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Born: 8-February-1924 Where: Duluth, Minnesota
Spouse: George Lewis HELGESON
Father: Carl Sigurd NELSON
Mother: Esther Margaret JOHNSON
Siblings: None
Children: Peter Lewis HELGESON
Children: Stephen Andor HELGESON
Children: Julie Ann HELGESON
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Paternal Grandfather: Carl Johan NELSON
Paternal Grandmother: Anna Katherine PERRSON
Maternal Grandfather: Nels Andrew JOHNSON
Paternal Grandmother: Olivia Caroline CHALBERG
Carolyn is both an artist and a musician. She had a double major in college - art and music.
In her senior year in high school she prepared a short history of her life with photographs for her English class. The paper, called "Excerpts," has been scanned and you may look at it.
Carolyn's first three years of college (1942-1945) were spent at what was then called "Duluth State Teacher's College." It has since been changed to "University of Minnesota, Duluth Branch." In 1944 she was the Associate Editor of the college yearbook, "Chronicle," a hard cover year-book of the college.
Lew returned from his overseas service in the US Army in August 1945. We were married on September 8, 1945. Carolyn did not continue with her education that year. When they moved to Seattle, Washington, in the summer of 1946, she enrolled at the University of Washington and completed her Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating in June 1947.
Her musical abilities have been put to use as a piano teacher, an organ teacher, a church organist, a church choir director, and a combined organist and choir director. Her various appointments are:
Assistant Organist, Salem Mission Covenant Church, Duluth, Minnesota, 1940-1941
Organist, German Lutheran Church, Duluth, Minnesota, 1941-1942
Organist and Choir Director, Central Avenue Methodist Church, Duluth Minnesota, 1942-1944
Organist, Keystone Congregational Church, Seattle, Washington, 1946-1948
Organist and Choir Director, South Side United Protestant Church, Richland, Washington, 1948-1951
Organist and Choir Director, Richland Lutheran Church, Richland, Washington, 1951-1956 and
Organist and Choir Director, Pleasanton Presbyterian Community Church, Pleasanton, California, 1957-1984
In the art world she was inspired by her Junior High Art Teacher, Miss Todd. She also inherited artistic capabilities from her father, Carl Sigurd NELSON. She sat by his side during the one and only year that he painted. He used water-based paints, but they looked as if they had been done in oil. His work is shown on his web page.
Some of Carolyn's art work is shown at:
www.helge.com/lewis_helgeson/acarolyn.htm .
Here are a few pictures starting with Carolyn and Santa Claus:
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Carolyn and Agnes Marie McCANN Back row: Esther JOHNSON, Carolyn's mother and Olive CHALBERG, Esther's mother. |