In Memoriam

April 30, 2023

8 Camp grants of up to $100 each available to Danish Sisterhood members and their children and grandchildren. For

Updates from Amber Lodge, #186, Brainerd, MN

The February meeting of the Danish Sisterhood Amber Lodge was held at the Good Shepard Lutheran Chruch in Brainerd, MN. The focus of the meeting was to celebrate Fastalavn. We started the day with singing and a game of BINGO. Prizes for both kids and adults were endjoyed. We then moved on to hitting the cat out of the barrel. Thank you to

Updates from Lodge #3

Lodge #3 met on February 7th for their first gathering of 2023. Our weather has been unpredictable but not too bad for our life in the Midwest.

Five members were present and as always, each answered roll call with a new Danish word and meaning. That is always a fun and interesting time, given some of our pronunciations, but it's always a learning experience.

We discussed the upcoming Heartland District Convention April 21-23, 2023. Hoping many can enjoy all the activity of Convention this year.

Our Vice-President, Mary Swanson, is recovering at home from a hospital procedure and we look forward to seeing her. We all wish her a trouble-free recovery.

Don Gylling for making the barrel again this year and getting it all rigged up for the fun.

We then enjoyed a lunch with hotdogs, cookies and many other goodies, including Hanne’s Festalavn Boller. The business meeting followd lunch.

Jane Matthies-Holtan, Correspondant

We have changed our monthly date for Lodge #3 meetings to the first Thursday of each month at noon.

Our Lodge President, Sarah Bengston and her husband Jim, recently celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary with a fantastic gathering of family and friends at the Clinton County Historical Museum in Clinton, Iowa. We wish them many more happy years together and thank them for sharing their enthusiasm for all things Danish with all of us in Lodge #3.

We wish all of you a very joyous Easter!!

Paulette Fisher, Secretary

Karla

Sune

Laura

Kim

Dale

SPONSOR

Janet Dahlman

Janet Dahlman

Martha Smith

Martha Smith

Ruth Mortensen

Ruth Mortensen

Updates from Lodge #102, Des Moines, IA

Our January meeting was mostly business. We are hosting our district convention in April, attending museum events in June as they are celebrating their 40th anniversary and The Danish American Heritage Society Conference will also be held in Elk Horn, Iowa. As always, there will be many great speakers and events taking place. Then, in October the National SH convention will be held in Minnesota. We are looking forward to a record number of people attending these events. The committees for our convention were formed at this meeting. Our delegates to the National convention will be Carol Rudisill with Cheryl Brinkman as an alternate. Guest Carmen Nelson was introduced as a possible new member. Our group keeps growing! Our monthly collections are being sent to the Food Bank and flower fund. We voted in a new slate of officers. They are President, Carol Rudisill: VP, Claudia Holcomb: Secretary, Jeanie Clark: Treasurer, Sue Fisher: Trustees, Deb Beery, Sue Stotts, and Beth Volious.

We had a good attendance at our February meeting including Carol and Rudy Rudisill on face time from their vacation. We had a proposed by-law read three times at past meetings, voted on by our group, and will be presented at the National SH convention for a final vote. Our program presenter was member Cheyenne Jansdaughter

Resolution: Shirley M. Jensen

Shirley M. Jensen passed away February 13, 2023 at the age of 92.

She was born in Geneva to Ernest and Esther (Jensen) Larsen.

Upon graduating from high school, she married a farmer, Clarence Jensen, and moved to Penn Yan. They had a daughter and two sons. They were blessed with five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Shirley was employed by the Penn Yan Central School District for more than 23 years, first as a baker in the elementary school. She worked her way up to be Food Service Director before retiring in 1994.

Shirley was active in the Penn Yan community. She was a member of the Penn Yan United Methodist Church. One of her interests was the Soldier and Sailors Memorial Hospital Auxiliary. Before the pandemic, she worked in the Peppermint Patty Cafe and the Gift in charge of the DSH of America Archive from the Museum of Danish America. An intern was with her helping with the technology. We are always happy to meet these bright young people. We enjoyed Cheyenne’s information about the DSH history. She made it personal for us with power point selections from our lodge showing some interesting connections with some of our members. In March, we updated our district convention committee responsibilities and helped put program materials together for this event. Delicious refreshments were served while we enjoyed member Ken Gregersen’s slide show on his summer trip to Denmark. It was full of history of the country and made us wish we were there. H.C. Andersen said, “To Travel is to Live”. We had 20 members and 4 guests present. Our delegates to the district convention will be Christina Hudson and Donna Archer. The alternate is Carol Christiansen. Cards were sent to Erna Jensen as she has moved to Nebraska to be near family. We also remembered Diane Lindsey with a thinking of you card. Carmen Nelson received her membership pin.

Hope to see many of you at the many Danish events this year!

Carol Christiansen

Shop. During the pandemic, she helped with several fundraising projects.

Clarence belonged to the Danish Brotherhood. Shirley wanted to belong to the Danish Sisterhood. Penn Yan Lodge 56 was fading. Its members were all older so Shirley founded Lodge 173. She was a member for over 70 years, holding every office. The last 30 years she was treasurer. She resigned from that position a few weeks before her death.

After the funeral, a luncheon was served by the Penn Yan United Methodist Church to which Shirley was a loyal and very active member and her Sisters of Lodge #173 provided various danish desserts.

Lodge meetings will not be the same without her. She will be missed.

Meredith Sorensen, Secretary Lodge 173