16 Sep 1927 in Ridgeway, Winneshiek Co, and is buried in the Lincoln Lutheran Cemetery, rural Ridgeway,

Torbjorn married Inger Haugen in 1860 who died at age 24. They had two children, Andrew (b. 1867) and Nellie (b. 23 Nov 1869). Nellie contacted diphtheria at the age of 24 and died while nursing the sick during an epidemic in Story City, IA. Andrew married Anna Olson (d. 1958) and had three sons: Orville Theodore, Emil Bernel and Newell Albert.

After Inger died Torbjorn married Liv Orpen who was born 26 Nov 1846 in Sigdal, Norway, died 26 Jul 1898 in Ridgeway and is buried in the Lincoln Lutheran Cemetery. The marriage took place in 1873. Torbjorn and Liv had nine children: Ragnhild Mathilde “Tillie" (28 Mar 1877-31 Mar 1944); Engvald (7 Jul 1878-13 Dec 1959); Eli Mandius "Mant” (22 Jun 1879-20 May 1960); Otto T (13 May 1881 -5 May 1965) is buried in the Ossian Hilltop Cemetery; Laura T (22 Dec 1883-1 Mar 1941); a baby boy; Theodore T (1886-15 Jun 1924), EmmaT (19 Aug 1888-Jan 1963) and Amelia “Mollie" (26 Jun 1890-27 Dec 1896).

My father, Otto T Anderson married Kristina “Christine" Amelia Lotvedt (4 Aug 1888-27 Aug 1978) in Ossian, Winneshiek Co. She is buried in the Ossian Hilltop Cemetery. There were four children born to Otto and Kristina: Virgil Eugene (2 Nov 1910-25 Apr 1995) was in the Navy during World War II; Ralph Dennis (b. 13 Dec 1916) was also in the Navy during World War II; a stillborn boy (1927) and Norma Jo Ann (b. 7 Jan 1929).

Norma married Willis Roger Wangsness (b. 14 Sep 1922). Willis served in the Army during World War II. The wedding date was 22 Sep 1946. Norma and Willis have two daughters, Linda Christine and Le Ann. Linda married David Glen Triebes on 10 Mar 1973. They were divorced in June 1994. They had two children: Erik David Wangsness Triebes and Kari Christine Triebes. Ann married Stephen David Bahr on 23 Jul 1977. Le and Steve have two children: Dane Thomas and Jon Anders.

Otto Anderson was a mail carrier in the rural Ossian areas after he married. He later became the Postmaster at Ossian (1922-1931) through the Presidential terms of Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. The Postmaster position was a Presidential appointment, so when Democrat Franklin Roosevelt became President, Otto being a Republican, lost his job. Christine also served as a substitute mail carrier and held the post of Ass't Postmaster. The mail was delivered by horse and buggy. Otto’s horse was kept in a barn behind the house. With a son at Luther College, a teenage boy and a new little girl born in the 1929 Depression and jobless, it was tough times. Leo Tekippe of Decorah started a satellite Coast-to-Coast store in Ossian and Otto was the manager.

In 1939, Ralph Anderson and Rodney Nicholson started a cafe in the basement of the Schmitz Furniture Store in Ossian. It was a most popular gathering place and was packed to standing room only after basketball games. A contest was held to name the cafe and the winning name was “Nicandy” (Nic for Nickolson and Andy for Anderson). When Ralph and Rodney went off to World

War II, Otto and Christine took over the Nicandy Cafe. In 1941 they purchased the Hauge Brothers Cafe and moved Nicandy to a larger building across the street. When Norma and Willis were married and moved to Decorah, Willis worked for Groustra Motors. The cafe was sold. Virgil, Ralph, Norma and their families each returned at different times to operate Nicandy for a few years.

While Norma and Willis owned Nicandy they also started a photography studio and took wedding photos. As the studio business grew, the choice was to sell Nicandy and to purchase the Henning Studio in Decorah. Tom Henning worked with Willis for a time. Norma and Willis operated Wangsness Photo Studio for twenty-three years until their retirement.

Wangsness, Wayne and Cheryl (Lee)

(Wayne and Cheryl (Lee) Wangsness)

Front row: Ryan, Philip, Wayne and Cheryl.
Back row: Karin, Amy, Lotte Christensen.
Lotte was a Danish Foreign Exchange student who stayed with our family during the 1993-94 school year.
This is our Christmas card picture from 1994.

Part I - Wayne Wangsness

I am the oldest son of Elmer and Hazel (Lee) Wangsness.

I started school at the Nordness school where my mother, Hazel had taught earlier. In the winter of 1947 a great snow storm packed the snow drifts so hard that it supported a team and bob sled on the ride home after the storm. The next year my sister Kathy and I started school in Ossian. We had the advantage of being able to take a bus instead of walking to school as I had to do when attending Nordness. Kathy soon skipped a grade, so Kathy and I went through school in the same grade.

Our road was a bit of problem in those days because it frequently snowed shut. The neighbors would get together and hitch a V plow they had made from bridge planks behind a tractor. They would pull the V plow as far as it would go, then shovel out the tractor and plow when the snow got too deep. This would clear the road well enough so the milk could be taken to the creamery. One of my most vivid memories from this period was sitting atop a runaway workhorse named Kernel, holding onto the mail I had retrieved from Remmen’s and going down