Family History - Kaare & Randi Knutson, Immigrants from Norway

I, Kaare, having been born in Norway myself, think it quite a happening that I should marry a girl from Norway in a country full of American girls.  It was my good luck that Randi Johansen came from Ringerike, Norway, in 1956 to keep house for her great uncle, Haakon Olson, and his co-farmer, Hans Brenden.

Randi adapted quickly to our farm life.  She became very efficient at running the combine and freeing me for grain hauling.  She doesn't even seem to object to being an unpaid employee.  And therefore I have no labor or strike problems.  She has a real "green thumb" and loves to work with growing things.  Right now we are operating a greenhouse with over 10,000 plants.  Having fixed up a buzzer behind our bed to awaken us when the temperature of the greenhouse gets too cool, we have become extremely agile at getting out of bed.

Scott, our son, will be 11 years old next fall and is already quite a traveler.  He and his mother have, at two different times, spent several months at Randi's home in Norway.  The last time, when he was eight years old, he became very proficient in the Norwegian language and loves to speak it.  In fact, it has got so that his mother asks him what some English words are in Norwegian now.

I was only 18 months when I came to America with my parents in 1923.  I have never been back to Norway.  I have a sister, Myrtle, (Mrs. Loren Hagen) also of Ambrose.  Randi's folks live in Norway and she has a brother with a family there.  My father, Christ Knutson, lives here at Ambrose.  He farmed for many years in Ambrose Township on a farm in the SE quarter of section 31. We lived there for eight years.  Then we moved our house into Ambrose where we still live.

I am still farming and I am a "fix-it" man for many of my neighbors.  I also work for Thomte Plumbing and Heating here in town.  One of my first loves was flying. In 1951 I bought Swen Palm's plane.  After flying for about 10 years, I decided it was too expensive for a hobby.  And by that time I had my "second love" come from Norway. I was a member of Aircraft, Owners and Pilot's Association.

Family history taken from page 141 of the
Divide County History 1974, Crosby, North Dakota
(Edited for content)