Birth: 18 Dec 1891 in Haslev,Soro,Denmark
Christening: 11 Feb 1892 Haslev,Soro,Denmark
Death: 10 Jul 1965 in Bismarck,Burleigh Co,North Dakota
Burial: 14 Jul 1965 Woodlawn Cemetery,Steele,Kidder Co,North Dakota,USA
Note: The biography is a work in progress. Please contribute or correct any mistakes. Thanks, Martha-Lisa Mode Flinsch
___________________________________________________________________________
An excerpt from A History of the Charles and Fanny Mode Family
by Charles J. Mode 1981
Sometime in 1903, before the automobile became the predominant means of transportation, a boy aged 15 and a girl aged 11 met at a social gathering for young people on a farm near present-day St. Cloud, Minnesota. Following the gathering, the girl and some of her sisters witnessed what to their eyes was a display of masterful horsemanship as the boy took them home by horse and buggy. It was thus that Charles Mode and Fanny E. Hansen met. On November 11, 1916 they were married near Kenmare, North Dakota in the home of Niels and Anna Christianson, the brother-in-law and sister of the bride. For three years following marriage, they made their home on the Tom Finn farm north of Driscoll, North Dakota; in 1918, they bought land and developed a farm in Excelsior Township five and one-half miles northwest of Steele. They remained in the Steele community for the rest of their lives, raising a family of three children.
Fanny Emilie Hansen, the eleventh child of Jens Hansen and his wife Maren Sophie Jeppesen, was born December 18, 1891 near Haslev, a prosperous agricultural community situated south of Copenhagen, Denmark. Then, as now, thatched roofs were part of the landscape. But, such outward appearances of quaintness should not be interpreted as a lack of sophistication. For, being near Copenhagen, which was not only the capital of Denmark but also among the leading economic cultural, and scientific centers of Europe, the residents of Haslev were constantly being exposed to a social environment of new possibilities and ideas.
No doubt this environment led to an unusual event in the life of the infant, Fanny. When she was born, her father was 43 years old and her mother 40. At these ages, most people with families in 19th century Denmark would have viewed a move to America and the learning of new language as nearly inconceivable. Yet, when a letter was received from a friend in Minnesota offering to sell his farm, because he wanted to dig gold in Alaska, Jens Hansen sold his farm in Denmark and bought the farm in Minnesota, which was close to that of John and Anna Kajsa Mode.
In 1892, the Hansen parents and all of their eleven children moved safely to their new farm in America. Even as late as 1892, such a move, especially with children, was not without hazard; for, the old and the very young sometimes died during such journeys. The many living Hansen relatives of the Mode family are a living testimony to the exceptional managerial abilities of Jens Hansen and the devoted motherhood of Maren Sophie. These same managerial abilities and devotion to motherhood characterized the life of their youngest daughter, Fanny.
When Fanny Hansen was twelve years old her mother, Maren Sophie, died. Subsequently, the mothering of the child was assumed by her older sisters. Having shown an aptitude for learning, she was encouraged by her father Jens Hansen, a well read and widely traveled man, to become a school teacher. It was an age when teachers learned primarily from experience, without the long periods of formal training required today. After graduating from the eighth grade at age 14, she attended St. Cloud Normal School for one year and obtained a teaching certificate.
In 1907, at age 16, her teaching career began in a one-room rural Minnesota school. Her duties included not only the tutorial but also the janitorial; since, in addition to preparing lessons for eight grades in all subjects taught, she was also required to keep the school room clean and stoke the stove in winter. At times her managerial abilities were severely tested by male students several years her senior. But, with the help of winning ways and keen insights into human nature, the young teacher was able to maintain an atmosphere in the classroom conducive to learning.
Her teaching career in Minnesota continued till about 1912 when, in the summer, she attended a session at the Normal in Velva, North Dakota, in order to qualify for teaching in state she would subsequently make her home. After qualifying, she taught a one-room country school near Kenmare, North Dakota and also attended summer sessions at the Normal in Minot. During this period, she lived in the home of her older sister, Anna, helping with the rearing of her nieces and nephews, who, for the rest of her life, addressed her affectionately as Aunt Fanny. Today many young women of age 24 are just beginning their careers. But, when Fanny Hansen married it was with justifiable pride and well-wishing that her father, the well-traveled Jens Hansen, who had returned from a visit to Denmark prior to World War I, journeyed from Minnesota to witness the wedding ceremony of his youngest daughter on a November day in northwestern North Dakota.
An urge to own and develop their own farm led Charles and Fanny Mode to buy a quarter section of virgin school land in Excelsior Township in 1918. since by that time no homestead land was available. In the spring of 1919. sod was broken and some farm buildings were erected during the summer and fall. The Mode family lived continuously on this farm from 1919 till 1933. What started out as an operation involving a quarter section, grew to one involving 480 owned and 480 rented acres, at its maximum extent, devoted to crops, hay, and pasture. During the twenties and early thirties, a herd of twenty Holstein milk cows provided a steady source of income, supplemented by sheep, hogs, poultry, and wheat as a cash crop. Acting on the advice of his friend, E. W. Wiley, who originated in New England, Charles Mode also bought draft horses which were shipped to and sold in Ludlow, Vermont, during the years 1927-30. A decreasing demand for draft horses coupled with the great depression led to the discontinuation of this phase of the operations.
Roy Edward Mode, the oldest son of Charles and Fanny, was born on October 24, 1918 on a farm north of Driscoll at the height of an international influenza epidemic. It was on occasion that challenged the courage of his father and the resourceful skills of his mother, there being no physician in attendance because the only one available in Driscoll was already over-extended caring for the desperately ill. At a more tranquil time, a daughter, Helen Emelia Mode, was born on the farm in Excelsior on July 18, 1923. As a sign of growing prosperity and changing times in the late twenties, a son, Charles Junior Mode, was born in the Bismarck Hospital on December 29, 1927. On that occasion two steers, sold at the Steele stockyards, fetched sufficient funds to cover all doctor and hospital bills. Even after having her children, Fanny continued to do some part-time teaching in the Excelsior schools, especially in the early twenties.
A gift of parenthood was also extended to several foster children who lived with the Modes during a decade starting in the mid-thirties and extending into the mid-forties. Those children staying for extended periods were: Eleanor and Tena Gregerson; Leslie, Martha, and Donald Nerby; and Irene and Eddie Oster. At times as many as twelve people required daily meals. What would have been an insurmountable task for many was taken in stride by Fanny Mode as she organized the boys and girls into helping with the cooking, doing the laundry, and attending to other assorted tasks in running the household. The managerial skills learned from her mother, Maren Sophie, and the experience of having grown up in a large family served her well in raising here own and foster children.
A value held in high esteem by Charles and Fanny Mode was a good education for their children. In 1933 they rented their farm in Excelsior Township to the Grenville Selland family and in turn rented the E. W. Wiley farm one-half mile west of Steele, making it possible for their children to attend the Steele school. The family lived on and operated the Wiley farm until 1937, when it was sold to become part of the Sunshine Ranch operations. In the same year, they acquired their home in northwest Steele, where they resided for the rest of their lives. After moving to Steele, Charles Mode and his family continued to operate the farm in Excelsior until 1946, when their youngest child graduated from Steele High School. Having fulfilled his educational mission, Charles Mode sold the farm in Excelsior and retired to Steele at the age of 58.
Loss of eldest son Roy in World War II
After graduating from Steele High School in 1936, Roy Mode took and passed examinations qualifying his to teach in the rural grade schools of Kidder County. He married Vernice L. Pederson of Driscoll, one of his fellow teachers in the one-room schools of Excelsior. While the newlyweds were teaching in a rural consolidated school near Hazen in western North Dakota during the 1941-42 season, Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese and the United States went to war with the Axis Powers, primarily Germany, Italy, and Japan. As part of a wave of patriotism that swept the youth of the country, Roy Mode enlisted in the United States Army as a private in 1942, His leadership abilities were quickly recognized, however, and he was soon sent to Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning Georgia. After being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, he was engaged in training troops at army bases in Texas and Oklahoma. By the fall of 1944, he had attained the rank of First Lieutenant and was shipped to France, where he joined the Allied Armies for what turned out to be the closing battles of World War II in western Europe.
In the closing weeks of 1944, the Germans, in a desperate attempt to stem the inexorable advance of the Allied Armies into their homeland, massed 500,000 troops and vast quantities of equipment, which, when concentrated on a narrow front, were sufficient to drive a deep wedge through the allied lines into Belgium. The ensuing struggle to eliminate the wedge became known as the Battle of the Bulge. As a commander of a mortar platoon, Roy Mode played an active role in this huge battle. Being in a position of leadership, his life was especially in danger and on January 30, 1945 he was killed in action as the massive battle drew to a close.
Back in Steele, the news of Roy's death was received by the family with a feeling of great sadness and a mixed sense of pride, folly, and irony; a feeling of great sadness because he was survived by a young widow with two infant children and the family had lost a son and brother; a sense of pride, because he had died fighting for his country and the idea of freedom; a sense of folly, because nations ought to settle their differences without resorting to war; and a sense of irony, because he had died in battle with his ethnic cousins, the Germans.
Along with another son of Steele killed in World War IT, the Mode-Shenaan Post for Veterans of Foreign Wars was named in his honor.
A devout Christian, Fanny Mode, following the Scandinavian tradition, led her family into the Lutheran church. All three of her children and many of the foster children became confirmed members of the Trinity Lutheran Church of Steele. Much of her social life revolved around the church as a tireless worker in the Trinity Lutheran Ladies Aid. She was also active in community affairs as a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and as a "gold star" mother in the women's auxiliary of the Mode-Sherman Post No. 6959 for Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Life in Retirement:
After raising her own and foster children, she lived quietly with her husband at their residence in northwest Steele. The quietude was frequently broken, however, by visits from her children and grandchildren as well as the foster children and their children. There were also frequent trips to Minnesota to visit relatives as well as trips to Montana to visit children and grandchildren. A highlight of this period was an extensive automobile tour of the western United States in 1953 to visit friends formerly of the Steele community. Although hard-of-hearing for many years and further handicapped by poor eyesight in later years, her mind was clear and active to the end. On July 10, 1965 she passed away at the Bismarck Hospital at age 73, preceding her husband in death by ten years. Like her husband's ten years later, her funeral was attended by many friends and relatives, with foster children included among the mourners.
Charles and Fanny Mode were a living inspiration to their children and grandchildren. Always willing to offer warm counsel, they instilled a sense of striving, purpose, and values.
Charles and Fanny Mode lie in Woodlawn Cemetery remembered by their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They knew the awesome cold of winter; they experienced drought, winds, and plagues of grasshoppers that could destroy their crops. Despite such hardships, they loved the prairies on which they lived and raised their family.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Condensed from Verna Harris's story of her mother "Anna" Hansen and the Hansen family:
Ane "Anna" Hansen Christianson Daughter of Jens Hansen
Verna Marian Christianson Harris Grandaughter of Jens Hansen
... She ["Anna" Hansen"] was 16 years old when they came to the new land, so she remembered it well. It must have been a nearly impossible hardship for mother Maren [Maren Sophie Jeppesen Hansen Wife of Jens Hansen] to get ready a family of 11 [nine children, 2 parents] for moving. And she was to leave her homeland and her own family behind. Mama said they lived in a long low house, and Maren's mother, Grandmother Jeppsen lived in a couple rooms at one end. She was blind and all the children loved her. They quarreled with each other about taking a bowl of soup that their mother had made for her. For the chance to go over to sweep her floor or do little chores for her. Mama often got to go because she was older. I have wondered who cared for her after the family left.
If it were a hardship for grandmother Maren. It must have been a most challenging task for grandpa Jens, who had to have a sale, keep and pack the most necessary clothing, tools, and household goods for 12 people, one a small baby. He bought 11 tickets so I assume the baby was carried on. Aunt Fanny [Fanny Emilie Hansen Mode Daughter of Jens Hansen] was the baby. I suppose that they boarded a liner in Copenhagen, and it was large, a 5-deck ship.
Mama talked about the trip over durinq our Cando winters, and I wish now that I had asked more questions. They had a space on the third deck with their trunks and belongings packed around them. Her mother had brought two large kettles along and each day made a large pot of soup or stew. Grandpa could buy supplies at the ship's store, and there was a huge coal range that the passengers could use. I'm sure that they had to carry their own water and dispose of their waste which went overboard in those days. People couldn't keep very clean, and Mama said the smells were almost overwhelming. They were even worse when they went by the 4th deck stairs and bilge area. They were not supposed to go up on deck. But Mama said they did sneak up for a breath of fresh air when they could. Their crossing was not too rough, but most of the passengers got motion sickness anyway. It lasted over two weeks and then they were quarantined at Ellis Inland for three days. That was as bad or worse than the voyage, Mama said.
...
Aunt Fanny was the baby in arms when they came over. We knew her the best of all because she was the only one who came to North Dakota. When she finished the 8th grade, she came to help Mama, perhaps when I was born in 1909. She enrolled and graduated from the Normal School in Velva. When she was 18 and had her teacher's certificate, she stayed with the folks and taught at least three years in Spencer School District. The last year was in our school and she and Clifford went off to school together. I think Mama kept him home until he was 7. Teaching a rural school was really a tough job in those days. She shared many of her experiences with us which maybe told in own story. She was with us for most of ten years and married Uncle Charles in our little house in 1916. They lived and farmed near Steele, North Dakota. They had three children; Roy, who was killed in Germany in World War 2, Helen, and Charles Jens, who was born when his grandfather died, and was name for him. He became a Professor, P H D, and wrote the story of his folks lives when Steele had their Centennial. I used his paragraph at my beginning. Aunt Fanny died of heart congestion at age 80, and Uncle Charlie stayed on at Steele, dying at 93. We stopped to see him the spring before he died. He drove uptown for mail and a few groceries, and his mind was as clear as a bell.
...
_______________________________________________________________________________
Christening: 11 Feb 1892 Haslev,Soro,Denmark
Death: 10 Jul 1965 in Bismarck,Burleigh Co,North Dakota
Burial: 14 Jul 1965 Woodlawn Cemetery,Steele,Kidder Co,North Dakota,USA
Note: The biography is a work in progress. Please contribute or correct any mistakes. Thanks, Martha-Lisa Mode Flinsch
___________________________________________________________________________
An excerpt from A History of the Charles and Fanny Mode Family
by Charles J. Mode 1981
Sometime in 1903, before the automobile became the predominant means of transportation, a boy aged 15 and a girl aged 11 met at a social gathering for young people on a farm near present-day St. Cloud, Minnesota. Following the gathering, the girl and some of her sisters witnessed what to their eyes was a display of masterful horsemanship as the boy took them home by horse and buggy. It was thus that Charles Mode and Fanny E. Hansen met. On November 11, 1916 they were married near Kenmare, North Dakota in the home of Niels and Anna Christianson, the brother-in-law and sister of the bride. For three years following marriage, they made their home on the Tom Finn farm north of Driscoll, North Dakota; in 1918, they bought land and developed a farm in Excelsior Township five and one-half miles northwest of Steele. They remained in the Steele community for the rest of their lives, raising a family of three children.
Fanny Emilie Hansen, the eleventh child of Jens Hansen and his wife Maren Sophie Jeppesen, was born December 18, 1891 near Haslev, a prosperous agricultural community situated south of Copenhagen, Denmark. Then, as now, thatched roofs were part of the landscape. But, such outward appearances of quaintness should not be interpreted as a lack of sophistication. For, being near Copenhagen, which was not only the capital of Denmark but also among the leading economic cultural, and scientific centers of Europe, the residents of Haslev were constantly being exposed to a social environment of new possibilities and ideas.
No doubt this environment led to an unusual event in the life of the infant, Fanny. When she was born, her father was 43 years old and her mother 40. At these ages, most people with families in 19th century Denmark would have viewed a move to America and the learning of new language as nearly inconceivable. Yet, when a letter was received from a friend in Minnesota offering to sell his farm, because he wanted to dig gold in Alaska, Jens Hansen sold his farm in Denmark and bought the farm in Minnesota, which was close to that of John and Anna Kajsa Mode.
In 1892, the Hansen parents and all of their eleven children moved safely to their new farm in America. Even as late as 1892, such a move, especially with children, was not without hazard; for, the old and the very young sometimes died during such journeys. The many living Hansen relatives of the Mode family are a living testimony to the exceptional managerial abilities of Jens Hansen and the devoted motherhood of Maren Sophie. These same managerial abilities and devotion to motherhood characterized the life of their youngest daughter, Fanny.
When Fanny Hansen was twelve years old her mother, Maren Sophie, died. Subsequently, the mothering of the child was assumed by her older sisters. Having shown an aptitude for learning, she was encouraged by her father Jens Hansen, a well read and widely traveled man, to become a school teacher. It was an age when teachers learned primarily from experience, without the long periods of formal training required today. After graduating from the eighth grade at age 14, she attended St. Cloud Normal School for one year and obtained a teaching certificate.
In 1907, at age 16, her teaching career began in a one-room rural Minnesota school. Her duties included not only the tutorial but also the janitorial; since, in addition to preparing lessons for eight grades in all subjects taught, she was also required to keep the school room clean and stoke the stove in winter. At times her managerial abilities were severely tested by male students several years her senior. But, with the help of winning ways and keen insights into human nature, the young teacher was able to maintain an atmosphere in the classroom conducive to learning.
Her teaching career in Minnesota continued till about 1912 when, in the summer, she attended a session at the Normal in Velva, North Dakota, in order to qualify for teaching in state she would subsequently make her home. After qualifying, she taught a one-room country school near Kenmare, North Dakota and also attended summer sessions at the Normal in Minot. During this period, she lived in the home of her older sister, Anna, helping with the rearing of her nieces and nephews, who, for the rest of her life, addressed her affectionately as Aunt Fanny. Today many young women of age 24 are just beginning their careers. But, when Fanny Hansen married it was with justifiable pride and well-wishing that her father, the well-traveled Jens Hansen, who had returned from a visit to Denmark prior to World War I, journeyed from Minnesota to witness the wedding ceremony of his youngest daughter on a November day in northwestern North Dakota.
An urge to own and develop their own farm led Charles and Fanny Mode to buy a quarter section of virgin school land in Excelsior Township in 1918. since by that time no homestead land was available. In the spring of 1919. sod was broken and some farm buildings were erected during the summer and fall. The Mode family lived continuously on this farm from 1919 till 1933. What started out as an operation involving a quarter section, grew to one involving 480 owned and 480 rented acres, at its maximum extent, devoted to crops, hay, and pasture. During the twenties and early thirties, a herd of twenty Holstein milk cows provided a steady source of income, supplemented by sheep, hogs, poultry, and wheat as a cash crop. Acting on the advice of his friend, E. W. Wiley, who originated in New England, Charles Mode also bought draft horses which were shipped to and sold in Ludlow, Vermont, during the years 1927-30. A decreasing demand for draft horses coupled with the great depression led to the discontinuation of this phase of the operations.
Roy Edward Mode, the oldest son of Charles and Fanny, was born on October 24, 1918 on a farm north of Driscoll at the height of an international influenza epidemic. It was on occasion that challenged the courage of his father and the resourceful skills of his mother, there being no physician in attendance because the only one available in Driscoll was already over-extended caring for the desperately ill. At a more tranquil time, a daughter, Helen Emelia Mode, was born on the farm in Excelsior on July 18, 1923. As a sign of growing prosperity and changing times in the late twenties, a son, Charles Junior Mode, was born in the Bismarck Hospital on December 29, 1927. On that occasion two steers, sold at the Steele stockyards, fetched sufficient funds to cover all doctor and hospital bills. Even after having her children, Fanny continued to do some part-time teaching in the Excelsior schools, especially in the early twenties.
A gift of parenthood was also extended to several foster children who lived with the Modes during a decade starting in the mid-thirties and extending into the mid-forties. Those children staying for extended periods were: Eleanor and Tena Gregerson; Leslie, Martha, and Donald Nerby; and Irene and Eddie Oster. At times as many as twelve people required daily meals. What would have been an insurmountable task for many was taken in stride by Fanny Mode as she organized the boys and girls into helping with the cooking, doing the laundry, and attending to other assorted tasks in running the household. The managerial skills learned from her mother, Maren Sophie, and the experience of having grown up in a large family served her well in raising here own and foster children.
A value held in high esteem by Charles and Fanny Mode was a good education for their children. In 1933 they rented their farm in Excelsior Township to the Grenville Selland family and in turn rented the E. W. Wiley farm one-half mile west of Steele, making it possible for their children to attend the Steele school. The family lived on and operated the Wiley farm until 1937, when it was sold to become part of the Sunshine Ranch operations. In the same year, they acquired their home in northwest Steele, where they resided for the rest of their lives. After moving to Steele, Charles Mode and his family continued to operate the farm in Excelsior until 1946, when their youngest child graduated from Steele High School. Having fulfilled his educational mission, Charles Mode sold the farm in Excelsior and retired to Steele at the age of 58.
Loss of eldest son Roy in World War II
After graduating from Steele High School in 1936, Roy Mode took and passed examinations qualifying his to teach in the rural grade schools of Kidder County. He married Vernice L. Pederson of Driscoll, one of his fellow teachers in the one-room schools of Excelsior. While the newlyweds were teaching in a rural consolidated school near Hazen in western North Dakota during the 1941-42 season, Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese and the United States went to war with the Axis Powers, primarily Germany, Italy, and Japan. As part of a wave of patriotism that swept the youth of the country, Roy Mode enlisted in the United States Army as a private in 1942, His leadership abilities were quickly recognized, however, and he was soon sent to Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning Georgia. After being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, he was engaged in training troops at army bases in Texas and Oklahoma. By the fall of 1944, he had attained the rank of First Lieutenant and was shipped to France, where he joined the Allied Armies for what turned out to be the closing battles of World War II in western Europe.
In the closing weeks of 1944, the Germans, in a desperate attempt to stem the inexorable advance of the Allied Armies into their homeland, massed 500,000 troops and vast quantities of equipment, which, when concentrated on a narrow front, were sufficient to drive a deep wedge through the allied lines into Belgium. The ensuing struggle to eliminate the wedge became known as the Battle of the Bulge. As a commander of a mortar platoon, Roy Mode played an active role in this huge battle. Being in a position of leadership, his life was especially in danger and on January 30, 1945 he was killed in action as the massive battle drew to a close.
Back in Steele, the news of Roy's death was received by the family with a feeling of great sadness and a mixed sense of pride, folly, and irony; a feeling of great sadness because he was survived by a young widow with two infant children and the family had lost a son and brother; a sense of pride, because he had died fighting for his country and the idea of freedom; a sense of folly, because nations ought to settle their differences without resorting to war; and a sense of irony, because he had died in battle with his ethnic cousins, the Germans.
Along with another son of Steele killed in World War IT, the Mode-Shenaan Post for Veterans of Foreign Wars was named in his honor.
A devout Christian, Fanny Mode, following the Scandinavian tradition, led her family into the Lutheran church. All three of her children and many of the foster children became confirmed members of the Trinity Lutheran Church of Steele. Much of her social life revolved around the church as a tireless worker in the Trinity Lutheran Ladies Aid. She was also active in community affairs as a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and as a "gold star" mother in the women's auxiliary of the Mode-Sherman Post No. 6959 for Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Life in Retirement:
After raising her own and foster children, she lived quietly with her husband at their residence in northwest Steele. The quietude was frequently broken, however, by visits from her children and grandchildren as well as the foster children and their children. There were also frequent trips to Minnesota to visit relatives as well as trips to Montana to visit children and grandchildren. A highlight of this period was an extensive automobile tour of the western United States in 1953 to visit friends formerly of the Steele community. Although hard-of-hearing for many years and further handicapped by poor eyesight in later years, her mind was clear and active to the end. On July 10, 1965 she passed away at the Bismarck Hospital at age 73, preceding her husband in death by ten years. Like her husband's ten years later, her funeral was attended by many friends and relatives, with foster children included among the mourners.
Charles and Fanny Mode were a living inspiration to their children and grandchildren. Always willing to offer warm counsel, they instilled a sense of striving, purpose, and values.
Charles and Fanny Mode lie in Woodlawn Cemetery remembered by their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They knew the awesome cold of winter; they experienced drought, winds, and plagues of grasshoppers that could destroy their crops. Despite such hardships, they loved the prairies on which they lived and raised their family.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Condensed from Verna Harris's story of her mother "Anna" Hansen and the Hansen family:
Ane "Anna" Hansen Christianson Daughter of Jens Hansen
Verna Marian Christianson Harris Grandaughter of Jens Hansen
... She ["Anna" Hansen"] was 16 years old when they came to the new land, so she remembered it well. It must have been a nearly impossible hardship for mother Maren [Maren Sophie Jeppesen Hansen Wife of Jens Hansen] to get ready a family of 11 [nine children, 2 parents] for moving. And she was to leave her homeland and her own family behind. Mama said they lived in a long low house, and Maren's mother, Grandmother Jeppsen lived in a couple rooms at one end. She was blind and all the children loved her. They quarreled with each other about taking a bowl of soup that their mother had made for her. For the chance to go over to sweep her floor or do little chores for her. Mama often got to go because she was older. I have wondered who cared for her after the family left.
If it were a hardship for grandmother Maren. It must have been a most challenging task for grandpa Jens, who had to have a sale, keep and pack the most necessary clothing, tools, and household goods for 12 people, one a small baby. He bought 11 tickets so I assume the baby was carried on. Aunt Fanny [Fanny Emilie Hansen Mode Daughter of Jens Hansen] was the baby. I suppose that they boarded a liner in Copenhagen, and it was large, a 5-deck ship.
Mama talked about the trip over durinq our Cando winters, and I wish now that I had asked more questions. They had a space on the third deck with their trunks and belongings packed around them. Her mother had brought two large kettles along and each day made a large pot of soup or stew. Grandpa could buy supplies at the ship's store, and there was a huge coal range that the passengers could use. I'm sure that they had to carry their own water and dispose of their waste which went overboard in those days. People couldn't keep very clean, and Mama said the smells were almost overwhelming. They were even worse when they went by the 4th deck stairs and bilge area. They were not supposed to go up on deck. But Mama said they did sneak up for a breath of fresh air when they could. Their crossing was not too rough, but most of the passengers got motion sickness anyway. It lasted over two weeks and then they were quarantined at Ellis Inland for three days. That was as bad or worse than the voyage, Mama said.
...
Aunt Fanny was the baby in arms when they came over. We knew her the best of all because she was the only one who came to North Dakota. When she finished the 8th grade, she came to help Mama, perhaps when I was born in 1909. She enrolled and graduated from the Normal School in Velva. When she was 18 and had her teacher's certificate, she stayed with the folks and taught at least three years in Spencer School District. The last year was in our school and she and Clifford went off to school together. I think Mama kept him home until he was 7. Teaching a rural school was really a tough job in those days. She shared many of her experiences with us which maybe told in own story. She was with us for most of ten years and married Uncle Charles in our little house in 1916. They lived and farmed near Steele, North Dakota. They had three children; Roy, who was killed in Germany in World War 2, Helen, and Charles Jens, who was born when his grandfather died, and was name for him. He became a Professor, P H D, and wrote the story of his folks lives when Steele had their Centennial. I used his paragraph at my beginning. Aunt Fanny died of heart congestion at age 80, and Uncle Charlie stayed on at Steele, dying at 93. We stopped to see him the spring before he died. He drove uptown for mail and a few groceries, and his mind was as clear as a bell.
...
_______________________________________________________________________________
Birth: 18 Dec 1891 in Haslev,Soro,Denmark
Christening: 11 Feb 1892 Haslev,Soro,Denmark
Death: 10 Jul 1965 in Bismarck,Burleigh Co,North Dakota
Burial: 14 Jul 1965 Woodlawn Cemetery,Steele,Kidder Co,North Dakota,USA
Note: The biography is a work in progress. Please contribute or correct any mistakes. Thanks, Martha-Lisa Mode Flinsch
___________________________________________________________________________
An excerpt from A History of the Charles and Fanny Mode Family
by Charles J. Mode 1981
Sometime in 1903, before the automobile became the predominant means of transportation, a boy aged 15 and a girl aged 11 met at a social gathering for young people on a farm near present-day St. Cloud, Minnesota. Following the gathering, the girl and some of her sisters witnessed what to their eyes was a display of masterful horsemanship as the boy took them home by horse and buggy. It was thus that Charles Mode and Fanny E. Hansen met. On November 11, 1916 they were married near Kenmare, North Dakota in the home of Niels and Anna Christianson, the brother-in-law and sister of the bride. For three years following marriage, they made their home on the Tom Finn farm north of Driscoll, North Dakota; in 1918, they bought land and developed a farm in Excelsior Township five and one-half miles northwest of Steele. They remained in the Steele community for the rest of their lives, raising a family of three children.
Fanny Emilie Hansen, the eleventh child of Jens Hansen and his wife Maren Sophie Jeppesen, was born December 18, 1891 near Haslev, a prosperous agricultural community situated south of Copenhagen, Denmark. Then, as now, thatched roofs were part of the landscape. But, such outward appearances of quaintness should not be interpreted as a lack of sophistication. For, being near Copenhagen, which was not only the capital of Denmark but also among the leading economic cultural, and scientific centers of Europe, the residents of Haslev were constantly being exposed to a social environment of new possibilities and ideas.
No doubt this environment led to an unusual event in the life of the infant, Fanny. When she was born, her father was 43 years old and her mother 40. At these ages, most people with families in 19th century Denmark would have viewed a move to America and the learning of new language as nearly inconceivable. Yet, when a letter was received from a friend in Minnesota offering to sell his farm, because he wanted to dig gold in Alaska, Jens Hansen sold his farm in Denmark and bought the farm in Minnesota, which was close to that of John and Anna Kajsa Mode.
In 1892, the Hansen parents and all of their eleven children moved safely to their new farm in America. Even as late as 1892, such a move, especially with children, was not without hazard; for, the old and the very young sometimes died during such journeys. The many living Hansen relatives of the Mode family are a living testimony to the exceptional managerial abilities of Jens Hansen and the devoted motherhood of Maren Sophie. These same managerial abilities and devotion to motherhood characterized the life of their youngest daughter, Fanny.
When Fanny Hansen was twelve years old her mother, Maren Sophie, died. Subsequently, the mothering of the child was assumed by her older sisters. Having shown an aptitude for learning, she was encouraged by her father Jens Hansen, a well read and widely traveled man, to become a school teacher. It was an age when teachers learned primarily from experience, without the long periods of formal training required today. After graduating from the eighth grade at age 14, she attended St. Cloud Normal School for one year and obtained a teaching certificate.
In 1907, at age 16, her teaching career began in a one-room rural Minnesota school. Her duties included not only the tutorial but also the janitorial; since, in addition to preparing lessons for eight grades in all subjects taught, she was also required to keep the school room clean and stoke the stove in winter. At times her managerial abilities were severely tested by male students several years her senior. But, with the help of winning ways and keen insights into human nature, the young teacher was able to maintain an atmosphere in the classroom conducive to learning.
Her teaching career in Minnesota continued till about 1912 when, in the summer, she attended a session at the Normal in Velva, North Dakota, in order to qualify for teaching in state she would subsequently make her home. After qualifying, she taught a one-room country school near Kenmare, North Dakota and also attended summer sessions at the Normal in Minot. During this period, she lived in the home of her older sister, Anna, helping with the rearing of her nieces and nephews, who, for the rest of her life, addressed her affectionately as Aunt Fanny. Today many young women of age 24 are just beginning their careers. But, when Fanny Hansen married it was with justifiable pride and well-wishing that her father, the well-traveled Jens Hansen, who had returned from a visit to Denmark prior to World War I, journeyed from Minnesota to witness the wedding ceremony of his youngest daughter on a November day in northwestern North Dakota.
An urge to own and develop their own farm led Charles and Fanny Mode to buy a quarter section of virgin school land in Excelsior Township in 1918. since by that time no homestead land was available. In the spring of 1919. sod was broken and some farm buildings were erected during the summer and fall. The Mode family lived continuously on this farm from 1919 till 1933. What started out as an operation involving a quarter section, grew to one involving 480 owned and 480 rented acres, at its maximum extent, devoted to crops, hay, and pasture. During the twenties and early thirties, a herd of twenty Holstein milk cows provided a steady source of income, supplemented by sheep, hogs, poultry, and wheat as a cash crop. Acting on the advice of his friend, E. W. Wiley, who originated in New England, Charles Mode also bought draft horses which were shipped to and sold in Ludlow, Vermont, during the years 1927-30. A decreasing demand for draft horses coupled with the great depression led to the discontinuation of this phase of the operations.
Roy Edward Mode, the oldest son of Charles and Fanny, was born on October 24, 1918 on a farm north of Driscoll at the height of an international influenza epidemic. It was on occasion that challenged the courage of his father and the resourceful skills of his mother, there being no physician in attendance because the only one available in Driscoll was already over-extended caring for the desperately ill. At a more tranquil time, a daughter, Helen Emelia Mode, was born on the farm in Excelsior on July 18, 1923. As a sign of growing prosperity and changing times in the late twenties, a son, Charles Junior Mode, was born in the Bismarck Hospital on December 29, 1927. On that occasion two steers, sold at the Steele stockyards, fetched sufficient funds to cover all doctor and hospital bills. Even after having her children, Fanny continued to do some part-time teaching in the Excelsior schools, especially in the early twenties.
A gift of parenthood was also extended to several foster children who lived with the Modes during a decade starting in the mid-thirties and extending into the mid-forties. Those children staying for extended periods were: Eleanor and Tena Gregerson; Leslie, Martha, and Donald Nerby; and Irene and Eddie Oster. At times as many as twelve people required daily meals. What would have been an insurmountable task for many was taken in stride by Fanny Mode as she organized the boys and girls into helping with the cooking, doing the laundry, and attending to other assorted tasks in running the household. The managerial skills learned from her mother, Maren Sophie, and the experience of having grown up in a large family served her well in raising here own and foster children.
A value held in high esteem by Charles and Fanny Mode was a good education for their children. In 1933 they rented their farm in Excelsior Township to the Grenville Selland family and in turn rented the E. W. Wiley farm one-half mile west of Steele, making it possible for their children to attend the Steele school. The family lived on and operated the Wiley farm until 1937, when it was sold to become part of the Sunshine Ranch operations. In the same year, they acquired their home in northwest Steele, where they resided for the rest of their lives. After moving to Steele, Charles Mode and his family continued to operate the farm in Excelsior until 1946, when their youngest child graduated from Steele High School. Having fulfilled his educational mission, Charles Mode sold the farm in Excelsior and retired to Steele at the age of 58.
Loss of eldest son Roy in World War II
After graduating from Steele High School in 1936, Roy Mode took and passed examinations qualifying his to teach in the rural grade schools of Kidder County. He married Vernice L. Pederson of Driscoll, one of his fellow teachers in the one-room schools of Excelsior. While the newlyweds were teaching in a rural consolidated school near Hazen in western North Dakota during the 1941-42 season, Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese and the United States went to war with the Axis Powers, primarily Germany, Italy, and Japan. As part of a wave of patriotism that swept the youth of the country, Roy Mode enlisted in the United States Army as a private in 1942, His leadership abilities were quickly recognized, however, and he was soon sent to Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning Georgia. After being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, he was engaged in training troops at army bases in Texas and Oklahoma. By the fall of 1944, he had attained the rank of First Lieutenant and was shipped to France, where he joined the Allied Armies for what turned out to be the closing battles of World War II in western Europe.
In the closing weeks of 1944, the Germans, in a desperate attempt to stem the inexorable advance of the Allied Armies into their homeland, massed 500,000 troops and vast quantities of equipment, which, when concentrated on a narrow front, were sufficient to drive a deep wedge through the allied lines into Belgium. The ensuing struggle to eliminate the wedge became known as the Battle of the Bulge. As a commander of a mortar platoon, Roy Mode played an active role in this huge battle. Being in a position of leadership, his life was especially in danger and on January 30, 1945 he was killed in action as the massive battle drew to a close.
Back in Steele, the news of Roy's death was received by the family with a feeling of great sadness and a mixed sense of pride, folly, and irony; a feeling of great sadness because he was survived by a young widow with two infant children and the family had lost a son and brother; a sense of pride, because he had died fighting for his country and the idea of freedom; a sense of folly, because nations ought to settle their differences without resorting to war; and a sense of irony, because he had died in battle with his ethnic cousins, the Germans.
Along with another son of Steele killed in World War IT, the Mode-Shenaan Post for Veterans of Foreign Wars was named in his honor.
A devout Christian, Fanny Mode, following the Scandinavian tradition, led her family into the Lutheran church. All three of her children and many of the foster children became confirmed members of the Trinity Lutheran Church of Steele. Much of her social life revolved around the church as a tireless worker in the Trinity Lutheran Ladies Aid. She was also active in community affairs as a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and as a "gold star" mother in the women's auxiliary of the Mode-Sherman Post No. 6959 for Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Life in Retirement:
After raising her own and foster children, she lived quietly with her husband at their residence in northwest Steele. The quietude was frequently broken, however, by visits from her children and grandchildren as well as the foster children and their children. There were also frequent trips to Minnesota to visit relatives as well as trips to Montana to visit children and grandchildren. A highlight of this period was an extensive automobile tour of the western United States in 1953 to visit friends formerly of the Steele community. Although hard-of-hearing for many years and further handicapped by poor eyesight in later years, her mind was clear and active to the end. On July 10, 1965 she passed away at the Bismarck Hospital at age 73, preceding her husband in death by ten years. Like her husband's ten years later, her funeral was attended by many friends and relatives, with foster children included among the mourners.
Charles and Fanny Mode were a living inspiration to their children and grandchildren. Always willing to offer warm counsel, they instilled a sense of striving, purpose, and values.
Charles and Fanny Mode lie in Woodlawn Cemetery remembered by their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They knew the awesome cold of winter; they experienced drought, winds, and plagues of grasshoppers that could destroy their crops. Despite such hardships, they loved the prairies on which they lived and raised their family.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Condensed from Verna Harris's story of her mother "Anna" Hansen and the Hansen family:
Ane "Anna" Hansen Christianson Daughter of Jens Hansen
Verna Marian Christianson Harris Grandaughter of Jens Hansen
... She ["Anna" Hansen"] was 16 years old when they came to the new land, so she remembered it well. It must have been a nearly impossible hardship for mother Maren [Maren Sophie Jeppesen Hansen Wife of Jens Hansen] to get ready a family of 11 [nine children, 2 parents] for moving. And she was to leave her homeland and her own family behind. Mama said they lived in a long low house, and Maren's mother, Grandmother Jeppsen lived in a couple rooms at one end. She was blind and all the children loved her. They quarreled with each other about taking a bowl of soup that their mother had made for her. For the chance to go over to sweep her floor or do little chores for her. Mama often got to go because she was older. I have wondered who cared for her after the family left.
If it were a hardship for grandmother Maren. It must have been a most challenging task for grandpa Jens, who had to have a sale, keep and pack the most necessary clothing, tools, and household goods for 12 people, one a small baby. He bought 11 tickets so I assume the baby was carried on. Aunt Fanny [Fanny Emilie Hansen Mode Daughter of Jens Hansen] was the baby. I suppose that they boarded a liner in Copenhagen, and it was large, a 5-deck ship.
Mama talked about the trip over durinq our Cando winters, and I wish now that I had asked more questions. They had a space on the third deck with their trunks and belongings packed around them. Her mother had brought two large kettles along and each day made a large pot of soup or stew. Grandpa could buy supplies at the ship's store, and there was a huge coal range that the passengers could use. I'm sure that they had to carry their own water and dispose of their waste which went overboard in those days. People couldn't keep very clean, and Mama said the smells were almost overwhelming. They were even worse when they went by the 4th deck stairs and bilge area. They were not supposed to go up on deck. But Mama said they did sneak up for a breath of fresh air when they could. Their crossing was not too rough, but most of the passengers got motion sickness anyway. It lasted over two weeks and then they were quarantined at Ellis Inland for three days. That was as bad or worse than the voyage, Mama said.
...
Aunt Fanny was the baby in arms when they came over. We knew her the best of all because she was the only one who came to North Dakota. When she finished the 8th grade, she came to help Mama, perhaps when I was born in 1909. She enrolled and graduated from the Normal School in Velva. When she was 18 and had her teacher's certificate, she stayed with the folks and taught at least three years in Spencer School District. The last year was in our school and she and Clifford went off to school together. I think Mama kept him home until he was 7. Teaching a rural school was really a tough job in those days. She shared many of her experiences with us which maybe told in own story. She was with us for most of ten years and married Uncle Charles in our little house in 1916. They lived and farmed near Steele, North Dakota. They had three children; Roy, who was killed in Germany in World War 2, Helen, and Charles Jens, who was born when his grandfather died, and was name for him. He became a Professor, P H D, and wrote the story of his folks lives when Steele had their Centennial. I used his paragraph at my beginning. Aunt Fanny died of heart congestion at age 80, and Uncle Charlie stayed on at Steele, dying at 93. We stopped to see him the spring before he died. He drove uptown for mail and a few groceries, and his mind was as clear as a bell.
...
_______________________________________________________________________________
Christening: 11 Feb 1892 Haslev,Soro,Denmark
Death: 10 Jul 1965 in Bismarck,Burleigh Co,North Dakota
Burial: 14 Jul 1965 Woodlawn Cemetery,Steele,Kidder Co,North Dakota,USA
Note: The biography is a work in progress. Please contribute or correct any mistakes. Thanks, Martha-Lisa Mode Flinsch
___________________________________________________________________________
An excerpt from A History of the Charles and Fanny Mode Family
by Charles J. Mode 1981
Sometime in 1903, before the automobile became the predominant means of transportation, a boy aged 15 and a girl aged 11 met at a social gathering for young people on a farm near present-day St. Cloud, Minnesota. Following the gathering, the girl and some of her sisters witnessed what to their eyes was a display of masterful horsemanship as the boy took them home by horse and buggy. It was thus that Charles Mode and Fanny E. Hansen met. On November 11, 1916 they were married near Kenmare, North Dakota in the home of Niels and Anna Christianson, the brother-in-law and sister of the bride. For three years following marriage, they made their home on the Tom Finn farm north of Driscoll, North Dakota; in 1918, they bought land and developed a farm in Excelsior Township five and one-half miles northwest of Steele. They remained in the Steele community for the rest of their lives, raising a family of three children.
Fanny Emilie Hansen, the eleventh child of Jens Hansen and his wife Maren Sophie Jeppesen, was born December 18, 1891 near Haslev, a prosperous agricultural community situated south of Copenhagen, Denmark. Then, as now, thatched roofs were part of the landscape. But, such outward appearances of quaintness should not be interpreted as a lack of sophistication. For, being near Copenhagen, which was not only the capital of Denmark but also among the leading economic cultural, and scientific centers of Europe, the residents of Haslev were constantly being exposed to a social environment of new possibilities and ideas.
No doubt this environment led to an unusual event in the life of the infant, Fanny. When she was born, her father was 43 years old and her mother 40. At these ages, most people with families in 19th century Denmark would have viewed a move to America and the learning of new language as nearly inconceivable. Yet, when a letter was received from a friend in Minnesota offering to sell his farm, because he wanted to dig gold in Alaska, Jens Hansen sold his farm in Denmark and bought the farm in Minnesota, which was close to that of John and Anna Kajsa Mode.
In 1892, the Hansen parents and all of their eleven children moved safely to their new farm in America. Even as late as 1892, such a move, especially with children, was not without hazard; for, the old and the very young sometimes died during such journeys. The many living Hansen relatives of the Mode family are a living testimony to the exceptional managerial abilities of Jens Hansen and the devoted motherhood of Maren Sophie. These same managerial abilities and devotion to motherhood characterized the life of their youngest daughter, Fanny.
When Fanny Hansen was twelve years old her mother, Maren Sophie, died. Subsequently, the mothering of the child was assumed by her older sisters. Having shown an aptitude for learning, she was encouraged by her father Jens Hansen, a well read and widely traveled man, to become a school teacher. It was an age when teachers learned primarily from experience, without the long periods of formal training required today. After graduating from the eighth grade at age 14, she attended St. Cloud Normal School for one year and obtained a teaching certificate.
In 1907, at age 16, her teaching career began in a one-room rural Minnesota school. Her duties included not only the tutorial but also the janitorial; since, in addition to preparing lessons for eight grades in all subjects taught, she was also required to keep the school room clean and stoke the stove in winter. At times her managerial abilities were severely tested by male students several years her senior. But, with the help of winning ways and keen insights into human nature, the young teacher was able to maintain an atmosphere in the classroom conducive to learning.
Her teaching career in Minnesota continued till about 1912 when, in the summer, she attended a session at the Normal in Velva, North Dakota, in order to qualify for teaching in state she would subsequently make her home. After qualifying, she taught a one-room country school near Kenmare, North Dakota and also attended summer sessions at the Normal in Minot. During this period, she lived in the home of her older sister, Anna, helping with the rearing of her nieces and nephews, who, for the rest of her life, addressed her affectionately as Aunt Fanny. Today many young women of age 24 are just beginning their careers. But, when Fanny Hansen married it was with justifiable pride and well-wishing that her father, the well-traveled Jens Hansen, who had returned from a visit to Denmark prior to World War I, journeyed from Minnesota to witness the wedding ceremony of his youngest daughter on a November day in northwestern North Dakota.
An urge to own and develop their own farm led Charles and Fanny Mode to buy a quarter section of virgin school land in Excelsior Township in 1918. since by that time no homestead land was available. In the spring of 1919. sod was broken and some farm buildings were erected during the summer and fall. The Mode family lived continuously on this farm from 1919 till 1933. What started out as an operation involving a quarter section, grew to one involving 480 owned and 480 rented acres, at its maximum extent, devoted to crops, hay, and pasture. During the twenties and early thirties, a herd of twenty Holstein milk cows provided a steady source of income, supplemented by sheep, hogs, poultry, and wheat as a cash crop. Acting on the advice of his friend, E. W. Wiley, who originated in New England, Charles Mode also bought draft horses which were shipped to and sold in Ludlow, Vermont, during the years 1927-30. A decreasing demand for draft horses coupled with the great depression led to the discontinuation of this phase of the operations.
Roy Edward Mode, the oldest son of Charles and Fanny, was born on October 24, 1918 on a farm north of Driscoll at the height of an international influenza epidemic. It was on occasion that challenged the courage of his father and the resourceful skills of his mother, there being no physician in attendance because the only one available in Driscoll was already over-extended caring for the desperately ill. At a more tranquil time, a daughter, Helen Emelia Mode, was born on the farm in Excelsior on July 18, 1923. As a sign of growing prosperity and changing times in the late twenties, a son, Charles Junior Mode, was born in the Bismarck Hospital on December 29, 1927. On that occasion two steers, sold at the Steele stockyards, fetched sufficient funds to cover all doctor and hospital bills. Even after having her children, Fanny continued to do some part-time teaching in the Excelsior schools, especially in the early twenties.
A gift of parenthood was also extended to several foster children who lived with the Modes during a decade starting in the mid-thirties and extending into the mid-forties. Those children staying for extended periods were: Eleanor and Tena Gregerson; Leslie, Martha, and Donald Nerby; and Irene and Eddie Oster. At times as many as twelve people required daily meals. What would have been an insurmountable task for many was taken in stride by Fanny Mode as she organized the boys and girls into helping with the cooking, doing the laundry, and attending to other assorted tasks in running the household. The managerial skills learned from her mother, Maren Sophie, and the experience of having grown up in a large family served her well in raising here own and foster children.
A value held in high esteem by Charles and Fanny Mode was a good education for their children. In 1933 they rented their farm in Excelsior Township to the Grenville Selland family and in turn rented the E. W. Wiley farm one-half mile west of Steele, making it possible for their children to attend the Steele school. The family lived on and operated the Wiley farm until 1937, when it was sold to become part of the Sunshine Ranch operations. In the same year, they acquired their home in northwest Steele, where they resided for the rest of their lives. After moving to Steele, Charles Mode and his family continued to operate the farm in Excelsior until 1946, when their youngest child graduated from Steele High School. Having fulfilled his educational mission, Charles Mode sold the farm in Excelsior and retired to Steele at the age of 58.
Loss of eldest son Roy in World War II
After graduating from Steele High School in 1936, Roy Mode took and passed examinations qualifying his to teach in the rural grade schools of Kidder County. He married Vernice L. Pederson of Driscoll, one of his fellow teachers in the one-room schools of Excelsior. While the newlyweds were teaching in a rural consolidated school near Hazen in western North Dakota during the 1941-42 season, Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese and the United States went to war with the Axis Powers, primarily Germany, Italy, and Japan. As part of a wave of patriotism that swept the youth of the country, Roy Mode enlisted in the United States Army as a private in 1942, His leadership abilities were quickly recognized, however, and he was soon sent to Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning Georgia. After being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, he was engaged in training troops at army bases in Texas and Oklahoma. By the fall of 1944, he had attained the rank of First Lieutenant and was shipped to France, where he joined the Allied Armies for what turned out to be the closing battles of World War II in western Europe.
In the closing weeks of 1944, the Germans, in a desperate attempt to stem the inexorable advance of the Allied Armies into their homeland, massed 500,000 troops and vast quantities of equipment, which, when concentrated on a narrow front, were sufficient to drive a deep wedge through the allied lines into Belgium. The ensuing struggle to eliminate the wedge became known as the Battle of the Bulge. As a commander of a mortar platoon, Roy Mode played an active role in this huge battle. Being in a position of leadership, his life was especially in danger and on January 30, 1945 he was killed in action as the massive battle drew to a close.
Back in Steele, the news of Roy's death was received by the family with a feeling of great sadness and a mixed sense of pride, folly, and irony; a feeling of great sadness because he was survived by a young widow with two infant children and the family had lost a son and brother; a sense of pride, because he had died fighting for his country and the idea of freedom; a sense of folly, because nations ought to settle their differences without resorting to war; and a sense of irony, because he had died in battle with his ethnic cousins, the Germans.
Along with another son of Steele killed in World War IT, the Mode-Shenaan Post for Veterans of Foreign Wars was named in his honor.
A devout Christian, Fanny Mode, following the Scandinavian tradition, led her family into the Lutheran church. All three of her children and many of the foster children became confirmed members of the Trinity Lutheran Church of Steele. Much of her social life revolved around the church as a tireless worker in the Trinity Lutheran Ladies Aid. She was also active in community affairs as a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and as a "gold star" mother in the women's auxiliary of the Mode-Sherman Post No. 6959 for Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Life in Retirement:
After raising her own and foster children, she lived quietly with her husband at their residence in northwest Steele. The quietude was frequently broken, however, by visits from her children and grandchildren as well as the foster children and their children. There were also frequent trips to Minnesota to visit relatives as well as trips to Montana to visit children and grandchildren. A highlight of this period was an extensive automobile tour of the western United States in 1953 to visit friends formerly of the Steele community. Although hard-of-hearing for many years and further handicapped by poor eyesight in later years, her mind was clear and active to the end. On July 10, 1965 she passed away at the Bismarck Hospital at age 73, preceding her husband in death by ten years. Like her husband's ten years later, her funeral was attended by many friends and relatives, with foster children included among the mourners.
Charles and Fanny Mode were a living inspiration to their children and grandchildren. Always willing to offer warm counsel, they instilled a sense of striving, purpose, and values.
Charles and Fanny Mode lie in Woodlawn Cemetery remembered by their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They knew the awesome cold of winter; they experienced drought, winds, and plagues of grasshoppers that could destroy their crops. Despite such hardships, they loved the prairies on which they lived and raised their family.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Condensed from Verna Harris's story of her mother "Anna" Hansen and the Hansen family:
Ane "Anna" Hansen Christianson Daughter of Jens Hansen
Verna Marian Christianson Harris Grandaughter of Jens Hansen
... She ["Anna" Hansen"] was 16 years old when they came to the new land, so she remembered it well. It must have been a nearly impossible hardship for mother Maren [Maren Sophie Jeppesen Hansen Wife of Jens Hansen] to get ready a family of 11 [nine children, 2 parents] for moving. And she was to leave her homeland and her own family behind. Mama said they lived in a long low house, and Maren's mother, Grandmother Jeppsen lived in a couple rooms at one end. She was blind and all the children loved her. They quarreled with each other about taking a bowl of soup that their mother had made for her. For the chance to go over to sweep her floor or do little chores for her. Mama often got to go because she was older. I have wondered who cared for her after the family left.
If it were a hardship for grandmother Maren. It must have been a most challenging task for grandpa Jens, who had to have a sale, keep and pack the most necessary clothing, tools, and household goods for 12 people, one a small baby. He bought 11 tickets so I assume the baby was carried on. Aunt Fanny [Fanny Emilie Hansen Mode Daughter of Jens Hansen] was the baby. I suppose that they boarded a liner in Copenhagen, and it was large, a 5-deck ship.
Mama talked about the trip over durinq our Cando winters, and I wish now that I had asked more questions. They had a space on the third deck with their trunks and belongings packed around them. Her mother had brought two large kettles along and each day made a large pot of soup or stew. Grandpa could buy supplies at the ship's store, and there was a huge coal range that the passengers could use. I'm sure that they had to carry their own water and dispose of their waste which went overboard in those days. People couldn't keep very clean, and Mama said the smells were almost overwhelming. They were even worse when they went by the 4th deck stairs and bilge area. They were not supposed to go up on deck. But Mama said they did sneak up for a breath of fresh air when they could. Their crossing was not too rough, but most of the passengers got motion sickness anyway. It lasted over two weeks and then they were quarantined at Ellis Inland for three days. That was as bad or worse than the voyage, Mama said.
...
Aunt Fanny was the baby in arms when they came over. We knew her the best of all because she was the only one who came to North Dakota. When she finished the 8th grade, she came to help Mama, perhaps when I was born in 1909. She enrolled and graduated from the Normal School in Velva. When she was 18 and had her teacher's certificate, she stayed with the folks and taught at least three years in Spencer School District. The last year was in our school and she and Clifford went off to school together. I think Mama kept him home until he was 7. Teaching a rural school was really a tough job in those days. She shared many of her experiences with us which maybe told in own story. She was with us for most of ten years and married Uncle Charles in our little house in 1916. They lived and farmed near Steele, North Dakota. They had three children; Roy, who was killed in Germany in World War 2, Helen, and Charles Jens, who was born when his grandfather died, and was name for him. He became a Professor, P H D, and wrote the story of his folks lives when Steele had their Centennial. I used his paragraph at my beginning. Aunt Fanny died of heart congestion at age 80, and Uncle Charlie stayed on at Steele, dying at 93. We stopped to see him the spring before he died. He drove uptown for mail and a few groceries, and his mind was as clear as a bell.
...
_______________________________________________________________________________
Family Members
Siblings
-
![]()
Kirsten Marie Hansen Petersen
1873–1913
-
![]()
Hans Jappa Hansen
1874–1943
-
![]()
Ane Hansen Christianson
1875–1970
-
Christian Hansen
1878–1879
-
![]()
Eleanora Sophie Hansen
1880–1960
-
![]()
Christiane Jenne Sofie Hansen Chrestensen
1882–1959
-
![]()
Hans Christian Hansen
1884–1958
-
![]()
Jens Peder Hansen
1887–1956
-
![]()
Hanne Kristine Hansen Petersen
1889–1960
-
![]()
Harry H Hansen
1894–1965
-
![]()
Waldemar Hansen
1898–1970
Flowers
Advertisement
