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District Seven SONS OF NORWAY
November 2014
The Scandinavian Dancers entertain at Varden Lodge Lapskaus dinner.
Remembrance Day. 11-11-11
Remembrance
Lest we
FORGET
IN THIS ISSUE
Page 2 *District Officers
*President’s Message
*Zone Directors
*Editor’s note
Page 3 - 8 Lodge Updates
*Sleipner 8 *Varden 19
*Eidsvold 53 *Rondane Lodge
71 *Dawson Creek 79
Viking Lodge 81
Next Leiflette Deadline November 10, 2014
Doreen Dery, John Martinson & Synove deDreu of
Rondane Lodge shopping at Hostfest in N.Dakota
Sons of Norway in British Columbia ‘ the Scenic Seventh’ www.sofn7.com
District Officers
PRESIDENT: Erik Brochmann
32412 Ptarmigan Drive, Mission, B.C.
V2Y 5R5
Phone: 604-820-9760 [email protected]
VICE PRESIDENT
Bruce Strang
3450 Oxford Street
Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1N9
604-291-1664
[email protected]
SECRETARY
Patty Schwartz
3839 S. Morgan Crescent
Port Alberni, B.C. V9Y 6B7
Ph: 250-723-5530
[email protected]
TREASURER
Andrina Benazic
644 Dominion Street
Kamloops, B.C. V2C 2X7
250-573-2838
[email protected]
CULTURAL DIRECTOR
Judith Hanson
4038 Loyola St.
Victoria, B.C. V8N 4V4
Ph: 250-477-2249
[email protected]
INTERNATIONAL
DIRECTOR
Gloria Benazic
132 Thacker Crescent,
Prince George, B.C. V2M 6G3
Ph: 250-562-7320
[email protected]
PUBLICITY DIRECTOR
Jim Tore Breivik
6194 Parkwood Drive
Nanaimo B.C. V9T 6C8
Phone: (+1) 250-758-7576
Cell:(+1) 250-741-7576
[email protected]
District 7 Zone Directors
Patty Schwartz
Zone 1 Director
Nordlys 20, Eidsvold 53, North
Star 63, Vestlandet 97
Bruce Strang
Zone 2 Director
Sleipner 8, Varden 19,
Viking 81, Golden Ears 137,
Trollheimen 157
Andrina Benazic
YOUTH & RECREATION
DIRECTOR
Zone 3 Director
Vinland 28, Rondane 71,
Susan Strang
Dawson Creek 79,
Storland 140, Kjonne Dal 142
3450 Oxford St,Vancouver,
B.C. V5K 1N9
Ph. 604-291-1664
[email protected]
Susan Strang
Zone 4 Director
Nordic 76, Hardanger 109,
Heimdal141
Editor’s Note
Sorry I’m a little late this time. I ran into some minor computer problems that weren’t serious, just slowed me down. I
also shut down the computer when it was really windy and
rainy last week.
The next Leiflette (December), is the last one before
February so if you have anything going on in January it
should be in the December issue.
It’s been a very sad week in Canada leading up to
Remembrance Day so I hope we all get our poppies and go
to the cenotaph in our respective communities.
NEXT LEIFLETTE DEADLINE NOV. 10, 2014
To advertise or submit material for the Leiflette, phone, email,
or snailmail: Unni Hadden
#
163 - 7790 King George Blvd., Surrey, B.C. V3W 5Y4
Ph: 604-596-2383 Email: [email protected]
2.
President’s
Message
Time goes very fast, it feels like it
was just yesterday I wrote my
last message to the Leiflette, but
the deadline for the November
issue is here.
I have three issues this time;
Foundation, Membership and
Heritage members, that I would
like to bring up. Although I am a
Erik Brochmann
month late with the Foundation
talk, as October is The Foundation month as you all know,
but I need to pass on some information that came to light
at the Foundations AGM in September. Donations to the
Foundation the first eight months of this year was substantially lower then it was over the same period last year. I am
mentioning this because The Foundation depends on contributions from the Lodges and from individuals in order to
be able to provide scholarships to our younger members
and other applicants and also meet requests for grants. It
should also be mentioned that the number of scholarships
this year was reduced by two in view of the anticipated
lower income for 2014.
The membership numbers for our district is going
down, so is the numbers for every other district in the
organization. But there are some good news in all this,
because our district has the lowest drop in members at
0.8% so far this year. The average result for all the district
is 3.6% as per September 30th. Congratulations to following
lodges with positive membership numbers; Eidsvold
(1.1%), Sleipner (2.9%), Trollheimen (3.2%), Dawson Creek
(4.9%) and Nordic (10.3%). The total membership in our
district now stands at 1,278.
Now to Heritage members. Some years ago it was
decided to discontinue the issuing of the “Viking for Kids”
which used to be a very popular quarterly magazine for
our Heritage members. This was also a very good incentive
for the kids to become Heritage members. To fill the gap
this left, the International Board has reserved a section of
The Viking magazine every quarter. They have called this
section “Family Matters”, which they were hoping the
adult members would share with the younger members of
their families. The back issues of these are also available on
www.sofn.com under Member’s section, where “Family
Matters” can be found on the drop down menu. Our congratulations this month goes to Vestlandet Lodge which
will celebrate their 44th anniversary.
Fraternally, Erik
Lodge Updates
Sleipner Lodge #8
Vancouver, B.C.
Sleipner’s October meeting
was a social meeting with
another excellent potluck
dinner and was highlighted
by an initiation ceremony
of
Rick
and
Tanya
Jacobsen, our two new
members. Pins were also
awarded to several members for their long time
membership in the Lodge.
Peter Kirsebom received a
pin for his 50 year membership and Borghild Tyssedal
was awarded with a pin celebrating her 55 years in the
Lodge. Way to go Borghild!
Other pin recepients
were
Paula Ellis for 15
years, June Ruzas
for 25 years and
Frank and Carolyne Thomas for
45 years. The
evening
was
capped off by a
very interesting
presentation on
how Bella Coola,
B.C., was settled
by a group of
Norwegian
Lutheran settlers.
This was another very informative presentation by
Valerie Kristoffersen.
Perhaps, time
permitting, we
will incorporate this in one
Rick & Tanya Jacobsen (center) being initiated
of VKNG’s future podcasts.
Trailer reorganization at
the Country Club is proceeding as planned. We are
getting ready to start working on another section of
the park. We hope to have
this ready for the opening of
the 2015 season.
The November meeting
is an elections night and if
you want to be involved in
what’s going on in the
lodge, come to this meeting
Sleipner’s Lutefisk
Dinner 2014
Scandinavian Community Centre
6540 Thomas Street, Burnaby
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Doors & Bar open at 5PM
Dinner at 6 PM
Three course meal for just $25.00
(Gravlaks, Lutefisk or Ham, Dessert)
For tickets contact Veronica or Erik
Brochmann at 604- 820- 9760 or
[email protected]
Order & buy your tickets early!
Peter Kirsebom with June Ruzas
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and stand for a position on
the board. Our nominating
committee is working very
hard at finding candidates
but without the involvement of members at large,
we will not be able to fill the
slate.
Sunday, November 2nd
is the annual Welcome to
Norway craft fair. Come
and joins us for a tasty
lunch of open face sandwiches and browse all the
various crafts offered by the
many vendors. Make a day
of it. Norwegian waffles will
also be vailable.
Remember, November
8th and 9th is the cleanup
weekend at the country
club. Come one, come all!
Bring a dish and join us for
a potluck dinner on Saturday night.
There is still time to see
the Viking exhibit at the
Royal B.C. Museum in
Victoria. However, after
November 11th the Vikings
will be only a memory. For
more information on the
Viking exhibit go to;
royalbcmuseum.bc.ca
exhibitions/current
For any other information
regarding Sleipner please
visit:
http://www.sleipner8.com
I can be contacted at:
[email protected]
Martin Naske, Publicity
Varden Lodge #19
New Westminster, B.C.
Members & guests enjoy a delicious lapskaus dinner at Varden
Lodge's SON Foundation fundraiser.
November
is
Election
Month in most lodges in
District #7. A Nomination
Committee is established in
September and reviewed in
October. In the Lower
Varden Lodge members awarded long term membership pins:
Bruce Strang (15 years), Susan Strang (45 years), Jakob Tengs
(45 Years) & Lillian Anderson (25 years).
Anfin & Viola Haaheim's legacy. The majority of people in
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this photo are Varden Lodge members & descendants of the
Haaheims, or married to a descendant. In this picture are two
current District officers, one past District officer, a lodge President
& Past President, 11 who have held offices in the lodge, (6 are
current officers), 3 Youth Recognition Award recipients, a Border
Queen & 5 Lodge Queens, 11 who have been actively involved in
Heritage Camp & 4 others who have attended, 6 who have been
delegates to District Conventions. The two youngest in front are
fifth generation Sons of Norway members. Other family members
not in this picture have also served as lodge president, District
officers & lodge officers.
Mainland we have a joint
Installation with Sleipner #8,
Viking #81 and Varden #19
with Viking Lodge Hosting
this time. It is usually held
in January. Some of our
members have held an
office for many years
Change is good and productive.
Varden Lodge offers an
Education Grant of $700.00
each year to a student entering a University or Collage
to further their education.
This year the Grant will be
given to Clete Hansen. He is
in Simon Fraser University
and is on their wrestling
team. We wish him the best
of luck and success in all his
future endeavours.
Our annual Lapskaus
Dinner was again a success.
It was a pleasure to welcome
members
from
Sleipner and Viking Lodges.
It was a joy to watch the
Scandinavian Dancers perform. Our sincere thanks to
them. The proceeds from
this event will go to the
Sons of Norway Foundation
in Canada.
Our annual Christmas
party will be held on
Sunday, December 14th in
the
auditorium
at
Normanna at 3 p.m. There
will be crafts for the children, a program, and
Christmas Carol singing
around the Christmas Tree
until Santa Clause arrives
with surprises for the children. There will be a light
supper.
We extend an invitation
to members of all lodges.
Vivian Bates, Publicity
Eidsvold Lodge members enjoying their monthly walk
Eidsvold Lodge #53
Victoria, B.C,
September was a beautiful
and warm month, which
was a great welcome back
from summer holidays for
our members. While enjoying the usual monthly activities, such as the Tuesday
luncheon and social and
cultural evenings, we are
looking forward to an exciting fall and the many activities leading up to Christmas.
A number of Eidsvold
members continue to participate in the monthly walks,
occurring the first Saturday
of the month. In the month
of September the walk route
was around the Ring Road
at the beautiful University
of Victoria Campus followed up by lunch at J.J.
Morgan’s.
The Leikarring dancers
are in their 67th anniversary
year and continue to be
involved in many community events. On Sunday,
September 14, the dancers
performed outdoors for the
Harvest Fall Fair at the
Saanich Historical Artifacts
Society.
Three of our Jenteklubben members attended
and enjoyed the performance of Les Miserables on
Sunday, September 14th in
Chemanius.
Carolyn Vincent gave a
wonderful presentation on
“Living and Working in
Zanzibar” on September
27th. Carolyn, a member of
Eidsvold lodge and retired
teacher, and her husband
Dave, lived in Zanzibar
(Tanzania) for a year.
According to Carolyn, she
spent a wonderful and challenging year working with
the Ministry of Education to
assist administrators in improving the education system .
The Vikings exhibit
“Lives beyond the Legends”
is still on display in the
Royal B.C. Museum and will
be there until November 11,
2014. This is a fascinating,
informative, and interactive
exhibit and well worth a
visit.
Upcoming events for
Eidsvold Lodge include the
16th annual Scandinavian
Craft Fair on November 15,
2014.
In addition, our
Lutefisk supper is on Saturday, November 29th and
Jultrefest is being celebrated
Saturday, December 6th.
Cheryl Westergard, Publicity
Rondane Lodge
71 Prince George, B.C.
#
The first activity of the fall,
was the Ladies Auxiliary’s
dinner out, at Bon Voyage
Restaurant, on September
11. We were pleased to have
Bjorg Schurer, along with
her daughter, Monica Bromley, join us, just 3 weeks
after Bjorg’s hip surgery.
Our first General Meeting of the fall was held on
September 18 at Carmel
Restaurant. After the meeting, Mons & Elsa Aase
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Mons & Elsa Aase & Synove deDreu, visiting long time Rondane
member, Willy Ruste, now living in Penticton with his wife,
Debbie.
Synove deDreu visiting with one of the Hostfest trolls.
had a power- point presentation of their cross –
Canada trip last year, to see
the new Leif Eriksson statue unveiled at le’Anse Aux
Meadows at the northern
Synove, Mons & Elsa, checking out the Sons of Norway booth at
Hostfest.
point of Newfoundland.
Nine people from our
Lodge attended the annual
Norsk Hostfest at Minot,
North Dakota this fall. We
were Aase & Dennis Baker,
John Martinsen and Doreen
Dery, Walter Braaten and
Ada
Brown,
Synove
deDreu, and Elsa & Mons
Aase. For people who have
not been there, it is a most
amazing show of Norwegian
culture in North
America. Sweden,
Finland, Denmark,
and Iceland are
also represented
there. There is so
much to look at,
admire and purchase, and lots of
entertainment, as
well as lessons in
Right: Marinus
deDreu, 14, of
Rondane Lodge
won 1st & 2nd for
his drawings at the
District 7
Convention in May.
6.
A warning sign on a
bridge at
Scandinavian
Centre, in Minot
Scandinavian cooking &
baking, so there is no
chance of getting bored. We
always meet a lot of new
friends there, and everyone
is in a festive mood. The
parking lots are filled with
hundreds of RVs, and even
more cars and trucks. Free
buses constantly go to and
from the parking lots, which
was really appreciated this
year, as the weather was
mostly rainy, windy and
cold.
Ralph Austad had
hip surgery in September and he is doing really
well, and Bjorg Lindquist, after months of
bad pains in her leg,
had a four hour surgery
replacing a vein in that
leg on October 7. She is
also doing very well now.
We wish both Ralph and
Bjorg a speedy recovery.
This year’s Lutefisk
dinner will again be held
at the home of Bjorg and
Egil Lindquist. The date
is November 8th.
Our Past Lodge and
District President, International Director, Gloria
Benazic and husband Cal,
who are presently living
in Norway, will come
back for a quick visit at
the end of October. An
informal meeting is being
planned, so we can find
out how they are doing
over there. Cal Benazic
is in charge of electrical
work
at
the
new
American Embassy being
built in Oslo.
Elsa Aase, President &
Publicity Director.
Nordic Lodge #76
Castlegar, B.C.
After a few months of being
absent from the Leiflette
our lodge is back in business and carrying on almost
where we left off last
spring; enjoying great
camaraderie within the
membership.
There is not enough
room in our allotted space
to mention or detail all that
happened over the summer
of 2014. What can be said
President, Ida Price, tried
her hand at horseshoes
again this
summer.
Member of the BC legislature, Katrina Conroy,
the daughter of Ben and
Ingaborge Thor-Larson
and her husband Ed
sponsor a summer picnic
and horseshoe tournament each summer.
The picnic and horseshoe tournament are
well attended by our
lodge members.
Our 53rd anniversary
Lodge 76 President awarding Louise & Kare Gjennestad & Alice
Christofoli their fifty year membership certificates.
meeting and dinner was
L - R Louise, Ida, Kare & Alice
held at the Castlegar
G&CC this past week.
Conrad Brattebo elaborated on the historical
aspects of our lodge and
its past members who
helped to build our lodge
into what it is today. At
the meeting, Louise &
Kare Gjennestad and
Alice Christofoli were
awarded their certificates
of 50 years of membership in Lodge 76.
During our November
meeting our members
will be working on winter activities agenda.
This always focuses on
President Price addressing the Nordic Lodge members at the 53rd
anniversary meeting & dinner celebrations with other Lodge Members.
cross country skiing
which is a big part of our
however is that the Lodge us younger wanna be winter activities. We will
76 members did not take the golfers that age is only an kick off the winter season
summer off to lay around to excuse for not being able to with our annual family
wait for the fall agenda to trounce the younger gener- Christmas party at the
kick in. From hiking to pic- ation.
Nordic Ski Lodge on
nicking to horseshoe tourOle Kristiansen’s Nor- November 30th.
naments and traveling holi- wegian language classes are
Our next general meetdays, our summer in the once again in full swing. ing will be on November
mountains was most cer- Ole, our dedicated Vice 4th.
tainly very active.
President, and staunch
Les Anderson, Publicity
We had our annual golf defender and crusader of
tour at the Castlegar Golf & Norway, has been dedicatCountry Club where our ing many hours into helpelder statesman, Ben Tor ing others to understand the
Larsen, Kare Gjennestad language and culture of
and Arne Akselson showed Norway.
7.
Dawson Creek
Lodge #79 Dawson
Viking Lodge #81
Surrey, B.C.
Creek, B.C.
There is not much to report
this month – a chance to
collect our thoughts before
we get into a busy season.
Our October meeting is
coming up and we are looking forward to holding it in
the new facility. We’ll start
as usual with a potluck supper and meeting to follow.
Our beautiful fall weather is
still hanging in there and
giving everyone a chance to
prepare for the upcoming
winter.
A few of our members
attended Norsk Hostfest in
Minot again and thoroughly
Above: Hazel Melnyk (left) &
Agnes Anderson, Dawson
Creek members, enjoying our
May 17th celebrations.
Left: Shirley & Allan Grayston,
long time Dawson Creek members, enjoying a dance at one
of our functions.
enjoyed the festivities.
Daniel O’Donnell was a
highlight in the Great Hall.
Lots of good food and entertainment and shopping.
The weather held and we
were able to travel with our
camping units without any
difficulties. Until next time!
Loretta Pratt, Publicity
The days and months seem
to fly by and before we
know it we will be saying
hello to 2015 – O my gosh!
Our annual Christmas
Luncheon
Buffet
at
Newlands will be held on
Thursday, Dec. 11th from
11:30 up to 3:30 pm. Please
come and join us. This years
luncheon will be served in
the same room where we
will be seated and believe
that will be a big plus for all
of us. The address is
Newlands Golf Club, 21025
48th Ave., Langley. Please
call me for tickets, they are
$
25.00 each.
We will have elections
at our next meeting,
Thursday, November. 6th,
12:30 pm. If anyone is willing to stand for a position
we will be eternally grateful.
Please give it some thought,
thank you!
It is with sadness that
we report the passing of
Johannes Haukeland. Joe, as
he was known to many, has
been a member of our lodge
for 49 years and a good
friend. Our condolences to
Edel and family.
Marg Kirsebom, Publicity
NOVEMBER 11, We remember...
8.
Norsk Hostfest in Minot ND 2014
The next deadline for Leiflette is Nov. 10, 2014