Manasota's Irish Stew

My daddy, Oscar C."Ofty" Oftedahl was a patient at Northwestern Hospital (Mpls) in the late 1950's. While there he was given a little book of Scandinavian humor written by I.S. "Mox" Lindquist. He enjoyed Mox's little book so much that he contacted him. That was the beginning of a friendship that lasted until Daddy died in September 1963. During their friendship, my dad wrote a number of little poems that were included in subsequent books about "Manasota" by Mox. Every year on St. Patrick's Day I think of the following poem. Please excuse a few words that were not considered politically incorrect in 1961!

Says Pat Kerrigan sez he --
"Sure, the funniest sight that iver oi've seen,
Since the day that oi was born,
Oi saw in Minneapolis
On this last St. Patrick's Morn;
This is the day for Oirish--
As iveryone concedes,
But in Manasota now--
The Oirish all are Swedes.

For bold young Vikings capture brides
Whose folks came from Killarney,
While Swede gurls, by the hundred,
Have succumbed to Oirish blarney:
Now, they've an all-day celebration
Sich as Fifth Avenue's niver seen,
Where big Swedes wearin' Shamrocks sing
"The Wearing av the Green!"

Oh, the drums went "bang" and' the cymbals "clang",
An' the noise they made wuz grand--
But, Be Jabbers! Luvern Johnson now
Leads "McNamara's Band!"
Peterson led the Grand Parade
An' Olson beat the drum--
Poor Thornson barely made the grade,
Fer samplin' av the rum.

A fellow they called Friedlund
Whose throat, I sensed, wuz dry
Crooned the lovely, "Tura Lura"
Av "The Irish Lullaby",
Oh the harps did play an' the crowd did sway
As the rollicking "Donegal"
Was sung by an unlikely "Mick"
By the name of Oftedahl.

'Til Inga married Michael,
And Ole wed Maureen,
'Tis Divil a bit, St. Patrick's
Sich a mix-up iver had seen;
Sure, the Melting Pot has fused the lot---
But, that's the way it goes,
So -- now they're eatin' av the LUTEFISK
"WHERE THE RIVER SHANNON FLOWS!"

O.C.O.
1961

For a one-hundred percent Scandinavian I make St. Patrick's Day last a few days. In the next few postings I will write about St. Patrick and his celebrations. You know the Vikings may have brought back some Irish colleens from their trips to Ireland!