Thyra Müller Rasmussen, confirmed in Immanuel Lutheran Church, Kimballton, Iowa, 1918


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Thyra Müller Rasmussen, confirmed in Immanuel Lutheran Church, Kimballton, Iowa, 1918.


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Confirmation: Coming of Age in Denmark and the US

Thyra was born in 1902 in Kimballton, Iowa, to Danish parents. Her father died before she was two and by the age of eight she assumed the role of caretaker to four new brothers and sisters (through her mother's remarriage). She attended Iowa Lutheran School of Nursing in Des Moines, IA, and later went to Chicago to work, where she also met her husband Bob Nussle. Thyra embodied the ideals of the folk school movement, keeping the Danish traditions and values strong. She was very active in St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, on Maryland Avenue on Chicago's south side, serving as Sunday School Superintendent for many years, secretary of the Church Board, and instrumental in procuring the ship that had graced the church for the Museum of Danish America.

It is common to receive greeting cards in connection with the Confirmation, and as the ones received by Thyra shows, these can include quotations, verse, congratulations, encouragement to honer her baptism, have faith and best wishes for the future. A few of Thyra's cards, from her Confirmation March 24, 1918, are featured here.

  • Confirmation greeting for Thyra Müller Rasmussen, Kimballton, Iowa, 1918.

  • Photograph courtesy of Deb Bieker, Elk Horn IA; Paulette Myers; and Maria Rosheim.

  • Confirmation greeting for Thyra Müller Rasmussen, Kimballton, Iowa, 1918.

  • Confirmation greeting for Thyra Müller Rasmussen, Kimballton, Iowa, 1918.