s parents were Clarence We received a Paul Monson memorial check of $50. (who was Norwegian with a little Swede mixed in) and Membership Drive at Syttende Mai potluck was suggested by Beulah (Ayen) Erickson of Blanchardville. Karen Thompson. Members submit names of guests to be Jim and Anita met at the Wisconsin State Fair when both sent invitations to attract new members. New membership will be offered at a reduced fee of $20. We will also have a were showing Holsteins in the junior show. They have drawing for one free membership from those signing up. been married and living on the farm southwest of There will be a drawing for $10 to $50 for sponsors of new Monroe for 45 years. For the past 26 years, Anita has members. Karen requests senior high school pictures of worked for Blackhawk Technical College in Monroe. members for a Syttende Mai contest. They have three children, Garrett, who is the South King October 22 - 23 is marathon lefse making with Maren Nelson. and Seattle Manager for the Master Builders Association of King & Snohomish Counties and lives in Renton, What's New Inside? Washington. Heather Huffman lives in Sun Prairie and Ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull Volcano …...…….Pg 2 works for American Family Insurance, and Valerie (Jeff Hot Dogs are Not Just for Americans……….………..Pg 2 Nestle) lives in Milwaukee and works for Johnson Sheer Those Sheep!……………………..……….……Pg 3 Controls. Name SON members from their Senior HS photo..Pg 4-5 Notable Norwegian-Americans………………………..Pg 6 Jim is having his 50th high school class reunion in the fall. 1 SERIAL SUBJECT OF BOOK CLUB Norway Today By Elaine Bethke The April meeting of the Ostestaden Book Club was held in Ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull Volcano the home of Lois Gordee. The Cotters Son by H A Foss was the topic of discussion. This book was first published as a serial novel in the Decorah Posten, a Norwegian language newspaper published in the United States. The group discussed how this presentation affected the way the story was told. The characters needed to be easily understood and related to, the chapters needed to be short and end with an event that would make one anxious to read the next installment, and there needed to be a clear message of right winning out over wrong. These characteristics also made The Cotters Son an easy read that our group really enjoyed. It was like a soap opera--the good were really good and the bad were really bad. "As ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano kept European airspace shut down, affecting millions of travelers around the This book has often been compared to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in world, some government agencies and airlines clashed over that it was written to expose the evils of the way a class of the flight bans. Restricted airspace has opened up and flights people were treated at a certain point in history--in this case are being allowed. As the dispersing ash plume dropped closer the cotter caste system in rural Norway at that time. to the ground, the World Health Organization issued a health warning to Europeans with respiratory conditions. The hero, Ole, is a cotter's son born to a poor tenant (almost slave) farmer who is forced to toil for almost nothing for a Hot Dogs are Not Just for Americans cruel, unfair, drunken farmer. Ole spends a lot of time with According to Norwegian American Weekly, more than 16 the farmer's daughter, Marie, because his mother his working million pølser (hot dogs) are eaten in Norway on May 17, for the family. Marie and Ole become very close in spite of the National Constitution Day. Equaling 800 tons, more than the efforts of the farmer to pull them apart. The rest of the 10 times that of a typical day. Grilling is the preferred. Most story is what happens to this couple as they try to stay Norwegians prefer hot dog buns; but a popular choice in together. Through being rejected, leaving his home country to eastern Norway is lompe (similar to a small piece of lefse. find a new life in America, almost starving and freezing to Reprinted from Wergeland Lodge’s Budstikken. death, being robbed of what he worked for and many more challenges Ole and Marie remain faithful to each other. Ostestaden Activities America is pictured as a challenging place, but also as a land March Program – A Viking Film of opportunity, which allows Ole to make a fortune and return While Bill and Elaine Bethke were in California to see their to Norway to save Marie in the nick of time from a tragic grandson, the program for March was a documentary film on mistake. In the end good prevails over evil and Ole saves the the Vikings they had recorded off of PBS. day for Marie, for his parents, for the farm, for his friends, even over drunkenness and proposed murder. The Viking age was from 800 to the 11th century. If asked what their profession was, they would have said, “farmers”. The story really helped readers understand why their ancestors Yet in the winter they became violet warriors exploring many would leave such a beautiful country as Norway and to lands. They had a curiosity and lust for adventure. The identify with the many challenges those brave pioneers must Vikings also advanced the technology of shipbuilding. have faced both in Norway and later in America. It also explored the classic drinking problems often faced by Viking women had equal say in everything but then in the Scandinavian immigrants. Foss wanted to address this issue th 12 century the Viking period ended and Christianity was because he himself had struggled mightily with this problem. introduced and women lost all their rights. The Vikings believed in God but thought there were many gods. In After a lively discussion of The Cotters Son by Lois Gordee, Christianity the one God was a man so women had no more Marsha Wilhelms, Cathy Smith, Jane Swenson, Karen rights. The Vikings did not like this change. Thompson, Maren Nelson and Elaine Bethke, book club members enjoyed Lois's tasty dessert and cheese and crackers Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Dolls House” was banded in Britain. and coffee while they visited. They wanted him to change the ending, which suggested women could be equal, but he refused. There was a Chinese Restaurant named Ole Olsons. When the owner was asked why his restaurant was Norwegians fight for gender equality worldwide. called Ole Olsons. He said, “When I came over on the Thor Heyerdahl made the 1947 voyage from South America to boat, there was a Norwegian ahead of me in line.