Remember When?

Reproduced from the 1995 Centennial booklet

• Many years ago, the church sustained some severe damage from a bad wind storm which partially blew in the building. After what must have been a lot of hard work, it was repaired and long metal rods were erected on both sides of the church to reinforce the walls. Three of the rods are still in place on the west side. The children have had a good time trying to climb these rods over the years!

• Men and boys always sat on the east side of the church, women and girls on the west.

• There was a drain pipe under the basement floor leading out to the ditch. After one heavy rain, water backed up through the drain. Tables and benches were found floating in the basement.

• During the time when English was becoming more accepted, confirmands were given a choice between being confirmed in Norwegian or English.

• Before a new floor and carpet was installed in the basement, there was just the original cement floor (painted red) with some cracks in it. After a heavy rain, angle worms would sometimes come up through the cracks. The children found this quite fascinating; the adults, however, weren't so impressed!

• The pulpit originally had a nice pedestal base. Many years ago, a pastor decided that he preferred to be on a more visual level with the congregation, so parishioners came to church one Sunday to find the pedestal sawn off and discarded, with the pulpit definitely on a lower level. The pedestal remained cast aside under the front steps to the double doors until the new addition was built.

• Before there was a well at the church, we brought all the water with us from home in cream cans, so we carried it in and out. Despite this inconvenience, there were big church suppers held for the public, and much good fellowship in the kitchen.

• Fun for the children has always been playing "ring around the poles" in the basement. It wasn't as much fun though, after they were covered with carpeting instead of paint. When we still had an outside stairway on the south, the children enjoyed sliding down the stairway railings and often went home with white paint on their Sunday clothes! Another favorite play area has been the road ditch and the culvert. Parents would sometimes wonder where all the children had disappeared to when it was time to leave.

• Before the church was remodeled we often blew fuses on overloaded circuits. We were fortunate in having Herman Rude, an electrician, always there with spare fuses on hand for the emergency.