  Sons
of Norway
Edvard Grieg Lodge 5-657 Our History We are very proud to be the first Sons of Norway Lodge in the State of Ohio. February, 1999 - Letters sent to Sons of Norway members in Ohio saying that Sons of Norway was now licensed to operate in Ohio. Summer and Fall of 1999 - Helen Hippert puts notes in newspapers to inform public about the new lodge in Southwest Ohio. December 1, 1999 - Esther Charlton saw one of those articles, called Helen, and asked, "How can I help?"
February 19, 2000 - The first meeting was held at the Greenery Restaurant in the Preston Hotel, North of Cincinnati. Thirty five people showed up to find out about the new lodge. some were from the Scandinavian Society, and some were members of Sons of Norway. Others found their way to us in many diverse ways. April 10, 2000 - We received our official lodge number and could start accepting memberships as Lodge 5-657.
June 17, 2000 - Our first visit to Susie and Glenn Mikaloff's home in Springboro was delightful. June 30, 2000 - About a dozen of us had lunch at the Bill Knapp's in Middletown, where we started to discuss our lodge name, which had to be decided before our Institutional Meeting. August 19, 2000 - Karl Flem, one of our members gave us some insights on his connection to Norway.
October 21, 2000 - Charlotte Lee talked to us about the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah, Iowa, at our lodge meeting. We start the voting process for our lodge name. November 18, 2000 - Helen hosts a holiday potluck at her condo's clubhouse. At this meeting Bill and Marolyn Halverson came from Columbus to join us. since Bill is an expert on Edvard Grieg, he told us about him, to encourage us in our voting. Dr. Halverson spoke the right words. On the second ballot, "Edvard Grieg" received the most votes and we became the Edvard Grieg Lodge of District 5.
February 17, 2001 - Greg Ragan, our area staff representative for Sons of Norway, was the speaker for our lodge meeting and gave us much information on the benefits of Sons of Norway membership. April 21, 2001 - Bill Halverson was our speaker on Edvard Grieg, much to the delight of nearly 60 people. We hope you will join us in continuing to make the history of our lodge. |
Helen
and Esther have a couple of meeting to determine the process for becoming
a lodge and to set a date for the first information meeting. The
first hurdle was to fill out a form to be a new lodge, to get approval
and a lodge number, and to find 40 interested people to become members
of the lodge. Image right: Helen & Bob Hippert.
April
15, 2000 - We held our second meeting having Susie Mikaloff and Helen Hippert
talk to us about what people did at lodge meetings. Both had been
active in previous sons of Norway lodges. We accepted our first memberships
from Nelda Chandler, Elma Reede, and Esther Charlton. Image left:
Elma, Nelda, Sandra.
September
17, 2000 - Leif Torkelsen, an ardent supporter of our new lodge, hosted
a Sunday lunch for the lodge. Image left: Leif Torkelsen.
December
29, 2000 - Institutional Meeting held at the Best Western Hotel.
All of our months of hard work was celebrated as the District Officers
came down from parts up North to make us an official lodge.