Swedish aficionado

By Unsie Zuege 

With a resurgence of interest in Swedish history in Carver County, we thought we'd interview one of the instigators, Carolyn Spargo.

Q: What prompted your immersion into all that is Swedish?

A: My family is Swedish — my maiden name is Johnson, and I practically grew up at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.

But I didn’t speak Swedish until 1970 after my first trip to Sweden. I visited several times and the summer I was 16, I spent three months with my cousins, where I learned to drink coffee.

I studied Swedish at the University of Minnesota and in Upsala, Sweden. As an adult, our family lived in Sweden for two years when we were missionaries there. And I’ve been teaching at the Concordia Language Village. This will be my 10th year.

Q: How did the Nordic Heritage Club begin?

A: I’d started a Scandinavian group in Wisconsin. When we returned to Minnesota I reconnected with some local people through the Andrew Peterson Society. So the group evolved from that.

And, I thought, “I don’t want to always have to drive into town (Minneapolis) for activities. Let’s provide that here (Victoria) and let’s not limit it to only Swedes, but all the Nordic groups.”

Q: What is the club’s plans?

A: We have a core group of about 20. We’d like it to grow. You don’t have to be Scandinavian to join or participate, just interested in the culture. We’re planning programs to entice people.

Q: Besides being a music teacher, you teach Swedish. Describe the group you meet with twice a month in St. Louis Park.

A: We meet at Clarice Ottoson’s home. Her son is a Chanhassen resident. We’ve been meeting for the last five or six years. It’s a group of retired women. I met some of them at Concordia Language Village. They’re having fun. It’s slow but comfortable. I’m teaching conversational Swedish.

Q: Who are the “Cloudberries?”

A: A women’s chorus that formed in 2004. We sing all over. We’ve been invited to sing at East Union Lutheran Church in April as part of its celebration of its 150 year anniversary. My family has been looking for a home church and through that contact, now we’re members.

Visit www.victoriatownsquare.com to see photos from Spargo’s language class.

Carolyn Spargo

Age: 50

Home: Chaska address, Victoria telephone exchange

Occupation: Teacher — piano, accordion, and Swedish language. Also helped found the new Nordic Heritage Club that meets at the Acorn House in Victoria on the second Friday evening of each month.

Education: Masters of arts and leadership, and bachelor of music and music education from Augsburg College; received Swedish language degree from the University of Minnesota. Graduate of Southwest High School, Minneapolis.

Family: Husband Larry and three children—Antonio, 23, Annika, 21, and Thomas 14.

Background: Grew up in Minneapolis, has lived in a variety of places including Edina, Eden Prairie, Western Wisconsin, Nicaragua, and Sweden.