Yesterday we were talking about the number of early Christians, and this led us to Rodney Stark, a religious sociologist who studied this period.
This led us to Jamestown, North Dakota, where Rodney Start was born and raised. And this led us to the expansive salad bar at the Jamestown High School.
But then this led us to the famous people of Jamestown, which held a wonderful surprise.
Anne Helen Carlsen
Sometimes, when you think the world is a small, petty, mean, greedy place, you surreptitiously find the goodness in people. Sometimes, maybe always, you only find that place by way of sorrow.
Yesterday, we hadn’t heard of Jamestown resident Anne Carlsen, and today we are overwhelmed by her legacy.
Anne Helen Carlsen (November 4, 1915 – December 2, 2002) was an American special educator born without forearms or lower legs, a disability rights advocate, private school superintendent, author, and namesake of a private school.
Carlsen’s mother died when she was 4 years old, so Carlsen’s father and older sister raised her. She made friends and learned to swim and play baseball. Walking was accomplished with the help of a kiddie car. She adapted to fine motor tasks, including writing and feeding herself, by using her upper arms. She started her formal education at the age of 8 years and completed school through the 8th grade in Grantsburg at the age of 12 years (including the completion of two grade levels in one year). Her brothers would carry her to and from school or pull her on a sled when there was enough snow on the ground.
Carlsen received numerous other awards and served on numerous local, statewide, and national committees. She received three honorary degrees: Doctor of Humane Letters – University of North Dakota 1982, Doctor of Humane Letters – Wartburg College, Waverly, IA 1960, and Doctor of Laws – Jamestown College, Jamestown, ND 1959.
The Crippled Children’s School in Jamestown was renamed The Anne Carlsen Center in honor of Dr. Carlsen in 1980. In 1985, the Center installed and dedicated a permanent bronze statue of Dr. Carlsen with a young child at the center’s front entrance. In spite of all the accolades she received, in a 1981 interview, Dr. Carlsen said “her greatest satisfactions as an educator and mentor … were the graduates of the Center.”
Anne Carlsen is an organization that is committed to an environment of diversity, equity and inclusion for all individuals served and the staff who serve them. We understand that health and independence is a fundamental right and should be equitable for all individuals we serve.
The Anne Carlsen Center offers a wide variety of services, and operates in Jamestown, Bottineau, Devils Lake, Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot, Moorehead, and Valley City, North Dakota.
The Anne Carlsen Center has a vibrant Facebook page (collages created from their Facebook page).
Elder G wasn’t familiar with Anne Carlsen, but was enthusiastic to hear of her life and accomplishments:
Anne Carlsen sounds like an incredible individual. Her life is a testament to resilience and making an impact, despite the significant challenges she faced. Being a disability rights advocate and a superintendent of a private school while overcoming such physical barriers must have inspired countless people, especially children with disabilities. Her work surely brought hope and opportunities to those who might otherwise have felt limited. It’s amazing how some people turn their personal hardships into advocacy that benefits so many others.
Elder G
Elder G respectfully provides these images of Anne Carlsen and her impact as an educator:
