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A Strong Belief in Education

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Eric Browning-Larsen 鈥75 believes in education. That belief is strong, persistent, and broad, compelling him to champion learning that takes root in college but continues to grow through travel, career challenges, and creative pursuits. Already a contributor to the Mary E. Larsen International Studies Scholarship and the Murphy Square Literary Award, Browning-Larsen has designated estate gifts to benefit both causes.

Mary E. Larsen is Browning-Larsen鈥檚 mother, a feisty 92-year-old who still lives on her own in Park Rapids, the small town where Browning-Larsen was born and raised. Widowed when her husband died in his early 鈥30s, she worked for more than 30 years in customer service at Minnesota Power, then retired to her lake home, where she continued to do the yard work and maintenance well into her 80s. Although she did not go to college, she imbued her son with global curiosity, perhaps through their subscription to National Geographic and her opinionated, and continuing, monitoring of current events around the world.

Browning-Larsen chose Augsburg for simple reasons. 鈥淚 wanted to go to the big city. And my father was a Lutheran,鈥 he says, noting with a chuckle that his mother was a Methodist, but he didn鈥檛 hold that against her. As a freshman, he embraced numerous activities, serving in the student senate, becoming editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and editor of the Murphy Square Journal, and participating in politics and the anti-war movement. His busy extracurricular schedule left little time for travel, but that soon changed.

His business ambition led him to combine a master鈥檚 degree in industrial relations from the University of Minnesota with a law degree from then William Mitchell (now Mitchell Hamline) School of Law. After his first year of law school, he participated in an international study program at Oxford University.

鈥淚 enjoyed it so much I went back the following summer, to Exeter. One of my scholarship goals is to encourage people to study abroad, which is an education in and of itself. Fortunately, I had that opportunity early on,鈥 he says. 鈥淭ravel is a wonderful educational experience. You hear other languages, you meet people from different cultural backgrounds, and you learn what works well in other countries. I have been traveling nonstop ever since.鈥

Browning-Larsen鈥檚 corporate career in human resources included stints at The Toro Company, Graco, and Comserv in Minneapolis and Eddie Bauer in Seattle. He was vice president of international operations for Flow International, which took him to Europe one month and Asia the next. In his late 30s, he left the corporate world to start his own Asia-focused management consulting firm, which he headed for eight years. He also launched several Great Clips for Hair beauty salon franchises in the Pacific Northwest during this period, and somehow found time to write a book, Lucky at Love: Stories and Essays from Asia, which perhaps inspired some of his scholarship generosity.

鈥淚 want to encourage people who are doing creative writing, and the Murphy Square Literary Award is a way of providing some recognition for them,鈥 Browning-Larsen says. 鈥淚 also see higher education as a chance to level the playing field for people. Not everyone was born a Trump.鈥

After the 9/11 attacks, when the economy forced an end to his gig with a wireless software start-up company, he became a foreign service specialist with the State Department and was posted to Bosnia, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Iraq, and Italy. Currently serving in Rome as the senior human resources officer for U.S. embassies, Browning-Larsen hopes to do more writing when he retires next January. He is also looking forward to hiking, gardening, political activism, and, yes, more international travel. Call it continuing education, a passion he aims to pass along through his scholarships.

鈥淚 benefitted from the education I received at Augsburg, and I have a sense of obligation, a need to give back. My objective is also to provide more than I received,鈥 he says. 鈥淥ver time, I hope that other people will benefit as well.鈥

Art Meets Science in Hagfors Center

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Steve 鈥67 B.A. and Sandy Batalden say they were attracted to the 鈥淎rt and Identity鈥 project when they saw the 鈥渟tunning鈥 work of Amy Rice. Rice鈥檚 series, Six Minnesota Wildflowers to Meet and Know, was commissioned by 绿茶直播 for the Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion. 鈥淲e immediately liked her work,鈥 explains Sandy, who shares with Rice an appreciation for letterpress printing, which is featured in the works. 鈥淣ot only is she using original materials in her paintings, but the unusual botanical subject matter seems to fit perfectly in a building intended for the life sciences.鈥 In a recent donor statement, the Bataldens wrote that 鈥渂eyond botanical accuracy, Amy鈥檚 drawings transport us into an entirely new realm as leaves and flowers become frames for musical scores or other chosen text woven into each piece. What a creative, beautiful expression for the university of the twenty-first century!鈥

Art and Identity

In her artist鈥檚 statement, Rice explains that she began her process by hand-drawing and hand-cutting stencils of rare Minnesota plants. 鈥淭he plants are 鈥榩ainted鈥 in with a variety of antique and vintage paper: maps and plat books of Minnesota counties (I only used maps from counties where the plants are actually found), Norwegian-language liturgy from the 1870s, sheet music, handwritten letters from early Minnesotans, homework, biology textbooks and early Augsburg ephemera.鈥 She notes that her interest in native plants connects to her Christian faith tradition. 鈥淚t is the sacred trust we have been given to be stewards of our Earth. My Grandpa Ed, a seventh generation Midwestern farmer, knew the names of every plant on his large farm. He didn鈥檛 own them; he was responsible for them.鈥 That, she wrote, was one way he modeled faith in action.

Beauty and Inspiration

Steve notes that the timeliness of the 鈥淎rt and Identity鈥 project captured his own and Sandy鈥檚 imagination. 鈥淲e are living in a deeply troublesome and dangerous Trump era when, especially here in the Arizona southwest, walls are political symbols meant to divide sharply and impose barriers. What a wonderful idea for Hagfors Center to refashion walls as settings for beauty and inspiration!鈥
Augsburg commissioned Six Minnesota Wildflowers and works by other artists to express its core identity, grounded in durable faith, inclusion, and experiential learning. 鈥淕reat universities manage to nurture creative artistic production alongside scientific discovery,鈥 say the Bataldens, who have spent their careers in higher education. Steve is professor emeritus of Russian history and founding director of the Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies at Arizona State University. Sandy is a retired university librarian, bibliographer, and scholarly book editor.

A gift that healed a deep wound

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Merton Strommen鈥檚 fourth-floor apartment offers a glimpse of his long life. In a corner of the living room is a Steinway, an impulse buy from decades back that the 98-year-old still plays daily. Artifacts from Norway commingle with books. Framed landscapes mix with family portraits on the walls. Clearly, he鈥檚 lived a life of music, travel, scholarship, family, and faith. Yet unless you ask about the large painting of the handsome young blond man gazing out over the mountains, you might miss that his life has included tragedy.

The painting is of David, the youngest of Strommen鈥檚 five sons, who in 1985 was struck by lightning while leading a youth group in the Colorado Rockies. David鈥檚 death catapulted Strommen and his wife, Irene, into a grief that included a strong desire that something meaningful come out of their loss.

They wanted to further the work that their son, a seminarian with a passion for youth, had been pursuing when he died. As both husband and wife had attended Augsburg and sent their five sons there as well, they decided to support training in youth and family ministry at Augsburg. As Merton Strommen put it in Five Cries of Grief, a book he co-wrote with Irene, he could envision 鈥渁 thousand young men and women taking Dave鈥檚 place in a congregation鈥檚 youth and family ministry.鈥

Fundraising began with the 1985 Twin Cities Marathon, as David鈥檚 brothers and friends solicited pledges and ran in his place. In 1986, with support from family and friends, the Strommens established the David Huglen Strommen Endowment to support program and faculty development, and scholarships. The fund later grew dramatically with a large gift from Thrivent Financial (then called Lutheran Brotherhood). Today, the endowment is valued at more than $800,000.

A scholarly approach

The fact that youth ministry exists as a field of study and a career option is in large part the work of the elder Strommen, who in the 1940s when he was a young seminarian and pastor noted how little was being done in the church for teenagers. 鈥淭here were pastors who believed that God鈥檚 intent was that young people would come to faith primarily by preaching alone,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 thought, My gosh, this isn鈥檛 responding to where kids are at.鈥 Strommen鈥檚 idea was to allow youth to ask questions about the faith, build relationships with adults and each other, and have fun.

Although Strommen decided to pursue graduate study at the University of Minnesota in educational psychology, his interest in youth ministry didn鈥檛 wane. In fact, he decided to make it the focus of his scholarship. His dissertation, a national study of 192 congregations, explored fundamental questions that had never been answered: What did young people need? What did they want?聽 What did pastors and lay adults think youth needed? His study yielded an important finding. Adults had little understanding of where their youth needed help. Moreover, youth weren鈥檛 taking away from the church the most fundamental truths about God鈥檚 grace and forgiveness.

There was much more to learn. Strommen founded the Search Institute in 1958, which pioneered the use of social science research to understand young people. Over the years, he was involved in large-scale studies, many of which laid the foundation for youth and family ministry approaches used congregations in major denominations and in seminary and college training, including that offered by Augsburg.

The ongoing impact

For two decades, Augsburg offered a Bachelor of Arts degree in Youth and Family Ministry. And students like 2016-17 Strommen scholarship recipient Leah McDougall graduated with a major in Youth and Family Ministry. Beginning in 2017, students interested in youth and family ministry enroll in the new Theology of Public Ministry major and opt for a youth studies minor. 鈥淪tudents who sign up for such a curriculum receive essentially the same education and experience offered under the older Youth and Family Ministry program,鈥 says Hans Wiersma, a religion professor long involved with the programs.

Wiersma says an important part of each student鈥檚 course of study is 鈥渄iscerning the nature of God’s call for their lives.鈥 Some, he says, go directly from Augsburg to a congregation. Some do service through organizations such as Lutheran Volunteer Corps or go to seminary, and some work in public schools or youth service organizations.

At nearly 100 years of age, Strommen remains keenly interested in youth ministry. He鈥檚 concerned that not enough are learning that faith is life-changing. 鈥淲hat disappoints me is that there hasn鈥檛 been a focus in so many congregations on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,鈥 he says. And he鈥檇 just love, if he could, to do one more national study, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the peer ministry approach.

He鈥檚 pleased with what he鈥檚 accomplished. 鈥淲hen I start talking [about my life], I get excited, I get awed,鈥 he says. He knows that he has made a tremendous impact on the field of youth ministry. For indeed, a thousand young people are now taking David鈥檚 place.

 

By Carmen Peota.

Art to inspire: Karolynn Lestrud

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Personal and public. Creative and practical. Forward-thinking and backward-knowing. By sponsoring 鈥淏oth/and,鈥 a custom glass art treatment for the skyway that links the library to the Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion, Karolynn Lestrud 鈥68 supports artist Teri Kwant鈥檚 effort to bridge disparate disciplines both figuratively and literally.

Kwant鈥檚 art will illustrate the transitional space by etching pairs of words from different disciplines into the glass of the skyway. Think: define divinity, probe force, radiate support, love density. When Lestrud, an English major who did graduate work in linguistics and considers word play a part of her life, first saw the proposal, she thought, 鈥淔antastic! But then I started puzzling over the pairs that didn鈥檛 make sense鈥攁nd thought aha! She got me! She made me ponder,鈥 says Lestrud. 鈥淚 hope students will react the same way, with their curiosity piqued as they stroll through. I wonder if they will write about their experiences, walking through this walkway of words.鈥

Words on the skyway windows will also make the glass visible to birds, so they don鈥檛 鈥渟mack themselves silly on the glass. I thought this was a brilliant solution to a real concern, and a very thought-provoking piece as well,鈥 she adds.

Lestrud lauds the selection process, too. A resident of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, she volunteers for and supports various art groups, including those charged with choosing art for public spaces. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such an interesting process, because you have people who know nothing about art but 鈥榢now what they like.鈥 It鈥檚 hard to set up guidelines when you hear commentary like that,鈥 she points out. 鈥淢any people want to go for something very representational, very safe, and in many cases, very uninteresting. But that didn鈥檛 happen on this committee.鈥

She served on Augsburg鈥檚 Art and Identity committee, which began discussing art when the Hagfors Center was 鈥渟till a dream on paper,鈥 working with architects to identify where artwork should go, what size it should be, and how it should be lit. 鈥淣inety-nine percent of the time, people wait until the structure is inhabited before they start embellishing it,鈥 she explains. 鈥淲e seem to have an innate yearning to embellish our surroundings. The earliest people did cave drawings. The Victorians had every surface covered with doodads. So we鈥檙e following a very natural impulse, and I think it鈥檚 wonderful that Augsburg made the commitment to do this in a well-thought-out and big way.鈥

Once locations were selected and artist proposals solicited, committee members met with artists individually to field questions and fuel the creative mission through a deeper understanding of the building in particular and Augsburg in general. 鈥淭hat was also interesting and not always something that happens in the broader world,鈥 Lestrud says. She was delighted to chat with Kwant, a public artist, director of RSP Dreambox, and frequent lecturer on experience design, environments, and communications for the U. of Minnesota School of Design and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Kwant will also create one-of-a-kind glassed-topped tables that are available for sponsorship.

Lestrud contrasts the Hagfors Center with the boxy, cement block structure of the old science hall. 鈥淲hen you walked in, all you wanted to do was get out again,鈥 she remembers. 鈥淭he art going into this new building will make it the kind of place that will inspire students, give them a mental break, and, I believe, encourage them to linger.鈥

Chilstrom Scholarship Inspires Lives of Courage

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Bishop Herb Chilstrom鈥檚 journey from poor, small-town boy to first presiding bishop of the ELCA began with a spiritual awakening at age 14. By the time Bishop Chilstrom 鈥54 reached college age his goal to become an ordained minister was clear, but the source of funds to pay for college was less certain. 鈥淭here weren鈥檛 many scholarships at the time I attended Augsburg,鈥 he remembers. Knowing that his parents wouldn鈥檛 be able to give him more than a five dollar bill every once in a while, he chose to attend the Lutheran college located in the heart of the job-rich Twin Cities: Augsburg. There, he knew, he鈥檇 be able to find a job 鈥 or two or three jobs (at the same time), as it turned out. That experience and a desire to help today鈥檚 students led the bishop and his wife, the Reverend E. Corinne Chilstrom, to establish the Corinne and Herbert Chilstrom Scholarship for students interested in social work or the ordained ministry. If you give a student some kind of financial support, he says, 鈥淚t means you鈥檙e doing well, and we want to help you.鈥

A social conscience emerges

When Bishop Chilstrom arrived at Augsburg he began to realize that both his spiritual journey and his view of the world had been too narrow-minded. 鈥淚 had too many pat answers,鈥 he remembers. Augsburg professors like Joel Torstenson, sociology, challenged him to open windows to the world. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 wealthy, but I realized I had the privilege of simply being white, and that opened doors that weren鈥檛 open for others. Joel impressed on us that we have a profound responsibility to those who did not have the advantages we had.鈥 At Augsburg, says Bishop Chilstrom, he learned about Christianity鈥檚 call to fight injustice and how to live a courageous life. He began to develop the radical social conscience for which he later became known.

Those who do not learn from history 鈥

鈥淭o be an effective pastor you really have to study the Bible and theology and church history, but you also have to have a much broader perspective,鈥 says Bishop Chilstrom. 鈥淪ociology really broadened my world, and I fell in love with history, thanks to Professor Carl Chrislock.鈥 He recalls Anne Pedersen, 鈥渢he best English teacher in the world,鈥 who opened his mind to literature and instilled respect for the English language. He was amazed by President Bernhard Christensen鈥檚 intellect. 鈥淚t was awesome to hear him reach into the depths of his mind and spirit and pull poetry and prose and Biblical understanding together.鈥 He remembers sitting in chapel and thinking, 鈥淗e鈥檚 the kind of person I would like to be.鈥

Augsburg also provided opportunities to stretch his leadership wings. He became president of the campus youth group his sophomore year, and as student body president his junior year, he led the student campaign to raise funds for Memorial Library. He went on to earn degrees from Augustana Theologial Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary and his doctorate from New York University. He became a parish minister, professor and church leader, serving as the first bishop of the fledgling ELCA from 1987 to 1995.

Tither turned philanthropist

鈥淎fter I had an enlightening experience as a teenager, one of the first things I discovered is that people who believe put their faith on the line by giving,鈥 says Chilstrom. While still in high school he began tithing 10 percent. 鈥淚 gave at least 10 percent all through my life,鈥 he explains. 鈥淣ow Corinne and I are able to give much more than that, and it鈥檚 a lot of fun.鈥

A commitment to future opportunities

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Paul and LaVonne (both 鈥63) Batalden鈥檚 commitment to endow 绿茶直播 faculty with future opportunities has deep roots鈥攖hree generations deep, in fact鈥攁nd a spiritual foundation grounded in lives well-lived.

Paul鈥檚 grandfather, a fisherman who grew up just off the west coast of Norway and lost a brother at sea, decided in 1871 to move to Minnesota and take up farming. His name was Christian Olson, a name so common that his mail often wound up in the wrong hands, prompting him to change it to Batalden, after the island where he grew up. That first Batalden, an active supporter of education and child development, took special note of Augsburg Seminarium, which Norwegian Lutherans had founded in Marshall, Wisconsin, in 1869 and moved to Minneapolis in 1872. His youngest son, Abner Batalden, enrolled there and, despite some interruptions, earned a history degree in 1935.

Abner, Paul鈥檚 father, was also committed to education and understood the struggle it involved. 鈥淗e was going to school during the Depression, when Augsburg was having trouble staying open. The students, many of whom were the first generation to attend college, were living hand-to-mouth, working and paying tuition. Augsburg was living on those tuitions,鈥 says Paul.

Abner started the student employment service at Augsburg, worked at the publishing house, managed the bookstore, and, after a few years away, returned to take a position in the development office. He helped raise funds for the first science building, now being replaced by the Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion; Paul remembers going to the dedication as a child. It was Abner鈥檚 idea to establish, in 1980, a convocation and lecture series known as the Batalden Symposium on Applied Ethics.

鈥淎pplied ethics covers every discipline, every walk of life. It was the way he lived his life,鈥 says Paul. 鈥淓thics scholars say that ethics is the application of morals to everyday life. In his mind, the life he lived was grounded in moral values, which for him were Christian. It was so fundamental, and he saw it in many lines of work.鈥

鈥淓thics were looked upon as a philosophical endeavor, but he saw it as much broader,鈥 adds LaVonne, who married Paul three weeks after graduation. The two had met in a freshman English class and shared a love for science. After a globe-spanning career in pediatrics and public health that expanded their knowledge of other cultures, Paul remains active as professor emeritus at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Geisel School of Medicine, and LaVonne retired recently as associate professor of natural sciences at Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire. They still travel widely but now live in St. Paul, close to their family.

Although they had initially wanted to endow an ethics chair, they realized that building upon Abner鈥檚 foundation would serve more people. Along with Paul鈥檚 brother, Stephan Batalden 鈥67 and his wife Sandra, they have endowed what is now the Batalden Faculty Scholar Program in Applied Ethics, which covers the seminar series and also offers two years of release time to faculty members, who often pass along stipends to students involved in their projects. Recipients come from various fields, so far including nursing, sociology, religion, and environmental studies.

鈥淚t鈥檚 perfect. Paul鈥檚 father had a vision for the future, and we have brought it into the 21st century,鈥 says LaVonne. 鈥淲hat pleases us is that it maintains the idea of service grounded in theology and ethics, and we have broadened that.鈥

Paul, who served on Augsburg鈥檚 Board of Regents from 1979 to 1990, cites his concern for education鈥檚 future in our culture, which depends heavily on the voluntary sector, unlike government supported health and welfare in Europe. Colleges cannot rely on tuitions alone, and religious institutions can no longer bridge the gap.

鈥淲e realized that Augsburg had basically no endowment, and it鈥檚 clear that that pattern of financial support would not lead to more creative and flexible programming. We want to make sure that this program is secure,鈥 Paul says. 鈥淐ollege offered us a liberal arts education, and we are deep lovers of the liberal arts. We see their relevance to everyday life the same way my father saw ethics in everyday life.鈥

The couple also believes in doing what you can. They cite a favorite poem by David Whyte, quoted here in part:

Start close in,

don鈥檛 take the second step

or the third,

start with the first

thing

close in,

the step

you don鈥檛 want to take. . .

. . .

Start right now

take a small step

you can call your own

don鈥檛 follow

someone else鈥檚

heroics, be humble

and focused,

start close in . . .

 

 

 

 

A family connection to Augsburg

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Educating Students to Serve

鈥淚 think people are interested in what Augsburg is doing to educate students so they can be of ministry in the world,鈥 says Martha Gisselquist 鈥86. Her gifts help 绿茶直播 do just that, while lifting up programs that are dear to her heart: To honor her family鈥檚 Augsburg legacy and celebrate their shared love of music, she gives for the Clement A. Gisselquist Church Music Endowed Scholarship Fund. Martha, a nurse by training, also generously supports and passionately advocates for Augsburg鈥檚 nursing outreach programs. 鈥淚 just want Augsburg students to be successful in their professions and find ways to be of service to the community.鈥

Borghild and Martha Gisselquist ’86

A Musical Legacy

Martha comes from good Auggie stock: Her father, the Rev. Clement A. Gisselquist 鈥41, all five of her siblings, and many other family members attended Augsburg. Her uncle, Orloue Gisselquist attended Augsburg and was a professor of history for three decades. Since 1987, the Gisselquist Fund has provided support to 37 music students, with preference given to students of organ and/or choral music who hope to serve in the ministry of music of the Lutheran Church. 鈥淎ugsburg was close to [Clement鈥檚] heart and we knew that music was something he was always interested in,鈥 explained Martha鈥檚 mother, Borghild Gisslequist, in an Augsburg Now article. 鈥淚 always wish the scholarships could be more,鈥 says Martha, 鈥渂ut every little bit helps as they try to make their tuition.鈥

Nursing students, faculty and alumni serving the community

While the family connection to Augsburg is strong, it was the nursing program in Weekend College (now the Adult Undergraduate Program) that drew Martha to Augsburg as a student in the 1980s. The program offered her a chance to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (which she needed to advance her career) while continuing to work fulltime as a manager with Ebenezer鈥檚 home care and community service programs.

To Augsburg she brought a passion for nursing outreach that thrived as she became involved in the Nursing Center (now the Augsburg Central Health Commons), which provided students with public health experience and helped meet Minneapolis鈥 growing homeless population鈥檚 health needs. She went on to graduate with the first Weekend College nursing class. Degree in hand, she continued to advance her career, which culminated in long term care insurance product development with United HealthCare.

“If you鈥檝e done it unto the least of these, you鈥檝e done it unto me.”

Now retired, Martha volunteers at Health Commons weekly. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of counseling, blood pressure checks, wound care, and foot care,鈥 she explains. She works alongside Augsburg nursing faculty, students, and alumni, while community volunteers distribute contributed toiletries. She also supports this and other Augsburg community nursing work with gifts to the Nursing Outreach Endowed Fund. The Fund supports programs like Health Commons that provide health care and services to underserved communities, while also providing practicum sites for students.

Recognizing Martha鈥檚 commitment to nursing outreach, one of her nephews made a gift to the Fund in honor of her birthday. 鈥淗e just went online and did it,鈥 she says. 鈥淗e knew it was something that I鈥檇 really appreciate.鈥 Martha hopes that others will join her in supporting experiences that provide nursing students at all levels the opportunity to integrate curricular studies, experiential learning, and service. 鈥淭he needs are great out there,鈥 she reminds us. 鈥淚f you have the time, abilities and interest, there are so many ways that you can serve and be God鈥檚 hands.鈥

A Generous Family

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Jean and Phil Formo

鈥淕o west, young man!鈥 was the mantra guiding the young Philip Formo in his college selection. But after graduating from Pacific Lutheran University in 1968, he must have heeded a different axiom: 鈥淵es, you can go home again.鈥 Home again he came, not only to finish a special education degree at St. Cloud State University and a divinity degree at Luther Seminary, but also to pick up the Formo family legacy where it left off鈥攁t Augsburg.

Now a retired ELCA pastor, Phil, his wife, Jean, and their niece, Dawn, are the primary Formo forces behind not one, not two, but three separate scholarships honoring various family members and extending generosity to future Augsburg students.

鈥淚 was the first person on both sides of the family not to go to Augsburg,鈥 says Phil. 鈥淢y mother met my father in chemistry class there. She was in nursing and needed help, and he was good in chemistry. They also both sang in the first Augsburg choir concert that ever took place, after the men鈥檚 chorus and the women鈥檚 chorus merged.鈥 His parents, Jerome and Winifred, both 鈥37, were extremely dedicated to Augsburg and stayed deeply involved in all things Auggie throughout their lifetimes. Jerome received a Distinguished Alumni Award in 1983 and was also a Regent Emeritus.

In 2009, Phil designated proceeds from their estate to establish the Jerome and Winifred Formo Scholarship for music majors or those with a strong interest in choral music directing. Seven students have already benefited from this fund, but it was not the first Formo scholarship. That distinction belongs to the David J. Formo Scholarship, which was established in 1979 and is awarded annually to a junior or senior student who has successfully overcome adversity to achieve academic and extracurricular excellence.

鈥淢y brother David graduated from Augsburg in 1964 and became a U.S. Navy commander whose plane went down in the Mediterranean Sea on November 3, 1979, the same day that Iran took U.S. captives. Before that, he had delivered to the Shah of Iran the gift of a new jet. It鈥檚 really a small world,鈥 mused Phil.

The scholarship to honor his brother was the first for the Formo family, but not the last. When Phil retired in 2011, he decided to write a book about his maternal grandfather, Andreas Helland, who immigrated from Norway in 1889, attended Augsburg Seminary, and served there as New Testament professor for 35 years. 鈥淗e was also very involved in fundraising. In those days you did everything, and he was really good at stewardship. One of his daughters, Beatrice, married Norman Anderson, who was the fundraiser for the first science building at Augsburg, and they were all there for the groundbreaking. My grandfather was the first to give a major gift,鈥 Phil recalls.

Proceeds from Phil鈥檚 book, Papa鈥擜 Life Remembered, along with contributions from his own family and his parents鈥 estate, fund the Andreas Helland Scholarship, established In 2012 for students with financial need and academic achievement. 鈥淓ducation is so important, but we all know how expensive college is,鈥 Phil says. 鈥淚f students can get through in four years instead of five or six, they will have saved the equivalent of two years鈥 salary.鈥

Phil is sold not only on the value of affordable education, but also on the value of Augsburg. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been amazed by what Augsburg, long known as a conservative Lutheran school, has become. What they are today is just awe-inspiring鈥攖heir involvement in the community and openness to everyone is incredible. Culturally, they have really been able to reach out, to take minorities seriously,鈥 he says. 鈥淔or the only ELCA college in the city, what a unique opportunity.鈥

A Sisterhood: Strong, Adventurous and Daring

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Sisterhood had long been the goal of Kathryn Kingsbury, who grew up in rural North Dakota with two brothers. 鈥淚 wanted sisters so bad! I kept praying to God, but that doesn鈥檛 always work,鈥 she says. Or does it? What she got instead of siblings may well reveal the mysterious power of prayer.

Fairview Nurses Class of ’69.

 

Kingsbury used to sit with a dictionary in that North Dakota kitchen, studying every word of the 鈥淭ell Me Doctor鈥 feature in her mother鈥檚 Ladies Home Journal. Fascinated by all things medical, she first pursued medical technology but eventually found herself in nursing school at Fairview Hospital, one of 33 women in the class of 鈥69. Today she is among the many donors who contribute to Augsburg nursing scholarships through the Fairview Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association, of which she is the treasurer, database keeper, and indefatigable fan even as health care education evolves dramatically.

The Fairview nursing school, which began in 1916 and ended in 1976, trained nurses in three years. 鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 beat a three-year grad. We could function at 100% on day one of our hire,鈥 Kingsbury says. The student nurses attended psychology, chemistry, and biology classes on the Augsburg campus and lived together in a dorm since replaced by Fairview鈥檚 corporate offices. It was rumored that their proximity to the Augsburg boys鈥 dorm across the street created some jealousy among Auggie girls, but what Kingsbury remembers most is the indelible bond linking the future nurses.

鈥淢rs. Torland, our housemother from Norway, was strict and firm but loving. She was a mother hen who scrutinized our dates and invited us to her house for Norwegian coffee,鈥 Kingsbury says. It was a time of penny loafers and skirts at all times on campus, and, on the hospital floor, glass intravenous bottles that required nurses to count each drip (10 or 12 drops a minute, depending on the IV fluid brand).

鈥淚t鈥檚 not quite the same, is it?鈥 the Fairview alumni say when they gather for their annual luncheon, Kingsbury reports. About 1,000 nurses from 38 states and 5 countries populate her database; about 100 attend the luncheon, which, this year, included a table of graduates from 65 years ago. 鈥淥h, they鈥檙e funny 鈥 so strong, adventuresome, and daring,鈥 says Kingsbury. 鈥淟ater grads, who did not live in the dorm, don鈥檛 have the sense of unity that we did. We were tight.鈥

Sisterhood reigned, but change was inevitable. By the 鈥70s, a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) became the gold standard, but out of reach for many. In 1996, the Fairview alumni created an Augsburg nursing scholarship fund with proceeds from the estate of Clarice J. (Vaardahl) Laushkin, Fairview class of 鈥35. Ann Good, Fairview class of 鈥70 and wife of former Augsburg board member Mike Good 鈥71, still works three days a week at a chiropractic clinic in Alexandria and has made several donations to the fund.

鈥淲e were a very close community,鈥 she says of her fellow students. After a decade of work at Fairview, she wanted to go back to school for her BSN but was unable to do so. 鈥淪cholarships are so important. I want returning nurses to have the opportunity I didn鈥檛 have at the time, to be able to go back and get their degree.鈥

Some of the Fairview Nurses Class of ’69 today.

While she recognizes that the Fairview Nurses Alumni Association will eventually die out and is currently archiving its artifacts with the Minnesota Historical Society, Kingsbury is happy that the scholarship program is endowed in perpetuity, though of course new gifts are encouraged. For her, it has been a worthy journey. 鈥淚 got my sisters鈥攚onderful sisters,鈥 she says. 鈥淲e were there for each other in good times, in bad times, and in between.鈥

A Bountiful Blessing

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Out of family tragedy, springs student opportunity

The Lester A. Dahlen Family Endowed Scholarship is a bountiful blessing. It rewards 绿茶直播 students鈥 hard work and provides financial assistance, while also assuring the family of Rev. Lester Dahlen that their family鈥檚 values will live on at Augsburg and be carried into the world. 鈥淎s graduates go on to their lives after Augsburg, we hope they will be loving Christian people wherever they are and that they will touch whomever they can with the love of Jesus,鈥 explains Barb (Dahlen) Cornell.

A blessing today, the scholarship sprang from a family tragedy more than 50 years ago. In 1966, when Barb was 18 and her sister, Ginny (Dahlen) Baali 鈥72, was 16, their brother Paul died in a plane crash with fellow Augsburg senior Jerry Pryd. Paul was pursuing a social studies major and physical education minor and, like his father before him, he played on the Auggie baseball team. To memorialize their son and highlight the importance of Augsburg to their family, Rev. Lester Dahlen 鈥39, 鈥42 and Marian Dahlen established the Paul Dahlen Memorial Scholarship to help students who had Christian purpose, demonstrated academic achievement and participated in extracurricular activities.

Blessed by Augsburg

Ginny (Dahlen) Baali ’72 and Barb (Dahlen) Cornell

鈥淥ur family鈥檚 connection to Augsburg started with Dad,鈥 explains Barb, who supports the scholarship along with Ginny. A Minneapolis native, Rev. Dahlen enrolled in Augsburg in 1935 and quickly became involved in athletics, choir, student government and other organizations. 鈥淎ugsburg helped prepare him for God鈥檚 calling and to be a man of faith and missions,鈥 she continues.

鈥淓ver since we were little kids we heard about Augsburg from our dad,鈥 remembers Barb. Rev. Dahlen often brought the family to concerts, games and other campus events and, in later years, he sometimes wore Paul鈥檚 letter jacket. He was grateful for his lasting friendships with Augsburg greats Leland Sateren 鈥35, Edor Nelson 鈥38, Ernie Anderson 鈥37, Sig Hjelmeland 鈥41 and others.

After graduating from Augsburg Seminary, he served several parishes during the course of his 40-year career. The family did mission work in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and Rev. Dahlen also served as Lutheran Free Church Director of World Missions and staff member of the American Lutheran Church Division of World missions. 鈥淎ugsburg was in his heart always,鈥 remembers Barb. Their mother also held Augsburg in high regard: Marian worked in the financial aid office and joined the Augsburg Associates to provide volunteer support.

A Lasting Memorial

When Marian passed in 2003, memorial gifts boosted the scholarship fund. When Rev. Dahlen passed in 2012, a portion of his estate and memorial gifts further augmented the fund. Around that time Ginny and Barb fine-tuned the scholarship criteria to clarify their parents鈥 intent and more closely represent their family鈥檚 values. 鈥淏arb and I have continued to be representatives of the scholarship,鈥 explains Ginny, who supports other Augsburg programs in addition to the family fund. The scholarship gives priority to students who are involved in campus ministry and pursuing a major or minor in physical education, and who demonstrate financial need and academic achievement. 鈥淧eople who have a faith background should come to the school and be blessed by it,鈥 says Barb.

And after graduation? 鈥淚 hope that scholarship alumni will be Christian witnesses to those around them, reach out in love and share their faith with others,鈥 says Barb. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important that Augsburg鈥檚 Christian legacy be nurtured and encouraged for all the students who will attend and be blessed by the school. That鈥檚 why we want to continue with this.鈥

-Kara Rose