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!"

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:

"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."

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? 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:

"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!!"

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:

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.

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.

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:

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.

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"

"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

"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."

"Rooster in the Well!", by Pearl Stadem Ginther, as told to Ronald Ginther

"How Pearl Got Home in the Dark..."

"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"

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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.

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Plainviewfarm Road Map

IN 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.

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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Plain View Master Directory

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Photo Album Master Directory

Navigate 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 Members

Now More Links To Explore Here and Also Beyond Beloved Plain View Farm:

Mama Bergit Stadem's Personal History

Can 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,

Eat and drink of Your Word.

To God we praise and us be blessed,

We then receive food in Jesus' Name.

Amen"

"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.

Mama Bergit's Recipes Published in the Bryant Dakota Paper