Deadlines for The Vasa Star - the Vasa Order of America.

Bishop Hill Lodge #683
Bishop Hill, IL
Bishop Hill Lodge #683 held its October meeting with Halloween Gotcha & Costume Party
(left to right Jasper Jenner, Lars Jenner, Judy Anderson and Jeff Anderson).
Bishop Hill Lodge #683 held its November meeting by having the election of
Officers, and a program was given by Harlan Nelson on his antique toys.
Submitted by: Jeff Anderson
Oak Leaf
Lodge #685
Thousand Oaks, CA
Ann Marie Wotky is talking about her expedition
to Antarctica.
This year has ‘flown by.’ We have had
our monthly meetings and socials. Of
course we celebrated Midsummer on
June 25th at Vasa Park in Agoura, CA, as
well as the “Marknad” on September
19th. The second annual contest among
the local lodges to determine which lodge
made the best Swedish meatballs was a
huge success.
On July 25th we had a swim party
with a barbecue at the home of our
Chairman which was a very enjoyable
event for lodge members.
Our October social was a fall party
and belated 42nd Anniversary of Oak
Leaf Lodge attended by members and
guests. A talk by our member, Torsten
Olsson, about the model of a Stave
Church he built over a period of 2-1/2
months, which is now housed at the
Scandinavian Cultural Center at
California Lutheran University.
Each member received a colored ribbon
which denoted their years of membership.
There were three Charter members
present at this special time, they
were Aina Dackow, Lorraine Olsson and
Mary Ann Kenyon.
In November our lodge members
shared a traditional American Thanksgiving
meal which was followed by a talk
and slides by our member Anne Marie
Wotkyns telling of her Polartec
Expedition to Antarctica aboard the
Swedish ship “Oden.”
In December we celebrated the comings
of Christmas with a wonderful
Christmas dinner prepared by our fabulous
cooks, most all Swedish dishes. There was
singing of Christmas songs, both English
and Swedish, accompanied by Torkil
Hammer and his “Nyckelharpa.”
Submitted by:
Judith “Judi” Ann Palmquist
Skogen Lodge #700
Redding, CA
September 18th we celebrated our 37th
Anniversary at a local restaurant, with the
initiation of two new members; Karen
Stephens and Fred Erickson. We also
received a surprise visit from our District
Master Scott Matthews and his wife
Katherine at the dinner. We were entertained
by the Redding Riverside Chorus, a
barbershop singing group.
Ruben Swede Englund, our chaiman,
spoke in Turlock, California earlier in the
month of September at the Jenny Lind
Lodge on the history of Swedish copper in
the community. Our lodge had two
Scandinavian costumes on display in the
state fair this year which brought a great
deal of attention to our lodge in Redding.
During our monthly meeting in
October our cultural presentation was
done on Scandinavians in Shasta County.
Our member Nanci Courtemarche did a
wonderful presentation on Peter Lassen,
the founder of the mountain range east of
Redding. In the future we will be doing
cultural presentations on Swedish miners
in Shasta County during the gold rush
days, and Swedish historical name sites in
this county during the 1800’s. We will
also have cultural presentations on
Swedish-Americans in the Vasa organization.
On Sunday December 12th our lodge
celebrated “Sankta Lucia” with many
members present and again with many
guests. The festivities were held in our
lodge which dates back to the early 1870's.
Our lodge was well decorated by the decoration
committee headed by Karen Elliott
and Virginia Slottrup. We were all served
a Swedish “Julbord” headed up by members
under the direction of Nanci
Courtemarche. The Lucia procession was
led by Linnea Spencer our Lucia for this
year with a parade of some beautiful
Continued on page 19
Shown here are the two costumes that were on
display at the state fair this year. The Swedish
costume comes from Rättvik in Dalarna, and
the other one comes from Norway and is from
the area known as Telemark..
Page 18 Vasa Star January-March 2011