Betty Louise Starr, confirmed in Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Chicago, Illinois, June 9, 1946

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Brief Overview

Betty Louise Starr, confirmed in Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Chicago, Illinois, June 9, 1946.

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Confirmands: (front row) Kenneth Petersen, Dagmar Steffensen, Rev. Paul George Rasmussen, Betty Starr, Gunnar Nyholm; (back row) unknown, Paul Nyholm, Paul Friis, unknown, unknown, Richard Sorby.

Confirmation Memory

In 1942 Siloam Danish Lutheran Church merged with Gethsemane DLC to become Our Savior’s United Lutheran Church. The pastor was Paul George Rasmussen from 1936 to 1942. In the latter year Pastor Rasmussen entered the US Army. He was married and had a small son named Paul. From 1942 until I was confirmed on June 9, 1946 the church had a variety of ministers. We had Paul Nyholm much of the time, but Donald Hansen, a student minister, also substituted sometimes. Pastor Rasmussen came back for the picture, but Pastor Nyholm’s two sons were in the class so I think he led the classes. Pastor Hans C. Jersild was the pastor in 1947.

I looked forward to confirmation because that meant we could join the Luther League and it seemed that they were always having a good time doing something. Some of the members, besides our confirmation class, were Pastor Jersild’s son, Paul, Marilyn Steffensen, Harry Christiansen and his sister Caroline; Marge [have forgotten her last name], Eric Christensen, Alvin and Richard Jeppesen, Joann Christiansen, Jimmy Sorensen and his brother, John, so you can see there were a lot of Danes going to that church, some of whom eventually married each other. We did many things together as a group, picnics where we sang church/gospel songs around a camp fire, church dinners and outings, house parties – always with adult chaparones. When I graduated from high school at 16 I stayed in the Luther League, but in the fall of 1949 when I turned 17 I started working on the South Side of Chicago. I lived on the Northwest side, so spent a few hours riding the streetcars and “El,” so I didn’t have much time any more to participate. Also, some of my group started college at Dana College and were gone most of the year. (courtesy of Betty L. Svendsen, Grayslake IL)

Betty's mother Gerda is also featured in the exhibit.