11th Finglish trip July 2011 #14
Annette Oppedahl née Salmon (Salmu) comes from Custer Peak, near the mining town of Lead. The old homestead is still owned by relatives and Annette's family has a cabin there, where she spends the summer together with her husband Dick. She recalls attending Sunday school in Custer Peak together with other Finnish children, and how she would tend livestock.
Annette is a trained teacher, but she mostly remained at home, first looking after her children and then her mother. She visited Finland in the 1950s to gather material for her graduate thesis. She studied the Finnish co-operative movement, the birth of the SOK (Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta) and OTK (Osuustukkukauppa) consumers’ co-operatives, and how they differed from each other. Souvenirs of those years are Finnish knives, forks and spoons that she brought home, which are still in use.
Annette’s grandparents came from Oulainen and Kalajoki in the late 19th century, initially to the Homestake gold mine around which the affluent mining town of Lead evolved.
Next The Homestake Gold Mine Lead South Dakota USA
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