Hans Nielsen and Karen Jacobine Twenstrup -- 75+ years
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Hans Nielsen and Karen Jacobine Twenstrup -- 75+ years.
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Long-term LoversHans was born near Kimballton in 1888, the son of Danish immigrants Niels and Marie (Lorensen) Nielsen. Karen was born in 1892 in Aalborg, a large town in northern Jutland, where her father managed a building in which some 50 Danish soldiers were quartered. Her mother did the laundry for the men and also baked Danish pastries that they could buy from her. Karen came to America in 1909 to be near two brothers who had emigrated earlier and found work as a maid for a judge and his family for a year. She and Hans were married in Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kimballton on November 1, 1911. They lived on a farm near Walnut, Iowa, for a short time, and later farmed near Kimballton and Dedham, Iowa, where they lived until retiring in 1965. They were the parents of 3 sons: Folmer, Emmert and Ernie. Following their retirement they returned to the community from which they started and were active in town activities for many years. Hans liked listening to music and Karen sang in the church choir. In 1984 they moved to the Salem Home, where they were still going strong when they celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary with an open house in 1986. Hans died the following year, ending the longest marriage in the current exhibit.
