VUN PROUD NORVEGIAN
By Duane Winn
Register Editor
Jean Clark Kaldahl had never noticed her mother's thick Norwegian brogue until she returned home to the family farm for a semester break from Iowa State Teacher's College (now the University of Northern Iowa) in Cedar Falls.
"I heard her talk and thought to myself, 'Why does momma talk so funny?' "
Decades later, Kaldahl doesn't consider it funny at all. It's a treasured link to the past. "It's a charm that I cherish," she said.
What's more, the Norwegian patois has become an essential part of Kaldahl's cultural toolkit as she attempts to keep alive her Norwegian heritage.
"I finished teaching after 41 years and my husband told me that I needed a project," Kaldahl said. "So, I started telling these stories about my life growing up on a farm and the very first night I did it, out popped my momma's brogue and I was so surprised."
In addition to her public monologues for clubs, churches and cultural gatherings, Kaldahl, who grew up on a farm near Big Spring in Clayton County, self-published and illustrated "Katrina Remembers ..." in 2001. It comprises various chapters of her childhood farm life. It is "told" by 10-year-old Katrina, who speaks with a Norwegian brogue. Katrina is Kaldahl's alter ego.
She recorded a pair of audio cassettes, and Kaldahl recently transcribed the cassettes on to compact discs which are available at the Elkader Public Library.
Kaldahl revels in the tales of going to a country school, threshing, picking corn and learning how to make dishes such as lefse and lutefisk.
However, Kaldahl, who lives in Port Townsend, Wash., insists that one needn't be Norwegian to extract some worth from her tales.
"My husband said, 'You know many, many things about what farming was like in those years,' " Kaldahl said. "And that's the value I think, if you aren't Norwegian. This could be any farmer's life, except for a few things, like Christmas lefse, Ladies Aid and lutefisk."
Kaldahl, a member of the Daughters of Norway (she's president this year of her local chapter), has performed at local venues such as the Nordic Fest in Decorah and Uff Da Daze in St. Olaf. She said that her monologues strike the deepest chords with Norwegians of her generation.
"They laugh before I finish the punch line," she said, "because they know what's coming, and that's fun.
"I've gone to preschool children and they don't seem to have any difficulty with understanding."
Kaldahl said that her "project" has been a labor of love and has deepened her appreciation of her heritage.
"I am so very proud to be Norwegian," she said.
Posted on July 7, 2010
