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Svea Lutheran Church
In my sister's archives there is a pamphlet “Confirmation Candles” by Paul J. Hoh, of The United Lutheran Publication House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In it there are stories by an old man who dreams of those many people he baptized and confirmed over forty seven years. He tells a story of a person he remembers confirming for each candle, wondering how each has lived her or his life. He dreams what he expects is the outcome of each one's life as relates to the confirmation promise – some to his liking, some not. But they are all dreams of an old man, nothing that I can see having to do with promises made. There is a page where a question is posed and the child recites the answer. The day was Ruth's sixteenth birthday and I assume that the Reverend held such classes every year, each certificate verified with his flourishing signature. The Holy Bible survives in Ruth's archives.
Ruth Leona Hodak having been baptized and duly instructed in the Christian
faith as it is confessed by THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH and having
promised to be steadfast in this Christian faith was confirmed in Svea
Lutheran Church on October 18, 1936, by Reverend A. W. Rudquist, pastor.
The following children are listed in the pamphlet: Front row - Ruth Elaine Swenson, Janice Marie Nelson, Joyce Manthei, Reverend Rudquist, Delores Johnson, Ruth Elaine Lindblad. Second row - Margaret Mary Johnson, Helen Johnson, Ruth Leona Hodak, DeLoris Allinder, Marion Mae Johnson. ( Ruth stands behind the pastor's right shoulder. ) Back row - Roger Ellsworth Johnson, Oral Conrad Johnson, David Walter Skoglund, Howard Elmer Berg, Gerald Harley Olson, Kermit Alvin Zupke, Donald Olson. I have the studio photograph and Ruth's Certificate. Anyone out there know of these folks in 2009? Ruth died at age 85 in 2005. |