Consider an East Indian (Euo) born in Portuguese Goa and educated in Ethiopia, a Hispanic (Tony) whose family has been in New Mexico since it was owned by Spain, a half-Jewish immigrant from Belgium (Yvon) who survived a concentration camp, and an Afro-American woman (Barbara) from Detroit. What do they have in common?
They all married the children of Norwegian North Dakota sisters and are fondly known as KILA’s-Knudtson In-Law Association.
In July, 60 of the Knudtsons met for their triennial family reunion, the 19th since 1964. At the first reunion all 10 of the surviving Knudtson siblings attended; now only two are left (ages 98 and 93), but unlike many other families, the next generation eagerly has taken up the torch to continue the tradition.
I attended my first K reunion five years after I got married. I didn’t know what to expect, but by that time Euo and Tony had also married into the family. We were all welcomed unconditionally, which has forever been a joy in my life.
You don’t have to look to TV for dysfunctional families, they seem to surround us, but the K’s have kept a steady course from when Ellert and Sophia married in 1901 and had their brood of two boys and nine girls.
They lost the farm during the depression, but Sophie was politically active and all of her girls got jobs in Bismarck, the state capital. Each of their 11 children married only once. And although not perfect—no one is—they were all decent good folk.
I’m sure Sophie and Ellert did not have any idea that their grandchildren would marry outside their race, but I believe they also would have accepted us, because their children did. I look forward to the reunions and the chance to embrace the Kundtson diversity.
