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Peaceful Acres Smoky Valley descendant friends and helpers
~ honoring them and remembering them
Peaceful Acres Smoky Valley descendant friends and helpers
~ honoring them and remembering them
These are some of the Swedes who supported me with the Smoky Valley Peaceful Acres' mission and vision as noted in a previous section, Their 1936 1873 Swedish Homestead, Our Peaceful Acres. This section names them and shows the progress that was made until the farm unexpectedly had to be sold in 2011. This section was created to simply thank them again for their help and to document their kindnesses by remembering them and honoring them through SWEDES.
*Rev. Don Hawk, the "Prayers and Well Wishers"
Larry Elmquist, Michael Hoag, *Claude Koehn: the restoration advisors
*Eugene M. Cochran, the farming consultant
Roy Lister for trimming the trees
Larry Peters for clearing the grounds of trees
*Claude Koehn for understanding the PA vision and for his restorative stone work on the stable wall
*Jeffrey D. "Ole" Olson for his determined work and vision for Swede House
R.D. Rasmusson for organizing and taking charge of the work crews:
The Swede Team 1: *Jeffrey "Ole" Olson and Laird Larson
The Swede Team 2: Tom Poole and Thyne Poole
John Bellah for organizing The Swede Team 3:
Smoky Valley High School students Cody Bowers, Stephen DeWitt, Seth Nelson
THE INHERITANCE WAS RECEIVED IN 1996
WORK BEGAN IN 1998
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through the years in photos
The Walking Tour
- May 25,1996 -
Farmer Rev. Don Hawk, my nephew and sister finding the ruins in the jungle of trees at sunset
The Stable
To enlarge, click on photograph.
Dedication Service of Peaceful Acres
1998
The Prayers & Well Wishers
Back row:
*Rev. Don Hawk, Maj-Britt Hawk, *Mary Perkins, Marla Elmquist, *Hubert Mattingly, Larry Elmquist, Karen Leaf, *Marlys Mattingly, David Hawk
Front row:
David Gossman, Anne Gossman, Angela Gossman, *Raymond Olson, Melinda O'Leary
Not pictured was Bethany College Professor *Dr. Leon Lungstrom
Not able to attend were Bethany College President Dr. Rev. Christopher Thomforde due to a funeral service for student, Evangelical Covenant Church Rev. Pastor Jeff Waugh, Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery Director Larry Griffis
*Departed.
*Rev. Don Hawk, Maj-Britt Hawk, *Mary Perkins, Marla Elmquist, *Hubert Mattingly, Larry Elmquist, Karen Leaf, *Marlys Mattingly, David Hawk
Front row:
David Gossman, Anne Gossman, Angela Gossman, *Raymond Olson, Melinda O'Leary
Not pictured was Bethany College Professor *Dr. Leon Lungstrom
Not able to attend were Bethany College President Dr. Rev. Christopher Thomforde due to a funeral service for student, Evangelical Covenant Church Rev. Pastor Jeff Waugh, Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery Director Larry Griffis
*Departed.
- 1998 -
The Restoration Advisor
Larry Elmquist
To enlarge, click on photograph.
- 2000 -
The Farming Consultant
Eugene M. Cochran
my father
Responsible for naming Swede House
The Farming Consultant
Eugene M. Cochran
my father
Responsible for naming Swede House
- 2001 -
The Swede Teams
Team 1
R. D. Rasmusson, Jeffrey "Ole" Olson, Laird Larson
Click Play or Pause below.
To enlarge, click on photograph.
Because of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, fear of flying was rampant and I almost did not go. Yet, in direct defiance to the terrorist as many Americans felt, they, like my father and I, would fly. So from San Francisco to Kansas and Lindsborg we went to work on a house built by Swedes in 1873, for it was "an American thing to do" -- especially then! On the day of these photos, October 29, 2001, my father said to me, "You know, you should call the house, "SWEDE HOUSE."
- 2002 -
Team 2
R.D. Rasmusson, Tom Poole and Thyne Poole
Click Play or Pause below.
2003 - 2009
Through these years, annual clearing and improving the grounds continued.
To enlarge, click on photograph.
Mr. Claude Koehn who was married to Charlotte Hughes whose grandmother was a full Swede did a grand job on the stone stable that was to turn into the Smoky Valley Outdoor Classroom. However, this goal was not realized due to the 2007-2008 "Global Financial Crisis" that destined the 2011 sale of Peaceful Acres. Had that not occurred, the Smoky Valley Outdoor Classroom would have been a place for elementary and high school classes to come and sit on shortened stone walls to hear stories from the "old timers" about the Swedish settlements of long ago.
Afterward, the students could walk through the Peaceful Acres Gardens (to be) to learn the locations of the cistern, the windmill, the outhouse, the tornado cave, the two water wells. There could have been arranged en plein air drawing and painting as well.
Yet, in 2009, we were able to finish it off to a degree to show our stunning progress and the rugged beauty at hand, as these photographs show.
- 2009 -
THEIR FINISHED "SMOKY VALLEY OUTDOOR CLASSROOM"
Team 3
The Smoky Valley High School Team
Cody Bowers, Stephen DeWitt, Seth Nelson
Job 1
The "Smoky Valley Outdoor Classroom"
THEIR FINISHED "SMOKY VALLEY OUTDOOR CLASSROOM"
Team 3
The Smoky Valley High School Team
Cody Bowers, Stephen DeWitt, Seth Nelson
Job 1
The "Smoky Valley Outdoor Classroom"
To enlarge, click on photograph.
Click Play or Pause below.
To enlarge, click on photograph.
Jeffrey D. "Ole" Olson's Swede House
- He and Claude Koehn believed in the possibilities -
- He and Claude Koehn believed in the possibilities -
- 2009 -
Team 3
The Smoky Valley High School Team
Cody Bowers, Stephen DeWitt, Seth Nelson
Job 2
Swede House
PREPARING IT FOR THE NEXT PHASE
Click Play or Pause below.
To enlarge, click on photograph.
Click Play or Pause below.
- 2009 -
- THEIR FINISHED PRODUCT-
looking at
- a silhouette of a perishing way of life -
" The Old Deere Farm "
" Peaceful Acres "
- THEIR FINISHED PRODUCT-
looking at
- a silhouette of a perishing way of life -
" The Old Deere Farm "
" Peaceful Acres "
Go HERE to Mr. Claude Koehn ~ Remembering him as restorer and preservationist of Smoky Valley stone farmhouses and other structures
* * *
"Let Us Celebrate Them"
* * *
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
"Let Us Celebrate Them"
* * *
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
