Name: Glenn Durban
City: Albany
State: NY
Country: USA
E-mail: Glennndurban@aol.com
Comments: My late mother-in-law, Mina Olava Westbye, was a member of or attended your church within the period 1900-1903 and was also house help for Reverend Amandus Norman. She also had a seamstress shop and, later, a photo studio in Minneapolis. She homesteaded in North Dakota in 1903, went back to Norway in 1908 and established a photo studio in Trysil, her birth town. She returned to the United States in 1911 and married Alfred Gundersen, a fellow-Norwegian with a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Paris and one of the founders of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York. They were fine and wonderful people. They had two daughters and I was lucky enough to marry one of them. 1943-1985.

I am a member of the First Unitarian-Universalist Society of Albany, NY, and wish you all the best. Hang in there - we need more people with principles and ideals like yours.

Name: Sharon Welter
City: Oakdale
State: Minnesota
Country: USA
E-mail:
Comments: My fathers family (Ericksons) were original members of this congregation. I do get to visit for family functions from time to time but very much appreciate the web site, it keeps me in touch. Thank you.

Name: Roberta Pladsen Case
City: Oregon City
State: Oregon
Country: United States
E-mail: birdcase@sbcglobal.net
Comments: I have been fortunate to visit Nora Church twice along with my Phyllis McChesney and her daughter, Elizabeth Hazlett. What a thrill for us! Our grandparents and uncles were the Pladsens who were part of the founding community. I have since joined the UU church here in Oregon City, Atkinson Memorial Church. How wonderful to find a spiritual home and a connection to my past at the same time. Congratulations on the 125th anniversary and all good wishes for a strong and succesful future in being there for coming generations.

Name: Scott Hanson
City: Falcon Heights
State: MN
Country: United States
E-mail: hanscottson@hotmail.com
Comments: I am an infrequent churchgoer, but I have attended the Nora church in Hanska several times in the last few years, & I am always struck by the friendly, open-minded people I meet there.

The sermons are always intelligent; not the sort of fire & brimstone diatribes I sometimes heard as a child.

I recommend the Nora church to anyone who has some Christian ideals, but might be put off by the practices of some Christian churches.

Name: Jean Bolton
City: New Ulm
State: MN
Country: United States
E-mail: jabtunes@yahoo.com
Comments: I moved up from Texas in August and have been searching for a church. I think yours is just what I have been looking for over the years!! I am anxious to visit your congregation. Also, I found your website most helpful and informative.

Name: Alan Morris
City: Heerhugowaard
State: Holland Noord
Country: The Netherlands
E-mail:
Comments: I have just been introduced to your church by a friend and went to your site. It is wonderful to see what you are doing there in Hanska. I read the section on your belief sytem and i can really find myself in there. The church itself looks very pretty and if I ever get to visit America and Hanska in particular I will certainly come to see you all. Thanks Juanita!

Name: Becky Guadagnoli
City: Hanska
State: MN
Country: United States
E-mail: rebecca.guadagnoli@mnsu.edu
Comments: It was a very interesting website. I am a fairly new resident to Hanska and am trying to learn the history to this fine little community. I know it has a strong Norwegian history. I am also writing an article for a class at MSU and hope perhaps to have it published in Midwest Getaway. I find it fascinating that a town with a population of under 500 can sustain itself as it has. I love the area.

Name: Knut Klaveness Heidelberg
City:
State:
Country: Norway
E-mail: pastor@unitarforbundet.org
Comments: Hello! What a wonderful webpage and good to see that the founder of the Norweigan Unitarian Church of Brotherhood, Kristofer Janson, still is remembered. Not so here in Norway where both Unitarianism and Janson seem to be forgotten. I'll continue to visit your web in the future.

Name: Norman Forde
City: Williamsburg
State: VA  23188
Country: United States
E-mail: nsforde@verizon.net
Comments: I was reared Norweigian Lutheran in a pietistic congregation and community- against which I reacted and became an Episcopalian- eventually a priest. I am interested in other Norweigian Lutherans who have moved to other venues.