FOR THE CHILDREN Photori.v/.vy by^7 Sathers of Brainerd,• Minn. On August 23. 1953. The Evangelical Lutheran Church held formal acceptance observances for the extensive lake property which was pre- ""ted to them by the late Harold Knutson. former congressman from Minnesota, pictured above with a group of ch.ldren. Designated "The Jeannette Holm Knutson Camp" in memory of the mother of Harold Knutson. the camp is to be used as a summer retreat for^ neg­ ated, unfortunate,vMiiuiiunaie, aeprivea,deprived, anaand nanaicafhandicapped children at a designated time of the year, and for such purposes as the Board of Chant.es _ i. ... .. determines during the balance of the year. VOLUME XXXVII MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., OCTOBER 6, 1953 NUMBER 40 Pledge to Children Prom your earliest infancy we give you our love so that you may grow with trust in yourself and in others. We will recognize your worth as a person and we will help you to strengthen your sense of belonging. We will respect your right to be yourself and at the same time help you to understand the rights of others, so that you may experience co-operative living. W c will help you to develop initiative and imagination, so that you may have the opportunity freely to create. We will encourage your curiosity and your pnde in workmanship, so that you may have the satisfaction that comes from achievement. We will provide the conditions for wholesome play that will add to your learning, to your social experience, and to your happiness. We will illustrate by precept and example the value of integrity and the importance of moral courage. We will encourage you always to seek the truth. W e will provide you with all opportunities possible to develop your own faith in God. W e will open the way for you to enjoy the arts and to use them for deepening your understanding of life. Wc will work to rid ourselves of prejudice and discrimination, so that together we ma\ achieve a truly democratic society. From the Midcentury White House Conference on Children and Youth, reprinted from The Lutheran Teacher. LUTHERAN HERALD O. G. Malmin, £ GLADYS WOGEN, Assistant to the Editor • HERMAN E. JO R GE NS E N, New Wh'plf'.rc °f Tw EvanKellcal Lutheran Church. Published weekly by Augsburg Publishing Hoi to! m ' Minneapolis 15, Minnesota, Randolph E. Haugan, General Manager. Albert E. Ai n r U b Crip,i n ma«,e? T "u^v Y/ |o, 1 ' ° States and Canada/per year $2.75. Entered at; «o. Printed m ih i* ' e 81 post °®ce at Minneapolis, Minnesota, under the act of f- J Minnesota. States of America by Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis 15, Mil 898 Lutheran Herald the congressman. For lakes and a magnificent view, I have not looked upon anything finer than that day in A "Bethesda May when I stood there on the huge point extending way out between Big Trout Lake and Lower White- by the Sea' fish Lake near Manhattan Beach. I remember saying, If it is sin to covet, then, Father, forgive me, but I would so much wish that this could become the property In order that the readers may get the complete back­ ol my Church for a useful and spirited program for ground leading up to the formal "deeding services" of someone someday." I shall not forget how we sat down the feannctte Holm Knutson Camp, a radio address on the grass and there prayed that, if the Lord wills, He over station WCAL on August 14 by the Rev. Magnus in His own time would see that this is brought about. Dahlen, executive Secretary of the Board of Charities It was on the first of July, 1952, that I called on is recorded. Harold Knutson at Wadena where he was busy with editorials for the \\ adena Pioneer Journal. I presented Dr. O. G. Malmin, the editor of LUTHERAN HERALD, my credentials and was received most cordially. As comes by my office on occcasion, and I remember par­ for my Church, he knew of it and had made his con­ ticularly about a year and a half ago he dropped in to tacts with it long before I was born. He knew many share a communication which he had received from a of our pastors, as he had met them at the home of his pastor in our Church, the Reverend Alfred Bredesen brother-in-law from time to time, and he was known of Venice, Florida. in our parishes both in St. Cloud and in Wadena for Pastor Bredesen stated that while he did not serve his visits and his gifts. a regular parish at the time, he was doing some work I told him a little bit about our program in the among the Negroes in a section of Venice, and it had Department of Charities. I told him something about every meaning to him at his age that he had a house our hopes and dreams in different places, and of how, which his brother-in-law had provided for him and his in the state of Minnesota, I felt that it would be wonder­ wife. ful if we could have some shoreline and acreage, espe­ Upon inquiring further, we discovered that his cially for children who by circumstances had been brother-in-law was none other than the former congress­ neglected, handicapped, and deprived. What Harold man from Minnesota, the Honorable Harold Knutson. Knutson inscribed that day in Wadena is a document Mr. Knutson, now of Venice, Flor­ ida, served in Congress from 1917 to 1949. Bredesen stated that he was of the opinion that Mr. Knutson was thinking seriously of making available his extensive lake proper­ ties north of Brainerd, Minnesota, to some group who would evidence a spirit of responsibility and depend- ability, and who would carry out a definite program for its use. Might not this be something for The Evan­ gelical Lutheran Church to think about ? h was on the 19th of May that Mrs. Dahlen and I drove up north and found our way out to the point which was the summer home of Jeannette Holm Knutson Harold Knutson October 6,1953 899 regarding this thing in its embryo stage, for here he began to reveal how he had been thinking about some­ thing like this for some time, and this was the begin­ ning of a plan as he penned a statement of purpose. Shortly after that, I asked that some of our national board members arrange to go and look at these proper­ ties which had impressed me so. Dr. C. C. Swain, chair­ man of our Board of Charities, came by July 5, since he could not be along with the group which had been invited to come there a few days after that. It was a memorable evening that we spent together in Mr. Knutson's summer home on July 17. Mr. T. G. Ovcrson, executive secretary of the Board of Trustees, and his wife were there; as was also Mr. Robert J. Lund of Thief River Falls, member of the Board of Trustees; the Rev. G. Thompson, member of the Board Former congressman Knuhon explains the fine art of fishing to of Charities from the Northern Minnesota District, young enthusiasts. and Mr. Harold Simerson of Belmond, Iowa, Board of Charities member of the South Central District, who sota; at Moorhead, Minnesota; at Williston, North Da­ was also accompanied by his wife. kota; at Cam rose, Alberta, Canada; and half a dozen That night we heard something about Mr. Knutson's others on the planning boards. Here was portrayed the hopes and dreams, and we portrayed for him on the child placing and foster home program of the Church screen some of our activities in the Charities and Wel­ through the various Lutheran Welfare Societies in the fare field from coast to coast and up into Canada. Here difTcrcnt states; and then the extensive institutional chap­ he saw what our Church has been doing in this field laincy program of the Church. during the years—the new children's homes at Witten­ This was the Church to which Nellie Svee of Devils berg, Wisconsin; at Eau Claire, Wisconsin; at Ames, Lake had bequeathed her legacy—sufficient to build and Iowa; at Beresford, South Dakota; at Fargo, North Da­ furnish a new children's home at Fargo, North Dakota. kota; at Fergus Falls, Minnesota. New homes for the This was the program that Lillian Rudesill of Iowa aged at Stoughton, Wisconsin; at Twin Valley, Minne- wanted to encourage, and she gave sufficient money to erect a cottage to the memory of her husband at the Be- loit Children's I lome at Ames, Iowa. There was shown the wonderful new Home for the Aged at Stanwood, Washington. It had its beginning way back some forty- live years ago because a certain John Hals gave 510,000 in memory of his wife, Josephine. And when the wooden building needed to be replaced, a magnificent new home was erected which is standing there today, backed up by a Church and constituency that accepted its trust. Mr. Knutson spoke that night of the many visits he had had during the years at the home of the former governor of Minnesota and Senator, Knute Nelson, of how lie was impressed with the legacy that Knute Nelson had given to the Church—his home at Alexan­ dria, Minnesota, and forty acres of land near the city, to be used in service to the aged.