Tale of Norwegian woman involves Nazis and a Christmas boat

But when she was 17, life took a turn for Else and for all of Norway. It was 1940 — the year Nazi Germany occupied the country.

But Else wasn't about to let the Nazis have everything their way. She and young relatives found a way to irritate them.

Else's family delights in telling the story, and it surfaced again last year when Else, who had moved to the United States and lived at Harwood, N.D., died at 93.

Ann Ueland, the wife of Else's son Jim, sent Neighbors a story about her carried by the Cass County Reporter, Casselton, N.D., in 2009. The story was written by Julie Peterson as Else related it to her. The information for this column comes from that story as well as from her obituary in The Forum.

The Reporter's story tells not only of her life in occupied Norway but also of how she met a man who she developed an interest in partially because he could knit.

Dancing on the bridge

Even as a young girl, Else loved to help people and so determined she would become a nurse.

But then came the German occupation, and life became tough.

For one thing, while the Germans allowed her father to remain a forester, they took his car, so he had to ride a bike to the woods or take a bus.

Food and clothing became hard to get. Else's girlfriend made a dress for her out of a curtain.

Else's small town high school was closed when some of the teachers were imprisoned because they didn't agree with the Germans. Else wound up attending four different schools in four years. Then she went to cooking school and worked as a nurse's aide to give her a better chance of being accepted in nursing school.

Meanwhile, she and other teens found ways to rub the Nazis the wrong way.

For one thing, they made bracelets and necklaces out of paperclips, which meant they were sticking together.

One day the superintendent of the school, who was a Nazi, came to her class and asked if anybody was wearing them.

"We all raised our hands," Else said. "And he was really mad."

The Nazis didn't want people to meet together. "I guess they figured we might plot something," Else said. "So when I visited my aunt, the young ones would meet every Saturday night. They had quite a few bridges, so we would go there and dance," to music played by a guy on his accordion.

"It was fun to dance," she said, "but the most fun was that we weren't allowed to do it!"

The Christmas boat

In 1944, Else was accepted by a nursing school. The war ended while she was there. She earned her degree in 1947, went to Oslo to begin her hospital career, then at the suggestion of a fellow nurse, came to the United States to work for a year as a nurse.

She went to LaCrosse, Wis., and worked with a doctor acquaintance of a friend of her father and boarded with the mother of one of the doctors.

Gradually she learned to talk English, although she said "I'm sure I gave the patients a lot of laughs."

After about five months in LaCrosse, she moved to a smaller hospital in Baldwin, Wis. Then in December 1948, she boarded what was called the "Christmas boat" to return to Norway. And on that boat was a man named Mandius "Manny" Ueland.

He was the one

Manny, too, was born and raised in Norway. He came to the U.S. during the Depression in the 1930s, worked on a farm near Fargo, rented land near Amenia, N.D., then bought property near Prosper, N.D.

Then he boarded that Christmas boat to return to Norway to visit his family. And he met Else.

He was 14 years older than her. But he began a conversation with her by telling her he could knit. Else was skeptical but she was interested and a friendship developed. Well, in fact, Else told the Reporter writer, she knew when she met him she'd marry him some day. And she did, in Norway in 1949.

They farmed at Detroit Lakes, Minn., for five years, then on Manny's farm at Prosper. And they kept a stork mighty busy, because he delivered seven children to them, which suited Else, because she'd always wanted a large family.

Manny died in 1998. One of his and Else's children, Magne "Bud," preceded his mother in death. Those still living are Roy, Mansfield, Mo.; Laila Messerly, Des Moines, Iowa; Harold, Fargo; Jon, Big Sky, Mont.; James, Harwood; and Tom, Ulen, Minn. There are 35 grandchildren and 29 living great-grandchildren; two have died.

Else's obituary says she was "a dedicated, loving mother and grandmother. She was active in her community and church (Bethel Evangelical Free, Fargo). She loved swimming, dogs, watching the winter Olympics, mountains, skiing, red shoes, musicals, pink carnations, meatballs, reading, knitting, Norwegian culture, her grandkids, and most importantly, her savior Jesus Christ."

This is the woman who, as a teenager, knew how to get under the skin of those German Nazis.

If you have an item of interest for this column, mail it to Neighbors, The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, ND 58107, fax it to 241-5487 or email blind@forumcomm.com.