Published: Sunday, June 27, 2010
Everett woman shared her life through poetry
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Contributed photo
Olga Henrietta “Gaga” Husby of Everett died on June 7. She was 100.
When Rosemary Brennis listens to old songs on the radio, she is reminded of where her mother heard the words she used in her poetry.
“I listen and know that mom’s vivid verbiage came from all the beautiful words and lyrics of those old tunes,” she said.
Her mother, Olga Husby, enjoyed music. She also had a talent for writing poems; some were published in magazines and others were kept private.
The poems and other artistic creations by Husby are now treasured reminders of her life.
Olga Henrietta “Gaga” Husby of Everett died on June 7. She was 100.
Husby is survived by her daughter, Rosemary Brennis; grandchildren Jeff Facey, Lorie Facey, Kari Townsend, Wendy Fredrickson, Sara Wickline and Erik Brennis; and several great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, John; sisters, Clara Husby and Osa Stein; and her daughter, Shirley Facey.
Husby was born to Anton and Sigrid Dahl on Nov. 25, 1909, in Trondheim, Norway. She was their second daughter.
At the age of 6, Husby traveled to the United States with her family on an ocean liner. She would travel back and forth between Norway and the United States five times while her father, who was a carpenter, looked for work.
“She remembered seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time, thinking it was fantastic,” her granddaughter, Wendy Fredrickson said. “She also remembered the flu pandemic in 1918. Her father had a touch of the flu, so they were all quarantined.”
The Dahl family traveled from Norway for the last time in 1925 and settled in Virginia, Minn.
“They drew a lot of attention when they came to Virginia, Minn. and I think they enjoyed it,” Husby’s granddaughter, Kari Townsend, said. “They liked being glamorous. I think to them coming to the U.S. had sort of the effect a lot of people used to get from Hollywood.”
The family moved together to Everett in the early 1930s. Husby’s husband, John, met her for the first time when she was 16, but she had a boyfriend at the time and John was returning to Norway the next day.
But they stayed in touch, and the relationship developed.
They married on June 25, 1933, in Everett. He wrote her poems about forget-me-nots and carved a box out of cedar for a wedding gift.
The family was close. Her sister, Clara, married John’s brother. She and John had a double wedding with her younger sister, Osa, and her husband, Marcus Stein. The sisters lived and raised their children in the same neighborhood.
They especially liked to gather for Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties at each other’s homes, Brennis said. The family usually celebrated Christmas Eve at Clara and Art’s home. “That was the most joyous of all of (the parties) because Art would dress as Santa Claus and come up on the porch and knock on the door,” Brennis said. “We’d be so excited.”
Husby was a private person who preferred staying home to going out. She liked to stay busy by writing, drawing, reading and making creative figurines out of everyday objects.
She painted a snake from a dried root, glued rocks together and painted them into people and animals, and made a collection of little trolls out of peanuts and pipe cleaners.
Her granddaughters liked to look through her button collection and hunt slugs in the woods in the back of her Everett house.
Her grandmother’s home smelled of her grandfather’s pipes and Husby’s romantic perfume, Townsend said. Although she quickly embraced the American lifestyle, Husby translated Norwegian to English, taught family members phrases in Norwegian and made traditional Norwegian dishes such as lefse and lutefisk to share with her family.
She liked coffee and Rudolph Valentino. She kept several cats throughout her life. Her favorite was an orange tabby named Romeo. She cried when Elvis Presley died.
Husby also loved to laugh and shared some of her humor and feelings about her everyday life in her poetry.
In her poem “Why is it?” published in a woman’s magazine in 1965, she wrote: “Why is it no one comes to visit ... when my house is in order and everything’s fine? I have refreshments galore, even some wine. But then the day comes when things are a mess. There’s dust on the floor and webs on the ceiling. Things couldn’t look more unappealing. There’s a knock on the door. Oh heaven, who is it? Just two ‘friendly’ ladies coming to visit.”
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.
“I listen and know that mom’s vivid verbiage came from all the beautiful words and lyrics of those old tunes,” she said.
Her mother, Olga Husby, enjoyed music. She also had a talent for writing poems; some were published in magazines and others were kept private.
The poems and other artistic creations by Husby are now treasured reminders of her life.
Olga Henrietta “Gaga” Husby of Everett died on June 7. She was 100.
Husby is survived by her daughter, Rosemary Brennis; grandchildren Jeff Facey, Lorie Facey, Kari Townsend, Wendy Fredrickson, Sara Wickline and Erik Brennis; and several great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, John; sisters, Clara Husby and Osa Stein; and her daughter, Shirley Facey.
Husby was born to Anton and Sigrid Dahl on Nov. 25, 1909, in Trondheim, Norway. She was their second daughter.
At the age of 6, Husby traveled to the United States with her family on an ocean liner. She would travel back and forth between Norway and the United States five times while her father, who was a carpenter, looked for work.
“She remembered seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time, thinking it was fantastic,” her granddaughter, Wendy Fredrickson said. “She also remembered the flu pandemic in 1918. Her father had a touch of the flu, so they were all quarantined.”
The Dahl family traveled from Norway for the last time in 1925 and settled in Virginia, Minn.
“They drew a lot of attention when they came to Virginia, Minn. and I think they enjoyed it,” Husby’s granddaughter, Kari Townsend, said. “They liked being glamorous. I think to them coming to the U.S. had sort of the effect a lot of people used to get from Hollywood.”
The family moved together to Everett in the early 1930s. Husby’s husband, John, met her for the first time when she was 16, but she had a boyfriend at the time and John was returning to Norway the next day.
But they stayed in touch, and the relationship developed.
They married on June 25, 1933, in Everett. He wrote her poems about forget-me-nots and carved a box out of cedar for a wedding gift.
The family was close. Her sister, Clara, married John’s brother. She and John had a double wedding with her younger sister, Osa, and her husband, Marcus Stein. The sisters lived and raised their children in the same neighborhood.
They especially liked to gather for Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties at each other’s homes, Brennis said. The family usually celebrated Christmas Eve at Clara and Art’s home. “That was the most joyous of all of (the parties) because Art would dress as Santa Claus and come up on the porch and knock on the door,” Brennis said. “We’d be so excited.”
Husby was a private person who preferred staying home to going out. She liked to stay busy by writing, drawing, reading and making creative figurines out of everyday objects.
She painted a snake from a dried root, glued rocks together and painted them into people and animals, and made a collection of little trolls out of peanuts and pipe cleaners.
Her granddaughters liked to look through her button collection and hunt slugs in the woods in the back of her Everett house.
Her grandmother’s home smelled of her grandfather’s pipes and Husby’s romantic perfume, Townsend said. Although she quickly embraced the American lifestyle, Husby translated Norwegian to English, taught family members phrases in Norwegian and made traditional Norwegian dishes such as lefse and lutefisk to share with her family.
She liked coffee and Rudolph Valentino. She kept several cats throughout her life. Her favorite was an orange tabby named Romeo. She cried when Elvis Presley died.
Husby also loved to laugh and shared some of her humor and feelings about her everyday life in her poetry.
In her poem “Why is it?” published in a woman’s magazine in 1965, she wrote: “Why is it no one comes to visit ... when my house is in order and everything’s fine? I have refreshments galore, even some wine. But then the day comes when things are a mess. There’s dust on the floor and webs on the ceiling. Things couldn’t look more unappealing. There’s a knock on the door. Oh heaven, who is it? Just two ‘friendly’ ladies coming to visit.”
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.
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