11th Finglish trip August 2011 #36 Marianne Wargelin´s family traces itself to the early Astoria, Oregon Finnish fishing community, mining towns of Upper Michigan and Minnesota, the urban Finntowns of Brooklyn, New York, Worcester, Massachusetts and Waukegan, Illinois, and the industrial villages along Lake Erie. Marianne was raised within the Finnish American communities of Berkeley, California, Hancock, Michigan, and Fairport Harbor, Ohio, with Finnish as her first language

9th Finglish trip October 2009 #4 The present day Brooklyn Baptist Church at 733 44th St. was formerly the home of the Finnish Golgotha Congregational Church of Brooklyn from 1920 until 1988. Originally it was build in 1915 by the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Free Church. The Brooklyn Finnish Congregational Church was founded in 1912 by Frans Lehtinen and Johannes Väänänen and 20 other Brooklyn Finns. The very first congregation was organized in Ashtabula, Ohio, in 1891. Al

8th Finglish trip June 2009 #39 The Winlock Egg was listed as the world's largest egg by Ripley's Believe It or Not! in 1989. The current structure is the fourth reincarnation of the original egg. The first egg was built for a celebration of the opening of the Pacific Highway Bridge over the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon. The idea of an egg came from John G. Lawrence, the manager of the newly formed egg and poultry co-op as a way to represent the growing indust

8th Finglish trip June 2009 #38 Liisa Penner is an Archivist at Clatsop County Historical Society in Astoria, Oregon. The Clatsop County Historical Society is an educational organization dedicated to preserving and presenting the history of Clatsop County Oregon and the surrounding area. Built in 1904 the former Astoria's City Hall is now home to the Clatsop County Historical Society's regional museum. The bridge across the mouth of the Columbia River from Oregon to Washingto

8th Finglish trip June 2009 #37 Eric Bergland makes handcrafted Finnish Puukko knives. He lives with his wife in Blue River, Oregon. His father Oscar Bergland was a gunsmith. As a young boy Eric helped in his father's workshop by arranging tools in their own places and at the same time learning how to use them. At age 15 he made his first Puukko. After retiring from an archeologist's work, he started making Puukko knives. Eric is partly Sámi on his father's side. Eric says ab

8th Finglish trip June 2009 #36 Painter, art teacher and sport fisher Inga Ojala keeps the memory of her father Arvo Ojala alive. Arvo taught the Western heroes of Hollywood to handle guns and shoot in the1950s and1960s. Inga and her brother produce a range of holsters and gun belts. Inga also gives shooting demonstrations with skills taught by her father. Arvo Ojala also worked as an actor; his most famous role was that of the unnamed man shot by Marshal Matt Dillon in the o

8th Finglish trip June 2009 #35 The cosy Messiah Finnish Lutheran Church was built in a former chiropractor's office, when the original church remained under bridge ramps. Pastor Patrick Dickson holds services in Finnish and English. The former pastor was from Oulu, North Finland and he asked his friend Patrick, who was a clergyman in Oulu if he would like to come to Portland. Dickson thought ”why not?”. Originally an ANC activist from South Africa, he graduated as a clergyma

8th Finglish trip June 2009 #34 At the foot of Mount Shasta near the Oregon border in California is the sign of the Finlandia Motel, a place where one would least expect it. Eila Halonen, a former waitress at the Hotel Torni in Helsinki, realized her dream and founded a motel in the 1960s. 81-year-old Eila’s daughter Kathy owns the hotel, which is managed by the Pöyhönens, a Finnish couple. Next Messiah Finnish Lutheran Church Portland Oregon USA #FinlandiaMotel #MountShasta

8th Finglish trip June 2009 #26 Times are hard even for the film studios. A pile of film props and equipment have been assembled at Warner Brothers to be auctioned off. “I must be the only real thing in this oasis of the film world,” laughs Barbara Tuuri, who is a producer’s assistant at the studio. Next to her office are the dressing-room trailers of Clint Eastwood and George Clooney. Barbara Tuuri’s father’s family is from Ylihärmä and her mother’s family is from Viipuri. H

8th Finglish trip June 2009 #16 Mike Jussila, a visual artist and hippie, makes artworks from tin cans and bottle tops, doesn’t like computers. Jussila recalls how great it felt in San Francisco to listen to the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead in the same concert. Mike’s grandfather Vilho Jussero came to Pendleton, Oregon from Finland in 1901. He found his Finnish bride in the same town. Their first child was born in Pendleton, but Mike’s father was born in Reedley,

6th Finglish trip December 2007 #4 John Kallunki, a third generation fisherman on the Columbia River, mainly catches salmon and smelt. His Finnish roots are in Kuusamo and Sievi. His grandfather Arvid with his three brothers and a sister came from Finland to Canada in the early 1900s. Arvid moved from Canada to the USA, first to Michigan and then to Oregon. In its 1,200 mile course to the ocean, the Columbia River flows through four mountain ranges and drains more water to th

4th Finglish trip August 2006 #1 The annual, national event – FinnFest USA was held in 2006 at Naselle, Washington and Astoria, Oregon at the mouth of the Columbia River. The Finnish Folkdancers of Seattle, which has also toured in Finland, performed in authentic Finnish folk costumes. The bridge across the mouth of the Columbia River from Oregon to Washington, or vice–versa, leads over Uniontown, which used to be the Finnish area of Astoria. The haali, the present-day Suomi