Presented November 2024
DEMENTIA IS A CRUEL DISEASE AND WE HAVE ALL SEEN FIRSTHAND IN MY GRANNIE HOW MUCH IT CAN TAKE FROM A PERSON. FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN MY GRANNIE IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, YOU KNOW SHE OFTEN RETOLD THE SAME STORIES OVER AND OVER — STORIES OF HER CHILDHOOD IN MONTANA, PROVIDING FOR HER FAMILY IN NEBRASKA, AND TRAVELING THE WORLD WITH LOVED ONES. WHILE AT THE TIME THIS NEARLY DROVE US INSANE, AS WE LOOK BACK ON IT I THINK IT GIVES US A GLIMPSE TO WHAT SHE TRULY CARED ABOUT AND HELD CLOSE TO HER HEART. FOR THIS REASON I AM GOING TO TELL HER STORY THROUGH THESE STORIES.
ALICE WAS BORN FEBRUARY 7, 1937, TO BESSIE AND ROLF SURDAHL IN SWEET GRASS COUNTY, MONTANA.
ROLF WAS A PROUD NORWEGIAN IMMIGRANT, A PRIDE HE PASSED ON TO ALICE. BESSIE CAME FROM A LINE OF LONG TIME AMERICANS. HER GRANDFATHER, ALICE’S GREAT GRANDFATHER, WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDING PIONEERS OF MONTANA AND GRANNIE THOUGH SHE LIVED IN NEBRASKA THE MAJORITY OF HER LIFE ALWAYS CONSIDERED HERSELF A MONTANA GIRL.
IN MONTANA SHE LIVED ON MULTIPLE FARMS, ONE OF WHICH WAS IN MANHATTAN WHERE SHE LOVED TO WATCH THE SUNSET OVER WHAT SHE CALLED “MY ROCKIES.” SHE NEVER STOPPED LOVING THE MOUNTAINS. SHE WOULD OFTEN TELL OF A 10-ROOM HOUSE, A TRAIN THAT WOULD PASS BY AND ALWAYS BLOW ITS WHISTLE AT HER AS SHE PLAYED, AND OF HER HATED PIGTAILS. HER MOTHER LOVED ALICE’S LONG HAIR BUT ALICE HATED IT AND VOWED TO GET IT CUT AND NEVER LET IT GET LONG AGAIN.
AS THE YOUNGEST OF HER FAMILY, SHE HAD THE GIFT OF EXTRA ATTENTION FROM HER FATHER WHICH SHE CHERISHED THROUGHOUT HER LIFE. SHE BECAME HIS FARM HAND AT THEIR GRADE A DAIRY THAT THEY RAN OUT OF A LOG CABIN BARN HER DAD HAD BUILT WITH LOGS FROM THE NEARBY MOUNTAINS. ALICE SPLIT HER SCHOOLING BETWEEN THE MANHATTAN SCHOOL DISTRICT AND MOUNT ELLIS ACADEMY IN BOZEMAN, WHERE SHE GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL.
ALICE WENT TO MADISON NURSING COLLEGE IN MADISON, TENNESSEE, OUTSIDE NASHVILLE WHERE SHE GRADUATED WITH HER BSN. SHE OVERLAPPED WITH MY PATERNAL GRANDMOTHER WHO WAS ATTENDING SCHOOL THERE AND MY PATERNAL GRANDFATHER WHO WAS WORKING AS THE BURSAR. THE CONNECTION REMAINED A SPECIAL MEMORY FOR GRANNIE AS SHE OFTEN WOULD SAY “WHEN I WAS PAYING YOUR GRANDPA MY SCHOOL BILL, I HAD NO IDEA HIS SON WOULD BECOME MY SON-IN-LAW”
AFTER SCHOOL SHE RETURNED TO MONTANA UNTIL SHE GOT A JOB AT PORTER HOSPITAL IN DENVER, COLORADO. WHILE AT PORTER HOSPITAL, HER FRIEND JO RUSSEL INVITED HER TO DOUBLE WITH HER HUSBAND AND HIS FRIEND, NORM, WHO WAS VISITING. GRANNIE TELLS THE STORY THAT SHE SPENT THE WEEKEND TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO SNEAK HER PHONE NUMBER INTO HIS POCKET. A BIT IRONIC GIVEN THAT HE DID NOT HAVE A PHONE AT THE TIME. AFTER MONTHS OF LETTERS, MAYBE A FEW PHONE CALLS FROM THE NEIGHBORS HOUSE, AND ONLY SEEING EACH OTHER 5 TIMES, NORM PROPOSED AND ALICE ACCEPTED. THEY MARRIED ON AUGUST 26,1962 AT THE BOSEMAN SDA CHURCH AND WERE THE FIRST TO BE MARRIED IN IT. A FACT SHE WAS QUITE PROUD OF AND SHE WOULD OFTEN REMIND US THAT.
ALICE MOVED TO THE FARM WITH NORM AND HIS FATHER WHERE SHE WOULD CALL HOME FOR THE NEXT 57 YEARS. SHE AND MY GRAMPS WERE MARRIED FOR 42 YEARS. HER DEDICATION AS A WIFE WAS SHOWN THROUGHOUT THEIR MARRIAGE – THROUGH HELPING WITH THE FARM TO CARING FOR GRAMPS IN SICKNESS. LATER, SHE OFTEN WOULD DECLARE “I MARRIED THE BEST, FORGET THE REST”. AS HE WAS 12 YEARS OLDER THAN HER, SHE HAD THE UNFORTUNATE TITLE OF CAREGIVER FOR THE LAST 4 YEARS OF HIS LIFE FOLLOWED BY THE TITLE OF WIDOW FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS OF HER LIFE.
ALICE CHOSE TO GO BACK TO WORK WHEN FINANCES GOT TIGHT. IT WAS EVIDENT THAT SHE WAS PROUD THAT SHE WAS ABLE TO HELP PROVIDE FOR HER FAMILY AND THE FARM AND WOULD SAY “WHEN THINGS GOT TIGHT, I WENT TO NORM AND ASKED ‘WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO GO BACK TO WORK’ AND HE SAID ‘YES, PLEASE’”.
ALICE WORKED FOR MANY YEARS AS A REGISTERED NURSE AT BOONE COUNTY HOSPITAL. SHE ALSO HELPED BRING HOME HEALTH CARE TO THE REGION BY STARTING A LOCAL SATELLITE OFFICE OUT OF ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL IN GRAND ISLAND, NEBRASKA, AND IN THAT ROLE WAS A BELOVED CAREGIVER FOR MANY PATIENTS.
WHENEVER SHE WOULD TELL OF GOING BACK TO WORK, SHE WOULD ALSO TELL OF HER FIRST PURCHASE … “I BOUGHT THEM - REFERRING TO NORM AND HIS FATHER GUS - A MILKING MACHINE AND TAUGHT THEM HOW TO USE IT.” ALICE’S FARM GIRL KNOWLEDGE WAS NOT ONLY HELPFUL THEN BUT THROUGHOUT HER MARRIAGE. HER FATHER, WHOM SHE DESCRIBED AS AN ABOVE AVERAGE FARMER, HAD TAUGHT HER WELL.
ALICE HAD TWO CHILDREN JOEYLN, ON FEBRUARY 18, 1965. THEN ALMOST EXACTLY 2 YEARS LATER ON FEBRUARY 19, 1967 SHE HAD HER BOY, MILAN. MILAN WAS THE ONLY SURVIVING BOY IN THE ANDERSON FAMILY. AFTER YEARS OF GIRLS, GRANNIE WAS SHOCKED THEY HAD ACTUALLY GOT A BOY AND WOULD RETELL THE STORY SAYING, “WHEN MILAN WAS BORN, THE DOCTOR SAID IT WAS A BOY. I LOOKED UP AT NORM AND SAID ‘WE HAVE A BOY’”. SHE ALSO MUST HAVE BEEN A BETTER MOTHER THAN MINE BECAUSE SHE CLAIMED HER CHILDREN NEVER FOUGHT. SOMETHING MY MOTHER DOES NOT CLAIM.
IN 1989, HER FAMILY WAS EXPANDED WHEN MY MOM MARRIED MY DAD, STEPHEN. WHILE ALICE MAY HAVE NOT APPROVED OF THE CITY BOY AT THE TIME, AFTER ABOUT 30 YEARS MY DAD FINALLY EARNED HER APPROVAL WHEN HE FULLY EMBRACED THE NEBRASKA LIFE TAKING HER UP TO VISIT HER FARM AND EVEN WEARING UNL GEAR.
MY PARENTS WENT ON TO PROVIDE ALICE WITH 2 GRANDDAUGHTERS– MYSELF AND MY SISTER KRISTI. GRANNIE LOVED TO SHOW US THE JOYS OF FARM LIFE OUTWORKING US BOTH WELL INTO HER 70S. HOWEVER, SHE MAY NOT HAVE APPROVED OF HOW WE FOUGHT. SISTERS, UNLIKE BROTHERS, FIGHT WITH WORDS WHICH CAN CUT DEEP. WHEN KRISTI AND I WOULD BE IN A MIDDLE OF AN ARGUMENT GRANNIE WOULD JUST COMMENT “I AM GLAD I HAD 5 BROTHERS AND NOT 5 SISTERS”
LATER ALICE’S FAMILY WAS EXPANDED AGAIN WHEN MY UNCLE MILAN MARRIED AUDRA IN 2015 AND KRISTI MARRIED KODY IN 2020. AUDRA AND KODY GAINED ALICE’S APPROVAL MUCH QUICKER THAN MY FATHER DID. AUDRA AND GRANNIE WOULD SPEND SALON DAYS TOGETHER AND YOU NEVER WOULD KNOW IF GRANNIE WOULD COME BACK WITH A MILKSHAKE, PURPLE HAIR, OR BOTH. KODY DID NOT HAVE TO DO MUCH TO GAIN GRANNIE’S APPROVAL. ALL IT TOOK WAS THE ACCENT AND CUTTING DOWN A FEW TREES.
ALICE LOVED TRAVELING. SOME OF HER FAVORITE TRIPS WERE WITH NORM, HER BROTHER LARS AND HIS WIFE LORIENE. A MEMORY SHE WAS REMINDED OF EVERY TIME THE FAMILY WOULD WATCH SPORTS WHEN SHE WOULD ASK: “HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO ONE OF THOSE BIG GAMES? WHEN I WENT TO VISIT LARS IN BOSTON HE TOOK US TO SEE THE BOSTON RED SOX”. TOGETHER THEY DID A HERITAGE TRIP TO NORWAY WHICH SHE CALLED THE HIGHLIGHT OF HER LIFE. WITH JO AND CHARLES SHE TRAVELED THROUGHOUT CANADA, WITH ALVIN AND JEANNE NELSON JETTED OFF HAWAII, AND WITH THE KIDS AND NORM (AND SOMETIMES DOROTHY CLARK TOO) THEY OFTEN HEADED ON ROAD TRIPS, WITH FIVE IN THE CAB AND FIVE SLEEPING IN THE BED OF THE TRUCK. HER FINAL BIG TRIP WAS TO AUSTRALIA FOR MY SISTER’S COLLEGE GRADUATION.
ALICE WAS A PERSON OF DEEP FAITH. AS AN EXAMPLE, WHEN OTHERS EXPRESSED CONCERNS ABOUT A DROUGHT, SHE WOULD SIMPLY REPLY, “I’M PRAYING ABOUT THAT.” SHE TRULY BELIEVED GOD WOULD PROVIDE, OFTEN SAYING “GOD SAYS, ‘I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU’ AND HE NEVER HAS” AND SHE WAS RIGHT. SHE NEVER EXPERIENCED A CROP FAILURE.
ALICE LOVED HER SDA COMMUNITY SERVING AT THE CHURCH AND FOR THE CONFERENCE FOR MANY YEARS. SHE ALSO OPENED HER HOUSE TO ITS MEMBERS AND THEIR HOME WAS OFTEN THE GATHERING SPOT AFTER CHURCH.
IN 2019, AS HER DEMENTIA PROGRESSED, SHE WENT TO LIVE WITH MY PARENTS IN LINCOLN WHERE SHE SPENT HER REMAINING 5 YEARS. SHE WAS AT PEACE WITH HER LIFE, READY TO GO TO SLEEP AND WAKE UP IN HER NEW HOME. NEAR THE END OF HER LIFE SHE OFTEN SAID, “EVERY NIGHT WHEN I GO TO BED, I ASK THE LORD THAT I NOT WAKE UP THE NEXT MORNING.” HER FINAL PRAYER WAS ANSWERED OCTOBER 19, 2024 WHEN SHE DIED PEACEFULLY IN HER SLEEP.
GRANNIE HAS LEFT US WITH THESE STORIES AND MEMORIES AND WE NOW WAIT UNTIL THE DAY WE ARE REUNITED. UNTIL THEN, SLEEP WELL GRANNIE.
Presented July 4, 2025
Welcome to our short service today.
The Bible is filled with stories and illustrations from the farm world. Sowers, weeds, plowing, sheep, goats, lambs, cattle, horses, dogs … and even the ability for a virtuous woman to select farm land.
The subject of our focus today, Mom, Grannie, or to some, Aunt Alice, was very in tune with these passages. She was, without question, a farm girl. But before I dive into a story about her, what are some of the things we often think about when we talk about raising or growing things on a farm?
What about children? That might be the most important thing grown on a farm, right?
Today, in this beautiful farmland setting, I’m going to walk you through the raising of some youngin’s. Follow me for a bit.
The stories of Alice and her husband Normen, as well as that of Marvin and his wife Helen, begin right here … which means the stories of many of you do too.
And it all starts with two sisters … Edla and Elna. This may take some concentration to follow but everyone we will talk about today … including likely you … begins with these two.
Edla and Elna were the only surviving children of their parents. They were servant tenant farmers at a place called Hackeberga Castle in Genarp, Skane Province, Sweden, where they were raised by their mother Karna and father Bengt. Edla would grow up and marry Jons Nilsson. Elna would grow up and marry Jons Hansson. They would all become tenant farmers.
Let’s set Edla aside for a moment and focus on Elna. Elna and Jons Nilsson would have a slew of children. Three of them would eventually come to Nebraska together, first near Lincoln and later up here. Two other brothers are buried near here, Ben at the Dahlsborg Cemetery and Per at the Salem Cemetery. But the brother (and wife) who we care about is whose grave we are standing before … Anders … your great, great great, or great great great grandfather. In Swedish tradition, he took the name Anders Jonsson which was later anglicized to Andew Johnson.
Anders, of course, would need a wife and as many men do he looked for a spouse that shared many of his mothers qualities. Well … a natural choice was nearby. Remember sister Edla. Edla quite admired her sister Elna and in fact chose to name a daughter after her … Elna Jondotter. That Elna would marry Anders … yep, you’re descended from some cousin marriages!
But let's talk a bit about Elna Johnson now … the farm wife who raised the most important of crops, her children. Many of Elnas children were born in Genarp by the castle but two, including Gustav or Gus, grandpa, great grandpa, or great great grandpa for you here today. We’ll go to his gravesite in just a moment but first let’s talk about two others who are buried here.
John was her oldest child. His wife Anna (who is Uncle Ben’s daughter, creating another cousins marriage) had one daughter, Ellen. Ellen married Matt Thompson, and they had many children together. Most of the Thompson markers you see in the cemetery here are your cousins. Little Rube, buried here by her Great Grandpa, as a trivia note, is the only family member known to have died from the Spanish flu pandemic.
Anders and Elna’s son August is also buried here alongside his parents. Unlike the others, August as well as Gus was born in Sodra Lajune, in Skaneland province in Sweden.
We don’t know tons about how Elna raised the children on her farm. What we do know from church records and family history is that she was both a woman of deep faith who lived out her Christianity in all walks of her life. She was also a woman of deep inner strength. She had been left behind with four children and her father to manage life in Sweden while Anders and three sons started the family’s new lives in Nebraska. She managed the farm, as well as the process of selling things and getting the family to America where three times, she would set up a new home.
Let’s now head up to where Gus is buried.
Perhaps the greatest testimony for Elna is the Bible passage, by their fruits you will know them. Elna had amazing children. Soon after arriving in Boone County and to the family farm, many of those kids left home … Mary married into the Solso family, George married Julia Kolden, Nels married Carrie Newton and John had married Anna when they all were still living in Sweden. That left August … whose grave we saw … and your Grandpa, Great, grandpa or great great grandpa Gus. August and Gus had recently returned from a farming adventure in South Dakota when Elna had a stroke and died. Anders went off to live with Mary and Gus was a bit lost. His mother had been his rock. But then, thanks to the Stretter family who are represented here today by Becky and Margaret, along came Katie. It was her turn to “farm” the next round of the family. Katie and Gus had five children, the baby boy who died and is buried by Anders and Elna, and Aunt Velda, Uncle Delmar, and our two … Marvin and Normen.
Like Elna, Katie was a very spiritual woman which she passed on to her children. The kids were in two clusters, Velda and Delmar and Marvin and Normen, who she called “the little boys.” Frankly, her little boys could have been called the overlooked boys for a good portion of their early lives as Katie was clearly focused on the other two. Still, she was moulding them and once the older two left home, they were clearly her focus, when she had the time.
One of Katie’s life challenges was her intense desire to accomplish much. In reading her diary, one does wonder if that perhaps near the end of her life she wishes that had not been so true. The family picked an interesting passage of scripture for her obituary, whatever thy hand finds to do, do it with all thy might.
What she had done, though, is set expectations high for the wives that Marvin and Normen would need. Perhaps, though, they both looked for someone who had their mother’s character, with just a bit more balance to life.
Marvin, of course, would find Helen, mother, grandmother, or great grandmother to many of you here today. She, in turn, raised her “farm youngins” You can judge yourselves as to how she did but it appears she did okay.
Normen found his farm girl, in of all places, a city. Perhaps, though, it was God who found Alice for Normen.
Alice was unquestionably a farm girl and a great benefit to both the two bachelors at the farm and to the farm property itself. She brought a lot of farm knowledge to them. She was the youngest in her farm family and had learned a ton as her father’s main farm hand. She didn’t think there was much, if anything, that a farm boy could do that she couldn’t do, perhaps even better. But she did have a nice way of leaving Normen feeling he was in charge of such things.
Alice also restored some Katie to the farm. While it may not have been in the same way all remembered the Katie farm, Alice brought flowers back. Like Katie, she soon was also providing much of the farm’s financial support, Alice through her work as an outstanding registered nurse.
She also followed Elna’s footsteps. Elna was the instigator of many of the early home additions. Alice picked up on that and soon there was indoor plumbing, and later a basement, two additional bedrooms, and an expanded living room space.
She also restored adventure. Apart from traveling to help with newborns and going to camp meeting, Katie and Gus had only taken two vacations, once as a family to Minnesota and once, for just two days, to grieve a bit after Keith had died. Elna, of course, had lived a life that was one adventure after another … with three major moves. Alice picked up from her and had her family on the move … the Northeast, Florida, the Southeast … and later in life into many far off lands. She was never short on adventure.
She was also ALL IN as she raised her most important items on the farm, her two kids. There was never a need she didn’t step in to fill for them. No Adventist grade school? No problem, she’s help start one. A dying church in Petersburg? She’d motivate starting one in Albion, including getting a school house to move in. She was an interesting contrast, deeply shy on one hand but very much in the forefront at other times. She was described as quiet and shy by some in college, but yet was class president. She “let the men lead out” at the local church, but was the one the Adventist Conference wanted on its committee to represent her region.
All of these qualities poured into who she was … and who she raised … the farm’s next torchbearers, Joelyn and Milan.
Like the preceding matriarchs we’ve spoken of today, Alice was a woman of deep faith. She was a faithful church member, and leader. But she also was a person who believed wholeheartedly in the ability of the Holy Spirit to work on the hearts of those around her. She did not force her faith on others, just wished it for them.
In the parable of the soils, Jesus speaks to the different types of soils that seeds fall upon and what happens as a result … a roadway where seeds are eaten by the birds, rocky soil that doesn’t enable strong roots to be put down, weed filled soil where the good seeds simply get choked out. And then the good soil, from which a bountiful harvest could spring. We tend to think about this parable as that of the sower who makes good and bad decisions on where the seeds land … but that was never Jesus’ point. It was about what kind of soil would receive the seeds. The seeds were simply sewn. Jesus doesn’t call out the sower, he comments on the soil. The sower wants every one, all soils, to find success.
Alice lived her faith the same way … with her community, her church family, her children and grandchildren. She sowed the seed but left the soil choice to them … hoping desperately that they would choose to be the kind of soil that would lead them to be with her on a heavenly farm.
You have a great heritage, a legacy of being raised to live in God’s grace and love. It leaves but one question to be answered, what soil will you choose to be? Alice wanted nothing more in life than for all those she loved to be with her in heaven. There was no harvest that mattered more to this farm girl.