First of all, Gene and Gladys Hasselquist have chosen Mom and Dad to be their daughter Miriam's godparents, a relationship that, in my experience, has little significance in the Lutheran church and in Swedish-American culture. I have no idea who my godparents are. Or Larry's, Barb's and Dale's, for that matter. Although they kept in contact with Gene and Gladys after moving from Great Falls to Warren, Mom and Dad never sent Miriam birthday cards or acknowledged other special occasions in her life
Secondly, no one else is present in the church sanctuary. Perhaps the foursome posed for these two pictures after the baptism service ended. More likely, both Gene's and Gladys' families lived too far from Great Falls to attend, just as the case would have been at Barbara's baptism earlier in the year. I'm sure this isolation had much to do with the bond of friendship formed by these two families.
Finally, the sanctuary of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church looks exceedingly spartan: bare walls, wooden pews, not a stained-glass window in view.
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