| Show UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION than theybeen told by the missionary who espousedreligious doctrine which theyembraced With scarcelypause in New York City they continued their westward journey to Utah forever leaving behind their home in Ystad Baltic seacoast community on the southern-most tip of Sweden That they were immigrants did not make the Rasmusons unique many of their countrymen were doing likewise Nor was it unusual that Nils and Kerstintwo sons both in their teens had no knowledge of the customs life-style history and language of the far-Western state to which theymoved Most foreign-born newcomers were in that position What would distinguish them in future years was that theyswiftly overcome that handicap and go on to achieve success in journalism wheregrasp of all those things is necessary One of the boys Nils Gunnar had preceded the family to the United States in 1905 when he was 16 Hesettled in Pleasant Grove home of Jens Monson the missionary theyknown in Sweden His letters enthusiastically encouraged the family to follow soyear later his parents his sister Anna and his brother Ernest Rasmus bid farewell to the land of their birth and embarked ontrans-Atlantic ship which was then the only link between the Old World and the New When they arrived Anna was 20 years old Gunnar not yet 15 All had completed the common 17 and Ernest schools of their homeland Not long thereafter on January 1908 their 55 year old father died and predictably Kerstin and her children thereafter struggled through much financial adversity Both Gunnar and Ernest literally returned to the class room in order to learn English starting on the elementary level They were apt students and moved rapidly to the point where they could begin studies at Pleasant Grove High School Itindicative of their compelling desire to achieve in this new country that Gunnar wasspeaker at commencement exercis es of his class and Ernest was the valedictorianyear later Anna would demonstrate similar determination by returning to school at 36 years of age and becomingRegistered Nurse 602 Digital image 2005 Marriott Library University of Utah Al rights reserved |
