Author Joy Ibsen of Trout Creek, MI signs her book “Unafraid” during an August 23, 2009 reception at the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa. (Photo by Kevin Nelson, reporter for the Danish Villages Voice newspaper)
Video shot on August 23, 2009 by Donald Lenef at the Danish Immigrant Museum Elk Horn, Iowa
In the video, Author Joy Ibsen signs books Unafraid and Songs of Denmark.” It was a truly Danish event as poular and tasty genuine Danish open-faced sandwiches were among the treats
Author Joy Ibsen holds her book “Songs of Denmark” while sitting at Victor Borge’s first piano on August 23, 2009 at the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa. The piano was restored for the Victor Borge Centennial Celebration. (Photo by Kevin Nelson, a reporter for Danish Villages Voice newspaper)
(Elk Horn, Iowa) – The sounds of Danish American entertainer and pianist Victor Borge’s piano filled the air as Michigan author Joy Ibsen led a late summer songfest at the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa.
About 70 people sang at the 30-minute songfest on August 24 that was followed by a PowerPoint presentation and a reception for Ibsen to present her latest book Unafraid.
What a thrill to play Victor Borges piano, Ibsen said. What an incredibly rich sound.
The event was co-sponsored by the Danish Immigrant Museum and Danish Brotherhood Lodge #341.
Lovingly called the Clown Prince of Denmark, the piano donated by Borge was restored this past winter after falling silent for 22 years.
The piano, the first owned by Borge, was restored through a gift from Iowa Danish Royal Consul Lowell Kramme and his wife Marilyn. Lowell Kramme is Ibsen’s second cousin.
The Victor Borge centennial celebration at the museum runs through March 8, 2010. Before being donated to the museum, the piano was severely damaged in a hurricane at the Borge home in St. Croix.
Ibsen could feel the spirit of the comedian known as the Unmelancholy Dane.
I felt like falling off the piano bench like Borge did but decided not to try it,’ Ibsen joked.
Songs included Evening Star, Han Skal Leve, Up Little Hans and Theres No Grandma Just Like Mine.
Everyone had a great time singing favorite Danish songs ranging from folksongs to children’s songs, said Ibsen who served 1999-2005 on the museum board of directors and as president in the final year.
For those who do not know the Danish songs, their lyrical simplicity make them easy to learn and they are so beautiful, said Ibsen, who spent her childhood in nearby Kimballton, IA. We ended by singing the Danish hymn, ‘Unafraid,’ which inspired the naming of my book, and I was so glad to hear several sing it in Danish, ‘Altid Frejdig.’
In his introduction of Ibsen, Danish Immigrant Museum Executive Director Dr. John Mark Nielsen said Ibsen’s love for Danish history and wide-ranging career including being a teacher and a development director brought her to the attention of the board in the late 90s.
Ibsen said she was thrilled to attend the museum event that included a book signing. She read portions of Unafraid that take place when the Ibsens lived in Kimballton.
Refreshments included delicious Danish open-faced sandwiches, wine and cookies, Ibsen said.
What a treat that many of my childhood friends are still here and remember me and my family, she said. Im so proud of the museum and all it has accomplished in preserving the Danish Heritage.
Presenting my book ‘Unafraid’ at the Danish Immigrant Museum was especially meaningful for me, because I lived in nearby Kimballton as a child ages 2-8, said Joy Ibsen,who is a writer, lay minister, and musician in the tiny northern Michigan hamlet of Trout Creek.
When I come back to the (Kimballton) area, I feel a little like a little kid again, Ibsen said. This was where I learned to read and roller skate.
Unafraid is co-authored by her late father Rev. Harald Ibsen, who pastored six small churches in four Midwest states including six years (1942-1948) at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kimballton.
At her mother’s home, Ibsen rescued the sermon notes that had Danish symbols and letters because her father used an old Danish typewriter.
The 225-page paperback book is published by Wipf and Stock Publishers of Eugene, OR.
Each of the 36 chapters in Unafraid starts with one of her father’s sermons written during the 1940s, 50s and 60s followed by autobiographical and fictional account how Rev. Ibsen’s message affected parishioners and their lives.
Both Ibsen’s are graduates of Grand View College (now Grand View University) in Des Moines, IA.
Born in South Dakota, Harald Ibsen moved to Denmark at the age of six (1904) with his mother Mathilda, siblings after the death of his father Lars from tuberculosis.
While living in Denmark for 20 years, Harald Ibsen was a member of the Danish Royal Guard stationed at Amalienborg Palace.
Rev. Ibsen’s forthright sermons – delivered in a time often called everything from the Golden to the Atomic ages – reflect the community-first messages of N.F.S. Grundtvig, a 19th century philosopher-theologian.
Several of the sermons featured in the book were given by my father at the Immanuel Lutheran Church, she said.
Well-known Christian author Dr. Walter Brueggemann of Cincinnati, OH, and others who have read Unafraid, have commented on how the post-depression issues that Rev. Ibsen preached are amazingly similar to issues in the 21st Century including the bad economy, war, child-rearing difficulties, terminal illness, death of spouse, career choice, marital problems and loss of faith.
Brueggemann described Ibsen’s father as fresh in his thought, puckish in his style and grounded in faith during his endorsement of Unafraid.
We may thank the daughter for letting us know her remarkable father, Brueggemann wrote. Harald was unafraid as an (Danish) immigrant who lived in a venturesome way.
The hymn Unafraid appears in her first book Songs of Denmark that has 48 songs in both Danish and English.
Published in July 2005, Songs of Denmark was presented to Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary by Grand View University President Kent Henning during a ceremony in March 2009, according to an article in the Des Moines Register.
Ibsen is the editor and columnist for Church and Life, a publication of the Danish Interest Conference through the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The hymn Unafraid was sung in the Danish Resistance during World War Two a time of terrible danger, said Ibsen, an original member of the interfaith Upper Peninsula EarthKeeper environment group in northern Michigan.
Nevertheless one can live with confidence, and hope, said Ibsen, who holds arts and humanities degrees from Grand View College and Shimer College in Chicago. Today’s society is bombarded by all kinds of fears and we need to learn to live unafraid.
Other endorsements of Unafraid were written by St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN) religion professor L. DeAne Lagerquist and Danish-American Bishop Emeritus Harry Andersen of the ELCA Northern Great Lakes Synod.
I am mightily moved and impacted by the insightful sermons and the stories that follow, Rev. Anderson wrote.
Anderson stated Unafraid is a powerful testimony to the richness of each individuals unique spiritual journey.
Anderson stated “Unafraid” is a powerful testimony to the richness of each individuals unique spiritual journey.
Lagerquist wrote that pastor Harald Ibsens sermons demonstrate that Grundtvigian happiness was not blind to sorrow or suffering or social ills, but neither was it defeated by such trials.
Reflections from his hearers bring the gospel into the realities of farm life, child rearing, marriage, and disease, Lagerquist stated.
Joy Ibsen contact info:
Joy Marie Ibsen
P O Box 43
Trout Creek, MI
49967
Call:
906-852-3479
Author Joy Ibsen official website
Joy Ibsen social and photograph websites:
Author Joy Ibsen on Facebook
Author Joy Ibsen on Twitter
Author Joy Ibsen on myspace
Author Joy Ibsen on Word Press blog
Author Joy Ibsen on bliptv
Author Joy Ibsen on youtube
Author Joy Ibsen on Flickr
Author Joy Ibsen on Photobucket
Wipf & Stock Publishing: Unafraid by Joy Ibsen and Rev. Harald Ibsen
Wipf and Stock: Author Joy Ibsen bio
Wipf and Stock: Harald Ibsen bio
Joy Ibsen, Editor of “Church and Life”
Joy Ibsen bio on “Church and Life“
Danamerica is the official website of Ibsen’s first book Songs of Denmark: Songs to Live By with color photographs by National Geographic photographer Sisse Brimberg. Produced 70 minute CD by the Grand View College Kantorei
Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig:
Joy Ibsen writes about four principles of Grundtvigianism
Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig aka
N.F.S. Grundtvig, Danish bishop and poet info on Wikipedia and Britannica websites:
Pine Mountain Music Festival:
Joy Ibsen serves as vice president of the Pine Mountain Music Festival board of directors
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Media coverage 2006-2010:
Omaha World-Herald Preview story on 8-21-09 about Author Joy Ibsen talk to the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn IA
L’Anse Sentinel newspaper preview story on Author Joy Ibsen book signing on July 30, 2009 at North Wind Books in Hancock, MI
Superior Chronicle story on Unafraid on 6-18-09
Iron Mountain Daily News brief on upcoming book signing at Finn Fest 2009 in Covington, MI
Joy Ibsen honored in her childhood home newspaper Yankton Press-Dakotan in July 2008 during annual Danish Days festival for first book Songs of Denmark“
Joy Ibsen first book Songs of Denmark is mentioned in story by Des Moines Register because book was presented to Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary by Grand View University President Kent Henning during a March 2009 ceremony. The story “Danish royalty pay visit to Grand View” by Cynthia Reynaud appeared on 3-25-09 (requires subscription to read)
The book Unafraid is sold online by publisher and numerous Windows Booksellers website and other sites:
Target
Tower Books
Boone Bridge Books
Amazon.com UK
Amazon.com UK: Harald Ibsen listing
Amazon.com UK: Joy Ibsen listing
Amazon.com UK: “Unafraid” listing
New & Used copies of the book “Unafraid“ on Amazon.com
Cokesbury
Kirjasana
Antiqbook
Biblio
Internet BookShop (IBS)
Other websites related to Denmark, Author Joy Ibsen or information in the story:
Danebod Family Camps & Folk School
Danish American Heritage Society publication “The Bridge”
Danish Royal Family on Wikipedia
Danish Royal Family on Danish Royal Watchers blog
Grand View University, (formerly Grand View College) a four-year, liberal-arts college affiliated with the ELCA in Des Moines
Grand View University on Wikipedia
Shimer College
University of Chicago
Paul Tillich, German-American theologian, Christian existentialist philosopher on Wikipedia
Paul Tillich on theology website
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Wikipedia page on the ELCA
Friends of Author Joy Ibsen:
Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard and Rev. Dr. George Cairns founded the nonprofit Turtle Island Project in 2007 to foster respect for indigenous people and cultures and to promote what they can teach us about caring and repairing the environment.
Rev. Hubbard is the executive director of the ELCA-related Navajo Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona. Rev. Cairns is a Chicago Theological Seminary professor who founded the nonprofit Celtic Christianity Today.
Read the Spirit, an online spiritual magazine with inspirational stories and book reviews created by David Crumm, the longtime religion editor for the Detroit Free Press
.
Crumm established ten pinciples for his work that all people with a religion should read.
The many interfaith and youth-related environment projects founded by Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, MI under the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute.
Magnuson’s CTI co-founded the EarthKeeper Initiative, and founded the Earth Healing Initiative, Manoomin Project and the Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project.
Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project –
Native American and Marquette area teens protecting pollinators project:
Zaagkii TV on youtube
Zaagkii Project Story Part 1 Indian Country Today newspaper
Zaagkii Project Story Part 2 Indian Country Today newspaper
Zaagkii Project hailed as success by U.S. Forest Service
Zaagkii Project blog on wordpress
Non-profit Interfaith
Earth Healing Initiative: Numerous environment projects across the Great Lakes Basin in cooperation with the EPA, American Indian Tribes and local governments
Earth Healing TV on youtube
Earth Healing Initiative was part of the first EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge with youtube and bliptv videos.
EarthKeeper TV on youtube has EarthKeeper and Manoomin Project videos including stories and a Manoomin Project music video & more
Manoomin Project story in Indian Country Today
Manoomin Project Story in World Magazine
Author Joy Ibsen encourages everyone to live their life “Unafraid”
Books by northern Michigan author Joy Ibsen 
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