WWW.OARINGINTHERIVER.COM Master Directory
Rural Bryant, So. Dakota
Want to ride piggyback? PVF's the place to do it!
CORN (AND FAMILIES) GROWS TALL AND HAPPY IN BRYANT!
PLAIN VIEW FARM...
Where the Gate of Loving Hearts is Always Open to All Those Young at Heart or Having Tender, Childlike Hearts!
NOW PLEASE ENTER AND JOIN US!
This was the way things looked in the earliest days, so you can see there was a lot of change and improvement, largely produced not by happenstance but by hard work and much love and even some tears and laughter--and God's blessing, year after year, to bring things to fruition.
Hazel McLoed, Caroline Stadem's daughter, kicking feisty rooster!
Piggy got out of the pigpen! Cora and Pearl chased, but the porker got away!
Newly published: "Reflections on Plain View Farm," by Stadem Grandson Ronald Ginther, Composed on PVF at a Reunion:
"Reflections on Plain View Farm," by Stadem Grandson Ron Ginther
ANNOUNCING STEPHEN STADEM'S WATERCOLOR PICTURE OF PLAIN VIEW FARM:
Stephen Stadem's Plain View Farm Picture on the Buffalo Mound
We also have Pearl Ginther's beautiful, lily and daffodil decorated 1955 Confirmation Certificate (with a picture of Christ and disciples at the Last Supper), that we can offer, for a donation to Eloise Hefty, PVF Secretary, for the Heritage Center Project--that you can also frame. Please contact Pearl or Ronald Ginther for the certificate to be sent to you free of postage charge. Picture of the Certificate can be seen at the bottom of the page.
Bernice Stadem Schaefer's heart-warming poem, "Home at PlainView Farm," is available! Just contact us. We can send you a copy of this poem she and Russ sent out at Christmas one year. Reading it, you feel you are right there in the scenes she describes with such love and longing. It is quality to frame in a golden frame, or a wooden one (whatever you prefer). You will find it a wonderful gift to the family or a loved one for a special occasion, or just as a remembrance we must never forget of the "way it used to be."
Note the little chapel beside the house and barn, and a red cutter (which can be called a sleigh too, for us who don't know better). These are things we want on the Farm to preserve its heritage and make it attractive to share with the wider community. It is so very timely for us to discover this wonderful tribute poem of Bernice's, as we look to the building of the new Heritage Center and all its accoutrements such as the chapel and cutter, fountain and pools, giftshop, bookstore, and archives. Her joy and heart were at PVF and all its doings and memories--who could deny that, as she almost single-handedly got reunions going year after year, establishing reunions as a family tradition that has lasted up to this day. Without her contributions to heritage, we would have little or nothing we could celebrate together, but would be split off into individual families, without even a central place to meet on the Farm. She kept the spirit of it alive, and it was her great love for her parents and family and the Lord above all, that energized all her strenuous efforts on their behalf in the reunions. Imagine, baking all ten to twenty loaves of bread, year after year, for everyone to enjoy! MMMM--fresh-baked bread! We haven't had any since she could no longer do it--and Grandma did it before her, with no doubt Elizabeth pitching in too. We must restart these traditions, or lose them completely. Now is the time--and now is spelled NOW, properly with capitals for emphasis!
A picture taken especially for daughter Pearl, with Alfred Stadem and Bergit his beloved wife sitting on son Art's land he bought before his passing. Papa Alfred wrote on back of picture: "9-13-1957, In Memory of your Birthday, Pearl"
PLAIN VIEW FARM HERITAGE CENTER PROJECT LAUNCHED ON THE WATERS OF FAITH IN A BOUNTIFUL, EVER-FAITHFUL, PROVIDING GOD!
We have a new, thrilling project going at Plain View Farm, destined to launch us forth into this new era of ministry as the Stadem families! Called the barn heritage center, this structure will house a kitchen, apartment for caretakers, a loft for storage, a wheelchair access bathroom and shower, a sound and light system, a stage for Plain View Farm productions and events, archives display cases, and space for a good amount of people to enjoy the facility and the various events and presentations--not to mention space for children to play on the rainy days or during thunderstorms. Reunions, church retreats, heritage classes, crafts, preaching, evangelism, potlucks--there is no end of the wonderful use God is going to make of this barn heritage center. We have sketches of this facility, both floors, for you to view, which will soon be on-line, with a link to them on this page.
This fulfills a need felt and evidenced for years--having a big enough, equipped center for the growing activities and attendance at Plain View Farm, not only at Reunion time, but through the rest of the year when churches sent out groups for renewal and various classes. The matriarch of the Stadem clan is Pearl Ginther, who is the eldest daughter of Alfred and Bergit and now the leader of their family (once numbering nine, 7 girls and 2 boys). Alfred Jorgen Peter Stadem built the barn (portrayed in his grandson Stephen Stadem's watercolor picture) that this beautiful center will replace. Alfred, known as "Papa," did it himself, with his pioneering, sodbuster's brawn and a mustard seed of genuine faith--and pioneer Norske smarts, needless to say! With such a little seed of faith, Jesus said we could move mountains of impossibility, for nothing, he said, is impossible with God! We believe the Lord Jesus. We believe God's Word over man's. Vain is the help and strength of mere man. With God we can do all things! But we need that little mustard seed faith to begin and carry through to the completion of the project. Do we have that much faith, a little mustard seed of faith? Yes! Pearl Ginther already demonstrated this overcoming, believing faith, this wilderness-conquering, pioneering faith that is worthy of her dad and also her Norwegian forebears--in the saving and restoration of her church's unique and beautiful original church building (now called Mt. View Chapel, Edgewood, Washington). The story of that dramatic rescue of Mt. View Lutheran church's heritage and its beautiful, landmark chapel is given on other pages of the Plain View Farm websites listed on the main PVF directories. But now again, she rises valiantly to lead us to raise funds and contributions to get this wonderful barn heritage center going and completed in a year's time, so that it can be dedicated at the next Reunion in 2009.
Is your heart touched deeply by this, dear friend of Plain View Farm? Do you wish to join her and the families to see this become a glowing reality? NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO SHARE IN THE BLESSING BY GIVING TO IT! We shall see Almighty God come through, as we already have faith for it, and some of the money. We have more than enough to start, but not yet enough to finish it. I estimate that we will need at least 100,000, and we are believing God for someone to contribute most or all of that amount--having already prayed for it, Stadem Families Matriarch Pearl Ginther leading the prayer. You can contribute in honor of, or in memory of, a loved one, or just make a contribution for the sake of preserving pioneer immigrant farm heritage that actually began in a sod house in Dakota territorial days only a few miles from Plain View Farm! We have prepared a Certificate, suitable for framing, that will be your momento of your gift. We have posted a picture of it on this page so you can see what you will receive, signed by Pearl Stadem-Ginther and PVF Secretary, Eloise, in gratefulness for your gift to the Heritage Center. As the popular TV series about a Scandinavian family, "I Remember Mama," demonstrated, the mainstream of Americans can identify with the Stadem pioneer experience, as they all confronted the same challenges and tests and eventual triumphs on the same Prairies as you see in rural Bryant, where the Farmstead is located. This golden heritage, which contains the core values of America in their fullest expression--love of God, love of freedom, love of country, love of church, love of godly Christian lifestyles, love of the Bible, love of family, love of friends and neighbors and community, and great emphasis on education, hard work and self-improvement, community development, cultural advance, and loads and loads of fun and food and fellowship, all flourishing here at Plain View Farm, and are still very much alive and celebrated. Come, join the celebration of the very things that made America great! Contribute whatever you can toward this worthy project of the Plain View Farm Heritage Center.
NOW HERE IS BERNICE SCHAEFER'S "AT THE OLD HOME PLACE," HER REMINISCENCES OF THE REUNION OF 1986, WHEN THEY CELEBRATED THE GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY OF MYRTLE AND BILL, AND THE HOMECOMING OF CORA AND CARL. PETER STADEM WAS ALSO A'COURTIN' KARI, AND THE OLD FARM WAS A BEAUTIFUL SETTING FOR THEIR GROWING ROMANCE, INDEED. THIS WILL REVIVE OLD MEMORIES AND YOUR LOVE AND JOY OF FELLOWSHIP WITH LOVED ONES, WHICH CAN HAPPEN AGAIN, EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO COME, IF YOU WILL GIVE NOW TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR OTHERS.
"At the Old Home Place," Reminiscences of Reunion 1989, by Bernice Schaefer
Why give memorials to a Heritage Center? Here are some reasons we can think of, scriptural and also from our cultural inheritance over the ages.
"Why Give Memorials--Some Good Reasons You can Think About
The John Morrell Meat Company of Sioux Falls, SD, Celebrating 100 Years in 2009, Supports the PVF Heritage Project!
We pray for a big check, as our God is a Big God--and not even 1,000,000 is an impossibility with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!
Already sent to Pearl Ginther to pay the Morells Company insurance money due:
The President of the John Morrell Companies called the Grandson of Pearl Ginther and also spoke 1/2 hour on the phone to Pearl Ginther herself and said he would grant an amount to the Heritage Center, and also pay out the full insurance money due her as widow of former John Morrell Company foreman Robert Ginther! Here is the check sent to her, as it is the full amount, in insurance. We praise God for it, as this will enable her to pay for her trip to the Heritage Center Dedication, June 2009, on Plain View Farm!
A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: The president of John Morrell Companies has just called Pearl A. Ginther to announce a donation to the Heritage Center of Plain View Farm. She will also receive a ham, and the full payment of the insurance that as widow she is entitled to since the death of her husband Robert L. Ginther in 1947. This grant will help the building of the Heritage Center immeasurably, for many reasons. We salute John Morrell Company, which is celebrating its 100th year, the Centennial of the company, in 2009. It has shown by this generous and gracious grant that it supports the heritage of the godly values and Christian and family based-values of the South Dakotan farms and small towns that made America so strong today. The president was very interested to hear the uses the Heritage Center building will be put to, as this legacy and heritage are shared with one and all, with the families of Alfred and Bergit Stadem, as well as Bryant and the surrounding communities of the Dakotas and the Midwest. Thank you ever so much, John Morrell Company. God bless you all there!
South Dakota became a State in 1889, and this is the Centennial Stamp Ruth Stadem Harrington sent to Pearl Ginther on her 80th birthday, Sept. 13, 1089, on the Centennial of her birth state, South Dakota. Now Pearl is nearing 100 herself, a Centenarian she will be--God be praised!!
NOTICE TO APPEAR IN BRYANT DAKOTAN PAPER:
"Update on Plain View Farm Heritage Project:
Mr. Joe Sebring, President of John Morrell Companies, called Pearl (Stadem) Ginther Dec. 15, at her home in Washington State to announce John Morrell will donate to the Stadem families's Heritage Center Project, in commemoration Of the 100th Year (Centennial) of John Morrells in 2009. Pearl Ginther will also turn 100 years old on Sept. 13, 2009. President Sebring has since that call sent the full amount of insurance money due her as widow of Robert L. Ginther, former John Morrell foreman In Sioux Falls, who died in a private plane crash with Pearl's brother Art Stadem, an Augustana College student at the time, near Baltic, SD, on Jan. 9, 1947.
Already there is sufficient funds to start the construction on PVF (as confirmed by Steve Stadem, Heritage Center Project supervisor), donated since Pearl began the funding drive in August 2008. DON'T STOP GIVING, HOWEVER, AS WE WILL NEED AT LEAST $100,000 to finish it! This coming John Morrells grant is much appreciated, showing their strong commitment to support and strengthen Bryant and other local communities in their efforts to preserve and share with present-time young people and also future generations our truly golden Pioneer and Christian farm family values, faith in God, and cultural heritage.
Laura Ingalls's book series and TV shows based on it, the equally popular "I Remember Mama" TV series about a turn of the prior century Scandinavian family, even the Canadian "Anne of Green Gables" saga and TV series, all prove the continuing great appeal to millions of Americans of our pioneer forefathers� faith, values, and legacy, among both children and adults. It behooves us not to keep all this to ourselves, but to share it with others: thus the PVF Heritage Center, which will provide a wonderful means in the Bryant area. Contributions from families, churches, businesses, and clubs are most welcome and will be given recognition at the Center.
Heritage Center Gift Envelopes will soon be on their way to Eloise Hefty, and we will have some available at Pearl Ginther's too.
Please send contributions and queries to: Eloise Hefty, Secretary Plain View Farm, 2820 S. St. Charles Lane, Sioux Falls, SD 57103. Tel: (605) 335-3153. She is presently on vacation until May, so sorry if you have written or called and got no response. Please contact Pearl Ginther, and we can forward your messages to Eloise, often with just an email. She edits the Stadem families newsletter, the Samtaleren, as well, which carries information on the Heritage Center project. Pres. Joe Sebring also sent Pearl Ginther a nice big ham via Federal Express for Christmas, and she says it was much enjoyed at a gala family Christmas dinner!
Pearl says she is so happy to see this wonderful project blossom as it is doing, as she thinks of her beloved parents, Alfred and Bergit Stadem of Plain View Farm, and thinks how very happy they would be to see it too. A grand future with much sharing and ministry and plain, old-fashioned fun and fellowship, indeed, is assured for Plain View Farm's heritage as the shining torch is handed to the younger generation in this most meaningful way. Bryant and the whole area will be richly blessed, there is no doubt.
--Contributed by Ronald Ginther, son of Pearl A. Ginther"
CALLING ALL WOOD CARVERS! We need you as volunteers to carve the beautiful, interwined Norwegian acanthus leaves and other traditional Norwegian motifs on the Heritage Center, to give it a truly authentic Norwegian or Scandinavian appearance! Can you come and do that work of love and sharing of your Godgiven gift for wood carving with others in this beautiful center of Norwegian Christian Heritage? Here is your opportunity to make your art available and meaningful to many people for years and years to come! Please contact Steve Stadem, via his address given on this page, or contact us via our mailing address, which is: P.O. Box 212, Puyallup, WA 98371. This Norwegian Art Book, which Pearl Ginther and her son showed visiting Holbek cousin Rune Holbek, has many examples of expert tapestry and also wood carving in Norway, if you want to see what they are all about.
HERE IS VISIBLE PROOF OF OUR URGENT PRESENT NEED TO GROW AND MOVE INTO A MUCH BIGGER FACILITY: The ever growing clan of Stadems have been meeting for the last ten years or more in a small, unimproved shed that is called the Spise Hutte (another name might be "Snugge Hutte" or the "Sardine Canne"!). There we (not all, by any means, but all that can squeeze in) meet and have meals and present programs as best we can in the extremely tight quarters. The barn Alfred Stadem built (which you see in Steve Stadem's picture above) was started in 1942 and lasted about 50 years but did not survive a storm a few years ago and is now removed, leaving space on the grounds for a new barnlike meeting place, the Plain View Farm Heritage Center. It will be a wonderful thing to have real elbow room and a place for the many activities and programs in the clean, bright, new Heritage Center! The small old Spise Hutte can then be retired honorably to serve usefully as a storage building for the games sets, mowing equipment and other farm maintenance items.
"VELKOMMEN" or, Welcome, in Norwegian is rendered here with Rosemaling. Rosemaling is a traditional Norwegian folk art that originated and developed in the rural villeys of Norway during the 18th and 19th centuries. It had its beginnings in Norway's small, green valleys where it was used as a form of interior decoration on walls, ceilings, trunks, bridal trousseau trunkis, and other items in the rural home. It served to brighten up the home's interiors considerably during the long winters of Northern sunlessness.
Each district develooped its own style of rosemaling with that from Telemark and Hallingdal districts becoming the most highly developed and enduring. These various styles have been passed down through generations of painters, thus preserving this unique art in its most original and traditional form.
With it flowing scrolls and flowers, rosemaling is recognized as one of the most sophisticated and mature forms of decorative painting. Preserving this art form so all may enjoy and share its beauty is one of our purposes at the Plain View Farm Heritage Center. We will have classes in rosemaling to train new artists in this wonderful Norwegian art.
PLEASE WRITE TO US, BETTER YET COME IN PERSON, DEAR HOLBEKS AND STADEMS IN NORWAY! OUR FIRST HOLBECK RELATION, COUSIN RUNE HOLBEK FROM THE MANDAL AREA, HAS JUST COME TO VISIT US, IN FACT, AS THIS PICTURE PROVES. SEE ANY FAMILY RESEMBLANCES IN THIS PICTURE?
COUSIN RUNE HOLBEK WAS GIVEN A SLICE OF CARROT CAKE BY PEARL STADEM GINTHER, AND A SLICE OF FRESH PUMPKIN PIE SMOTHERED WITH WHIPPED CREAM, AND HE LIKED IT, HE SAID. HERE IS PEARL WITH TWO OF HER PUMPKINS GROWN IN HER GARDEN, AND SHE LOOKS LIKE SHE IS FIXING TO BEAT SOME EGGS AND MAKE SOME DELICIOUS PUMPKIN CUSTARD WITH THOSE PUMPKINS, WHICH IS ANOTHER WAY TO MAKE PUMPKIN DELICIOUS EATING! IF WE DON'T HAVE A RECIPE IN THE COOKBOOKS LISTED BELOW, WE WILL PUT PEARL GINTHER'S IN SOON.
COUSIN RUNE HOLBEK PROMISED TO RETURN SOON. PEARL AND HER FAMILY HAD A WONDERFUL MEETING WITH HIM AND IT WAS A GREAT THRILL TO BE REMEMBERED, BUT MAY THERE BE MORE, MANY MORE SUCH VISITS BY HOLBEKS--OR, BETTER, ALL (STADEMS AND HOLBEKS) COME TO THE NEXT REUNION, LATE JUNE 2009. THE DATE WILL BE POSTED HERE ON THIS PAGE, THOUGH IT WILL BE THE LAST WEEK OF JUNE AND USUALLY THE FIRST DAY OF JULY.
OUR SPECIAL GREETINGS AND CALL TO OUR SPECIAL STADEM AND HOLBEK RELATIVES IN NORWAY: Most recent word, a Holbek family is coming in 2010 to the Reunion--so the true reunion of Holbeks is coming as we unite on Plain View Farm. And how about you Stadems over in Norway? You are being outdone by the Holbeks down in the south part round Mandal! Please, all you dear loved ones residing in our ancestral Holbeck-Stadem homeland of Norway, let us hear from our related Stadems and Holbecks--a card, a letter of support, would be a grand thing--something to read out at the dedication of the Heritage Center next reunion of 2009. If you can volunteer your labor and help build, or finish the Heritage Center interior facilities (plumbing, electrical, etc), or even can carve Norwegian style on the posts and door frames, you may contact the Plain View Farm project secretary: Eloise Hefty. Her address is: 2820 S. St. Charles Lane, Sioux Falls, SD 57103. You may also contact Ronald Ginther (Pearl Ginther's contact person, by writing to him at P.O. Box 212, Puyallup, WA 98371). He asks that no funds be sent to him for the project(s), as that is the responsibility of the PVF secretary, Eloise Hefty, and he would never ask for funds from anyone to be sent to him, as he is not a business person in any way and has no desire to be.
Above all, pray for this project, that it go forward SPEEDILY, so that the eldest Stadem daughter (who turns 99 this September 13, 2008) will be able to set her dainty foot in it at the grand dedication this coming July 2009 and give glory to God in her dedicatory words and prayer! This is her golden dream, and this our own golden opportunity. There will not be a better time than this time--you can be sure of that, considering the events in this world and in this country! You can make it a shining reality, with prayer, with actual funds, and with construction abilities, with support, however you can help out (as this is a community project, not just a Stadem family endeavor, which will reach out to bless the entire community of Bryant and the surrounding state and the world).
Pearl Stadem Ginther says: "I want to see the barn heritage center go forward! It is a real necessity. It is on my heart so strongly. I want to see it done before I am 100. [in prayer] Mama and Papa would be so joyful, and even get in on it in heaven perhaps. To see souls saved! Nothing is impossible with God!"
The Plain View Farm Heritage Brochure is now out and available in an easy to mail (without envelope), printed and illustrated format! Please write and order some to be sent to you, and it has all the information you will need to show people what it is about, plus contact information. The gift envelope will soon be printed and available with it. We will show it here too.
PLAIN VIEW FARM HERITAGE CENTER MOTTO: That His Light, Jesus, Shine Through Our Heritage--"To God be the Glory!"
As we know well, the Gospel, Christ's Church of which He is the Head, and all worthy projects lifting up Christian heritage and values costs money--that is a fact of life. We must raise the money, what part of the needed amount we can, and our faithful God will provide the rest--which will probably be at least $100,000 to do the facility adequately and well! He has proven this time and time again, that He is Our Provider!
HERITAGE CENTER PROJECT MANAGER STEVE STADEM WRITES TO HIS AUNT PEARL: "We sure have an exciting year ahead in relation to the Farm. Jesus in PLAIN VIEW. It's exciting to realize that the Heritage Center will be officially dedicated and quite possibly all framed up. We'll have to do the project in phases. 1st phase: foundation/plumbing/some electrical; 2nd phase: frame and shell all in; 3rd phase: finish work, etc. Thanks for your enthusiasm for this project! Know that your Mama and Papa had tent/revival meetings on the Farm has been a huge motivation for me. I can't wait to have a praise/thanksgiving/worship service in the Heritage Center/Barn. Hallelujah! We all love you bunches and bunches out here in South Dakota. Thanks be to God for you, your family and how you've lived out your faith. Your faith has been a tremendous example for us all! We want to pass our heritage to all the world in need. To God be the glory!! Lovingly, your nephew Stephen
Pearl Stadem Ginther With 100 Real Dollars as Her New Birthday Coat!
Pearl Stadem Ginther's Brief Bio:
"Let's Get Acquainted With...Pearl Ginther," A Brief Bio by The Golden Rose Community, Puyallup, Washington
"The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hands to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you."--Deuteronomy 28:8.
Our poor old Plain View Farm saw many years of being forsaken, the grass grown up like a field in the yard, the paint flaking off the old farmhouse, fences falling down, the hedge and gate lilacs overgrown, unwanted guests like mice and passing vagrants, and general shabbiness to take the place of the once neat, trim, much beloved farmstead--but that is all going to change dramatically:
"Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah, for the Lord delighteth in thee."--Isaiah 62:4
See how God multiplies the Widow's Mite to Pay for the Entire Heritage Center in the coming weeks:
PRAYER BY PEARL STADEM GINTHER AND SON AND DAUGHTER, NOVEMBER 7, 2008:
"Scripture says it so we believe that where two or three are present, there the Lord is present in our midst, and we believe for the Heritage Center to go forward NOW in ministry of souls to be saved and healing by Jesus' Grace--and that we will be a testimony there to the Bryant Community and surrounding area just as (Grandpa) Alfred and (Grandma) Bergit Stadem were all their lives. Therefore, we pray that God will come through for us Stadem Families at P.V.F., NOW, for NOW is the day of salvation."--Signed: Lovingly, Pearl Ginther, Ron Ginther, Roberta Lee Ginther
LONGTIME CHRISTIAN FRIEND OF THE STADEMS AND THEIR ATTORNEY, ART HENDRICKSON, GAVE THIS GODLY ADVICE TO THE STADEM RELATIONSHIP IN 1971:
"There is another thought that comes to me. As a result of the Christian [way or mold] in which your father and mother [Alfred and Bergit Stadem] raised their family, you are all living Christian lives, and laboring to spread the Christian gospel, far and wide, and yet each one in a different manner, as well as in different denominations. In this time, when differing denominations are planning and attempting to unite in their Christian activities, perhaps the Stadem family, and their families, should get together, and try to unite their efforts. We are living in a new age--a new era: Who knows how the Lord might be able to use the Stadem families, with preachers, missionaries, lay people working in the Kingdom, and not to forget the Ewalt Memorial Bible School, Incorporated, of P.O. Box 518, Atascadero, Calif. 93422, which I assume has publication facilities [Russell Schaefer, instructor at Ewalt, indeed had a printing press]. Perhaps the Lord has a plan. If He has, and we all join in praying Him to lead and guide all of us, we may be certain that He will do just that."
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: THE PLAIN VIEW FARM HERITAGE CENTER BROCHURE WILL SOON BE PRINTED AND IN THE MAIL--LOOK FOR IT! IT IS GOING OUT TO STADEM FAMILIES, SO THAT THEY CAN SHARE IT WITH OTHERS. WRITE TO ELOISE OR PEARL GINTHER TO ASK FOR MORE COPIES, OR MAKE A COPY OF THE ONE YOU ARE SENT.
WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT? THANKS TO PAPA ALFRED STADEM, PVF ONCE HAD A BEAUTIFUL CEMENT-SIDED POND WITH WATER LILIES AND FISH, AND PEARL STADEM GINTHER WANTS IT RESTORED AND RUNNING, WITH A RECIRCULATING BROOK ATTACHED TO ANOTHER POOL FURTHER UP THE YARD IN BACK, AND A FOUNTAIN TOO! WHO CAN DO IT? PLEASE COME FORWARD!
Please see the "Minnow Story" by Pearl Ginther about her Papa's fish pond, and how she got fish for it. This new story will appear on-line, with a link beneath her Uncle Andrew Vorseth's picture on this page!
CALLING A VOLUNTEER DRAUGHTSMAN WITH A HEART TO GIVE OF HIS DRAUGHTING, ARCHITECTURAL TALENT AND SKILL
This design is probably best suited to our needs in the Heritage Center, as it could have this wonderful, sunny south-exposure extension giving very adequate room to a kitchen and eating area with tables and chairs, and fireplace and a pot belly stove for added warmth, with a tea pot singing on the stove? A bathroom too would be a good idea in this area. We want to make the Center versatile and flexible for all sorts of uses and groups. If someone has an ability to design structures such as this, we could use that special person to work up a draught of a design for this model! Soon too! We do not have money to pay a professional working architect, but someone out there no doubt has more than adequate building experience and draughting ability and can draw floor and building plans, and maybe God is calling YOU to do this design for us. Please let us know! You will be blessed by God for your investment of your time and ability for this project. And by all means, make it BIG. Barns are usually big, are they not? We have had more than ten years of extremely cramped quarters in the old Spise Hutte. We don't want to be cramped soon after dedicating it, on the planned date of June 2009, for which we are seeking Almighty God's provision and breakthroughs in motivating the workmen and builders and barn raisers from all over (not just from our Stadem families) to come together behind this project to do the work! Please feel free to contact Steve Stadem too--for he is the project manager! He will need your input. We can pass it on to him, however, if you send your plans to us first. That way Pearl Stadem Ginther gets to pray over them, for God's leading and enabling and wisdom to be given all involved. Prayer is the foundational thing, we know. We cannot do anything without it.
The Heritage Center will have many exciting features! A dining room (old-fashioned country style cafe in style), and the quilting classes and exhibitions for those who have a gift with the needle and the sewing machine.
Guess which lady in the pictures above was born in 1909, the year Buffalo Bill Cody sent this postcard picture to his friend--hint: her birthday is coming Sept. 13, 2009, when she turns 100!
NOW THAT THE WINTER'S SNOW AND ICE IS RETREATING FROM MOST PARTS OF THE COUNTRY, WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO TURN OUR ATTENTION FORWARD INTO THE BRAND-NEW YEAR OF OPPORTUNITY (THOUGH WE MUST ALL PRAY FOR THE FOLKS IN NORTH DAKOTA AND THAT RED RIVER THEY HAVE THERE!). IT IS TIME TO PLAN AND PREPARE FOR THE NEXT REUNION, JUNE 2009, WHICH WILL BE A VERY SPECIAL REUNION AS IT WILL FEATURE NEW THINGS AND A NEW BEGINNING FOR ALL OF US, YOUNG AND OLD (AND THOSE IN THE MIDDLE WHO CAN'T DECIDE WHICH GROUP TO JOIN):
Highlights of the Program:
1. Blessings bestowed by Eldest Fathers and Mothers (heads of their respective families, the Taylors, Ginthers, Stadems, Spildes, Rangens, Svanoes, Schaefers, on All Their Descendants
2. Dedication of PVF Barn Heritage Center
3. "Community Neighborly Testimonial Meeting & Healing", led by Pearl Stadem Ginther
As this is not an even year, the normal Reunion features are laid aside, providentially freeing the usual schedule of events for these major events.
NEED A BLESSING GOD HAS FOR YOU THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE? DON'T MISS YOUR FAMILY PATRIARCHAL OR MATRIARCHAL BLESSING! BE THERE EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO COME BY GOAT CART OR CANOE OR ULTRALITE OR ROLLERBLADES OR WEATHER BALLOONS TIED TO YOUR DECK CHAIR, OR HITCHHIKING!
Wooden Pendant from Norway
Gurina Stadem was the second wife of Peter or Peder Stadem, son of Sjur and Oline. She wrote this in Norwegian to Alfred Stadem, her step-son whom she raised from early youth.
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One of the most important features of the Heritage Center will be the Archives and Library, to be named the Russell Schaefer Memorial Archives and Library. Letters from family and friends, momentos and cards and pictures, books in Norwegian language, special family books and documents, farm history documents, we will need glass cases for the more perishable items and also bookcases to house the items. A complete computer system to view the Plain View Farm website with all its materials on-line is also a part of the projected Memorial Library. Stadems, friends, and guests of the Heritage Center can do research or just browse to their heart's content on these fascinating items. We will have a Stereoscope and pictures of Norway, authenic museum piece that it is. Albums by the dozens too jammed with family pictures going back to Sjur and Oline Stadheim. A Video TV will be available to play family videos. Stadem family matriarchs and patriarchs are on video telling stories of old Plain View Farm. We also have Ginther family movies of the Farm and the Stadems as well as innumerable friends, collected together on a video. All this will make a living contribution to the younger generation, as well as remind the older folks of what we are now passing to the ones who will take "the Glory of the Gospel and of our godly heritage" into the rest of this new century.
In this reunion 2008 picture, Ron Ginther, his mother Pearl Stadem-Ginther in the driver's seat of the Plain View Farm golf cart, and her Great-Grandson and his banner picture of an angel presented to his Gr Gr Grandma!
September 13, 2008, Pearl Stadem Ginther turned 99 years of age (which passes the age when her beloved Mama went to the Lord at age 98! Please plan on attending either the PVF birthday celebration this coming June 2009 for her, or if you can, attend the birthday celebration this coming September, on or about Sept. 23, her birthday. Many, many grand events are planned. We can let you now what accommodations are available. We hear that Holbek cousins are flying in from Norway! This is a wonderful opportunity to combine Pearl's Centennial Birthday with all sorts of sight-seeing in Seattle, Mt. Rainier area, and the ocean, not to mention Boeings and the Puget Sound region with all its attractions within easy reach by Freeway.
For gifts donated, the Plain View Farm Heritage Center Appreciation Certificates are available and are made to be framed by you if you want yours on your wall. Her address for mail is at her address: 10709 63rd St. E., Sp. 28, Puyallup, WA 98371.
Memorials Given in Memory of:
Mrs. Karen Brendsel Brende (pictured in the foreground, sitting in front of sisters Pearl Stadem Ginther and Bernice Stadem Schaefer, loved the Lord Jesus Christ her Savior dearly and in 1991 went to him after her 105th birthday in Sioux Falls, SD! A mother and devoted wife, she was widowed. Her husband Joseph Brende died in 1953, and after his death Karen Brende attended Lutheran Bible Institute in Seattle and also Minneapolis, graduating at age 69. She was a music teacher, giving private piano lessons for more than 50 years. She took into her home elderly women who could not care for themselves, feeding them and looking after them, and this included poor students attending college in town who were out of money and couldn't buy food! (I know, for I was one!--Ron Ginther) She directed the Women's Auxiliary of the Norse Glee Club, and directed the "Keen Agers" choral group in the nursing home where she later resided until her early 90s. She was a member of First Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls for more than 60 years, and was a charter member of Union Gospel Mission. A true saint of God, she is a special friend to the Stadem-Holbeck relationship! She truly left a golden legacy of Christian love and service to others for all her family and friends to preserve and follow!
Mrs. Opal V. Stime, churchwoman and also Children's Hour Director in Sinai, South Dakota for the Lutheran Fellowship Meetings, took on herself (on top of her duties as wife and mother) to transcribe the Funeral messages and events, and her transcription was produced and printed at her own considerable expense as the only official Funeral Tract for Robert Ginther and Arthur Stadem, both killed in the private plane crash of 1947 that was in the process of being tested for Robert Ginther's clients who were friends of his. The tract containing the wonderful and truth-searching messages of Bryant Lutheran pastor, Rev. Henry J. Peterson, and numerous other pastors and church officials (as they each wrestled with the tragedies and what plan God might have had in allowing them to happen) was given to LBI, a number of Midwestern colleges and churches, and reached hundreds of people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ that was preached at the double funerals in Bryant, S.D., January 1947, to an overflow gathering of over 1,000 people. Stunned by the tragedy of these two sudden deaths of young men, reported in the papers in Sioux Falls and across the whole upper Midwest, thousands of people were given pause to consider the brevity of life and question where they would spend eternity if they should so suddenly be taken in the prime of life as these two young men were. She continued a dear friend of the Stadem family for many years, surviving the deaths of Alfred and Bergit Stadem for over 10 years until her passing to Glory, November 15, 2007. Her testimony of Jesus, her love of others, was vibrant in her countenance and life and all her actions. We are very glad as Stadems to have been blessed by her Christian friendship all those years, and rejoice in the crowns she will undoubtedly be given by the Lord she loved so much and served so faithfully in her long and fruitful life. Her memory is a golden one, not only in her immediate and large family, but in the entire relationship of her many friends.
The Claire and Norma Hobart Memorial at the Heritage Center: Blind Musician, Composer, and School for the Blind Director Claire Hobart was a wonderful friend of Bergit and Alfred Stadem, and they supported him for many years with contributions and also personal visits on their way to the churches and missions in Mexico run by the LALM (Latin American Lutheran Mission), where they brought needed clothes, food, and also contributions they raised among the Lutheran Fellowship Meetings in South Dakota and from various churches. Please go to the special, new Claire and Norma Hobart page with pictures of the Hobarts' free LALM-connected school for the blind in Laredo, Texas, as well as his ministry in composing music, teaching blind piano students, and performing at concerts and recitals to raise monies for the mission school. They are gone now to their great reward in heaven, but we can continue their memory in this Heritage Center, and possibly Christian work among the blind, for we must forget them.
If you wish to contribute to the Heritage Center in their blest and golden memory, please do so! They would be very pleased to hear even in heaven that their untrumpeted but wonderful work for the Lord among Mexico's cast-off blind people is remembered in this way. Those blind people were dearest to their hearts, and they served them faithfully long past retirement age, without big donors or a Madison Avenue-type, high powered solicitation for funds! No, out of the labors of his own musical ability on the piano and his composer's pen, Claire provided for the school year after year after year, without complaint, and contributions from churches they gave programs at added the needed remainder. Norma his nurse and faithful set of seeing eyes, a fellow missionary, was ever the perfect wife for him to the end! God bless their memories! The link to their special page is given below the picture of Claire Hobart at work with a blind student.
Claire and Norma Hobart Memorial, "Hobart Happenings"
Names of the Memorialized and contributors to the Heritage Center:
Aunt Katrine Holbeck-Lundring by Grand- Niece Pearl A. Stadem-Ginther
A most godly woman, elder sister of Bergit Holbeck Stadem, she visited the young Alfred Stadem household once, saw that Alfred had not begun daily devotions with the Family as a daily practice, and reproved him. Alfred then began the devotions, which traditionally is called "The Family Altar"!). Lastly, Pearl Stadem Ginther was born in her house in Canton, SD, Sept. 13, 1909.
Mrs. Opal Stime, by the Stime Families, and the Ginther Family,
Ray Lawrence-Smith, a godly father and husband, ever supportive of the work of the Lord, by Kathleen Lawrence-Smith of Worcester, England,
Claire and Norma Hobart by Pearl and son Ronald Ginther,
Mrs. Karen Brendsel Brende, by friend Ron Ginther (she volunteered him hearty meals when he ran out of funds while attending Augustana College, Sioux Falls, back in the early 1960s!),
Aunt Estelle Rangen and son Paul, by Ron Ginther,
Alida Stadem Spilde, by Gloria Ginther Brown and families.
Monies given to the Heritage Center in honor of:
Pearl A. Ginther by son Darrell R. Ginther,
Pearl A. Ginther's 99th birthday by son Jerry Ginther.
Pledges:
Gift to Heritage Center by Jerry Ginther in honor of sister Gloria Brown and her families.
Additional Gifts to be Made By Ginther family (to God be the Glory, not the givers!):
In Memory of gift pledge for Uncle Arthur Donald Stadem, from Nephew Ron Ginther (please go to his tribute and see the lyrics of the song found in his "Little Bible," a tiny book with scriptures, hymns, and pictures not much bigger than a matchbook, which was given him by his Bryant Christian youth group friend Alva way back in his youth. Please try to make to to both or either of these grand occasions.
Tribute Poem to the Memory of Arthur Donald Stadem, "Winter's Child" (Arthur Stadem was born on the day of a most beautiful, even magical looking ice storm in winter):
"Winter's Child," Tribute Poem in Memory of Arthur Donald Stadem, With Special Pictures and School Documents and the Song, "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go," found in his "Little Bible"
Arthur's own written Autobiography, with some Remarks by his Nephew Ron Ginther, and his father, Alfred Stadem, who also relates the letter from Arthur's roommate at Augustana College describing his dear friend:
Arthur Stadem's Autobiography (1946)
In Memory of Stadem Jewish Christian friend and evangelist, Joe Berkowitz (who ministered Christian cheer and the healing, delivering Word of God to brother Darrell Ginther being treated in the mental hospital--see Darrell's special testimony of God's deliverance and healing in the "Prince of Zion" series on these websites).
In Memory of gift pledge for Ginthers' family friend, Athena Smith; she suffered from MS and was paralyzed head to foot after a boating "accident" arranged by her husband to get rid of her, but painted pictures with her mouth and even went on the Internet and did email!. She never complained but took her paralysis and suffering joyously as the cross that saved her sinful soul and kept her for Jesus alone! Formerly a very wealthy woman with several luxurious homes and a beach home too, she lost it all when her husband tried to kill her. He was in their boat on the lake pulling her way too fast on a big water ski in tighter and tighter circles until she went down in the water and came up hitting the board with her head, knocking her unconscious (and the paralysis and multiple schlerosis disease came soon after a neighbor ran and rescued her from drowning), but she counted her homes and the lifestyle of the rich nothing compared to the riches of Christ she gained through surrendering her heart to Jesus and being granted forgiveness of her sins and eternal life, which is salvation. She wrote to Pearl Ginther once: "Merry Christmas and how nice it would be to talk about the Lord. I still thank you and Corlie Ross for praying me through to salvation. We had some wonderful Bible studies."
In Memory of gift pledge for Ron Ginther's lifelong friends in his hometown of Puyallup, Washington State, former Puyallup High school teachers Gladys Sorenson and Nora Page Hall, who had him do their gardening for over 45 years and treated him as a friend from the age of 13!
In Memory of gift for Rev. Andrew Holbeck (Bergit and Katrina's brother) by Pearl Ginther; Andrew Holbeck was first of their little family of Holbek orphans to emigrate to America to start a new life and went to seminary and pastored until he retired in Montana. Thanks to his brave example, they followed to join him, and new life came to all of us too as their descendants!
In Memory of gift pledge for Tom Harrington, whom Estelle Stadem Rangen called "The Rainbow Man" because he lived to be a blessing to others and was so modest and unassuming, but shining nevertheless in a many-colored way that speaks of God's bow of special providence and blessing, the Rainbow, which God set in the rainy clouds for the sun to illumine for all people to see and remind them of God's faithfulness.
Please to to the Tributes Central page, which will give you the Tribute to Tom Harrington. You can also find tributes to Russell Schaefer, Bernice Schaefer, Myrtle Svanoe, Hans Spilde, Ruth Harrington, Paul Rangen, Estelle Rangen, Luther Svanoe, Art Stadem, and others. Stadems_Saga is the Plain View Farm website that will carry many of these tributes, or links to them.
Tributes for Those Memorialized, on Stadems_Saga
Russell Schaefer, for the Russell Schaefer Memorial Archives and Library, by Ginthers [please see his "Rainbow" poem, by going to the Tribute to Aunt Bernice Stadem Schaefer, in link provided below picture of rainbow on Plain View Farm].
"Tribute to Bernice Stadem Schaefer," by Nephew Ronald Ginther
Money grants to the Heritage Center:
From Alida Spilde (via Spilde families, and just recently Bonnie and Joe Hilt, who have just contributed another really BIG HEARTED amount to add to the previous big amount!),
From Pearl Ginther (a number of gifts),
From Chloe Koslowsky,
From Bertine and Arnold Egge (via Pearl Ginther)
Mrs. H. Peterson, wife of Bryant Lutheran Church's Pastor Peterson and beloved mother of a large family, was honored as Mother of the Year (1955).
In Memory of the "Mother of the Century," Irene Hovdenes, a single Christian lady who loved, mothered, fed, clothed, disciplined, trained, and in every way took care of over 2500 foster children in a long career of helping cast-off and abused or neglected children from dysfunctional families that became wards of the state. A Sioux Falls friend of Pearl and Bob Ginther and the Stadems, she learned babysitting from the Ginthers while practicing with their young ones, which stood her in good stead when she moved to Tacoma, Washington, and set up a foster care home in her own house. In the picture, Irene stands on the left of Pearl Ginther, and Irene's sister Ruth is to Pearl's right. We have a special tribute to Irene all ready written by Roberta Ginther, which won her an A-grade in a writing class, and which was presented at a special program and dinner by the Ginthers to Irene in her honor, with Pearl Ginther seated beside her at the Golden Rose Manor Club House, a year or so before Irene's passing to glory. This tribute is illustrated by Ronald Ginther and will be offered soon on these pages as time permits.
Money grants to various projects at PVF and other memorials:
In Memory of Arthur Arp, gift by Pearl Ginther; he was a lifelong Christian friend of the Ginthers and Stadems
In Memory of Arthur Donald Stadem, gift by sister Pearl Ginther; Art died with Robert Ginther in the plane crash, but left a precious memory of his Christlike live and spirit
In Memory of Palma Larson, lifelong friend of Pearl Ginther and the Stadem Family, gift by Pearl Ginther
In Memory of Robert Ginther, gift by his widow Pearl Ginther
Irene Doering, long-time friend of Pearl Ginther and family, a gift by Pearl Ginther
Additional memorial gift in memory of George Baldwin by his nephew Jerry Ginther, for the kitchen/dining room of the Heritage Center. He is also giving additional "In Honor of" gifts we will itemize later.
These listings of gifts are not complete and are being added to as contributions keep coming in, day by day! This does not include the considerable contributions already given via Stephen Stadem's Barn Picture Project. Certificates for the donors will be soon in the mail to the contributors, signed by Pearl A. Ginther, Eldest Stadem, and by Eloise Spilde Hefty (Secretary). Some are being sent already. Most will be available at the Reunion in 2009 for contributors who come, as it is very expensive to send them by mail in the protective folders. They are very suitable to be framed (try to choose something rustic or old-fashioned in frame, to suit the rustic scene). Thank you with all our heart to those who have given, and thank you to those who are in the process of giving to the Heritage Center! You will be richly blessed by your giving to this wonderful facility, insuring that our golden Stadem-Holbeck legacy will be passed to the younger generation in a way that will keep it alive and growing and reaching many people even beyond our relationship who can also benefit.
"Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore."--Ps. 16:11
OTHER PROJECTS FOLLOWING HARD ON THE HEELS OF THE BARN HERITAGE CENTER PROJECT ARE:
1. Rev. Henry J. Peterson Memorial Chapel
2. Claire Hobart Memorial Garden of Peace and Fountain of Healing (with two pools and recirculating brook)--Please go and read the new story, "Pearl's Minnows," located under Andrew Vorseth's picture on this page!
3. Windmill to replace the one that once stood on PVF (see Pearl Ginther's story about her stopping the runaway windmill)
Nary a day goes by that Pearl Ginther, on the phone, does not tell someone about the Heritage Center and how much she yearns to see a windmill there again! We can do it! Let's get up a windmill worthy of Plain View Farm. Steve Stadem knows of several in the Sioux Falls area alone that are standing unused, and could be re-located, perhaps without having to pay for them, as land around them is being developed from farm land to residential. Do you have a windmill you can donate? Let us know. Contact Steve Stadem or Eloise Hefty.
Contributions will be accepted for memorial gifts toward these and other yet announced projects (you might see the list of prospective projects offered in this site), as well as the furnishings. Six stained glass windows in the chapel, for instance, can be dedicated to various loved ones who have gone Home to Heaven. Pearl Ginther has already donated a money gift for one window in memory of Tom and Ruth Harrington. Five windows remain to be made commemorative and contributed and designated. The carillon in the steeple of the chapel, which can be a digital or CD-based system that can play chimes and bell sounds and also hymns, can also be contributed and memorialized. A Bogen Public Address System and Chimes Carillon were given by Alfred and Bergit Stadem to Augustana Academy in 1952 in memory of Arthur Stadem, a graduate of AA in 1941. The Dedication service bulletin reads of that memorial gift: "Through the music and messages that go out over this public address system Arthur Donald Stadem will continue to speak to us of the Savior he loved and for whom he had planned to live. Thru these sounds, the blessings of his memory will fall upon us who shall live and work on this campus." Surely, those blessings can continue with a new system donated to the Chapel and the Heritage Center of Plain View Farm! Would you be the one or ones to do that? We will also need contributions (or the donated items themselves) for such as the pulpit, the altar railing, the picture of Jesus Christ in Gethsemane, and the pews. Heating can be provided by a medium or small-sized house electric furnace.
Many, many sacrificial labors of sweat and brawn, not trumpeted and a lot of them enjoyed but unrecognized by the recipients as such, have been performed to make the Farm what a tremendous blessing it is for reunions--and donations given that have not been itemized or even known by others. We have made the effort to name and thank all we know of who have contributed over the years to Plain View Farm and the reunions, but we ask your forgiveness if you are one we have failed to mention. It may happen, despite our desire to give honor where honor is due! Recently, the Stadems and Iserman family have labored hard and long on stripping the farmhouse roofs (for it had a number of roofs, laid on, layer upon layer!) and replacing them with new roofing. I worked one day on a roofing job for a roofing contractor in Tacoma, Washington--and that was enough for me! I retired early on in life from that trade forever--deciding it wasn't for me, so I think I know a little how hard, grimey, gritty, sweaty, exhausting, and even dangerous such work is. Half the roof was replaced by the time of the June Reunion 2008. We know that roofs are essential items on any structure, so this was essential work, and so our hats are off to all those who labored on this task! Thank you so much!--Ronald Ginther, Grandson of Bergit and Alfred Stadem, son of Pearl Stadem Ginther
"I have so far addressed only fellow adults in my serious "adult" way. But now a word to those who are just as important, and perhaps more important, as they are our future. I am speaking just as seriously, and from the heart, to:
Dear and Precious Children of the Stadems and Holbecks! The Heritage Center is really for YOU! It is mainly for you that it is being built. You are our future. We do not want what God has richly given us to be lost, so in this way we are passing the best of our blessings to you in this way. You are that important to us. Yes, YOU! You may not have even heard about the Heritage Center. Please ask your parents about it. To make it we need YOU too. We need YOU to pray Jesus about it, first of all. Can you pray to Jesus that people will give us the money we need and the helping hands of people who will build it on Plain View Farm where the old barn once stood? The barn might have been a place for us to use to meet in, but it fell down in a storm. You may have heard about it or seen it. But we can build this Heritage House in its place, and it will be even better for us to use than the old barn Granpa Alfred Stadem built, though it will look like it on the outside. In the Heritage House, we can share the Lord Jesus with others in many interesting and also fun ways, and also enjoy together the many, many good things that we have as God's children, which Jesus has blessed us with. We will have games, music, Christian plays, Norwegian cooking, Norwegian dancing by boys and girls in Norwegian clothes, crafts and painting, a Christian Puppet Show, all sorts of fun events that can teach us things and keep our wonderful heritage alive. Imagine taking a sleigh ride in the snow, all bundled up in warm blankets, and a horse pulling the sleigh to Bryant from the Farm, and everyone singing Christmas carols on the way and in town to the people and back again to the Farm! What fun that would be! Best of all, the Heritage House is where we can share the good things God has given with our guests and where we can reach out to others, making them know they are loved by God and us, and always welcome on Plain View Farm at the Heritage House." Pearl Ginther says that that children might want to give a penny for each year when they have birthdays, so they can contribute to the Heritage Center that way! SO, PLEASE, PARENTS, ALL YOU STADEMS, LUNDRINGS, SPILDES, TEMPLETONS, TAYLORS, RANGENS AND ALL YOUR FAMILIES BY OTHER NAMES, TELL YOUR SWEET KIDS HOW THEY TOO CAN BE A BIG PART, WITH THEIR PRAYERS AND PENNIES!
--Ronald Ginther, Grandson of Alfred and Bergit Stadem
The Plain View Farm wool carders, used by Mama Bergit and her daughters to card wool to make filler for quilts, the wool produced from their own sheep's wool.
At the Heritage Center we can feature carding, spinning, and weaving.
Pearl Stadem Ginther recalls how she churned butter on PVF--a hard job, but she marvels to this day how it miraculously turned butter out of cream in the wooden churn, after pressing the butter out from the cream with a special wooden stick she rammed down into the churn again and again and again! The butter was delicious, especially with Mama's wonderful jams and jellies on slices of Mama's homemade wheat bread! But it took a lot of elbow grease to make butter, and store-bought butter, when it became cheap came to be a substitute, but it could not equal the taste of real Plain View Farm butter.
"Mama's Old Cook Stove," by E. C. Stangland
This account by E.C. Stangland in verse is followed by Marion Dralle Kirschenmann's fond remembrance of her own Dralle farm family's cookstove, which is very much like the one known to the Stadems and the Stanglands, as you will see. Please go to Estelle Stadem Rangen's reminiscences as well, for descriptions of Mama Bergit's cookstove, which can be found in the series, "God's Little Acres" listed on home pages of the Plain View Farm websites. God willing we will also be putting online Marion's (she was a long-time friend of Pearl Ginther's) extensive reminiscences of her Dralle family's farm in rural SD on the James River, as they are fascinatingly detailed.
Norwegian Girl appears here in the Gubrandals costume, with the "snazzy" grass-roofed house in the background.
BACK TO US ADULTS! THE MEANING OF HERITAGE--WHAT IS IT? IT IS A GOOD QUESTION! Why should our Stadem-Holbeck Heritage be preserved? In the Psalms, it says that God's people were to walk around the Holy City of Jerusalem, observing her walls, fortreses and palaces and holy temple, in order to tell it to the next generation--which means, they needed to pass on the glorious workings of God on their behalf as a legacy to their descendants. It was something God commanded them to do--pass on their legacy of God's mighty works in their midst to the young--and it is something He commands us to do today too.
What is there worth preserving about our Heritage? Let us try to answer that! Someone is going to wonder why all this fuss and bother about "Heritage," when it hasn't been properly defined. For a description of Heritage, which may prove helpful as we pick out the still gleaming, golden threads of it in the life, character, and achievements of Alfred Stadem and devoted helpmate Bergit Holbeck Stadem, please go to:
"Pioneering, Godly Heritage-Building in the Life of Alfred Stadem
But now we would like to call your attention to projects that would greatly enhance the value and use-ability of the Farmstead and the wider extension of its ministry to others:
Stadem Projects (First Presented 1997!):
Stadem Projects That Will Earn the Savior's "Well Done!"
"I'm anxious to see what the Lord has in mind for the 'Heritage Center.' I'm expecting GREAT THINGS that will glorify the Lord. I love you."
"Pearl, it was you whom the Lord used to turn me from the World to Jesus Christ! I stayed with you in Sioux Falls one night. I came home from a filthy movie (with a guy of course) and you looked at me so lovingly and intently and said, 'Myrtle, you'll lose your faith if you keep living like this.' It resulted in me going to Bible camp next day where I made a personal commitment to Jesus!! Praise God!!"
Our roots were brought from
Norway over the sea. Stadems came to build new lives in the land of the free,
and settled first in Iowa's Worth County. Kristine was the first to be born of our family, but as soon as she bloomed a young wife and mother,
her petals closed early.
Slender, tall, of striking beauty,
her wedding cape flowed down gracefully.
Andrena was her daughter's name-- it's found in
Norway just the same.
My mother too has her Aunt's name,
a link to Kristine, no little fame.
And Great Grand Aunt, she would be to me;
I hold her picture,
a fine-stemmed rose with many buds
whose blooming she would never see.
And yet she was first,
like Christ her
Namesake born,
and like Him she went before us all.
--by Ronald Ginther,
Gr Grand
Nephew of Kristine Stadem (Stadheim)
If you can get access to Barbara Benson's excellent genealogy book and supplement (at least get the supplement, which gives a lot of information), you can
trace out these great ancestors and their descendants, as multiple family lines developed soon after they landed and put down roots in Iowa and, soon
after, South Dakota. She may have some copies left, for the cost of her copywork (but add S and S, and little love gift of thanks!). We have used her pictures of the Stadem churches and the Norwegian bark, and thank her for them. Her email address is: BVorseth@prodigy.net
We will reprint some pages in this section, when there is time available to do it.
Dear Sis Pearl, here we are in Great Grandpa's town where he was a policeman [or watchman] about 150 years ago. Thought of him as we worshipped and communed at Dom Kirken this A.M. Wondered if this was his church--it's about the 12th century old. Yesterday we were in Vik where Sjur (Great Grandpa) was born, baptized and married. Our Grandpa Peter Johan was born here! We met Lars Stadheim in Vik. He is our third cousin! His farm is on the old Stadheim Farm! We'll tell more at the reunion. Hope our pictures turn out. Tomorrow we head Mandal way! Love, Bro. Leroy.
"I was on my way to school, riding the horse alone because Bernice was sick and couldn't go. She was only six and I was seven. We rode across country, not by the road, as that was the shortest way, and it wasn't far. But as we got to the hill just beyond the barn the horse laid down! I couldn't get him to go, so I tried all I could to get him going. I shouted, and "nudged" him with my foot, and "patted" him with my hand, but he wouldn't go. I had to run all the way to school so I wouldn't be tardy, but I made it on time. I looked back once on my run, and saw him get up and look back at me, then he went home. Evidently, he felt something was wrong when it wasn't Bernice on his back, and he refused to carry me instead. He was okay the next day, though, and took us both all the way to school."
As many Stadems and Holbecks (despite the way America and Scandinavia have gone into secularism, pushing God out of the common culture and people's lives) firmly believe, God is a God of Grace. Grace means that the free Gift of God was Jesus Christ, in whom we can have salvation, which is ours not by works, or our own goodness or righteousness, but completely by the death of Christ and His shedding of His innocent blood for us on the Cross--a payment to God for our sin-penalty that completely paid for sin-debt! This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ recorded in the
New Testament and preached by Apostles He sent forth into the world. Bill Bennett recently said on his nationally-broadcast radio program, "All saints have a past, and all sinners have a future." Doesn't that express the wondrous, non-condemning, limitless grace of God found only in Jesus Christ and his work on the Cross on our behalf? Trust your life to that, dear one, and your soul is saved for all life and eternity--as God's word says it over and over: "Believe on the Lord Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
The Lord spoke to Pearl Ginther Stadem soon after the Reunion that He wants a Healing Service at Plain View Farm. We are believing God to make it possible for a Healing Service in connection with the Heritage Center Dedication and also the Patriarchal Blessings and Prayers for the whole Stadem-Holbeck relationship. Pearl Stadem Ginther will be on hand at the June 2009 Reunion for praying for all those who seek healing from the Lord Jesus. She is gifted with this healing ministry, as testified at her meetings repeatedly by speakers at the Aglow Women's meeting in Puyallup, Washington. Her participating in Women's Aglow--a Spirit-led association for women's
ministry and encouragement world-wide--gives us the freedom to reprint this cover of the Aglow magazine, which is so appropriate to our remarks about Healing Waters. In this issue, incidentally, is the most amazing account by Betty Baxter, a paralytic since birth, who was divinely healed, on a date and time set by Jesus over a month from the event. Read this account, by going to The Emmaus Walk, when it comes on-line soon. It will inspire you to seek
healing, emotional, spiritual, and physical.
God is saying, in declaring his desire for this Healing Service on Plain View Farm, his will for us all to be healed! Come to the Healing Waters! They are flowing, flowing now for you--yes, you! Believe it. God has not kept Pearl Stadem Ginther so long on this earth not to use her in this special way, as she has prayed already for many people, and there have been many miracles of healing, we know. Let yours be added to the list of Jesus's acts of mercy and grace, friend. Believe, with faith, for God is positive, and
faith is your access to God's salvation as well as his healing and blessing--there is no reward for the negative and the unbelieving. Believe, and you can have what you desire from God for yourself as well as your family. "Only Believe," as the old song goes. That is the golden key that opens the door to a transformed life--a holy, separated pilgrim's life that has citizenship in heaven while bearing Christ's truth and love to the unsaved and needy here in this earthly existence (the same kind of life that Alida Spilde spoke about in her letters).
"These signs shall follow them that believe...They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."--Mark 16:17, 18. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped."--Isa. 35:5. "Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing."--Isa. 35:6. "There came also a multitude bringing sick folks...and they were healed every one."--Acts 5:16. "And the power of the Lord was present to heal them."--Luke 5:17. "He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives...to set at liberty them that are bruised."--Luke 4:18. "I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: nake, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not."--Matt. 25:43. "I am the Lord that healeth thee."--Exod. 15:26. "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases."--Ps. 103:3. "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."--James 5:15.
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Eat and drink of Your Word.
To God we praise and us be blessed, We then receive food in Jesus' Name.
Amen"
Lefse Recipe Yew tak yust ten big potatoes. Den yew boil dem till dar done. You add to dis some sweet cream an' by cups it measures vun. Den yew steal tree ounze of butter and vit two fingers pinch some salt. Yew beat dis very lightly, if it ain't gude it is your fault. Den yew roll dis tin vit flour and light brown on stove you bake.
Now call in all Scandihuvians tew try da fine lefse yew make.
Joyful update: Thank you for prayers, for they got through to the throne of Grace that Christ occupies in heaven! We know this for sure, since the Seamen's Center has been notified by the Port authorities that they will not have to move for several years now. We are praying still that it will not be necessary, and that they can remain where they are. The Port does not need this bit of land, it was not needed, and would have subjected the ministry to great expense to move and build elsewhere, where the same thing could happen to them again. May God's pefect will be done concerning this vital ministry, not man's!
There is no reason why we cannot have a fruitstand, with vegies too, and maybe some honey products, for sale at Plain View Farm. Think how people are preferring organically grown items today, just like they were grown on Plain View Farm in the past, without pesticides and all the sprays commonly used now on commercial farms.
PRAISE GOD, LETTERS ARE ALREADY COMING IN, AND THERE IS
A LETTER FROM CORA STADEM TAYLOR. Cora Stadem Taylor is 60 yr. plus missionary with the New Tribes Mission in Brazil, and she is a dearly beloved
sister to Pearl Stadem Taylor! She has just turned the grand age of 94! And she is still on the job, though officially retired.
Cora Taylor writes to sister Pearl Ginther and son Ron:
Please go soon to the new Cora and Carl page, with Cora's "Died with His Shoes On," telling of Carl's homegoing in 1990 in the Southern Cross of the May issue.
"Died With His Shoes on," by Cora Taylor
Her account contains the miraculous conversion of the Brazilian telephone lineman, right after Carl Taylor's tragic accident--a direct connection to God's miraculous grace through the fulfilment of a scripture verse he had marked in his devotions shortly before the fatal accident on the road! So don't miss it!"
GOD IS MOVING ON MORE LOVING HUMAN HEARTS TO GIVE! The funds are coming in for the Heritage Center. A former land lady and longtime friend to Jerry Ginther, Pearl Ginther's son, has contributed $100 in the most recent gift we have to report. This below represents the hundred dollar bill given in honor of Pearl Stadem Ginther by her eldest son Darrell R. Ginther:
HOW DOES THE HERITAGE CENTER FIT IN TO TODAY'S CRISIS OF A DRIFTING SOCIETY THAT HAS CLEARLY LOST ITS MORAL COMPASS? BILLY GRAHAM, RECEIVING WITH RUTH GRAHAM THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL OF FREEDOM, WARNED AMERICANS AND SAID AMERICA HAS FORGOTTEN GOD AND WAS HEADING DIRECTLY TOWARD JUDGMENT! HOW? WE NO LONGER DEFEND HUMAN LIFE, IN THE WEAKEST MOST VULNERABLE FORM--THE CHILD IN THE WOMB! IT IS SAD WE HAVE TO MAKE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS, BUT WE NEED TO DO IT, LEST WE STADEM DESCENDANTS COVER UP WHAT NEEDS TO BE STOPPED AND REPENTED OF--NAMELY UNIVERSAL "ABORTION" GOING ON THROUGHOUT SCANDINAVIAN AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES, INCLUDING AMERICA. THERE IS A VERY DARK CLOUD HANGING OVER AMERICA AND THE WESTERN COUNTRIES TODAY. THAT DARK CLOUD IS GOD'S JUDGMENT, FOR OUR KILLING THE INNOCENT, LITTLE UNBORN CHILDREN IN THE WOMB. WHAT IF WE STADEM AND HOLBECK DESCENDANTS LOSE OUR TRADITIONAL, GODLY REVERENCE FOR THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE--WILL WE ULTIMATELY LOSE OUR MOST CHERISHED VALUES AND FREEDOMS? THAT IS CALLED A RHETORICAL QUESTION, AS THE ANSWER IS OBVIOUS: YES! YES, WE WILL CERTAINLY LOSE OUR MOST CHERISHED VALUES AND FREEDOMS, FOR REGARD FOR THE SANCTITY OF GOD-CREATED LIFE UNDERGIRDS ALL OUR OTHER VALUES. GOD'S "THOU SHALT NOT KILL" PROTECTS EVERYTHING ELSE FROM HARM AND INJURY.
If the above STILL does not speak to your heart and conscience AS A CHRISTIAN AND FOLLOWER OF CHRIST, can I ask you this simple question: Are you truly born again by the Spirit of God? I didn't say, please notice, are you baptized? or, are you a member of a church? I said, are you born again by the Spirit of God and you know it for sure? It makes all the difference in a Christian's walk with God. Jesus said so to Nicodemus. Read his statements to Nicodemus yourself, to make it clear and plain to you, if you do not understand the meaning of "born again," which many people today do not understand rightly. Here is a car license sign that challenges other motorists to consider Jesus's words (just as the Stadem Family's two Gospel Signs in memoriam to Bob Ginther and Art Stadem reflected their concern for the saving of souls after their sudden homegoings in the plain crash in 1947):
Somebody who knew full well what "born again" by the Spirit of God really means: Here is Pearl Ginther's sister Myrtle giving her testimony Sept. 13, 1989 to Pearl in a birthday card, about how she was saved and born again as a teenager thanks to Pearl's timely, loving admonition:
For Pearl Stadem Ginther's Scripture Garden, the Reunion Graphic for 2000, and Janet's Smith's Ancient
Norwegian Calendar Stick
THE STADEM FAMILIES REUNION 2008 was a great success, as you can see by the following picture of the group (some attendees not shown here).
Stadem Families still on vacation after the Reunion stopped
at the Black Hills and its manifold sights, including this magnificent replica of the all-wooden "stav" churches in
Norway, which are 800 years old or even older. There is the Hopperstad stav church, in Vik, that looks just like this one in the Black Hills.
Pearl Stadem Ginther, oldest surviving Stadem in the Alfred and Bergit Stadem clan, now matriarch of the clan, is pictured in the center with some of her family beside the Black Hills stav church. She is turning 100, the grand Century Age, this coming Sept. 13, 2009. There will no doubt be birthday festivities in advance this coming June on Plain View Farm. And there is a celebration also being planned right now at her home church of Mt. View Lutheran Church, Puyallup, Washington, where she has been a member for over 60 years.
Both children and adults are delighted when they see the herds of magnificent buffalo restored in numbers like this herd, one of many now grazing the pastures and mountain slopes in western South Dakota and in the Black Hills.
Pearl Stadem Ginther has just appeared in the Lutheran Water World Ministry Newsletter (Summer 2008):
With picture, quote from Pearl Ginther: "Sometimes God brings special projects into our lives and gives them a home in our hearts."
Here is a music album signed for Pearl Ginther after a concert with a "God bless you!" by the Lawrence Welk show star, the fantastic
Norwegian accordianist, Myron Floren
The Buffalo Mound, with Christmas Letter from Mama Bergit, and Christmas Card (1947) to the Ginther Family, and Mama Bergit's Embroidery.
To order a beautiful color copy of Pearl Ginther's Confirmation Certificate, please write Ronald Ginther, P.O. Box 212, Puyallup, WA 98371, or write to Pearl Ginther, at same box number and address. Your free will Heritage Center gift of any amount can be sent written out to "Eloise Hefty, Secretary, Heritage Center, Plain View Farm," and all of it will all go to that project. We ourselves will pay from our own money for the postage for sending you the copy.
A new series: Stadem reunions!
Stadem Reunion--1994, "Memories of Reflection"
A tribute by Estelle Stadem-Rangen to her beloved Mama!
Estelle Stadem-Rangen's "Tribute to Mother"
OUR STADEM ROOTS IN NORWAY:
Lawrence Lundring (son of Katrine (Catherine) Holbeck Lundring, with his grandchildren:
Bergit Wilhelmina Holbeck-Stadem's
Church in Vatnedal, Norway:
Grandma, in telling how things were in
Norway when she was still living there, related on tape and in conversation and in writing how the church in
Norway where she attended grew cold and formal, so they would go by boat to get to another church meeting in a home and worship God there. The
lack of faith in so many Christians in large part drove her from her homeland to America. She never looked back. In America she found many people with hearts burning with love for God and His people and was well satisfied she had made the right decision, even after a young man once came to try and get her to go back.
Stadem churches:
Just days ago the great granddaughter of Kristine Stadheim, the first Stadem born in this country in the family of Sjur and Oline Stadheim or Stadem, contacted us! How exciting this is, and she said she and some of her family would be coming to my mother Pearl Ginther's centennial birthday celebrations in September. In tribute to Kristine Stadem this poem is
gratefully submitted for the Stenes and Fjelstads and Yuges and
all descendants of Kristine Stadem:
"Kristine Stadheim: In Memoriam"
Emigrants at Oslo (formerly Kristiana), and arriving at Ellis Island for immigration into the United States in the early 1900s:
The Epic Journey of Pioneering Faith made by Katrine ("Tena" Holbeck also the fully Americanized "Catherine") and Bergit (Americanized to "Bessie") Holbeck to America on the
Norwegian American Line passenger steamship OLAF HELLIG in 1903!
Pearl Stadem-Ginther, daughter of Bergit and Alfred Stadem,
relates her mother's memories of that voyage: "When my mother Bergit Holbeck (Stadem) and Kathryna Holbeck (later Lundring) came over in 1903 to America on Hellig Olaf ship from Mandal,
Norway, water was coming in on one end of the boat (perhaps from high waves or the wash of the wake). So to stop it they had to start moving their luggage to the other end so no more water would come in. When the Statue of Liberty appeared, that made my mother happy that it was close to their arrival to S. Dakota, where she got married to Alfred J.P. Stadem and raised 9 children."
"Ballad of the Voyage of Faith," Centennial Tribute (1903-2003) of Bergit and Katrine "Tena" Holbeck leaving their family home in Mandal and their epic Voyage from Kristiansand, Norway, to America and the start of new lives.
Card Picturing Augustana Academy and Comments (her words are given below the picture) from Katrine (Catherine or Tena) Holbeck Lundring to
Niece Pearl and her husband Bob Ginther, July 22, 1945:
Dear folks big and small, I feel kind of sad today, it is just one year on the hour now since your uncle ( "Tena" Katrine Holbeck Lundring's husband, Albinus Lundring, who had just passed away] went away. I know I should not wish him back when I know he went home to be with Jesus. I am well and working hard pulling weeds, cutting grass, have just painted walls in D. room and kitchen, picked 50 quarts of strawberries, canned some but was so glad to have something to give away to friends. I have a nice big garden. It has been cool, but now the Lord has put the heat on the two last days. Thanks for letter, cards and pictures. Will soon take a trip to Bryant. Rev. Hofstads are gone to
N. Dakota for a year. Send me a card, Bernice, please. Lots, lots of love, Aunty
The Stadems departed
Norway a generation earlier than the Holbecks:
The Stadems of Vik i Sogn and Bergen were emigrants in steerage in a sailed fixed-rigged bark called BODRENE, sailing from Bergen in 1866 via Quebec, Canada. You can trace this truly exciting history and the genealogy of the Alfred Stadem line back to Sjur and Oline Olson Stadheim (and even earlier) in Stadem/Vorseth descendant Barbara Benson's
wonderful genealogy book and a printed and illustrated supplement. Sjur/Syvert Stadheim and his wife Oline Madsdatter Vikoren left Norway with their family, sailed on one of those wooden ships with all the sails aloft, and emigrated to Worth County, Iowa, via Quebec, Canada, after sailing all the way up the St. Lawrence River by ship, a considerable lengthening of their entire voyage from Norway.
This intrepid couple and their growing family started new lives in America, and though they could not read or write English, their children, as young as 1 year old, soon learned how! Sjur/Syvert is the father of Peder Stadem, who is the father of Alfred Stadem, the husband of Bergit Holbeck, who together
brought forth the 9 Stadem sons and daughters that are featured in these Plain View Farm websites. There must have been a lot of Sjur and Oline's
vim and vigor and vision in Alfred when he came along in the second generation to be born and raised in America, as the pioneering spirit remained strong in Alfred, who prided himself greatly on being a son of the pioneers.
Vik i Sogn, Norway, the home town of the Stadems:
The Stadem (Stadheim) Farms are in Yellow Highlight on Right of the Fjord in Enlargement
Cousin Barbara Benson is descended from Andrew Vorseth and Martha Stadem:
Pearl Stadem Ginther has a new story, on how she got minnows from her Uncle Andrew Vorseth for the pond on Plain View Farm! Please go to the Pearl's Stories section below for it and others.
We look for more visits and participation from Martha Stadem's descendants and other branches of the Sjur and Oline relationship:
RETURN OF STADEMS' BLESSING TO NORWAY!
In 1994 the nationally (and internationally) touring Augsburg College Quartets that were created over many years, combined in a grand
Centennial Choir, traveled to Norway to present the people, and king,
with Norwegian-American songs in praise of the Lord, and our wonderful
Scandinavian heritage, as a special thank you to Norway's beloved
people and our revered ancestors who embarked on boats to come to
America long ago. In this choir were two Stadem descendants,
grandsons of Alfred and Bergit Stadem:
The Ganddal Girls Choir from Norway has come to our country in their beautiful clothing, which has to be one of the more beautiful costumes worn by
Norwegians.
Youngest Son of Alfred and Bergit Stadem Travels to Bergen and Vik With Wife and Some of their Family:
Leroy Stadem writes from Bergen to his eldest sister Pearl Stadem-Ginther:
REPUBLISHED LETTER OF GRANDPA AND GRANDMA STADEM WHILE STILL ABIDING ON PVF HAS A BLESSING FOR YOU! Alfred and Bergit Stadem's Christmas and New Year's Letter, Reviewing the Significant and Tragic Events, along with God's Mercy and Blessings and Comforts, for the Years 1947 to 1948. You will want to
look into it! It ends with a word for us today, to help launch this new year of 2009 in the best way even as it helped launch 1948 for his generation and
our loved ones and friends at that time. It is now being edited in the final stage, but you might well be reading it while that is going on, for we know you will overlook the typos for the message, which is a rich one, indeed, for any Christian and Fellow Pilgrim in Christ.
Christmas and
New Year's Letter of 1947-1948, Reviewing Significant Events and Looking with Faith and Hope to the Future Blessings of God
OUR PLAIN VIEW FARM CHILDREN'S STORIES ARE NOW ILLUSTRATED. Check them out, in "Tales for a Lille Tupin and Tuta,"
Norskie language for "Tales for a Little Boy and Girl," as told to various Stadem descendants or from the immediate Stadem family members. These stories are true, and you won't find their like in any other place but here! We NOW HAVE THE VIDEO LIBRARY UP AND ON-LINE to introduce the stories to you and your children, with Pearl Stadem-Ginther telling her exciting farm and animal stories herself, or else retold by her sons in their own individual mode. Go to the PLAIN VIEW FARM VIDEO LIBRARY ON OUR WWW.OARINGINTHERIVER.COM MASTER DIRECTORY for the Stories on the new Video Library page. Scroll to the bottom of the page to the Video Library, click, and the list of the stories
newly filmed are seen, then clink on the stories we have so far (the Heritage Center explanation by Ronald Ginther, first on the list, is long, so please
be patient for it to download, or go to the shorter stories after it first:
PLAIN VIEW FARM VIDEO LIBRARY ON WWW.OARINGINTHERIVER.COM
We also have a video of the Stadem daughters of Alfred and Bergit Stadem, including granddaughter Mim Rinderknecht, reading the PVF
stories, while on PVF! This is special, and we hope to have it uploaded on-line in some form soon!
IMPORTANT NOTICE: CHILDREN'S STORY BOOKS AND ILLUSTRATORS CALLED FOR (IN PRAYER!), PLEASE COME FORWARD TO GET THESE MARVELOUS STORIES OF PEARL GINTHER OUT TO THE CHILDREN OF THIS COUNTRY AND THE WORLD! WE HAVE WONDERFUL ARTISTS RIGHT IN OUR OWN STADEM FAMILIES, AND MAYBE THEY COULD DO IT, BUT WE NEED SOMEBODY WHO IS WILLING, WITH A HEART FOR CHILDREN AND HAVING A DESIRE THAT JESUS TO BE MADE REAL TO THEM. LET US KNOW WHO IS THE ONE TO DO THIS PLAIN VIEW FARM CHILDREN'S BOOK SERIES, USING ILLUSTRATIONS, BY CONTACTING PEARL GINTHER OR ELOISE HEFTY. THEY COULD ALSO BE USED FOR ANIMATIONS ON CDS OR VIDEOS AND PLAYED ON PBS FOR CHILDREN. A BIG CHALLENGE FOR YOU: TRY AND FIND BETTER STORIES TODAY THAN THESE! PEARL GINTHER WOULD LIKE TO SEE THESE STORIES PUBLISHED OR EVEN ANIMATED SO THAT ROYALTIES INCOME EARNED COULD GO TO PLAIN VIEW FARM AND ALL THE ACTIVITIES AT THE HERITAGE CENTER.
Pearl Stadem-Ginther, now just turned age 99, September 13, 2008, told her real-life stories of the Farm Life of Yore on Plain View Farm, Reunion 2006, with her great-grandchildren present!
Stadems Saga Continues Home Page, for Tales for a Lille Tupin and Tuta
Check out these exciting stories too, which are part of a growing "farm-folio" of Pearl Stadem-Ginther's we would like to see someday featured in a Heritage Center Puppet Show: "How Pearl Got Home in the Dark with Horse and Buggy," "How Pearl Stopped a Runaway Windmill," and "Rooster in the Dark," not to mention, "How Pearl Got Rid of Rats on Plain View Farm", and "Pearl and her Mama Made Ice Cream," and "How Bernice's Horse King Laid Down on the Job":
"NEW STORIES" by Pearl Stadem Ginther on the Buffalo Mound Website:
"Pearl and her Mama Made Ice Cream," by Pearl Stadem Ginther
"How God Provided Pearl with Popcorn," by Pearl Stadem Ginther
Pearl's Childhood Stories Central #2
Or individually:
"How Pearl Got Rid of Rats on the Farm"
Pearl's
Newest Stories of Bygone Days:
"Pearl Finds Honey for the Family," by Pearl Ginther (age 99)
"How Pearl Got the Fishes for Papa's Pond"
A Plain View Farm horse cookie!
"How Pearl's Horse, King, Got the Wrong Message," by Pearl Ginther
"How Bernice's Horse, King, Laid Down on the Job," by Pearl Ginther
"Rooster in the Well!", by Pearl Stadem Ginther, as told to Ronald Ginther
"How Pearl Stopped a Runaway Windmill"
LIZ AND LEROY STADEM PERFORMED THEIR OWN VERSION OF CLASSIC NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN COMIC CHARACTERS "PER AND LENA" THIS LAST REUNION ON THE FARM IN 2007. LIFE-SIZE
FIGURES OF THEM ARE FEATURED AT A LOG HOUSE IN THE BLACK HILLS AREA. SOME OF THE OLDEST MAY ALSO REMEMBER "PER AND OLA" FEATURED IN THE "FUNNIES" OF THE RURAL DAKOTA TOWN PAPERS FOLKS HAD ON THE KITCHEN TABLES AND ALL ENJOYED THERE. OUR STADEM FAMILY WAS NO DIFFERENT--AND HERE IS A LITTLE TASTE OF SCANDINAVIANS POKING FUN AT THEMSELVES GOOD HUMOREDLY AND NOT OFF-COLOR EITHER. PEARL GINTHER-STADEM, THE OLDEST IN THE STADEM CLAN, AGE 98, RELATES HOW SHE WOULD GO TO THE MAIL BOX A MILE FROM THE FARM AND ALWAYS ENJOY THE PER AND OLA IN THE PAPER AND THEN PROCEED HOME--HAVING HAD HER WELCOME BIT OF AMUSEMENT FOR THE DAY, WHICH ENLIVENED A ROUTINE TASK, GETTING AND BRINGING BACK THE MAIL WITH A LONG WALK!
"Per and Ola," Back by "Popular Demand"
For some more wacky BUT CLEAN Scandinavian humor, you might check out our "Scandin-Avian" toons about an odd extraterrestrial, duck-like species that supposedly invaded Scandinavian countries and took on (or brought with it) Scandinavian characteristics, even coming to love lefse and lutefisk and the use of the single swear word, "Uffdah!"!
Scandinavia: Duck Heaven Toon Central"
Norwegians, not the more reserved Swedes, are justly famed for their offbeat (but not off-color) humor. In Washington State, we had Stan Boreson, who was
a
Norwegian humorist for many years. A dear friend of the Ginthers, June Durnell, puts on
Norwegian costumes and gives humorous monologues with a thick
Norwegian accent. Here is one good specimen of
Norwegian humor from South Dakota: "Torvald for President!"
DID YOU MISS IT THIS YEAR? TRY AGAIN NEXT YEAR! ST. ORHO DAY: Lake Norden, which is a beautiful lake and pleasant lakeside town just down the road from Plain View Farm and Bryant, SD, features St. Orho's Day every March 14, with a parade down the main street. Who was St. Orho? Finland knows! Finnish
people celebrate this saint's memory because he is credited with driving all the grasshoppers away saving the grape crop. If you contact the people in charge before March 14, you can place your own entry in the parade! How about a big leaping grasshopper with St. Orho chasing it with a stick or a can of bug spray? Actually, he must have prayed, and God answered, for it would take God's almighty power to drive away a plague of grasshoppers, just as He did after sending them against the wicked Pharaoh of Egypt and then later removing them.
Navigate By Our Virtual
Plainviewfarm Road MapIN LOVING, LOVING MEMORY, ALIDA SEVERINA STADEM SPILDE:
Alida Stadem Spilde passed to Glory in heaven, to be with Jesus her Savior and Lord, March 28, 2008, in Sioux Falls. She was born December 18, 1916, in Bryant, SD, to Alfred and Bergit Stadem. She was a beloved wife to Hans Spilde, a loving mother to her four children, and a beloved grandmother and great-grandmother, as well as sister and aunt and friend. She loved Plain View Farm dearly, and many of her most cherished memories were of life on the Farm and her parents. She attended every reunion right up to her passing, taking part in listening intently to the programs dealing with life on the old Farm in the "good old days". She was age 91, 3 months, and 10 days when her soul went to Jesus peacefully in sleep, as was her expressed wish. We thank God for our memories of her. Below is a picture of her and Hans, standing beside the Gospel sign, one of two erected in memory of Art Stadem and Bob Ginther, on highways where many people crossed on their way to eternity, whether with Christ or without Christ. These signs at least gave every passer-by a chance of salvation, if they took the messages to heart and called upon Jesus for saving and forgiving them.--Nephew Ronald Ginther
Please go to our Buffalo Mound site for Christmas Greetings from
Joe and Estelle Rangen, and a special Christmas Letter from Mama Bergit Stadem (with Daughter Ruth writing for Mama Bergit, who is age 97)! Also on the page is embroidery by Mama Bergit, and an appeal to all of you to pray for Cora Stadem-Taylor, who needs prayers after falling twice lately and breaking bones. Also featured is a Christmas Card with special message and a poem, from Papa and Mama Stadem to the Ginthers, who had lost their dad in January of that same year, 1947. All this on the Buffalo Mound Page, so please go there and return to this page.
IN LOVING MEMORY TO ALIDA STADEM SPILDE on the Buffalo Mound Web Site
Where do the Healing Waters flow, friend? They flow in Jesus Christ and His work of atonement, won for us on the Cross where he hung and died for our sake! Why then are so many of us sick, with even long-term illnesses and diseases? Is this normal for Christians? Are we to be resigned to it, and go on drugs, year after year, and never really get cured, while we are enriching doctors and the hospitals and the pharmacies, with money we would have given to God's work? Something is blocking God's healing waters in our lives--that is obvious from the virtually unchanged and worldly lives that most of us lead. Our health is certainly an indication too, that we are not where we should be spiritually. We must do something about it, and we can if we really want to make a positive change in our health.
Follow Pearl Ginther into her little garden in the back of her
home in Puyallup, where every little flower seems to speak of God's grace and love and will minister to you if you just step into her "scripture garden"
offered here:
New Offerings DirectoryNavigate Alphabetically By Our
Plain View Master DirectoryThe Stadem Family Photo Abum is a must-see!
Photo Album Master DirectoryNavigate With The Help of Our Wonderful Family Storyteller, Estelle Stadem-Rangen:
Directory to God's Little Acres by Daughter Estelle Navigate By Way Of Our Central for Family Tributes
Tributes to Stadem Family MembersNow More Links To Explore Here and Also Beyond Beloved Plain View Farm:
Mama Bergit Stadem's Personal HistoryCan you read this
Norwegian grace? If you took Norwegian in school (I took a year in college, but needed more to really get it under my belt!), or picked it up from
Norwegian-descent parents, you are fortunate. The rest of us can guess, or use Google's translator. Or I can always get my Norwegian mother to translate!--Ronald Ginther
"In Jesus
Name we go to the table,
"Let Us Break Bread Together"--A Traditional Communion Song based on an old
Negro Spiritual
How about some Rommegrot? It is delicious! So delicate in flavors, it simply melts in the mouth, as anyone who has had a real dish of it can testify. Here is the recipe from First Lutheran Church of Sioux Falls, SD., which Pearl Ginther offers to you all with her
Nowegian blessing! If you have ever had a bowl of Rommegrot, you are hooked for life!
Mama Bergit's Recipes Published in the Bryant Dakota Paper
From Pearl Ginther's Recipe Box (following recipe is in
Norske Talk):
Grandma's "No Omtrint" (No Guess) CuisineWe celebrate the epic struggles and achievement of our Bryant area pioneers! They left "giant footprints", indeed, after they turned a howling wilderness into a place where children could safely run and play, leaving to their descendants farms that could feed a nation and a world with good corn and wheat and livestock. Yes, during the same period the wonderful buffalo were driven off and killed by bounty hunters following a cruel campaign against the native Indian tribes--we cannot be thankful for that--but God's bounty and blessings are not diminished by what erring and greedy people do to spoil what God has given all men to enjoy. And in many places the magnificent buffalos are making a great comeback--thanks to their superior ability to survive and flourish on scant forage where domesticated cattle cannot live without food being brought in during bad weather. We can only try to be good neighbors to the Indians, wherever they now reside. Let not forget them, though the reservations are out of sight mostly, and thus out of mind to most Americans!
There is much we can do, individually, and together, to give them a hand up in the ways they appreciate help.
Central for "Giant Footprints," our Stadem-Ginther Tribute to Bryant, SD, Pioneers
PVF's Praying for You! PagePlain View Farm and the Stadems would have gotten nowhere without prayer to the Lord, daily, year after year! God was faithful to all their prayers, answering their calls for his help and guidance, healing and love and provision. He is a Faithful God now as well. Please use the guestbook for prayer requests if you do not email them to us instead. Uff Dah! We have mislaid the password for private entries, so please email us or make them public instead. You might want to check out the Cora and Carl Taylor page when it comes on-line soon, as the first part will be Cora's message, "Prayer is the Key that Open's Heaven's Door." The link to it will be given on this page. Thank you.
Go to Stadems_Saga, The Prairie Farm, and Plainview Farm on Angelfire for family tributes. Here is Stadems-Saga:
Stadem Saga Continues Home PageWE STADEM DESCENDANTS STILL HAVE A VITAL CONNECTION WITH THE SEA AND ALL WHO VENTURE UPON IT:
The Tacoma Seafarers Center Tribute, Port of Tacoma
This ministry has shared the Gospel and help the sailors with personal needs for many years, and it is a vital ministry of the Lord in reaching out to thousands of sailors form all over the world. Pearl Ginther (and her son Darrell) has been active in it for many years, and continues to supply gift boxes to the sailors at Christmas every year--30 at last count from her alone, to add to the 1200 or 1400 the Center distributes to the ships' mariners each Christmas season. The gift boxes are much appreciated, as each shoebox wrapped up nicely contains a tract, letter from the Center in various languages, along with candy, nuts, gum, cookies, wool cap, scarf, stockings, stationery, pencils, pens, toiletries, and other useful items. The Center needs prayer, as it built an expensive facility, and stands to lose that investment, as the building is so solidly based, it might not be moveable (the leasee, the Port of Tacoma, has taken back the ground beneath the Center for other uses!). A piece of property near it will be rented for $1 a year for a new building to be built, but this is a great expense, when the building now is in fine condition. Will you pray that God's will be done in this, and also that funds come in should the Center
have to close at its present site and a new facility erected on the adjacent Port rental property? Thank you! Souls are being served the Gospel, and the needs of sailors meet here; much is at stake.
The Buffalo Mound Home Page, with Truly Wonderful Bernice Stadem-Schaefer's Memories of the Folks, Papa and Mama, and PVF, also Pearl's Stories, Et Cet.Please check out this Reunion Report for July 10, 2002, as it
relates Bernice's truly great Christian legacy and achievements on the Farm supporting the
Reunions for many years with her gifts of merriment, homemade-bread by the dozens of loaves, UNIQUE family anniversary, births, weddings, and other celebration signs and decorations, and her unforgettable self in faithful attendance year after year from the 1980s to the 21st century. Except for one or maybe two instances, she was never paid for her services and labors of love all those years, bearing the considerable expense for her travels and costs of preparing for the reunions all those years! Can we not now try to repay the debt we owe her, in part at least, by commemorating this wonderful lady we were all privileged to know and receive so much love from? Someone out there in the relationship can surely come up with a gift that will establish a lasting memorial to her on the Farm! Come now, you are perfectly able to do it, many of you? You received much, so much is expected of you in return. Pass it on! Don't keep what you were given so lavishly. PASS THE LOVE LIGHT ON! IF YOU DON'T IT WILL EXPIRE IN YOUR HANDS, AND THEN WHAT WILL YOU HAVE, A BURNT OUT CANDLE! PLEASE DON'T DO THAT, FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND ALL YOUR LOVED ONES. IF IT IS IN YOUR ABILITY, DO ALL YOU CAN, UNGRUDGINGLY, WITH A WHOLE AND GRATEFUL HEART. PASS IT ON NOW!!
Bernice Schaefer's Reunion Boosting featured at Reunion 2002, Plain View Farm
Take a self-guided tour of Old Norway without the expense of plane or cruise ship--just plump right down on the comfy, old rocker in the parlor and look at wonders of nature and man's making through our Plain View Farm stereoscope, just like they did at the turn of the century (the 20th, that is).
BY THE WAY, WANT TO KNOW THE WEATHER IN WATERTOWN, SD, WHICH IS ABOUT 40 MILES FROM PLAIN VIEW FARM, AND ALSO AT THE VERY SAME TIME OVER IN OSLO, NORWAY, RIGHT THIS MOMENT? USE THE LINK PROVIDED, AND YOU WILL FIND IT ON THE PRAIRIEFARM PAGE:
Weather in Watertown, SD, and Oslo,
Norway
Stereoscopic Tour of Old Norway
PLAIN VIEW FARM HERITAGE CENTER WILL HAVE A SHOWCASE FEATURING EMBROIDERIES AND LACES BY STADEMS AND HOLBECKS. PEARL STADEM GINTHER WILL GIVE HER OWN COLLECTION TO IT, AND SHE HAS OVER FIFTY EXAMPLES OF THIS FINE ART FORM OF THE SCANDINAVIANS. JUST A FEW CAN BE SHOWN HERE ON THESE WEBSITE PAGES FOR NOW.
"Pearl's Lacery," Part ITime to start learning Christmas carols, "Julen Sanger," from Norway! These are great for the family gathered round the Christmas tree at Julekveld! Grandma Bergit Stadem described how over in
Norway she and her family would sing songs and join hands and circle around the Christmas tree, a beatiful memory she carried her whole life. Here are 7
lovely Christmas carols from the
N.A.L. song booklet:
"Julen Sanger," Christmas Carols from
Norway
HAD A HEART-Y TASTE OF GOOD OLD NORWEGIAN HOSPITALITY ON THE FARM YET? THERE IS MUCH, MUCH MORE, IF YOU JUST KEEP WITH US AND EXPLORE A LITTLE MORE! THE BEST IS YET TO COME, SO STAY AND VISIT AWHILE!
An old-fashioned Valentine for you from Pearl Ginther's Collection:
Please Visit and Sign Our Guestbook and Tell US What You EnjoyedYou are most welcome too to browse (like that grazing quality of the verb!) our guestbook entries going back to 1998 too, which we have collected on a special page here for you on this site.
Take a Gander at Guestbook Entries Back to 1998 or thereabouts!
Pewter Spoon With Viking Decorations.
Sorry, no computer yet is made with pewter in
Norway, as some people may have thought, as it would be too expensive!
WE NORWEGIAN DESCENT AMERICANS ALSO LOVE ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE! PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A DEDICATED CHRISTIAN ZIONIST SITE, AND WE ARE ABSOLUTELY PASSIONATE ABOUT THE LAND GOD GAVE HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE AND ALSO THE CHURCH, FOR WE GENTILE SAINTS TOO HAVE A WONDERFUL, ROYAL PART IN REIGNING FROM JERUSALEM WITH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST DURING THE 1,000 YEARS CALLED THE MILLENNIUM: In a parade in Jerusalem, Finnish Zionists show their ardent support of Israel and the Jews. We too, as Norwegian descendants, also support Israel and God's people ardently! We pray God bless and keep Israel, and protect God's people wherever they are, but especially those in Israel, where they are under constant, increasing attack by rockets and bomb-carrying terrorists of Gaza and Southern Lebanon's Hezbollah terrorists, as well as by hostile Muslim dictatorships all around Israel and the even more dangerous, fanatical Muslim mullahs of Iran! Whoever blesses Israel, will be blessed, God's holy word says. Whoever curses Israel will be cursed, God's Word also warns us. God set it up that way, and we respect God and His ways, for they are absolutely right, and men's ways are absolutely wrong then they come in opposition to God's holy, perfect ways and commandments. Thank God that some Scandinavians, the Finns, have got it right! They are a brave, shining example to us all, are they not?
We also feature here a Finnish Christian woman's story, of how she began as a young woman to bring the love of Jesus to the prisoners of Finnish prisons, starting in the 1880s. She gave up her safe, luxurious home in Vasa, Finland, and all its comforts as a daughter of Governor Wrede to go and share the love of Jesus with the most hopeless men in the country, amidst terrible conditions. For years she did this, and it revolutionized the entire wretched system, and hundreds of men were granted freedom, since they turned to God and
their lives were transformed. Her name is Mathilda Wrede, who lived from 1864-1928, and her story needs to be retold so that young people today can
know that there were great heroines such as this in Scandinavia.
"In Convict Cells," the Story of Mathilda Wrede of Finland, by W. G. Wilson, Chapters 1-2
"In Convict Cells," Chapter 3, & 4 (Conclusion)
We also want to mention the 1944-published life story of a
Norwegian boy, John O. Dyrnes from the island of Smolen in north-eastern
Norway. He was always reading every book he could get his hands on after he had done his chores on the small farmstead of his family's. John had a calling from early age apparently from God, for he emigrated to America and, hungering for more knowlege, mastered English and eventually went to school in St. Paul, Minnesota, later graduating from Augsburg College. Further medical training made him a doctor while he
was an energetic member of Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Paul, and then he was authorized and sent with his young wife to Madagascar, where he became a medical missionary under the auspices of the Lutheran Board of Missions. He served most sacrificially there until his wife's death and not long after his own death in 1943, after 43 years of labors there for the sake of the
people, spiritually and physically, and also for the missionaries there who had, before his coming, perished from disease that he could have averted. He was born just six years after Oline and Sjur Stadem left
Norway to begin a new life in America. I do not know how we have his life story, as I have asked my mother and she does not recall. But perhaps Grandpa Alfred Stadem knew of him, or had heard him speak on furlough, and acquired the booklet, and it came down to us through my father and mother from Grandpa. However it happened, here is a man who should not be forgotten. It is truly a life spent completely for the sake of Christ and His Church.
Plain View Farm Home Page
Our
New Master Directory of
Nine Sites:
WWW.OARINGINTHERIVER.COM Master Directory
Ron Ginther, PVF webmaster, in happy, gardening days when he was the estate gardener for a very kind lady, Mrs. Gladys Farquhar, in Sumner, Washington.
A word from the webmaster: Our original items, composed or illustrations, on this site are Public Domain with the understanding that
people share them but please do not take credit for the items shared here from us and also many various sources besides our own--we ask in return you handle them all with Christian decency and respect for us and others too! God bless. The Golden Rule, that is our operating rule we try hard to observe and obey. We regret we cannot, due to constraints of time and energy, give credit to every one of our additional sources of info or material, of course, being a non-profit, but will certainly give credit where it is due, when notified.
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