Zion Church remembered with gift to Hope Lutheran
Tue, 04/29/2025 - 12:56pm
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Duane Evje of Clearbrook has been busy making rocking chairs, spinning wheels, cupboards, pens and other items in a shop in his retirement since 2016.
His included a journeyman plumbing license, a high-pressure steam fitter’s license, and certified welder. He worked for Bill Smith Clearbrook Plumbing and Heating, Economy Plumbing in Cavalier, ND. A Thief River Contractor and he joined the union and was part of Northern Horizons in Bemidji, working on pipeline stations, paper mills and other power companies. The last company was Fergus Falls gasification plant and he decided to retire at age 59.
He and his wife spent many fishing trips to Canada and after her death he needed something to do. That is when he took up woodworking.
The Zion Lutheran church in Weme between Fosston and Olga had its last service in 2012 and three years later it was being torn down by Don Osmonson. There were pieces of the structure that Duane took for some projects and one included a rocking chair. After he got the pine wood from the Zion Church he started looking into its history and how it related to his family.
Duane's wife Marilyn passed away in 2020 and she is buried in the Zion Cemetery. He started looking at some of the church history and found that Mr. and Mrs. Kristoffer Evje were his great grandparents and Mr. and Mrs. Jonis Wold and Mr. and Mrs. Halvor Osmonson were Marilyn's great grandparents. They were all Pioneer Church members starting in 1888.
In the confirmation class of 1926 was Blanchard Osmonson Marilyn's father, Ray Evje his father and Gyda Evje was his dad's sister.
The confirmation class of 1933 had Myrtle (Wold) Osmonson Marilyn's mother, Ervin Evje and Don Evje, both of Duane's dad's brothers.
In 1975 Marilyn and Duane were married in Zion Church by Pastor Thoreson.
With his and his wife's many connections to Zion he wanted to make something special from the wood that he got from the Zion Church. He started on a rocker.
That project is now finished and on Sunday, April 27, 2025 he presented the rocker to Hope Lutheran Church in Fosston. The rocker will be in the quiet room for parents with children. A plaque on the back of the rocker says, "Crafted from the wood of Zion Church where she grew up. In loving memory of Marilyn (Osmonson) Evje."
Duane has always been interested in wood and when he was younger he was helping his father Ray Evje and Al Johnson sawing wood near Clearwater Lake. He was the helper taking the pieces and putting them in piles. He put one away that he thought was junk but he was told that he was to keep it. For some reason after his father passed away he found that piece of wood under his bed.
He keeps working on his wood projects and has made a bench for his granddaughter, pens out of the wood for mementos, duck calls, baby rattles and shelves and cabinets of all shapes and sizes. He has several projects that he has to keep him busy in his retirement.