Here we go again. Our previous Vice President, Mary Lou Goodfellow found it necessary to resign. Nobody else would consider this high paying job.
Although I have here and done this for seven years previously, I look forward to a new limited term.
We appreciate the work of past president, Dave Ostrem, who had a hectic year. Starting the year with by-pass surgery and ending it in Stavanger as a delegate for the International SONS OF NORWAY convention. In between, he did a great job of maintaining regular meetings of the board.
The work and enthusiasm of Harold and Pat Hanson for the Albert Lea stemne was greatly appreciated. They also served as our resident experts in genealogy.
Banquet speaker, Al Batt, was very entertaining with his talk about the hard times of growing up on the farm. He now spends a lot of time writing and speaking about thos times to entertain audiences.
Life can be strange. Many of us can relate to those times, such as, you couldn't eat eggs because you had to save as many as possible to trade for groceries in town.
This stuff falls into that category which is, it is really funny when it happens to someone else.
The Uff da band was fun to hear an to see them enjoying their activity too.
We are already beginning to make arrangements for '01 in Decorah. We will be meeting with the Luther College housing administrtion soon to make sure we get air conditioned rooms. We are looking for a coordinator in the Decorah area.
We are looking for more news from the big Fjord country.
We will continue to be concerned about increasing our membership. We know that the next generation is another step removed from the old country and distance does diminish the interest.
We look forward to working with the new board members and keep in mind we need all the help we can get from our membership.
Harry Bolstad