Magnhild Karola Jorpeland

Magnhild and Harald sailed on the same ship but did not meet til several years later in Chicago. There was 7yrs between their ages.

Magnhild was 15yrs old when she left Norway for Chicago, IL where her father and brother, Viktor lived. Here hair was so long she could sit on it, but you know it was the time of the Roaring Twenties and against her father's wishes she had a bob cut. When she got a little money together, her father opened a savings account for her but after a while he stole it. Logan Square in NW Chicago was the neighborhood where many Norwegians settled - she roomed with two sisters, Sigrid Soma and Astrid Paulsen - 3 in a bed. She loved dancing and there were many 'dance halls'. Magnhild worked at a Norwegian hospital and learned to speak American quickly - she especially loved the movie theater. Magnhild (May) worked as a governess for an artistic couple who wanted to take her to Florida but she said no. Her next governess job was for one of the wealthy family of Vanderbilt. At one point, May and Astrid went to Peoria to be in a chorus line in Peoria but that didn't last long because one of the producer, director or such like made advances and so they went back to Chicago.