Grandpa Reese’s Business Card

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I never knew my grandfather. He died years before I was born. But I do know that Sivert Reese took his time getting married. Grandpa Reese was twenty-eight when he married Marit Risse, recently arrived from Opdal, Norway, on his farm near Irene, South Dakota.

I’m not sure if it was an arranged marriage or not, but it looks suspicious. Sivert had immigrated to the U.S. from Opdal as well. And “Reese” is an Americanized version of “Risse,” So…I’m thinking the parents of both parties started writing each other across the Atlantic about their unwed children… and the rest is history. Or maybe you could say, my-story.

Just to be clear, in the past, Norwegians took their last name from the farm they owned. Sivert’s father had moved from a farm named “Sneve” to a farm near Opdal that had been part of a larger piece of property named “Risse.” So Grandpa and Grandma were not related by blood. Instead, their ancestors were neighbors who lived across the road from each other.

Judging from Grandma and Grandpa Reese’s wedding picture on the right, things didn’t start out well. Or maybe that’s just the way they took pictures back then.

Another thing I know about Grandpa Reese is that he wasn’t really into farming. Last week, on my way to Omaha for an Iron Sharpens Iron conference, I took a detour to Irene, South Dakota, and looked up the deed to his farm in the county courthouse. I discovered that, soon after he inherited his farm from his dad, he started selling off parcels. Then, a year after their marriage, and with very little land left to farm, Sivert and Mary moved to Oregon with his elderly father in tow.

He, his wife, and his father settled in Canby, Oregon, where he worked as a potato wholesaler. They had five children, including my father, Ben Reese, the oldest.

But the most important thing I know about Grandpa Reese is that he was an amazing Christian man who had a heart for evangelism. During his time in Oregon, Sivert helped found Canby Evangelical Free Church, which is still a thriving congregation, now called Bethany Church. After moving to Los Angeles, Grandpa Reese continued his work as a potato wholesaler, but notice the back of an old business card of his that I found.

“JESUS BRINGS JOY, SIN BRINGS SORROW. COME TO JESUS NOW, DO NOT WAIT UNTILL TO-MORROW.”

Grandpa Reese turned his business card into a gospel tract! How bold is that! In other words, he witnessed to every single person he came into contact with in his business dealings. Wow!

Talk about a legacy. If anyone has a legacy, it’s Grandpa Reese. His descendants have gone on to become missionaries, pastors, teachers, professors, engineers, artists, and doctors. We all are enjoying the blessings that have come from him to this day.

May his tribe increase.

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.

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