Home
<> Remembering a Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod Legacy Home <>
Their 1907 "Bethany Home"
~ With LINKS to the Swedish King's visit and "The Bethany Home Story"
(Bethany Home was early on referred to as the Bethany Home Association.)
(The Bethany Village name was adopted in late August of 2020.)
<> Remembering a Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod Legacy Home <>
Their 1907 "Bethany Home"
~ With LINKS to the Swedish King's visit and "The Bethany Home Story"
(Bethany Home was early on referred to as the Bethany Home Association.)
(The Bethany Village name was adopted in late August of 2020.)
>> A brief background on the earliest history of Bethany Home
In 1907, Bethany Home was established as a result of the 1860 Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod of North America (aka the Augustana Lutheran Synod) Kansas Conference, held in Marquette, Kansas, ten miles west of Lindsborg.
This fine facility, sponsored first by the Augustana Lutheran Synod, fifty-five years later due to a significant merger of many Lutheran synods in North America, was then sponsored by the 1962 formed Lutheran Church in America (LCA). Twenty-six years later, in 1988, due to another major merger, it was to be further sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), that has continued to 2023.
Following that earliest decision to have a home for the elderly instead of an orphanage, in those first years, the Home was destined to grow exponentially. This was due to the hard labor and fervent prayers of those first devout Lutheran pioneer Swedish pastors and church members of Lindsborg and of the surrounding smaller communities of the Smoky Valley, two of which were Salemsborg and Freemount that had been founded in the same year as their neighbor in 1869. Here, Christian love and concern for the residents were to be the primary goals which have continued through the decades.
>> Under the leadership of Mr. Bill Carlson from 1974 to 1994, the Home was brought into the "modern age, and at times it buzzed with cultural excitement!"
Bethany College graduate of 1952, Bethany Home administrator Mr. Bill Carlson, who held this position for 20 years from 1974 to 1994 was recognized by the Smoky Valley Historical Association in the Foreword of his 2011 book, "Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now," as having ". . . assembled a management team and staff that quite literally brought the Home into the modern age."
As a Bethany Home's nurse's aide, off and on, in the 70s when I met Mr. Carlson, I learned very quickly that the Home was "ground zero" for researchers, recorders, historians and writers to come to meet the residents, so many of whom were Swedish descendants, to hear and to record "the early history" of Lindsborg, Bethany College and those neighboring Smoky Valley communities. The Home buzzed with excitement while in the midst of collecting this earliest Swedish history! Then there was the eye-opening daily experience for the residents, and myself of walking through the corridors with the residents' meds, of viewing "gallery halls" of the original paintings of Bethany College students of the renowned artist Swedish Sven Birger Sandzén! This was a most important time of collecting the history to ensure that it would be preserved for posterity. It was, indeed, a rich cultural time for living and working at Bethany Home.
During Mr. Carlson's tenure as the Home's administrator, the King of Sweden would visit the Home and the story of the Bethany Home would be written by "The Bethany Home Writers."
For the Swedish King's visit, to Bethany Home, go HERE. For "The Bethany Home Story," go HERE.
>> Under the leadership of Mr. Kris Erickson since September of 2014, the "Bethany Village" name was to be adopted in 2020.
Due to Mr. Bill Carlson's endeavors* and those of successor Bethany Home chief executive officers and administrators Mr. Marlin Johnson* from 1994 who retired twenty years later when Mr. Kris Erickson began his tenure in September of 2014, a very fine care facility has developed and expanded. As a result, the growth of the Bethany Home earned a new name that would better define its overall services. That "brand" name was announced on September 1, 2020, to be "Bethany Village," yet its "legal" name of the "Bethany Home Association" remains.
The Bethany Village name now encompasses "The Cottages" for independent living residence; "The Sunflower Terrace" for full-service (assisted) senior living residence; and "Bethany Home," the rehabilitation and long-term care center.
In the Bethany Village website "About Us," is found under the "Mission" heading, "... We are a social ministry of the Central States Synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ..." Continuing, found under the "Faith Life" heading, is, "Bethany Village is privileged to offer spiritual support to the residents and staff through a full time Chaplain, Dr. Mandy Todd."
For more from the website, go HERE to "Home" and HERE to "About Us."
Go HERE, for the Lindsborg News-Record article of September 3, 2020, titled
"Bethany Home Association Changes Its Name to Bethany Village."
In 1907, Bethany Home was established as a result of the 1860 Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod of North America (aka the Augustana Lutheran Synod) Kansas Conference, held in Marquette, Kansas, ten miles west of Lindsborg.
This fine facility, sponsored first by the Augustana Lutheran Synod, fifty-five years later due to a significant merger of many Lutheran synods in North America, was then sponsored by the 1962 formed Lutheran Church in America (LCA). Twenty-six years later, in 1988, due to another major merger, it was to be further sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), that has continued to 2023.
Following that earliest decision to have a home for the elderly instead of an orphanage, in those first years, the Home was destined to grow exponentially. This was due to the hard labor and fervent prayers of those first devout Lutheran pioneer Swedish pastors and church members of Lindsborg and of the surrounding smaller communities of the Smoky Valley, two of which were Salemsborg and Freemount that had been founded in the same year as their neighbor in 1869. Here, Christian love and concern for the residents were to be the primary goals which have continued through the decades.
>> Under the leadership of Mr. Bill Carlson from 1974 to 1994, the Home was brought into the "modern age, and at times it buzzed with cultural excitement!"
Bethany College graduate of 1952, Bethany Home administrator Mr. Bill Carlson, who held this position for 20 years from 1974 to 1994 was recognized by the Smoky Valley Historical Association in the Foreword of his 2011 book, "Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now," as having ". . . assembled a management team and staff that quite literally brought the Home into the modern age."
As a Bethany Home's nurse's aide, off and on, in the 70s when I met Mr. Carlson, I learned very quickly that the Home was "ground zero" for researchers, recorders, historians and writers to come to meet the residents, so many of whom were Swedish descendants, to hear and to record "the early history" of Lindsborg, Bethany College and those neighboring Smoky Valley communities. The Home buzzed with excitement while in the midst of collecting this earliest Swedish history! Then there was the eye-opening daily experience for the residents, and myself of walking through the corridors with the residents' meds, of viewing "gallery halls" of the original paintings of Bethany College students of the renowned artist Swedish Sven Birger Sandzén! This was a most important time of collecting the history to ensure that it would be preserved for posterity. It was, indeed, a rich cultural time for living and working at Bethany Home.
During Mr. Carlson's tenure as the Home's administrator, the King of Sweden would visit the Home and the story of the Bethany Home would be written by "The Bethany Home Writers."
For the Swedish King's visit, to Bethany Home, go HERE. For "The Bethany Home Story," go HERE.
>> Under the leadership of Mr. Kris Erickson since September of 2014, the "Bethany Village" name was to be adopted in 2020.
Due to Mr. Bill Carlson's endeavors* and those of successor Bethany Home chief executive officers and administrators Mr. Marlin Johnson* from 1994 who retired twenty years later when Mr. Kris Erickson began his tenure in September of 2014, a very fine care facility has developed and expanded. As a result, the growth of the Bethany Home earned a new name that would better define its overall services. That "brand" name was announced on September 1, 2020, to be "Bethany Village," yet its "legal" name of the "Bethany Home Association" remains.
The Bethany Village name now encompasses "The Cottages" for independent living residence; "The Sunflower Terrace" for full-service (assisted) senior living residence; and "Bethany Home," the rehabilitation and long-term care center.
In the Bethany Village website "About Us," is found under the "Mission" heading, "... We are a social ministry of the Central States Synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ..." Continuing, found under the "Faith Life" heading, is, "Bethany Village is privileged to offer spiritual support to the residents and staff through a full time Chaplain, Dr. Mandy Todd."
For more from the website, go HERE to "Home" and HERE to "About Us."
Go HERE, for the Lindsborg News-Record article of September 3, 2020, titled
"Bethany Home Association Changes Its Name to Bethany Village."
----------------------------------------
Published 1986, 65 pages
Published 1986, 65 pages
Grateful thanks to Bethany Home for the gift of this most historical book of 1986, to be used in SWEDES, 2018.
* * *
1907 gave birth to the "idea" of a Home
1911 realized the idea with the Home's "first" residents
1907 gave birth to the "idea" of a Home
1911 realized the idea with the Home's "first" residents
"The Bethany Home Story," page 1
Sources: "The Bethany Home Story; Bethany Village website; and personal information
* Bethany Village CEO/Administrator Kris Erikson,
* * *
"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.
