President’s Message

Scholarship Report.................................... 3Genealogy Corner .................................... 4Lodge News...........................................7-11Resolutions ..............................................12Coat of Arms............................................ 14

WHAT’S INSIDE:

CVII EST. 1906 La Palma, California September 2013 Number 3 www.orderofruneberg.org

Thank you,Order of Runeberg! With hard times falling on thetimber industry for my husband, Imade the decision to return to schooland pursue a degree to become aPhysical Therapist Assistant. Thiswas a big decision as we also havethree school-aged children. I founda program at Lane Community Col-lege located approximately two

hours from ourh o m e . T h ecourse was veryintense as I com-muted weekly toattend all-daylabs and com-pleted hours ofcourse work on-line. I am proud

to say that I graduated in June withhonors. I could not enjoy my sum-mer as I spent many more hoursstudying for the national licensingexam in July. I received the terrificnews that I passed my exam by theend of the month. I am so excited toshare that I began a job two weeksago in my hometown working withpediatrics that need physical therapyservices. I am working in bothschools and homes to provide ser-vices for children ages zero totwenty-one.

I would like to express a heartfeltthank you as the recipient of thisyear’s 2013 scholarship. I would alsolike to thank all of the lodge mem-bers who have contributed to thescholarship fund over the years. Re-ceiving the scholarship helped mefinish my schooling and allowed meto take the national exam. I shall beforever grateful.

Sincerely,Heidi McCarthyCoos Bay Lodge #126

Greetings to our members inCanada, Finland, and USA.I hope you all enjoyed your

summer and are looking forward tothe fall season, with its beautifulcolors. You may remember from theMarch 2012 issue of the LeadingStar I had mentioned that newsmedia had been talking aboutFinland’s education system, spe-cifically mentioning an articletitled: “What Americans Keep Ig-noring About Finland’s School Suc-cess”, in the December 29, 2011,issue of The Atlantic Monthly jour-nal. Now, an article just publishedin September on CNBC’s websitetitled “China’s education plan ...from Finland’s playbook” discusseschanges China is adopting. Fromthe CNBC article: “The changes China is adoptingmay be less about making life easieron students and more about devel-oping an education system alongthe lines of a consistent top per-former: Finland” and “The Finnisheducation system puts less empha-sis on testing and homework. Stu-

International Order of Runeberg Supreme Board

continued on page 2

dents aresteered to-ward cre-ative activi-ties andteachers aregiven widel a t i t u d ewith assign-ments and curricula.” With thesechanges, the CNBC article quotesGary Beach (publisher emeritus ofCIO Magazine): “China will jumpin front in the global race to teachstudents the ‘new’ skills like col-laboration, creativity, and criticalthinking.”

If you’re interested in readingthe CNBC article, it’s atwww.cnbc.com/id/101032516, andthere is a link to it at our website,www.orderofruneberg.org.

Congratulations to Finland onthe celebration of the 150th anni-versary of the official activities ofFinnish parliament! In September1863, during the Russian regime,Emperor Aleksanteri II (Emperorof Russia, King of Poland, and

2 September 2013

The Leading Star / LedstjärnanInt’l. President: Stewart Lyons

Editors: Dale and Mary Lou Hjort

Subscriptions payable in advanceOne Year, U.S. & Canada $15.00Overseas $20.00

Resolutions, single column, per inch, $5.00

Advertising rates available upon request.

Address all correspondence to:Postmaster: Send changes of address to:The Leading Star, Attn: Dale & Mary Lou Hjort

7682 Tracy LaneLa Palma, CA 90623-1501

Telephone/Fax: 714-739-0932Email: d.mlhjort@juno.com

The LEADING STAR (ISSN No. 0744-7485) is published quarterly by the International Order of Runebergfor its members and others interested in the Order at 7682 Tracy Lane, La Palma, California 90623-1501.

Correspondents: Information received by the first Friday ofthe quarterly month or as noted will be included in thatquarter’s issue.To correct our listing of your address, fill in the requestedinformation in the form below and send your old mailing label to:

Dale & Mary Lou Hjort 7682 Tracy Lane

La Palma, CA 90623-1501

Name:_____________________________________________

Street:_____________________________________________

City:_______________________________________________

State:______________________________ Zip_____________

Lodge & Number:____________________________________

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International Order of Runeberg Supreme BoardPresident’s Messagecontinued from page 1

Grand Prince of Finland) openedthe official activities of the parlia-ment in Helsinki. Mentioned previously, here aretwo items important enough to re-peat for emphasis: (1) The updated format of theLeading Star allows us to have thenewspaper accessible to read and/or download from our website (youmay read &/or print it.—The linkis on the “IOR News, Events, Info”web page). This brings a great op-portunity to all lodges. Knowingthat our website pages are visitedover 430 times per month (5,190times in year 2012), this provides afree and easy opportunity to informpotential members exploring theWeb for Finnish / Swede-Finncultural information and activities.You/your lodge are strongly andeagerly encouraged to submitmeetings information (picturesand/or text articles) to the LeadingStar, enhancing the visibility of thelodge to a wider Internet audience

that may include perspective newmembers. — Don’t forget to includecontact information for your lodge. (2) Each of our lodges has a pageat the IOR website. — I encourageyour lodge to take full advantage ofthis resource. In anticipation ofpotential new lodge members surf-ing the Internet for a local Finn-Swede cultural organization, it’svery important to have currentlodge information posted on yourlodge’s web page (such as meetingsschedule, meetings locations, spe-cial activities, etc.). If your lodgewould like information postedon your lodge’s web page, email orcall me with the information you’dlike posted. My contact infor-mation is on our website,www.orderofruneberg.org, under“About Us, IOR Board Members.”For members of Lodge #101 (Se-attle, WA) and Lodge #124(Vancouver, BC), send your lodgeinformation directly to Nils Holmfor Lodge #101, or Shea Teixeira forLodge #124. Hope you all enjoy the fall season. Stew Lyons

Time to preparefor Convention

The 2014 Convention is less thana year away. (See the article onpage 9.) One of the main busi-

ness items of the Convention is theconsideration of resolutions to theconstitution and bylaws. Thesemust be published in the LeadingStar for two issues prior to the con-vention. So now is the time for thelodges to start working on resolu-tions to have them ready for publi-cation. Also, delegates to the con-vention will need to be selected byeach lodge.

Now is the time to submit apersonal Christmas Greeting sothat it can be published in the De-cember Leading Star. Please sub-mit your greeting by December 1.

Also, for all those applying fora scholarship in 2014, rememberthat your application must be re-ceived by April 30. Applications areon the website. (Article on page 3.) –DH

3 September 2013

The International Order ofRuneberg Scholarship Fund hasreceived two generous dona-tions.

Joanne Mamaril $200.00Western District, Circle #1

$276.00Joanne was a 2012 scholar-

ship recipient. I will quote fromthe letter she sent to us.

“I would like to take this op-portunity to extend my gratitudefor your generosity. As one of thepast, chosen students to receivethe Order of Runeberg Scholar-ship, I am very pleased to tell youthat I passed the written compo-nent of my Physiotherapy Li-cense Exam. I am able to workas a Physiotherapy Resident in aLong Care Facility. I am able topursue my dreams because ofyour help and in return I am verypleased to donate $200.00 to theO/R Scholarship Fund. I knowthere are lots of students thatneed help and it is a chance forme to return the favor.” JoanneMamaril

Perhaps, we all take forgranted that recipients of our

Letter to the EditorsDear Editors,

The obituary for Lorena Volz inJune’s Leading Star reports thatshe was born in Au Sable, Michi-gan, and reached the venerableage of 107 1/2, a remarkable lifespan. June Pelo added a noteabout her cousin’s family, whichencouraged me to search forLorena’s ancestors in TALKO (adatabase of Swedish-speakingFinns’ family trees developed byHasse Nygård from data contrib-uted by hundreds of family re-searchers).

Indeed, Lorena was born in AuSable, Michigan, of Swedish-speaking Finns. Her father wasborn in Karleby and her mother inPedersöre. Her husband Arthurwas born Artur Adolf KarlssonKällström, who took the last nameSpring in America. Artur was bornin Karleby as well.

So she was born of “Swedish-speaking Finn” heritage, ratherthan “Finn and Swedish” whichsuggests that one parent was fromSweden and another from Finland.

This tiny detail can make a bigdifference to genealogists re-searching family trees, which ismy favorite occupation. I’m ofteninspired by June Pelo’s work.She’s very generous with assis-tance and has copious amounts ofinformation about Swedish Finns.

Thanks, June!Syrene Forsman

The Swedish FinnHistorical SocietyFamily Research volunteer

Scholarship Fund are pleased toreceive it. However, it is trulyheartwarming to receive afollow-up letter such as this thathas certainly made a differencein one student’s life. Thank you,Joanne, for sharing yourthoughts and your monetarykindness with your fellowmembers. Our ScholarshipProgram does make a difference!

Regarding the Western Dis-trict, Circle #1 donation, there isan article by Nils Holm to ex-plain this.

THANK YOU for these gen-erous donations. We appreciateyour support.

Please make your checks outto the International Order ofRuneberg Scholarship Fund andsend them to:

Janet Anderson,Financial Secretary

6094 Myrtle Ave.Eureka, CA 95503

Scholarship applicationsMUST be received by APRIL 30,2014.

Lorene Mara,Scholarship Chairman

Scholarship Donation Report

Report on the $$Because of our aging and declining membership in the Order of

Runeberg, I sent in an article to the Leading Star, published in the March2012 issue. The article was requesting views of what should be done withthe money in the Western District Circle #1 Treasury.

I had a ‘small’ response, however all agreed that donating the funds tothe scholarship “kitty” was a good idea.

In the October 2004 issue of the Leading Star, Circle # 1 Treasurybalance was $229.81.There was a donation from Coos Bay Lodge #126 of $25.00 (in lieu ofraffle donation). After doing the calculation (possibly on the high side?)and rounding, I came up with a final of $276.00. This amount was sent toJanet Anderson (Financial Secretary) on August 6.

Nils Holm Seattle Lodge #101

4 September 2013

Genealogy Corner

fter I had been in the

United States for a dozen and a half years, I discov- ered an American phe- nomenon–“Garage and

Yard Sale.” The business of sell-ing used belongings was totallyunfamiliar to me. I had difficultyin comprehending that here inthis Promised Land people actu-ally bought used rags, clothes,and junk. When I grew up in Fin-land after the war, people woreclothes until they were worn outand there were no more placesto sew more patches on a gar-ment. If one was lucky enoughto be the oldest child, he alwaysgot the new clothes. I was soblessed because I was the oldestof three boys. After I had wornmy clothes, there was seldomanything left of them. So my twoyounger brothers also got newclothes. The old clothes probablywere burned up in the fireplace.Now when I think back, I won-der what happened to things ourparents disposed of because atthat time our village had nodumping place.

The first time I was exposedto second-hand goods was whenmy mother, Etel, came to livewith me for several years duringmy study years. One eveningwhen I came home she was soexcited for me to see what shehad found outside the door of the

house where I lived. There on thetable was a pile of children’sclothing, neatly stacked. Sarcas-tically, I said to her, “Why didyou pick up rubbish that some-one has thrown out?” But shesaid, “See how nice this clothingis.” She picked up one garmentafter another and showed themto me. All were clean and du-rable. I was quite surprised atwhat I saw. I apologized for mycurtness and ignorance. Mymother wrapped the items in abig packet and sent them to hergrandchildren. The clothing waswelcomed.

Only after I had moved out intothe northern part of New Yorkstate did I come to realize howwidespread this phenomenon

was. I was very surprised by allof the garage and yard sales thereare during the summer. So it is—one person’s junk is anotherman’s treasure. In addition togarage and yard sales, I foundthat other businesses also buyand sell used items. Among themare the Salvation Army, Goodwilland many consignment shopswhere one receives a percentageof the money when items aresold. It used to be that only thepoor went to the Salvation Armyto shop. No more. Now one seesnice cars parked outside theplace. Inside the shop one seeswell-dressed men and womenwho search for a bargain. Can itbe a sign of the economic stateof affairs?

The nearest city to where welive is Hudson. The city is knownfor its numerous antique shops.Every Wednesday when pricesare dropped to half at the Salva-tion Army, one can see antiquedealers fill their pickup truckswith wares that they later sell intheir shops—with great profit—to people from New York City.Come and get it in a garage sale!

I remember when my mothercame from Småbönders onesummer to help my wife with anew addition to our family. Oneday my wife Bernice took mymother out to a garage and yardsale. My mother looked at what

Old Used Clothing

AJune Pelo,A Dedicated Genealogist

5 September 2013

was for sale. She said in herTerjärv dialect: “Junk—justjunk!”

Through the years my wife de-veloped a discriminating eye forthe fine and reasonable thingsoffered at the second-handshops. Our sons can thank theirmother for most of the furniturethey have in their homes. Theused cars that we drive are alsoher finds. Last week my wifecalled me in the afternoon andasked if I would please go outand buy a bag of apples at anapple orchard. She said sheplanned to bake some pies laterin the evening. She didn’t havetime to go and buy the applesbecause she was on her way to atherapy session. That meant shewas going to see if she could findanything special at the SalvationArmy and Goodwill.

The sun was shining and thetrees were in beautiful autumncolors as I started out to shop. Ihopped into my Miata sports carand was on my way. The car waspolished and shone in the sun asI flashed by on the road. In my

designer sunglasses and MikaHäkkinen cap on my head I wasa sight to behold. When I arrivedat the apple orchard, I steppedout of the car and stretched withdignity. Just then a youngwoman walked by and looked atme. She said, “You look good!” Ianswered, “Yes, I know it.”

After I picked up my bag ofapples, I returned to my car. Infront of me, with short slowsteps, an old man walked with abag of apples. He was clad inworn wrinkled clothes and shoeswith an old gray hat on his head.I felt sorry for this miserable fel-low. With a brisk step I wentahead of him. When I opened mycar door, the old man went by.He stopped and in an approvingvoice said to me, “I think of my-self when I see a man my age whodrives a sports car. I said to my-

self, this wretched old manthinks he is in my league. WhenI drove out of the parking lot, Ihit the brake and stopped. Therebefore my eyes was the old manin a new Mercedes-Benz luxurycar! On the way home I admit-ted that I was downhearted. Isaid to myself, “If I could be inthe same league as that man inthe Mercedes-Benz, then Iwouldn’t need to drive around inmy used junk heap.”

When my wife came homethat evening, she had her handsfull of used items she had foundat the Salvation Army, and sheenthusiastically held up her lat-est finds. With a sarcastic voice,I said, “Why do you drag homejunk that no one else wants? Shelooked at me with her Mona Lisasmile and said, “But dear, youknow that was how I met you!”What could I say? My dear wifehas good taste.

Donald VidjeskogNorden 2 Dec. 2011

English translationby June Pelo

6 September 2013

LODGE NEWSLodge #106Tacoma,Washington

On July 20, 2013, CarolynNelson welcomed some 25 ofus out to her home on Clear Lakein Eatonville. Carolyn was backhome after some wonderfulsightseeing in the Scandinaviancountries. She’ll write and tell usabout that in one the next issuesof the Leading Star. Tacoma#106 members usually celebrateMidsummer out at Carolyn’s inJune; but it was, instead, for-warded into the month of July.

Those celebrating their anni-versaries in July were Gilbertand Rhea Linden, 59th anni-versary and Ray and SallyThompson, 50th anniversary.Both couples joined us out atCarolyn’s. Unable to join uswere Al and DrisillaRamberg, who have reachedtheir 67th anniversary.

Instead of crowning Mid-summer “Ladies”, it was sug-gested to crown “Midsummerpojkar”—Midsummer Boys!!Those picked were RoyCederberg and Gilbert Lin-

den—both enjoying the corona-tion!

A trip around the lake was en-joyed by several members andour Captain this year was JimRamsey, who has enjoyed meet-ing our #106 Runeberg crowd.

An “85th birthday” card wassent to Agnes Rand Warrenfrom Tacoma Lodge. Also RoyCederberg received a special

“80th birthday” greeting in Au-gust.

Marita and Jim Agnewattended Marita’s 60th HighSchool Reunion, held at Pan-orama City in Lacey, WA, onSaturday, August 10, 2013. Outof the original 321 students fromthe Class of 1953, there were 125present that day at PanoramaCity. Both Jim and Marita at-

continued on page 9

Jim and Marita at Marita’s“60th” High School Reunionheld at Panorama City A very nice lunch was served.

Clear Lake at Mt. Rainier takenfrom Carolyn Nelson’s home. Runeberg Picnic July 20, 2013

7 September 2013

LODGE NEWS

Order of Runeberg #106members enjoying abeautiful summer day atCarolyn Nelson’s home onClear Lake July 20, 2013. From left around table:Carol Britton, Jayne Ely,Lee Thompson,Marilyn Thompson,and Jan Forsman

Out on Clear Lake From left: Marta & Roy

Cederberg, Roger Gustafson,and Gilbert Linden

Enjoying the sunshine and thecompany—and just relaxing

Runeberg Picnic at CarolynNelson’s “Summer and all aroundParadise on Clear Lake!” Monica Mason, Tacoma #106Secretary Enjoying a relaxing day

Carolyn Nelson, our hostess “OUCH!” that hurt

From left:Elsie Thomson,Eileen Scott,Sally Thomson,andCarol Britton

“The Captainof the Ship,”Jim Ramsey

8 September 2013

LODGE NEWS

tended Olympia High School onCapitol Way. There was only onehigh school then. It was acrossthe street from the CapitolBuilding, and the fountain wasbuilt and finished when Maritawas a senior in 1953. Our O.R.member Marilyn (Johnson) Th-ompson also graduated fromOlympia High in 1953. Jim

graduated from Olympia High in1950. There were several I hadnot seen since 1953 who werepresent at the Panorama Citydinner and reunion. There weresome 91 who had passed awayfrom our Class of 1953.

It’s been a busy summer andthe days are getting shorter. Thefive beautiful hanging baskets I

received from my daughterKarlyn for Mother’s Day con-tinue to bloom out there on ourporch in several colours; and thehummingbirds enjoy coming tocheck them out. The moon wasso huge and bright out there aweek ago, I really thought we hadforgotten to turn the porch lightoff.

September is just around thecorner. School will be starting forthe children here in our neigh-borhood; and Tacoma Lodgemembers have some specialbirthdays coming up real soon:

Sept. 8:Karlyn AndreasenSept. 11:Susanne EdwardsSept. 14: John SandstromSept. 16: Al Ramberg(90 years young!)I’ve been thinking about new

ideas for our lodge. How about acute picture of yourself when youwere a child? Let’s think aboutthe unusual and different dia-lects we have in our O.R. mem-bership? Tell a little about your-self: where were you born? Writesomething about your back-ground and sent it in to Dale andMary Lou Hjort for the LeadingStar. You have their address inevery recent issue. P.S. Write about yourinterests! Submitted by Marita Agnew

continued from page 6Lodge #106 Tacoma, Washington

Jan Forsman at CarolynNelson’s home on Clear Lake

Out at CarolynNelson’s homeon Clear Lakeon July 20, 2013 “Midsummerpojkar” To the left:Gilbert Linden To the right:Roy Cederberg

“Brother and Sister Act” “Nuts Gather here”as the sign claims,Marita Agnew andRoger Gustafson

9 September 2013

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!Committee convenes to prepare for theAugust 15 and 16, 2014, InternationalOrder of Runeberg Convention!

Are you a loyal member of Lodge #124? Are you ready to partici-pate? Are you a member of one of the other Order of Runeberg

Lodges preparing to attend? Every member is in-vited—and yes, bring along a friend or two. It is Convention time2014 and time to begin thinking and planning for your visit with us.A visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, is second to none. Nextsummer’s event should be on everyone’s calendar. It is never tooearly to get out those travel folders and do a little day dreaming. Thispast summer has been absolutely gorgeous in Vancouver—hot anddry with lots of cool breezes but very little, if any rain. We can’t guar-antee spectacular weather, but if the past is any indication, it shouldbe a great summer next year too. Imagine—some of our tempera-tures this summer were in the high 20’s and even the early 30’s.(For our American friends, that is Celsius we are talking about!)

Are you a golfer? Burnaby has two beautiful golf courses, two greatpitch-and-putt courses, and best of all, members who play golf. Ifyou are ready for a round, let us know and perhaps we can help makesome golf arrangements for you. Not into golf? Well, Vancouver hasthe world-famous Stanley Park—this year celebrating its 125th year.The park deserves a day of your time—beaches, aquarium, park drive,restaurants, picnic spots, totems—just to name a few things of inter-est there. A “hop-on-hop-off” bus will take you all around the park(approximately seven miles) if you do not want to drive around.

Hopefully, your imagination and enthusiasm are building. August15 and 16 are reserved for the Convention business and activities,but do leave time for the touristy things before and after, as well.

On a more serious note, this is the time for all Lodges to haveinput as to what members wish to have available at the Convention.Resolutions to the constition and bylaws should be discussed, as theymust be published in the Leading Star two publications before theConvention. Do you or your Lodge have some interesting sugges-tions for the upcoming event? Contact any member of the SupremeBoard or Lodge #124 with your ideas! We welcome any suggestionsthat will make this the best Convention you will attend in 2014!

Watch for more information to follow, and we look forward toseeing you at the Convention.

Fraternally,Annabelle Kergan

604 291 7601 or iakergan@telus.net

InternationalOrder of

Runeberg Lodges

CANADALodge #124Vancouver, BC

Lodge #130New Westminster, BC

CALIFORNIALodge #102EurekaLodge #104San Francisco

CONNECTICUTLodge #205New Haven

MICHIGANLodge #8Dollar Bay

MONTANALodge #105Butte

OREGONLodge #126North Bend/Coos Bay

WASHINGTONLodge #101Seattle

Lodge #106Tacoma

10 September 2013

Lodge #8Dollar Bay, Michigan

Here are some photos from a meeting of the Dollar Bay Lodge on April 20, 2013. The meeting included the initiation of new members and took place in Dollar Bay’s own lodgebuilding. Theresa Kokkonen is president of the Dollar Bay Lodge.

President Theresa Kokkonen of Dollar Bay,Michigan Lodge #8

From left: Dennis DeMarte,Dennis Schmitz, Bev Schmitz,Steve LeClaire (Marshall),and Renee Ozanich (Secre-tary) behind lectern

LODGE NEWS

From left: Dennis DeMarte,Dennis Schmitz, Bev Schmitz,Steve LeClaire (Marshall),and Karen Ziemnick (VP)behind lectern

11September 2013

Citizen’s initiative againstmandatory Swedish

A citizen’s initiative opposing mandatorySwedish-language classes in the Finnish schoolsystem gathered 50,000 signatures within sixmonths and will proceed to Parliament for con-sideration.

By Finnish law, if a public initiative gathers50,000 supporters within six months, it will beconsidered by Parliament. A citizen’s initiativeopposing mandatory Swedish-language classesin the Finnish school system has gathered50,000 signatures since it was launched in earlyMarch.

The move was launched by VapaaKielivalinta, a group that supports freedom oflanguage choice; the Finnish Alliance and theFinns Party Youth and the National CoalitionParty Youth.

Their goal is to make Swedish optional, notmandatory as it is now in the school system.Finland is a bilingual country where the otherofficial language is Swedish.

“I believe that this initiative will be takenseriously by Parliament, and it has the poten-tial to succeed,” says Sampo Terho, Presidentof the Finnish Alliance and a Member of Euro-pean Parliament.

From The Finnish American Reporter–September 2013

Visit our website:

www.orderofruneberg.org

1 EUR = 1.3526 USD1 USD = 0.7392 EURNew York 09/21/13

CURRENCY RATES

LODGE NEWS

From left: Dennis DeMarte, Dennis Schmitz,Bev Schmitz, and Steve LeClaire (Marshall) behindlectern

From left: Dennis DeMarte, Chrissy Karry, TheresaKokkonen, Bev Schmitz, and Dennis Schmitz

From left: Dennis DeMarte, Chrissy Karry, TheresaKokkonen, Bev Schmitz, and Dennis Schmitz

September 201312

Eulogy for Evelyn Carlson

For nearly 30 years, Evelyn Carlson worked tirelessly as thefinancial secretary for the Runeberg Lodge #130 in BritishColumbia, Canada. She and her husband Nils looked forward

to the lodge meetings and social events with great anticipation. Sadly,on June 19 of this year, the Runeberg community lost one of its long-time members.

Eveyln was very active in the local community, often volunteer-ing at the local seniors centre and a church thrift shop. Evelyn was aproud member of the Red Hat Ladies Club and enjoyed the gather-ings with her Red-hatted friends. She took great joy in having hergranddaughters play dress-up in her many elaborate red hats. Evelynalso devoted countless hours to sewing and crocheting and there aremany who will always remember the warm embrace of curling upunder one of her many afghan blankets that she would give as gifts.As well, stepping into her and Nils’ backyard in summertime was afeast for the eyes as she enjoyed gardening and always had the manyflowerpots and planters bursting with colour and cheerfulness.

Evelyn was a remarkably honest and hardworking person. Shewas a person of great devotion and love. Above all, Evelyn believedin family, hard work, and always looking on the brighter side ofthings. She once said, “Life is funny. It is what it is. Just make thebest of it.”

Those are words of wisdom to be held dear. Thank you for beingsuch a big part of our lives, Evelyn. We are all better for having hadthe opportunity to know you. We miss you dearly. Submitted by James Carlson

It is with heavy hearts weannounce the passing of

Evelyn DorothyCarlson

on June 19, 2013. She is survivedby her husband Nils and sons,Lars, Tim, and James, and theirrespective families.

Evelyn was born in Leader,Saskatchewan, on January 12,1931. She and Nils joined theOrder of Runeberg in 1982, andEvelyn served as our FinancialSecretary for almost 30 years.

A memorial service and recep-tion in celebration of Evelyn’s lifewas held at the Burquitlam Fu-neral Home, Coquitlam, B.C., onJuly 15, 2013.

Evelyn will be greatly missedby all her friends who knew herand will be remembered as acheerful, hospitable, and truefriend.

Respectfully, Nancy Snickars

Lodge #130New Westminster,B.C., Canada

More foreigners taking Finnish citizenship Over 9,000 foreigners received Finnish citizenship in 2012, accord-

ing to Statistics Finland. The figure is twice as many as last year and makeshistory as the most permanent foreign residents ever to be naturalized bythe Finnish state.

Around a quarter of the people receiving Finnish citizenship were aged14 or under. The vast majority of the new Finns are from countries out-side the European Union and around 2,500 of the successful applicantsoriginated from Russia.

Somali citizens were the second largest group of recipients of Finnishcitizenship, with 610 taking up the blue and white, up from 100 last year.

Less Swedes changed their allegiance than earlier. Swedish people usedto make up a notable portion of new citizens, but 2012 numbers werecomparatively insignificant.

From The Finnish American Reporter–June 2013

13 September 2013

Finnair safest airline inworld, survey says

Finnair has been ranked as the world’s safest air-line in the 2012 JACDEC Safety Index. This is the firsttime Finland’s national carrier has topped the rankings.

After Finnair came Air New Zealand, Cathay Pa-cific Airways, Emirates, and Etihad.

“Of course we are pleased, as safety is the kind ofthing where you can’t compromise,” said Finnair com-munications chief Arja Suominen. “We invest a lot init. Finnair is the fifth oldest airline in the world, andexperience helps in safety issues.”

JACDEC bases Finnair’s position on its accidentrecord: the firm’s last accident was in the 1960s. Thecompany also has relatively few near misses and otherincidents.

Taiwan-based China Airlines is ranked last out ofthe 60 airlines in the rankings. It has lost eight planes,killing 755 passengers, over the last 30 years.

Finnair is the only European airline in the top five.In last year’s JACDEC rankings Finnair was rankedsecond.

From The Finnish American Reporter–February 2013 Finnish President Sauli Niinistö met with his

US counterpart Barack Obama as part of a summitwith Nordic leaders in Stockholm on September 4.

Niinistö told Yle (news agency) he was pleasedto receive the invitation, and that he hoped to dis-cuss global developments with Obama.

The two met in conjunction with a working din-ner hosted by Swedish Prime Minister FredrikReinfeldt. The gathering is aimed at reinforcing thepartnership between the US and the Nordic coun-tries to meet the challenges of the future, accord-ing to a statement from Niinistö’s office.

Issues on the agenda included foreign-policycooperation, advancing economic growth and com-bating climate change. From The Finnish American Reporter

–September 2013

Niinistö, Obama set to meetin Stockholm

Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt, President Sauli Niinistö, U.S. PresidentBarack Obama, Prime Minister of Sweden FredrikReinfeldt, Prime Minister of Norway JensStoltenberg, and Prime Minister of IcelandSigmundur Gunnlaugsson in Stockholm before thedinner. Photo: Lehtikuva

People of FinlandPopulation: 5.4 million, 15.8 inhabitants per km²

(40.5 per square mile)Life expectancy: Men 76 years, women 83 yearsLanguages: Official languages are Finnish (spoken

by 91%) and Swedish (5.4%). Sámi is the mothertongue of about 1,700 people, members of the indig-enous Sámi people of northern Lapland

Religion: Christianity; 79.9 % Lutheran and about1.1% Orthodox. In practice society is fairly secularised

From this is FINLAND on the Internet

Society & Economy in FinlandKey features: High standard of education, social

security and healthcare, all financed by the stateGDPper capita: 33,618 euros (2010)

Main exports: Electrotechnical goods, metal prod-ucts, machinery, transport equipment, wood andpaper products, chemicals

Main imports: Raw materials, investment goods,energy, consumer goods (for example, cars andtextiles)Currency unit: Euro From this is FINLAND on the Internet

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Leading Star

14 September 2013

T he following is a briefdescription of Finland’s na-tional coat of arms, its symbol-

ism and history. The account isbased on the official blazon and themost widely approved explanation.

When King Gustav I of Sweden(died 1560) gave his son John thetitle of duke of Finland in 1556, theterritory also received its own coatof arms, which was probably ap-proved by the king in 1557, al-though as far as we know DukeJohn never used it. In addition tonational emblems, this coat of armsincluded two other symbols refer-ring to northern and southern Fin-land, in actual fact the areas ofSatakunta and Varsinais Suomi(Finland Proper). These two sym-bols were later retained in the armsof these two provinces.

After ascending the Swedishthrone, King John III adopted thetitle of “Grand Duke of Finland andKarelia” in the year 1581. It wasprobably at this time or a little laterthat Finland received a second coatof arms, which is somewhat like thepresent one. This coat of arms isgenerally thought to have beenmodeled on a shield sculpted forthe tombstone of King Gustav I atthe Uppsala Cathedral (completed

Coat of ArmsBy Maunu Harmo, former president of Finnish Society of Heraldry

1591). This monument was de-signed during the reign of John’selder brother, Erik XIV, who wasking from 1560 to 1568, but it wasonly completed some thirty yearslater during John’s reign. Theshield was probably designed bythe Dutch artist Willem Boyen, whoserved under both Gustav I andErik XIV.

There is no way to knowwhether Finland’s second coat ofarms was purely the product ofWillem Boyen’s own imagination orwhether it was based on Erik XIV’swishes or some other unknown his-torical tradition. It is known, how-ever, that Erik XIV was himself in-terested in heraldry. This matterhas been the subject of consider-able academic debate among schol-ars and laymen.

At any rate, the general consen-sus has been that the symbol of thelion is derived from the arms of theFolkung family, which are includedin the royal arms of Sweden. Thetwo swords were borrowed fromthe Karelian coat of arms, whichwas publicly displayed for the firstknown time on a banner at the fu-neral of King Gustav I in 1560.

The placing of the curved Rus-sian sabre beneath the lion’s paws

is undoubtedly a reflection of thepolitical situation at this time. Swe-den and Russia were almost con-stantly at war, and the Swedesmade use of this propaganda deviceto imply that they had the upperhand over their enemies. The nineroses are decorative, although theyhave falsely been interpreted as re-ferring to Finland’s nine historicalprovinces. It is worth noting thatthe number of roses has varied overthe centuries.

When Finland gained indepen-dence in 1917, the “lions arms” be-came the coat of arms of the newnation. Before this it had served asthe common symbol for all theSwedish territory to the east of theGulf of Bothnia; and from 1809 to1917 it served as the coat of armsfor the Grand Duchy of Finland,which was under Russian rule dur-ing this period.

The Finnish coat of arms ap-pears on the state flag, official seals,coins, banknotes and postagestamps. On the President’s car ittakes the place of an ordinary reg-istration plate. It was not until 1978 that legisla-tion was passed concerningFinland’s coat of arms. This legis-lation gives the official blazon andprohibits the sale of the nationalcoat of arms, subject to fine.

The national coat of arms dis-plays a crowned lion standing on ared field. The lion holds a raisedsword in its right gauntleted foreleg and is trampling a curved sabre.The lion, the crown and the swordand sabre handles are gold, as arethe gauntlet joints. The blades andthe gauntlet are silver. The field isadorned by nine silver roses. Last updated March 2011 from

this is FINLAND

Photo: Laura Waris

15September 2013

A Touching Story AllWomen Will Adore!The Bottle of Wine

For all of us who are married, were mar-ried, wish you were married, or wish youweren’t married, this is something to smileabout the next time you see a bottle of wine:

Sally was driving home from one of herbusiness trips in Northern Arizona when shesaw an elderly Navajo woman walking on theside of the road.

As the trip was a long and quiet one, shestopped the car and asked the Navajo womanif she would like a ride.

With a silent nod of thanks, the womangot into the car.

Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vainto make a bit of small talk with the Navajowoman. The old woman just sat silently, look-ing intently at everything she saw, studyingevery little detail, until she noticed a brownbag on the seat next to Sally.

“What in bag?” asked the old woman.Sally looked down at the brown bag and

said, “It’s a bottle of wine. I got it for my hus-band.”

The Navajo woman was silent for anothermoment or two. Then speaking with the quietwisdom of an elder, she said:“Good trade!”

Submitted in 2013by Monica Carlson-Mason1963 graduate of Olympia(WA) High Schooland member ofTacoma Lodge #106

I wonder now, Just where and how This old, I got to be.

The years that passed Went very fast For the Class of ’63.

Loves won and lost— Each had its cost— A toll on you and me.

Some good, some bad, Some made us mad, For the Class of 1963.

Most lived, some died, Some mourned and cried, Some never meant to be.

A few found riches And some dug ditches In the Class of ’63.

We all look back. Some point in time, At what we could not see.

What bird would sing, What faith would bring, For the Class of ’63.

A Poem for the Class of 1963,Olympia (Washington) High School Included in the Memory Book for the Class of 1963,it was written by one of the classmates,Rusty Johnson, for their 50th Class Reunion held thispast month of 2013:

“The Class of 1963”

Dale & Mary Lou Hjort7682 Tracy LaneLa Palma, CA 90623-1501

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