We’ve all heard the fact that we only use about 25% of our mental capability. We all groan and think of all we could accomplish if we really applied ourselves. But then we all groan with how tired and unmotivated we are and kind of give up even before starting! My brother and 3 sisters and I had a one of a kind Dad who ‘thought beyond the box’ and a very strong Mom who helped him follow through with his visionary ideas.

Mom and Dad expected that their kids would be musically talented because all four of their parents and eight of their grandparents were musical, from big musical families. My Mom’s maternal Grandfather, Great Grandpa Svalstad, would play his violin on his front doorstep in Porsgrunn, Norway before he emigrated to the U.S. in the 1800’s. Then he traveled around North Dakota, playing his autoharp and witnessing for Jesus. Mom’s father’s mother, Great Grandma Helga Trageton married the ‘kluckor’ or music director in her church in the countryside of Northwood, North Dakota, just south of Grand Forks. (That church has been transported to become a part of the Museum of Norwegian history in Decorah, Iowa as an example of a Norwegian church in North America.) Stories are told of how their nine children would get together on the front porch of their farmhouse in the evenings and play their musical instruments. If the wind was just right, the sound would carry the whole seven miles into Northwood. Grandpa Arne Herleikson, the oldest of those nine, sang in the St. Olaf choir and played violin in the orchestra, as he was preparing to be a circuit-riding pastor. (He had seven churches and a horse!) Then Mom and her sister, Aileen, would sing in harmony while doing the dishes after supper and play their marimbas together, not knowing that in years to come after their dad died, they would travel throughout the Northwest, playing and singing with their mom (my Grandma Herleikson), sharing the Good News of Jesus. Their good-natured brother, Arne, drove the 1940 Overland Whippet car for them and Grandma also gave chalk-talks to share the Gospel. Can you imagine Uncle Arne having to set up and take down those big marimbas at each church?! Mom didn’t know then she’d be doing something just like that for the rest of her life!

Dad’s maternal Grandma, Hilma, came from a musical family, too, the Ericksons. Two of her three sisters were the soloist and organist/pianist at their church in Cambridge, Minnesota. When Dad’s Mom, Valencia Danielson, was eight, Great Grandma Hilma sent her to the Seattle area to stay with relatives and study piano with a great teacher, whose teaching lineage went all the way back to Beethoven. Grandma became a very accomplished pianist and the Minnesota school of music asked her to become their artist in residence. She declined and instead became the pianist at the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, where Grandpa Murk first saw her at the piano and instantly knew she was to be his wife.

Dad’s father, Bill Murk, was a wonderful high tenor and was a paid church singer before becoming pastor of Temple Baptist Church on Seven Corners downtown St. Paul. Grandpa’s brother, George, also had a beautiful voice and was president of the Musician’s Union in Minneapolis. Their father, my Great-Grandpa Anton Murk, sang to them and his wife, my Great-Grandma Carrie, and their sisters even as he was on his death bed, “At the cross, at the cross where I first met the Lord...” Great Uncle George could not sing that song again after that.

Even before Grandma and Grandpa Murk were married in Isanti, Minnesota, they traveled with Grandpa’s sister, Ida, her husband, Lee Lovering, and two of the Lovering children, as musicians for the evangelist, Bob Moyer. During summers, the team drove an old touring car all over rural Minnesota, preaching and singing the gospel in tent meetings. I cannot imagine how they did this with all the mosquitoes, but if no one invited them to stay overnight at a farm, they would sleep under the car! Grandma and Grandpa were married on a Monday night during one of these week - long tent meetings. They continued their meetings weekly during the rest of the year at the Union Gospel Mission downtown St. Paul, with their family saxophone band. Grandma also played violin.

As a pastor in St. Paul, Grandpa Murk pioneered in Christian radio with an early morning broadcast called Your Gospel Singer. For a half hour each morning, he would preach and burst into song, then preach some more, and sing again. He had his kids join him, too. My Dad, Jim, and my Aunts, Janice and Joanne, sang solos, duets and trios together, even as small children.

So there was no doubt that Mom and Dad’s five kids would be musical and play instruments. And as with all parents who delight in their children, they made every possibility available to us to develop those talents to the max, especially for the Lord. In this article on my web page, in the weeks to come I’ll be writing the story of some of the unique things Mom and Dad did to help each of us do our best for the glory of God.

Currents Thoughts:

Sharing my heart about the violin album songs.

Former Thoughts:

Violin Tragedy
The Love Chapter Part I
The Love Chapter Part II
Songs from the violin album.
Morning Devotions
Developing talents and using them for God.

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