Mrs. Iver Udgaard was born in Stavanger, Norway on April 14, 1879. She was four years old when her father and mother, Lars and Gretta Malina Thu Helling, brought her and a younger sister, Christina and a young aunt to Sheldon, North Dakota. From there they traveled by covered wagon to a homestead in Foster County. The mother gave birth to another child, Roy, and she died of tuberculosis after three years.

The aunt became Mrs. Tollef Thompson and the mother of nine children and lived to be ninety-five years old. The sister married young and mothered a large family, was twice widowed and died at the age of ninety-three in January 1975.

Roy died of pneumonia at age 18.

Gina Udgaard was 87 years and four months at her death in August 1966.

These ladies never lived close together but in later years they were much alike:

industrious, frugal, resourceful and blessed with good health.

It didn't seem that we moved often but my mother saw her household moved about twelve times from farm to town and finally to farm. She could make curtains and shades and adapt furniture in a clever manner to make an attractive place wherever we lived. There were no moving vans, just a few hayracks, grain tanks, and some willing workers. It didn't seem too marvelous then, but it was!

Charles Helling, Gina's half-brother came to live with us in 1905. He was one of a number of relatives who was a part of our household in the early years.

It was natural for mother to be active and want to be useful. She was fond of her friends, read a daily newspaper and later enjoyed radio and TV. She worked hard in her flower garden and grounds, watched the cultivation of the fields with interest. She was a good whist and checker player.

Her father lived to be over a hundred years old and his brother Alec lived to be 96.

Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 410