Viking Magazine - November 2013 - 4

Your Letters
Sons of Norway Headquarters
1455 W. Lake St.
Minneapolis, MN 55408-2666
612-827-3611 or 800-945-8851
sonsofnorway.com
International Offi cers
PRESIDENT MARIT KRISTIANSEN .......................................... 907-562-5172
marit@gci.net
VICE PRESIDENT RALPH PETERSON ......................................757-318-9414
nodakralph@aol.com
SECRETARY JON TEHVEN ..........................................................319-352-6094
tehven@msn.com
TREASURER WILLIAM E. FOSMOE .........................................206-782-5175
gps005@aol.com
International Directors
MARCI LARSON .........................................................................904-260-4064
mlarson@northfl oridatpo.com
ERNST GRANLY ......................................................................+47-63-95-10-66
ernst@egprodukter.no
JANIE KELLY ................................................................................. 408-559-6563
janiekelly6@aol.com
RAY KNUTSON .............................................................................815-393-4926
rayknutson@loves-park.il.us
ELAINE NELSON .........................................................................701-364-0834
enelcna@cableone.net
ERLENE STEVENSON ..................................................................425-712-9788
roberlstevenson@comcast.net
RON STUBBINGS ........................................................................ 604-941-0760
norway@telus.net
BOB HOOVER...............................................................................218-847-6345
rrdmhoov@gmail.com
Headquarters Staff
EIVIND J. HEIBERG ...................................................... Chief Executive Offi cer
eheiberg@sofn.com
LEN CARLSON ................................................................. Director of Agencies
lcarlson@sofn.com
LEE GORANSON ................................................................................ Controller
leeg@sofn.com
RACHELE HOCKERT ........................................Director of Information Technology
rachele@sofn.com
LINDA PEDERSON ................................................................Fraternal Director
lpederson@sofn.com
LINDA NELSON ...............................................................................Webmaster
lnelson@sofn.com
CINDY OLSON................................................................. Foundation Director
colson@sofn.com
DEAN P. STILLER .....................................................................................Actuary
dstiller@sofn.com
DIANE GILL .....................................................................Director of Insurance Services
dgill@sofn.com
Tubfrim Chairperson
GENE BRANDVOLD ......................................................................952-831-4361
genegbrand@aol.com
Viking Staff
AMY BOXRUD ............................................................................................Editor
aboxrud@msp-c.com
ANYA BRITZIUS ....................................................................... Associate Editor
JILL ADLER ...........................................................................................................Art Director
MARY MANGAN .....................................................................................Project Manager
JOSH ALLEN ................................................................... Production Manager
NICOLE JOHANN ..................................................................Advertising Sales
njohann@msp-c.com
PAUL MARIHART ..................................................................Advertising Artist
ROBB MITCHELL ................................................. Digital Imaging Technician
Viking magazine for the members of Sons
of Norway (USPS 611-600, ISSN 0038-1462),
which reaches the largest ScandinavianAmerican
audience in North America, is published monthly for
Sons of Norway, 1455 W. Lake St., Minneapolis, MN 55408, by
MSP Communications, U.S. Bank Plaza, 220 S. 6th St., Suite 500,
Minneapolis, MN 55402-4507. MSP's phone number is 612-339-7571.
Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and at additional offices.
Viking has a circulation of 51,000. Of the annual membership dues, $6
is allocated to Viking magazine subscription. Canada Post International
Publications Mail Product (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No.
40015655. Station A, P.O. Box 54, Windsor, Ontario N9A 6J5. No part of
this publication may be reproduced without permission. Advertising
solicitations are accepted at Sons of Norway. Send address-change
information, seasonal and permanent, to the Sons of Norway Viking
magazine, 1455 W. Lake St., Minneapolis, MN 55408. POSTMASTER:
Please send address changes to the Sons of Norway Viking magazine,
1455 W. Lake St., Minneapolis, MN 55408. © 2013, Sons of Norway. All
rights reserved. Printed in USA.
A
This is the first in a series of three articles about Sons of Norway.
This month we explore the organization's legacy as a mutual
benefits society. In the next two issues we will be looking at the
Sons of Norway Foundation and our fraternal operations.
By remembering its financial roots, Sons of Norway
is finding new ways to serve members and connect
with future generations. BY DENISE LOGELAND
nne Krause has a vantage
point that few other Sons
of Norway members have.
A member of Thor 4-067 in Minot,
N. D., Krause has also been a
Financial Benefits Counselor (FBC)
for Sons of Norway for the past 16
years. She meets more fellow members,
gets to more lodge events and
answers more questions about Sons
of Norway than most people ever
will. In her role as a FBC, she also
stands where Sons of Norway's past
meets its present and its future.
" We started out as a group
saying, 'Let's take care of our own
people,' " says Krause, whose job is
to help other members learn about
and benefit from Sons of Norway's
life insurance and annuity products.
" Today, that's still true. "
The founders-18 Norwegian
emigrants, most from Trøndelag,
who made their way to Minneapolis-were
working hard to
gain a toehold in America. In the
grips of an economic depression
in 1895, they worried what would
happen if they lost their jobs or
suddenly became ill. A few owned
businesses: a saloon (where they
wrote Sons of Norway's charter
documents in an upstairs room),
a grocery, a hardware store.
Bersvend Draxten, who went on to
become the society's first Supreme
President, worked as a glazier. Anton
Johnson was a plasterer, and
Eskild Pedersen was a machinist at
a lumber company.
They created a fraternal benefit
society, a mutual aid group where
they could pool their funds, each
buying a life insurance contract
and paying premiums on it so
there would be money available
for their families if needed, and for
fellow members' families. " Sønner
af Norge " offered a safe haven
financially and culturally, a place
where they could be with
others from the home
country and dedicate
themselves to " preserving
interest in the Norwegian
language. "
They couldn't know-
and today many members
still don't know-
that as a humble group
of laborers, they had
founded a group that
Certificates of insurance from the 1920s and '30s.
10 VIKING SEPTEMBER 2013
sonsofnorway.com
sonsofnorway.com VIKING SEPTEMBER 2013 11
would become a $337 million
insurance company, and that their
financial safe haven would end up
protecting the cultural one.
The monthly
premium
per $100 of
insurance for
our youngest
members
in 1901
A Business on a Cultural Mission
" I've heard members say, 'Well, I
didn't know Sons of Norway had
insurance products " -even longtime
members, says Marci Larson,
who belongs to Gateway to Florida
3-541 in Jacksonville and serves
on Sons of Norway's International
Board. She says she's surprised each
time it happens, because insurance
is such a vital part of everything
Sons of Norway does.
" These last few years, the insurance
operation has subsidized
more than $1 million dollars to
the fraternal side of the organization
annually, " says International
President Marit Kristiansen, a
45-year member of Bernt Balchen
2-046 in Anchorage, Alaska. But
Editor's Note: Thanks to Christine Anderson,
Leif Erikson 2-001 historian, and Karin Scovill,
Grand Lodge of the Daughters of Norway
historian, for spotting an error regarding
organizational mergers in the timeline in
our September 2013 issue. For a detailed
history of the Daughters of Norway, visit
daughtersofnorway.org/about/.
Daughters of Norway
The Sons of Norway has been around
a long time, as has the independent
Daughters of Norway. In the [timeline]
in the [September] issue it states " A
merger is completed between the Sons of
Norway and two Daughters of Norway
orders, one in the Midwest and one on
the West Coast. "
The Grand Lodge Daughters of
Norway on the Pacifi c Coast never
merged with the Sons of Norway.
There are instances where individual
Daughters' lodges merged into
individual Sons' lodges. There is also the
Daughters of Norway lodge, Thelma
Lodge #26 in Everett, that was at one
time part of the Midwest group, but is
now with the group known simply as
the Daughters of Norway (it dropped
" on the Pacifi c Coast " some time ago).
The Daughters of Norway is a growing
organization and is expanding across the
United States from its West Coast roots.
Christine Anderson
Historian, Leif Erikson 2-001
Seattle, Wash.
Language Learning Resource
The Sons of Norway website has a very
good introductory Norwegian course
called " Norwegian in 5 Minutes a
Month. " It covers about 38 different
subjects. This can be used by members
and nonmembers alike. Members also
can access language lessons with sound
in the MembersOnly area.
Roger Davick
Omaha, Neb.
Send your ideas, opinions and questions to Viking, Letters to the Editor, 1455 W. Lake St.,
Minneapolis, MN 55408 or vikingeditor@mspcustomcontent.com. Letters may
be edited for clarity and length.
sonsofnorway.com VIKING NOVEMBER 2013 5
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LENA GRANEFELT / JOHNER

http://www.sonsofnorway.com http://www.oridatpo.com http://www.sonsofnorway.com http://www.sonsofnorway.com http://www.daughtersofnorway.org/about/ http://www.sonsofnorway.com

Viking Magazine - November 2013

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