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This book is delivered as a PDF download. 115 pages. Evind Birger Christoffersen Masonry Artist and the Building of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, by Carol A. Anderson. Four-year old Eivind Birger Christoffersen (my father) emigrated from Hamar, Norway, with his parents and two younger siblings in 1905. The family lived in Minneapolis where his father was a bricklayer and where Eivind learned the trade. In the early twenties Dad relocated to Chicago, the first city to embrace the building of skyscrapers. He married Dorothy Olander in 1926, became the father of two, and lived the good life until the Depression changed everything. Eivind and family relocated to northern Wisconsin in the thirties, and added five more children. He found work wherever he could during those years. After World War II, construction in his area improved, and he found work throughout southern Wisconsin. In 1948 he was asked to rescue a failed church building project in New Haven, Iowa. The experience led him to discover Osage. He was asked to become the builder of the new Lutheran church. In 1951 our family moved to Osage. Talk about “building from scratch!” The church and parish hall were to be built of native Iowa lithographic limestone; such stone was to be found locally. Dad wore many new hats during the project—from teaching a worker how to cut and shape the stone to meeting with the ladies' aid society on their desires of the new kitchen, to trips to Minneapolis to meet with the architects! His evenings, usually till midnight, were spent poring over blueprints and laying out the next day’s schedule. When completed in 1955, I know the building project gave Eivind the most joy and satisfaction of any project he’d been responsible for. Today, nearly 70 years later, the church receiving the honor to be listed on the “National Register of Historic Places,” would make him smile. There were two reasons why I wanted to write this book: 1) To honor my brother Paul (1937-2018), who had put together a database of our father’s jobs, large and small, from the years, 1946-1976, and 2) To hopefully inspire someone in the church to seek national recognition for the complex. That person turned out to be a parishioner, Jerry Fisk, who spent over three years in the pursuit and was successful in those efforts. -
This book is delivered as a PDF download. 194 pages. Musings, Memories, Matrimony and more..., by Carol A. Anderson begins, “In 2007 I signed up for a writing class at a local coffeehouse. I’d learned the teacher who was offering a “memoir writing course” had a gentle manner and didn’t intimidate her students by correcting their work with a red pen. I hadn’t planned to write my memoirs; certainly my life has been all too ordinary to make an interesting book. A chapter or two, perhaps, but write an entire book? But, I did have an immediate goal—I wanted to put on paper thoughts about my brother who’d just passed away.” In Musings, Memories, Matrimony and more... Carol writes about time.- “As a youngster, growing up in Northern Wisconsin, I could hardly wait to have my sixth birthday so I’d be eligible to be a first grader. Oh, how slowly time moved until I was six.
- Growing up, the summer vacations lasted forever. I could hardly wait for the time August, when school would begin again.
- Our move to Iowa found time faster. During the high school years I babysat, worked at after-school jobs, had more friends, and began to date.
- Next came college, marriage and within the year, I was a mother. Time took on new meaning as I tried to find time a nap, time take the baby for a walk, time to make dinner, time to do laundry and who knows what else.
- By the time I was thirty years old I was mother of four, living in Madison, Wisconsin. Finding time for each, taking them to activities, teaching them skills, reading to them, listening to them, plus finding time to run a household and scheduling time to complete my college coursework found me one very tired mother at the end of the day.
- Career days, joining the workforce meant finding a “balance of time” in my life. Our children were leaving the nest and our parent’s changing needs required more of the time in our lives when we supposedly have more time. In essence, there’s some truth to the statement, but I find a certain urgency about time as I age. How much time do I have left on this earth to accomplish the goals I’ve set for myself? I suppose I’ll find out, like everyone else, as I “take one day at a time.”
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This book is delivered as a PDF download. 142 pages. Never Move The King, by Carol A. Anderson. Carol introduces her second book by writing… “Why should I write a story about my husband Paul and include brief histories of his parents and his Aunt Carrie? Perhaps because we’re all products of both genealogy and environment. The stories of those family members who preceded him help shed light on just who he is—a combination of inherited genes and environment. After I wrote a memoir about my formative years, (my parents, siblings, marriage and family) I knew I wanted to write about Paul. His family background is unique, and rather complicated. I wanted our children, the focus of this effort, to have it “in writing.” I didn’t include much about our courtship or marriage—it’s in Musings, Memories, Matrimony and More.”