"No. 5 in a series 'Meet Your Minister' . . . . . ." from the August 30, 1956 Door County Advocate
TODAY'S FEATURED minister is the Rev. Russell Osnes of Bethany Lutheran church in Ephraim.
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No. 5 in a Series
'Meet Your Minister' . . . . . .
This is the fifth in a series of articles on Door county ministers written by the Rev. I. Dean Jordan of the First Methodist church, Sturgeon Bay.
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Pastor Osnes had just finished hanging his clothes after oiling and lubricating his 1956 Ford. "I miss my old Mercury," he said. I could tear that apart and put it back together again. I don't want to try that with this car."
"Where did you learn your auto-mechanics?"
"I worked for a few months in a garage, and picked up a lot of knowledge there. Before that I did a lot of repair work on the tractors and other machines on my father's farm in Iowa. That was during World War II. Two my brothers were in the service, so when I graduated from High school I had to stay and help Dad with his 360 acres. I knew the farm wasn't a lifetime job for me, so after the war I worked for a while in a garage, like I said. I liked it, but I still wasn't satisfied. Through the counseling of a pastor I decided to enter the ministry. I can't remember a particular time when I decided to be a minister. I just sort of worked into it. I find it fully satisfying."
Mrs. Osnes had come into the yard where we were talking. She was carrying Rusty their two-year-old son. Picking up our conversation about cars she said: "Rusty loves cars. He can see a picture of just part of a car and usually tell what kind it is. He is especially good with Mercurys and Fords. It is evident from their conversation that Rusty occupies an important place in the Osnes family. Both Mr. and Mrs. Osnes were more ready to talk about him than about themselves.
"He learned to pray when he was eight months old." Ardelle said. "At least he would fold his hands and mumble something. There for a while he would say a prayer every time I gave him something. One day when I have him a cracker he put it on a chair, folded his hands, mumbled a prayer, and only then ate the cracker.
"One time at church everyone was ready to sit down and eat. Rusty folded his hands and mumbled his prayer first, and the rest followed his lead."
"Do you have any family devotions with him?" I asked.
"We always have grace at table," Pastor Osnes explained. "Then either in the morning or at night, depending upon our schedule, we'll read some Scripture and talk about it a bit with Rusty, though he is too young to get much out of it.
"He's too young to get much out of church, too," Mr. Osnes continued. One Sunday morning he got a laughing spell. When he laughs he laughs from his toes to his head, and he was really tickled that morning. The more Ardelle tried to quiet him the harder he laughed. Just when I thought I was going to break out laughing myself, he calmed down, and things proceeded normally."
Chuckling at the picture of Mrs. Osnes trying to quiet Rusty so her husband could continue preaching I asked: "What do you think of being a minister's wife?"
It's a wonderfully interesting life," she replied. "It took some adjusting at first to change from working all the time to staying at home. I am a Registered Nurse, you know, and I worked regularly until we moved here a year ago. I'm used to staying at home now, and I think being married to a minister offers nothing but advantages. You have an opportunity to meet so many people. The church work is interesting. I just like it immensely!"
"What do you like most about it, Pastor?" I asked, turning to Mr. Osnes.
"I can't quite make up my mind. I guess it would be a toss-up between the youth work and the preaching. I work on my sermon a little bit each day—reading a bit, mulling the ideas over in my mind. Knowing that far ahead what I am going to preach about I pick up ideas and illustrations as the week goes by."
"What do you do with your time off?" I asked him.
"So far I haven't had too much time off. I've been here only a year, and this is my first church, so I've been pretty busy learning and keeping up with the church." Then, nodding his head to emphasize his determination, he added, "But I'm going fishing one evening this week no matter what".
"How about golf?"
"Oh, I like golf, too. I've taken that up since coming here. I've been out two or three times this year. I've also done some craft-work. I made those picnic tables in the yard."
"He has also made me some ear-rings," Ardelle interjected. And she left the room to bring back some samples of his handiwork. They were made from thin plastic strips combined in attractive colors, tied in a variety of knots, and glued to metal clasps. "This way, Ardelle continued, "I don't worry so much when I lose an ear-ring."
The artistic talent in this family isn't confined to Pastor Osnes. Later he showed me some wooden platters and pitchers on which Mrs. Osnes had painted some intricate and colorful Scandinavian designs and mottos.
Both of the Osnes enjoy working in the yard. Many brightly colored flowers attested to Ardelle's skill in this activity. They both boasted of their vegetable garden. "Our beans are ready for picking. Our potatoes are doing nicely. We even have some good old Iowa corn coming up!"
As I left we walked over to examine the garden. Its cleanly cultivated rows gave evidence of careful attention. The vegetables were plentiful. It looked promising enough, in fact, that I decided that their boasting was not in vain.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[Obituary for Russell Osnes: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/globegazette/name/russell-osnes-obituary?id=25843383
Obituary for Ardelle Osnes: https://www.schottfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/Olive-Ardelle-Osnes?obId=20363346 ]
Articles by the Rev. I. Dean Jordan
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