Frank Samuelson and Marilyn Holmberg were crowned as 2006 Swedish Festival royalty Friday night in the high school auditorium.  The 2005 King and Queen, Perry Noyd and Pam Johnson, handed down their crowns and robes to the new royalty.   Attendants for the 2006 royalty are Faith Fellows, daughter of Jason and Alisha Fellows; Kenna Holtzen, daughter of Jay and Erin Holtzen; Kjell Marsden, son of Roger and Lori Marsden; and Jacob Nielsen, son of Rachel Nielsen and Ben Rieken.   The following tribute was read by Frank's daughter, Amy Lindsley King Frank, heretofore referred to as dad, was raised on a small family farm outside of Saronville, NE, the third of six children.  While attending Harvard High School, dad was active in music, chorus, track, football and, of course, his beloved basketball.  He also worked as a hired man for area farmers, and was an avid 4-H member.  He graduated from Harvard High School in the class of 1965. In May of 1967, during the Viet Nam War, dad enlisted in the United States Army, and headed for Ft. Polk, Louisiana for Basic Training and AIT School.  In August of 1967, while home on leave from the service, he married his high school sweetheart, Anette.  He and his new bride headed for Ft. Benning, Georgia where dad would attend paratrooper jump school. Graduating from jump school in November, mom and dad left for Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, 82nd Replacement Detachment where dad was to pick up orders and leave for Viet Nam.  His records from AIT school stated that he typed 80 words a minute.  As luck would have it, they needed a clerk with good typing skills right there, so his orders were changed and he was to report to their office in a few days.  Dad became a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division.  His job was pretty much doing the paper work for paratroopers heading for and returning from Viet Nam. A year later, I was born at the Womack Army Hospital at Ft. Bragg.  We lived in Fayetteville, NC until June of 1970, when dad was honorably discharged with the rank of Specialist E5.  We then headed back to Nebraska, locating in Kearney so dad could got to Kearney State College to get his teaching degree. We lived on a farm north of Kearney while dad went to school and worked as a hired man for our landlord.  It was here that dad taught me to become an avid fisherman at the sandpits around Kearney.  Dad graduated in May of 1974 with a Bachelor’s degree in Education. His first teaching job began in August of that year at Anselmo-Merna High School in the sandhills of Nebraska.  His first year of teaching was a full schedule of classes including such things as shorthand and typing, head girls volleyball coach, head boys basketball coach, and head girls track coach.  Dad took a quick class in volleyball that summer in Kearney, as he had never seen a volleyball game!  His very first coaching experience was also the very first volleyball game he had ever seen! The next year, they found someone to take over the boys program, and dad began the girls basketball program.  That first season he coached the Anselmo-Merna Coyotes to a 1 and 6 season, beating Litchfield the very last game of the season.  On March 19th of that year, just after the season ended, Timaree was born at Melham Medical Center in Broken Bow. Four years later, dad coached his girls team for the first time at state repeating that again the next year.  In six year, the team went from 1-6 to two repeat trips to state! Dad loved the sandhills, his little hog operation that he operated with a fellow teacher, and the Merna Café that he and mom purchased, but in the summer of 1981, on my 13th birthday, we left our home in Merna and moved to Stromsburg.  Dad wanted to get his Master’s degree at the University and he wanted to move us girls closer to grandparents and family. He began teaching business classes and coaching girls track that fall.  My sophomore year, he became the defensive coordinator for Coach Koinzan’s football team, and also became the head girls basketball coach.  On January 4, 2003, his girls team gave him his 300th career win and in case you aren’t from around here, we probably should tell you that dad’s team ended this year’s season as state runner-up in Class D1 with a record of 23-2. He coached at the Devaney center, which is a basketball coaches dream.  His career record to date is 370 wins and 170 losses. Over the years, you have probably seen dad coaching summer softball and working the ball fields in preparation for games, shooting hoops with us girls and now with his grandkids.  He organized and ran the Strongest Swede Contest for several years at the Festival.  Some of you have had to listen to those sad fishing stories and all of those deer hunting fables. Dad loved teaching, but as most of you know, he has decided to make, as he calls it, “a career change.”  He has opted for the early retirement option and is ending his 32-year teaching career. He has become mom’s #1 carpet cleaning technician and #1 woodworker in the two family businesses. Dad is hoping to have more time to spend in their little house in Burwell, back in the sandhills of Nebraska, and to accumulate more fishing, deer and turkey stories to tell. And, oh yes, he will still be coaching the Cross County girls basketball team this year. Dad has always remained faithful to his Swedish heritage.  Not only is he a true stubborn Swede, but we were raised to believe that everyone east lutefisk, potato bologna and ostkaka on Christmas Eve.

Brought to you by The City of Stromsburg and the Stromsburg Chamber of Commerce

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