Thursday, June 14, 2007

Northeast Minnesota Synodical Women’s Organization Holds 20th Annual Convention

06/14/2007

Northeast Minnesota Synodical Women’s Organization Holds 20th Annual Convention at UMD June 8 – 9, 2007

The NE MN Synodical Women’s Organization held their 20th Annual Convention at UMD in Duluth, MN on June 8 – 9, 2007.  There were over 300 members in attendance counting all the presenters, delegates, visitors, and other guests.

The theme of this year’s convention was “Act Boldly”:  “Put your Hope in God.  Be Strong, Let your Heart be Bold.” Psalms 27:14 The Mission Statement is “ To mobilize women to ACT BOLDLY on their faith in Jesus Christ!

The convention opened on June 8th with breakfast for the overnight delegates and full-time visitors and then continued with registration. The first day of convention included the opening session at 8:30 AM with Singer/Song writer, MaryRose Varo and the Formal Opening of Convention. President Joyce Lund welcomed everyone and Churchwide Representitive Pastor Rosalind Brathwaite also spoke.

The day continued with the Plenary sessions and workshops with many various choices to attend.

A Fair Trade Store and Silent Auction took place in the Garden Room with many wonderful things to buy or bid on.

The Convention participants were treated to the “Sounds of Strings” at the evening’s entertainment.  This is a group of musicians of all ages that played many classical pieces.  They are under the direction of Michelle Gribbon.

June 9th continued with workshops, plenary sessions and the election of the new officers.

Bunny Johnson, who was nominated from the floor, was elected the new president of the organization by one vote over Betty Brandt.

Ila Senn, Cathy Smolnikar, Constance Johnson and Beth Ronning were elected to the SWO Board.  Carol Kleven and Renee Anderson did not seek election after serving out their terms.

Marge Kangas, Cyndi Worshek, Sonja Hagestuen, and Loralee Torkelson were relected to 2nd terms on the SWO Board.

Candidates for Triennial were elected as well as the alternates. There were also thousands of dollars and items collected for various activities of the area WELCA Organizations.  These gals contributed to such things as Quilts for Lutheran World Relief and special projects, Health Kits, T-Shirt Diapers, Sewing Kits, Layettes, Mid-wife Kits, Aids/Hospice Kits, Soap, Rolled Bandages School Kits, Project comfort, Global Health Ministries, and Gifts to Seafarers Ministry.

The Convention ended with the installation of officers and the closing Worship Service with Communion.

Monday, June 11, 2007

The Wright and Cromwell Area News

06/11/2007

The Wright/Cromwell Area News by Jennie K. Hanson June 11, 2007

Yesterday, Sunday June 10, 2007, I attended the funeral of Helen Theresa Olson Benson, 96, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Wright, MN.  Helen was laid to rest in the Wright Public Cemetery on a beautiful Sunday afternoon , just like it was meant to be for her farewell party.  Pastor Janeva Stromberg officiated, Judy VonDeLinde and Jo Schneider provided the music. Pall Bearers were Larry Hamren, Henry Oja, Ray Gurske, Doug Suhonen, Reece Hansen and Tom Nistler.

Helen Benson’s Godson, Larry Hamren gave the first eulogy and I’d like to include it in this week’s news so here it is:

Well, I guess its said many, many times by now, but I’ll say it again.  This place, this sanctuary just isn’t going to be the same without Helen sitting in that pew every Sunday morning.  For there’s not one of us here today that can remember when she wasn’t a part of this church.  In fact when the doors opened here, for the first time, back in 1917, little 7-year-old Helen was in attendance with her family for that first service held at the new Bethlehem Lutheran Church.  That Helen has been very faithful and loyal to this sanctuary, for almost 90 years since.  So indeed we are going to miss her.

Some of the things that I remember about Helen was her up-beat nature.  She’s one of the most positive people that I think I’ve ever known. I don’t think she ever had a bad word to say about anybody.  She took life in stride and she just made the best out of everything.  She was the type of person that made you feel good to be around.  And Helen you know, I don’t know if you know this or not, she never wanted to be a teacher.  It was her aspiration to become a journalist, and you know, back in those years, there were just very, very few women journalists.  So Helen became of all things a teacher!  And, being the humble person she was, she didn’t really think she amounted to much.  Just being a 1st and 2nd grade teacher and Kindergarten I might add.  So she just didn’t think she was much, but she admired her brother, Charles, her sisters, Alice and Olga and other people.  She thought they really amounted to something, but she thought I’m just me and didn’t amount to much.  And I could just almost gasp and I’d look at her and say, “Helen, have any idea in the world, of just how many lives you have touched, and touched in such a positive way?” And she just kind of smiled, maybe shrug her shoulders a little bit and probably didn’t believe a word I said, but it was true.  Helen touched a lot of lives!  And just being around her just made you feel good.  Just being around her was a positive experience.  And I don’t think she had an enemy in the world and anybody that had anything to do with her just had to feel good when they went away.  So, and Helen loved music, she loved life, she loved people, and she loved her Lord, and you know so I guess today although we are indeed going to miss her, this shouldn’t be a day of mourning, but a day of celebration for Helen now resides in her new home.  He’s back with her family and her good friend Eunice, I might add, who just passed on a few years ago, and many, many other people that she’s known over the years that’s helped make up the family of God.  So, ah, I guess with that, I’m just going to say, “God’s Eternal Blessings to you dear friend, we’ll see you later.”

I was also honored to give one of the eulogy’s and I thought since Helen had such a huge affect on my life, and a such a huge influence on the whole community, I would include it in the news this week.  So here it is.

Eulogy for Helen T. Olson Benson (July 7, 1910 - June 6, 2007) June 10, 2007 Bethlehem Lutheran Church Wright, Mn By Jennie K. Hanson

Helen Benson.  What do you say?  She was so much to so many people. She was a wife, a mother, a sister, a teacher, a mentor, an organist, a devoted daughter, a community activist, a friend, a writer, a Christian and an all around great person.  To know her was to love her.

A couple of weeks ago or a month or two ago, she was sitting in the church back here and she said, “ I’m 96 and no more tricks!” And I said, “Okay, that’s wonderful, and I’m thinking she’s almost 97 and she’s in heaven!”

I had the distinct opportunity to know her since I was about 5 years old. She was always proud to tell anyone who would listen that she was my kindergarten teacher way back at Eagle Lake School.  She was also my 3rd Grade teacher and then when I went into teaching myself, we taught together at Wright School from 1968 – 1972.  Then in the past 8 years we were even in the Retired Teachers group together.  So I guess you can say she knew me well.  I was also proud to have her as a friend and mentor.

How many of you had Helen for a teacher?  And just this morning I was in the Presbyterian Church in Tamarack and the pianist there said that Helen had taught her to play the piano.  She didn’t like it then at 11 or 12, but she’s thankful now.

Those were great years at Wright School.  Helen and Grace Groth were my mentors before mentors were even talked about in education.  Those two gals were the most flexible and understanding people I knew at the time.  They were a great help to all the new teachers.

Some of my fondest memories of Helen were the Christmas Programs we would put on at the high school.  We would practice for weeks and maybe even months to get the parts and songs just right and of course the costumes we had were also very important.  It was important to Helen that every student have a costume for the program.

Those were the days in the 60’s and 70’s when we were able to tell the real Christmas story at school and we always had the Mary and Joseph, the angels, wise men, sheep and other animals and of course the Shepherds.  Helen made sure that the boys who couldn’t sing very well were shepherds.  I don’t know if they ever caught on, but we did.  Behind the scenes were always chaotic, but the parents didn’t notice and things usually went off without a hitch.

One year the temperatures had dipped to 30 below and we were worried about the program, but when a parent called Helen to ask if the program would happen, she replied in typical Helen Benson style, “The show must go on!” And it did!

Back in the early 70’s we also had to take a class called “Sensitivity Training”.  This was held at Lutsen Resort up the north shore and the whole Cromwell-Wright faculty had to attend.  We had to sit in a circle and tell each other all the things we didn’t like about each other.  They kind of wanted to tear us down so they could build us up.  Well, for Helen and Grace, who were raised by the golden rule, this just didn’t fly.  They got so upset that Elaine Hamre, now Huhta, had to take them back home. Little did the state department know that the teachers in Wright and Cromwell got along so well that we hardly ever had disagreements and if we did we usually were able to work them out ourselves.

There was one story that Helen would tell me just about every time I went to visit her.  She would say that back in the early years in Wright when it was report card time a little boy stayed after school and stood by her desk looking very worried.  Finally he said, “ Mrs. Benson, my daddy told me that if I come home with a Red F on my report card, when I get home he’ll give me a red A_ _!” She never tired of telling that story.

There are many more stories I could tell about school, but I will leave them for another time.

But, Last summer I went to Helen’s to interview her for a book I was working on the retired teachers in Carlton County.  I knew I better get her story before it was too late.

I have quite a lengthy story, but I’m not going to read all of it, but I’m going to skip a few parts because you’ve heard most of them already. Helen’s mother insisted that she get a good education.  And in those days it was probably difficult to send a daughter to college, but she made it.  And as Larry said before, she didn’t want to become a teacher, she wanted to become a journalist.  And in her later years she was a journalist, writing the “Wright News.”

Helen was active in the church way back in 1937.

Helen had two gentlemen friends when she moved back to Wright, the were from Minneapolis, but she would come home for the summer to help her dad with the haying.  And she said, “I don’t have any boyfriends around here, there’s no men around here.” And her mother said: “ You can always go out with Oscar Benson!” And that’s what happened.  She ended up marrying him and never went back to Minneapolis. Helen taught in Brownton, MN as you have heard and up until maybe 2 or 3 years ago, some of those former 1st grade students would still write to her or come back to visit her.

Helen retired from Cromwell-Wright in 1972.  And I remember that the last couple years of her teaching career, she was in Special Ed, that was something new back then.  And then Mr. Loveid to came over the Wright School and said that told Helen we were going to start all day, everyday kindergarten and you’re going to be the teacher!  Well, she didn’t like that idea very much, but she did teach that last year of 1971-1972.  But I think that was her final straw as far as retiring.  She knew that was it.

And as I left her home last July, before I left, Helen sat down at the organ and played the “Happy Birthday “ song that she’s played here probably thousands of times. She also played her favorite and also one of mine: the Swedish song “Helsa Dem Na Harna” (I’m not sure of the spelling) or “Greet the Folks at Home”, and she could actually sing every word in Swedish and she knew it in English, too.

Helen was a great writer, too, she wrote the “Wright News “ for many years and she even wrote a book called “Have No Fear, Wright is Still Here”.  And this is a wonderful collection of history for our area.

As Long as I live, I will remember Helen for her kindness, generosity and love towards her fellowmen and women.  She loved her students and it showed.

And I’d like to end with a paraphrase from one of my favorite books:  “Charlotte’s Web”.  And in the last sentence it says:  “It’s not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer, Helen was both!” We love you!

Jo Schneider also spoke a few words about her dear friend Helen.  She said that a picture is worth a 1000 words and I always felt that Helen was that picture because she never preached at you, she never said, “ Oh, you did that wrong, you’ve gotta do that this way.” She always did things by showing you by example.

She also told about how her sons and the Webster boys helped Helen and Olga move from the farm to town and one of her boys was given an old hat by Helen and then years later when he became a teacher, he wore that old hat in his fall school picture even if his wife didn’t really approve, but it meant that he had fond memories of Helen.

Jo said she even met her husband at a conference that Helen also attended in Wrenshall many, many years ago, so that was also a connection to Helen.

A week ago, Jo was at a Bible Study and a man was there that said Helen was his 1st Grade teacher and then he sang a song Helen had taught him so many years ago.

Before Judy VonDeLinde sang one of Helen’s favorite songs, “ The Prayer Perfect”.  She added these words:  Well, it’s the same for me.  She was a mentor, she was my pianist, all those years and I don’t read music, so she would just play whatever I was singing.  A lovely lady, a beautiful lady.

Pastor Janeva Stromberg also gave a wonderful message. She said: Helen’s life was lived as a message.  As a teacher she didn’t resist anytime to teach.  When I first met her, the first thing she said to me was, “Hi, I’m Helen, I’m 96 and I’m up to tricks!” I thought you were a school teacher weren’t you?  “ How’d you know?” Well, your rhyming is a hint. And she also went on to say, “When I’m 97 I’ll be on my way to heaven.  And we really didn’t expect to be able to say that at 97 she is in heaven. Little did we know that, that would be true.  So, today, we’re here to say good-bye to her.  She’s a tender, wonderful woman.

Pastor Janeva ended by singing a cappella the song; “ How Can I Keep from Singing”.

So, now we bid a fond farewell to The First Lady of Wright, May she Rest in Peace!

That’s all the news from Lake Farewelltohelen and Hello to June, and you know who you are!