PUBLISHED QUARTERLY
FOR FRIENDS OF
AUGUSTANA COLLEGE
SIOUX FALLS
SOUTH DAKOTA
MI=
VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2
113 CO CD II Ej
COLLEGt
ALBERT RISTY
After 50 Years in Sioux Falls .. .
AUGUSTANA-LNS MERGER FETE PLANNED
Fifty years ago three Lutheran church bodies, the
Hauge Synod, the Norwegian Synod and the United
Norwegian Lutheran Synod were merged to form the
Norwegian Lutheran Church in America. As a result
the Lutheran Normal School in Sioux Falls and Au-gustana
College in Canton found themselves a part of
the same church organization.
A committee from the Board of Education of the
new NLCA made the decision to merge the two schools
at the Sioux Falls location and thereby laid the foun-dation
for the present thriving institution.
In September, 1918 the merger was complete and
first classes were begun at Augustana College and
Normal School.
Subsequently secondary
school courses were dis-continued
and the Nor-
;•.hal School portion of the
name was dropped.
Persons who were stu-dents
at either of the two
schools prior to the merg-er
were special guests at a
dinner recently to launch
a year long series of
events in observance of
the golden anniversary of
the joining of the schools.
Albert Risty of Corson,
who attended the Normal
School from 1906-09, was
named chairman of a 17 member committee to formu-late
plans. Assisting him are Harry Eggen, DeSmet,
first vice chairman; Olger Kverness, Sioux Falls, sec-ond
vice chairman; Rudolph Hokenstad and Mrs. Selma
Eitreim, Garretson; Mrs. Olga Knutson, Granite Falls,
Minn.; Paul Ode, Brandon; Carl Odegaard, Huron; Har-old
C. Lee, Henry Overseth, James Berdahl, Mrs. Jo-seph
Brende, Gustav Moseson, Mozart Skartvedt and
Mrs. Arthur Peterson, Sioux Falls; Mrs. Hoseas Hin-deraker,
Astoria; and Mrs. Severt Swenson, Bath.
Among their preliminary plans is a Golden Anniver-
,_ a: ry Exhibit of pictures, personal souvenirs and me-
• ••• • •norabilia concerning Augustana and LNS student life.
•As planned, the display will be in the Augustana Com-mons
Building probably during January and February,
1968.
The main event of the anniversary year will be a
50th Anniversary banquet at Augustana a year from
now. The exact date in June of 1968 has not been
determined. Another major occasion will be a special
Founders' Day convocation sometime during the Viking
Days homecoming celebration in October, 1968.
In cooperation with the Augustana Alumni Associ-ation,
whose membership includes former students of
both schools, the committee has recommended the es-tablishment
of the Augustana Honor Guard. The new
organization will be comprised of all former students
who left the school at least 50 years ago. New mem-bers,
as they become eligible, will be taken into the
permanent organization. Honor Guard members will
be accorded special recognition and places of honor at
future alumni functions.
As an adjunct to the anniversary observance a "Save
Old Main" fund will be established for the purpose of
re-constructing and saving for the future the oldest of
Augustana buildings. Four Normal School structures
were a part of the original Sioux Falls campus at the
time of the merger — Old Main, built in 1889; Men's
Hall, completed in 1894; East Hall (1905); and the pres-ent
Cottage, originally built as the Lutheran Normal
School Hospital in 1900 and enlarged in 1918 with the
addition of an east wing.
Old Main has always held a warm spot in the hearts