DHA LXXIV
(7/29/2004)

Calendar: The DHA board will now meet at the museum the first and third Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. until further notice. (The Lions Club will meet there the fourth Wednesday.)

Starting July 25th, the Museum will be open Sundays from 10:30 a.m. until about 8:00 p.m. Lester Lauritzen will be the host at present. (Note: On August 8th, he will probably close from about 11:30 until 1:00 or 1:30 to attend the Hooker reunion at the DBS Hall and then reopen.)

Further open days/hours will be announced as volunteers and their days/times are established. And OPEN/CLOSED sign has been obtained now, and will be displayed in the window south of the east-end entrance. The museum may also be visited at any time that work is being done in the building.

The DHA Board met at the museum at 6:30 p.m. July 21st, 2004. Present were Directors Melanie Parsons, Toots Peterson, John Overby, Lester R. Lauritzen, and Grant Petersen, Sr. Also present were Cornell and Lois Munkvold and Michael Ward.

Multiple topics were discussed, many with no reportable decisions at this time. Such include: hatchery incubator; cleaning up/out the basement; installing a door on the rear entrance; the 2005 Danish Days, which includes an all-school reunion.

The need to begin cataloging and documenting present and continuing accessions in the museum. Volunteers and some computer work is needed.

It was moved, seconded, and voted that the Directors continue their present office designations.

Because of the volume of receipts (mainly) and expense records now occurring, the treasurer had requested some form of volunteer assistance. After discussion, it was voted that a volunteer Financial Officer will be established to handle such day-to-day record keeping. The treasurer will then be able to concentrate on this DHA news in the Enterprise.

Minga Tak

Gary Glood (VM); The Danish Days Committee; The Danish Immigrant Museum at Elkhorn, IA; and more pending.

With the pre-Danish Days planning past, the DHA news now has diminished enough that this column can again include more historical recollections or questions. The following is from a June 17th letter from Everet Rasmussen, St. Cloud, MN, a member of the 2004 Danish Days Honored Family (Glood/Jorgensen).

"The letter from Patricia Palagi, Seattle, WA, in last week's edition (June 10) was interesting. My Uncle Peter (Long Pete) Peterson was married to Sena Jensen. She was the daughter of Nels P. Jensen. Sena had a sister Christina, married to C.M. Jorgensen. The Jorgensen's did have a son Donald and a son Lloyd. Lloyd was a wonderful young man and an excellent singer. He belonged to the Methodist Church, along with his parents. Lloyd died at a young age, I think in 1918. There were three daughters in the family: Crystal, Emily, and Amy. My aunt Sena had another sister, Lottie, Mrs. Steffen Johnson. They lived about two miles south of Viborg on the east side of the road; perhaps the buildings are still standing. Steffen and Lottie had two daughters, Dorothy and Iva Mae. Dorothy married Aksal Laursen, and Iva was married to Russell Thomas. I think those two families all moved and lived in California.

"Just recalling these families and names, here is perhaps another point of interest. My Mother, Carrie, died early Friday morning, November 13, 1959. Our aunt Sena Peterson (Uncle Pete died in 1942), C.M. and Christina Jorgensen, and Steffen and Lottie had a Sunday dinner invitation to my parents' home on November 15th. Isn't odd how uncertain life can be? Carrie's funeral was on Monday, November 16th.

"It was interesting that Christina mentioned two new horses, Curnel and Jiggs, in her letter to Donald. My parents, Chris and Carrie Rasmussen traded a team of horses with Steffen and Lottie Johnson. Being that Dad and Mom had a larger farm, they thought trading their smaller team of horses with steffen for a larger team made sense. The team my parents got in the trade was Bob, a gelding, and Jess, a mare. They looked similar in color, sorrel; they were no match in speed! Bob was so slow and Jess was fast. Dad teamed Jess up with our gray gelding, Bullet. Dad thought they were an excellent corn planting team. We didn't have a horse slow enough to team with Bob; he had what we called the Heaves.*

"Jorgen Petersen was the father of Peter, who as known as Pete 'Two-Dot'; he was married to Tillie Jorgensen. They had several children, one of them was Wesley Petersen as you (LRL) mentioned, and he and Doris still live in Viborg. Another son, Jorgen, was married to Edith Locke. Jorgen was killed driving a truck to Sioux Falls; the truck was hit by a train May 1, 1940. His funeral was the first one that I remember attending at the Methodist Church in VIborg. Peter "Two Dot" and Tillie also had daughters Myrtle, Bertha, Naomi, and Alma. Tillie died at a very young age. Peter then married Lily Midland. They had three children, Evelyn, Duane, and Phyllis. (These could have been the children Christina Jorgensen was referring to in the letter to Donald Jorgensen.)"

*LRL Note: I grew up using horses, into the sixties. "The Heaves" was serious concern I often heard horsemen talk about. But I do not remember seeing a horse afflicted. Conversation with a Sioux Nation veterinarian at the Viborg offices informed me that it is an allergic reaction causing a condition that makes it difficult for horses to get air into their lungs. This causes excessive expansion/contraction of the body to try to draw in air. It is often triggered by dusty or moldy feed. People often said that wetting of feed for heave horses or of dusty feed at anytime. But dusty feed should be avoided for horses.

Another interesting subject is being held until next week.