Who We Are

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?”

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.

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.

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. 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 Institution Meeting.

August 19, 2000 – Karl Flem, one of our members gave us some insights on his connection to Norway.

September 17, 2000 – Leif Torkelsen, an ardent supporter of our new lodge, hosted a Sunday lunch for the lodge.

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.

December 29, 2000 – Institution Meeting held at the Best Western Hotel. All of our months of hard work were celebrated as the District Officers came down from parts up North to make us an official lodge.

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