The Stories of Sandzen

Lindsborg, Kansas and twenty dollars.

I didn't grow up in a family of great story tellers, but I remember one story because it was repeated so many times. I think now that it must have been one of those things that my mother was most proud.

My mother, Adabelle Haughawout (now isn't that a name?), was a music major at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas in 1933. Lindsborg was, and still is, a small town in the middle of Kansas. It was known for its art and music program and its Swedish heritage. Every year, they put on a full production of the Messiah, and they invite famous artists from around the world to come to Lindsborg to sing the solo parts. My mother sang one of the parts while she was there. That's how good she was.

About that time, a new professor from Sweden was recruited to come to Bethany to teach art. Birger Sandzen was just 23 years old when he landed in Lindsborg for what he thought was a short stay and he ended up staying until his death in 1954. It was the open spaces, the sky, the unusual rock formations, the poplar, cottonwood and willow trees and the nearby Rocky Mountains that captured his attention. He had a huge studio in which to work and teach, and it is there that he developed his American impressionistic style that made him famous all over the world.

Since Sandzen could also sing, I am assuming that my mother met him through music. I am pretty sure she never took an art class.

This was the Great Depression. No one had any money. My grandfather owned a feed store in Stafford, Kansas, another small town in the middle of nowhere. So at least he had a job, although he probably bartered and traded and got very little money.