Updates from Lodge #185, Cleveland, OH

During the Covid years, we survived by doing Zoom meetings. We had a variety of programs ranging from those available from the Museum of Danish America to interviewing some of our members living out of state.

It is great to be back in person again! Here are some highlights of our year. Our Christmas party is our biggest and most popular event, we usually have around one hundred people attending including children. We inherited the Christmas party from the Danish Brotherhood which no longer exists in Cleveland. We form circles and walk around the tree singing Danish and English Christmas carols. This is followed by Danish folk dancing, taught by our member, Ruth Mortensen, with many participating since we have been doing it for years. Then comes Santa’s visit, dinner (which includes pork, red cabbage and homemade Danish cookies) and a raffle afterward.

In October we hosted the Leif Erikson Celebration in downtown Cleveland where there is a bust of Leif since 2001. The Scandinavian groups take turns hosting it and providing the Akvavit that we use to “skål” with outside where the bust is located, as you see in the picture. Then we have lunch inside the restaurant with the group.

The picnic and St Hans Fest is held in June at a member’s home, this year at Marilyn Brandt’s. Here you see the mini fire where we burned the traditional witch and sang along with the Danish Midsummer Night song. We also had Danish style hot dog with all the Danish fixings including remoulade.

In April we had an outing to Lake View Cemetery, founded in 1869 and a Cleveland landmark. President Garfield's Memorial is there, and many famous people are buried there, such as the Rockefellers. We are fortunate to have our member, Marilyn Brandt, VP of Operations there, to arrange our tour. We were driven around and saw all the well-known sites including where some Danes were buried. Seeing the Daffodil Hill in bloom was the highlight, note picture and imagine the yellow colors. We ended the event with coffee and dessert.

Sadly, in January 2022, we lost one of our valued charter members, Bente Bob. She served in many positions in our Lodge as well as the MOO District. We miss her in so many ways. We had a memorial service for her in September.

We had business meetings during the other months and try to have programs to educate us about our heritage. They included: Cecelia Smith shared about her experiences living in Denmark for 13 years; Helen Soucek and Minna shared a history of our lodge with pictures from over the years; Dorte Brandenhoff, our first President who moved to CA, joined us by Zoom and shared about her life in DK and here in the U.S. and about the beginning of our Lodge.

Jean Marie (Katzenstein) Davidson: Lifetime membership of Lodge #6

by Donna Christensen Thomas, National DSS Historian

Last October, Danner Lodge #6 of Omaha, Nebraska celebrated their 133rd anniversary. We celebrated with pizza, a beautifully decorated cake and good conversation.

Delayed due to COVID, a few months ago we also celebrated one of our members, Jean Marie (Katzenstein) Davidson’s 65th anniversary of membership!!. We recognized that she had been a member half of that 133 years! However, she had been attending meetings as she accompanied her mother and grandmother to their meetings as a child. She clarified, “Actually I didn’t attend, I waited alone in the kitchen while they had their meetings.” I watched as they brewed coffee in a very large blue enamel pot and then they would crack a couple of eggs into the coffee, eggshells and all. I always wondered how that would taste.” The eggs captured the loose coffee grounds. Reportedly, the coffee tasted good and was lighter in color than what we normally see.

Jean was born to Nellie Marie Christine (nee Christensen) and her husband Chester A Katzenstein. Nellie, eldest of seven children, was born in Omaha, her father was born in Nebraska City, NE about an hour south of Omaha. Jean Marie shared that her maternal grandparents named their children after Norse gods and goddesses. They tried to keep the tradition going of recognizing the family’s notable ancestor.

The sons were allegedly named for Hans Egede, a missionary who later became a bishop to Greenland. Was there a familial connection to the man? More research is required to answer that question. I will expound on this man in a separate article. She commented that she would get special attention because of the Egede name if she were to visit Denmark.

Hans Egede Grønborg Christensen (18631928) and Abelone Poulsen (1876-1952) were married in Omaha on 31 August 1895. Her grandfather was born at Mou, Aalborg, Denmark to Peder Karl Christen Christiansen. and Barbara Peternille Nicoline Grønbech. He immigrated in

1884. He had died before Jean Marie was born. She doesn’t have much information about him. Peternille was the daughter's name of Hans Egede, so she was named in honor of the family's notable ancester.

Abelone came by herself from Denmark through Castle Garden in New York City at the age of sixteen in 1892 which was the first year that Ellis Island was open. Her husband immigrated in 1884, likely through Castle Garden. She also had an older sister Jensine, (1871-1955), who married Iver Thomas Petersen (1864-1948) , also a Danish immigrant. He and several sons were house painters.

His oldest brother, Tage Marius William Christensen had also immigrated to Omaha and married another Danish immigrant, Anna Thomsen in 1889 in Omaha. The couple moved to Minden, Nebraska, a largely Danish town. They didn’t have children. His wife was known to everyone as “Tante Annie.” She lived to be 103 years old while still living in her own home. One of our members grew up in Minden and also had memories to share about her. A story that makes them chuckle was when she was cared for in a nursing home or hospital they reported that she wasn’t responding. Her friends, the Madsen family, looked in on her and noted, “Put in her hearing aids!” That made all the difference!

Most of this family is buried in the Danish Springwell Cemetery in Omaha.

Her mother, Nellie, had been a trustee, as a member of the Danish Sisterhood. During this era, Danish Sisterhood had a sick benefit which was paid out to members who were home bound. Sometimes there were discussions as to whether or not a person deserved that benefit if they were seen “out and about” or even answered the door! Her mother was relieved when that program was discontinued.

There were perhaps one hundred twenty, even two hundred people who attended the Danish Sisterhood meetings. Many were Danish immigrants and spoke the Danish language at their meetings. Eventually there were three Sisterhood groups in Omaha as well as one in Council Bluffs, Iowa just across the river. Eventually the other groups have disbanded. (We are about nine members right now.)

One of the rituals she thought was very meaningful and special was during a member’s funeral was that the Danish Sisterhood members would process down the church aisle and place a piece of greenery on the casket. They might also have read a eulogy about their departed Sister, but that was sometimes met with objection as the pastor thought that it was his role.

They took the lodge rituals very seriously. They voted upon whether or not to accept a person as a member by putting a white or black marble which indicated “yay or nay” and then counted regarding the question at hand

Jean Marie especially enjoyed participating in the Drill team. Their costumes were white with red sashes. The last one was a red lacy formal, very dressy. Getting to know women from other local lodges was a nice benefit of the drill team. Jean Marie’s mother played the piano for the group, so she was always involved and missed it a lot when it was discontinued some years ago. They performed especially for installation of the officers at the conventions. The performances brought families to the conventions which increased the attendance. They always had a formal photograph taken each year. She regretted not recording the names of the the people involved as she doesn’t remember most of them now.

Danish Sisterhood has been a big part of her long life. She has many fond memories of the many activities and occasions throughout the years. She finds herself thinking of ways to make the Danish Sisterhood meetings more educational to pass on the traditions and knowledge of the Danish culture and its ways to the younger generations.