SONS OF NORWAY MISSION STATEMENT The mission of sons of Norway is to promote and to preserve the heritage and culture of Norway, to celebrate our relationship with other Nordic Countries and to provide quality insurance and financial products to its members. Revised August 2008
Victory Lodge No. 43 was organized in Vallejo, California, on January 31 with 36 charter members and with at least 30 more at a special meeting on Sunday, February 8. The preliminary work for this promising beginning was done by Organizer Arnt Haugerud who spent three weeks in Vallejo. To the meeting on January 31 came a great number of Sons of Norway members from Sacramento, San Francisco and Oakland. The meeting was called to order by District Vice President T. Gronning who introduced Alfred Hansen, President of Bjornstjerne Bjornson Lodge No. 14, Oakland, who with his fellow lodge officers conducted the meeting until the officers of the new lodge were installed. Astrid Rogenes, assistant secretary of Henrik Ibsen Lodge No. 7, acted as assistant secretary and performed as pianist.
Organizer Haugerud was presiding officer during the initiation of the 36 charter members, with very good assistance from the officers of Bjornstjerne Bjornson, making it a very inspiring and memorable event. The following officers were elected by acclamation: President, Harry E. Halversen; Vice-
President, Peder Erickson; Secretary, Ruth Sather; Assistant secretary, Ora Fitch; Financial Secretary Eilif Jensen; Treasurer Albert Lawrence; Judge, Andrew Sheveland; Regent Gudrun Monson; Marshals, Dagny Andersen and Ida Halversen; Guards, Sven Tunheim and Hogan Andersen; Trustees, Evan Munson, Einar Sather and Sverre Wathney; Physician, O. Nestling. The Officers were installed by District Vice-President Gronning.
The name chosen for the new lodge was “Victory,” and the allotted number being 43 the slogan for the evening became “Victory in ’43,” which carried significant implications inasmuch as a great number of the members are employed at the nearby Mare Island Navy Yard.
From Dovre Lodge No. 26, Marshfield, Ore., the new lodge received a president’s gavel, beautifully made of Myrtle Wood, and from the Bjornstjerne Bjornson lodge a set of Regalia’s.
Telegrams were received from the Supreme Lodge, Sons of Norway, District Lodge No. 2, district officers George Wold of Spokane and B.A. Johannesen of Aberdeen, Wash., Organizer Erling Smedvig, and from every lodge within the district. Presidents Ness of Roald Amundsen Lodge, Sacramento, Wable of Henrik Ibsen, San Francisco, and Hansen of Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Oakland, conveyed their lodges’ greetings to “Victory 43” and its members.
By L. Carsten Hatlen