The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
TIES THAT BIND
6 generations gather to reminisce about what’s become a family compound at Covenant Village
» The basket carried by the matriarch of the Anderson family was a poignant symbol of the leap of faith taken by Augusta and Edwin Anderson when they arrived in America from Sweden at the turn of the last century.
The round wicker hand basket, filled with her personal effects, was the centerpiece of
Sunday’s family reunion at Covenant Village in Cromwell, the retirement and nursing home perched on the hilltop on Missionary Road, where generations of the Anderson family have called home. The reunion was for the descendants of Edith and Oscar Lorenson, their six children and their families. Edwin and Augusta Anderson are the parents of Edith (Anderson) Lorenson.
The couple were grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents and great-great-great grandparents of many of the 55 in attendance at this past weekend’s reunion, a place the family has populated since 1906.
A copy of the 1910 Census, the country’s 13th, shows the couple, who eventually became caretakers of the Swedish Christian Orphanage, and their three daughters, 13, 10 and 2. The names of the orphans at the top of the page are listed by the “unfortunate moniker of ‘inmate,’” Sue Lorenson pointed out. Ranging in age from 2 to 96, relatives came from throughout the country, sharing stories many hadn’t heard and greeting relatives they had never met before.
“There was a display of historic photos with a special emphasis on Amanda and Edwin Anderson. Both emigrated from Sweden and the basket Amanda carried that held all of her belongings on her journey to her new life in America was displayed, along with their wedding photograph and other memorabilia from their life in the Middletown and Cromwell communities,” said Sheryl Lorenson Stone, 65, greatgranddaughter of Edwin Anderson, one of the facility’s first administrators.
Generations of Edwin Anderson’s family have lived at the retirement home since. Three of his grandsons chose to reside at the village: Harold, Fred and Ralph Lorenson, according to Sue Lorenson, Lorenson Stone’s sister. Harold Lorenson, his wife Phoebe, and Ralph Lorenson’s wife Joan are all residents and were in attendance at Sunday’s event, she said. Harold and Ralph are brothers.
A page in the 1910 Census shows the names of Edwin and Amanda, then caretakers of the Swedish Christian Orphanage. Long before Covenant Village opened its doors in 1957, hundreds of kids from the churches of the East Coast Conference ran around those same grounds and swam in the swimming hole at summer Bible camp, according to Covenant Village. Covenant Children’s Home, founded by the conference in 1900, was on the same site.
The camp was attended by Edwin and Amanda Anderson’s grandchildren, two of whom met their spouses at the camp, said Lorenson Stone.
A highlight of Sunday’s picnic was the return of Air Force Maj. Patrick Lysaght, Lorenson Stone’s cousin, who recently returned with his wife and four children from his most recent deployment to South Korea. He was reunited with his parents, siblings and grandparents as well as the extended family. They drove from Texas to attend, having only been in their new home a week, she said.
“We are a very connected family so everyone there knows one another,” said Lorenson Stone, of Harwichport, Massachusetts, whose daughter Caitlin Reichstein, 37, and granddaughter Monica, 2, traveled from Nashville, Tennessee. “It is always fun to meet new boyfriends and girlfriends as the family grows and this year was no exception.”
Generations of Edwin Anderson’s family — including grandparents, aunts, and uncles — have lived/are living there, said Lorenson Stone, whose mother was a waitress at the hilltop dining hall at 15.
Carolyn Lorenson, 89, met her future husband, Fred, on the Covenant Hilltop just after the war.
“The hilltop was a gathering place for Evangelical Covenant Church members and, before Pilgrim Pines opened in New Hampshire, it served as a summer camp (think tent dorms). It is considered by many as home to the ‘original tailgate party,’” Lorenson Stone said.
The family has been reuniting since the 1970s, according to her mother Carolyn Lorenson. She lives in a two-bedroom deluxe apartment at the Village, where her daughter and others sometimes come to stay for the weekend.
“They were so cute and adorable: It was wonderful having all the little ones playing together in the yard. They played boccie, a Swedish lawn game and golf and blew bubbles,” Carolyn Lorenson said. It was a happy, happy event.”
“(Covenant Village is) a place … I always say to my mom it not like we’re not going to be there if she has a problem but I know she’s safe until we get there,” Lorenson Stone said.
The number of family members, and their relation, who have called the retirement community home can be confusing.
Carolyn Lorenson’s father and two brothers, and their two wives, also resided at Covenant Village.
Her sister and mother lived there, as well. “That was an incentive for (Carolyn Lorenson and her husband) to come here,” she said. “I was 75 when I moved here because I was sick of washing windows. I said, ‘I am not cleaning this house for the rest of my life. I’m getting out of here.’”
The octogenarian attributes her longevity to her family history, the hour-and-a-half stretching classes she takes twice a week and her healthy diet. “I’m really fortunate in that way,” said Carolyn Lorenson, who still drives to doctors’ appointments and shops occasionally.
The family is a faithful one, Lorenson Stone said. “They’re not demonstrative, they’re Scandanavian, but it’s always been an important part of our family life. It has been a piece of who we are for sure.”
When Edith passed away in 1979, her son Ed and his wife Laura starting hosting Christmas Eve, and a decade later started hosting an annual family reunion, a tradition they continued until three years ago.
“I think my Aunt Laura said it best when she said how happy she was the reunion was continuing because, as she said, ‘You all like each other so much!’ said Lorenson Stone. “There there is never sadness when we leave, just calls of ‘see you soon!’”
“The baton has been passed to the next generation and the Village made it easy for us to include the entire family. I hope we do a good job,” she said.
“The hilltop wasa gathering place for Evangelical Covenant Church members and, before Pilgrim Pines opened in New Hampshire, it served as a summer camp (think tent dorms). It is considered by many as home to the ‘original tailgate party.’” — Sheryl Lorenson Stone