Odd Rønning

Kort omtale (norsk)

Født 13. juli 1914.

Vokste opp på Grefsen i Oslo

Maskiningeniør fra NTH (Nå NTNU, universitetet i Trondheim)

Satt 18 måneder på Vollan og Fallstad fangeleir under siste krig. Var senere aktiv i motstandsbevegelsen.

Studerte deretter ved Syracuse i USA (New York) og tok eksamen i 1947.

Giftet seg med Margaret Frances (Peg) Lynch 1948

Arbeidet ved Beloit Corporation som leder for eksportsalg av papirmaskiner.

Datteren Elise Astrid ble født 1951

Peg og Odd bodde først i Connecticut, senere i Becket, Massachusetts.

Odd døde 2. juli 2014 i Becket.

English version

Born on July 13, 1914.

Grew up at Grefsen in Oslo, Norway

Mechanical from NTH (NTH, now NTNU; is the university i Trondheim in Norway)

Was 18 months in Vollan and Fallstad prisoner camp during the last war. Was later active in the resistance movement.

Then studied at Syracuse in the USA (New York) and graduated in 1947.

Married Margaret Frances (Peg) Lynch 1948

Worked at Beloit Corporation as manager of export of paper machines.

Daughter Elise Astrid was born in 1951

Peg and odd first lived in Connecticut, later in Becket, Massachusetts.

Odd died 2 July 2014 at Becket

Nekrolog som sto i Aftenposten (norsk)

Ble skrevet av Elise Astrid etter Odds død. Denne er noe bearbeidet for å få plass i avisen.

Odd Knut Rønning
Odd Knut Rønning, tidl. Eksportsjef ved Beloit Corporation i Dalton, Massachusetts døde i en alder av nittiseks år i sitt hjem i Becket, onsdag 2. Juli.

Mange kjente ham som den sjarmerende ektefellen til skuespiller Peg Lynch (han ble en gang stemt frem som "New York's kjekkeste ektemann" av det amerikanske Radio & TV Magazine), og som en generøs imøtekommende vert, alltid litt formell, men svært hyggelig. Til alles fornøyelse spilte han ofte piano og sang gamle amerikanske jazzlåter på norsk.

Odd Knut var en hengiven sønn, ektefelle, far og bestefar, og familien betydde alt for ham.

Han ble født 6. Juni 1918, vokste opp på Grefsen i Oslo og var blant annet en dyktig Speider.
Etter å ha arbeidet på en papirfabrikk i Skotfoss, begynte han i 1938 på NTH (nå NTNU) i Trondheim. Her ble han en populær leder av studentrådet.

Han våknet 9. april 1940 til synet av tyske soldater i gatene. Under krigen satt han, sammen med mange medstudenter, på Falstad fangeleir i 18 måneder. Etter løslatelsen gikk han med i den norske motstandsbevegelsen hvor han med sin tekniske bakgrunn deltok i mange sabotasjehandlinger.

Odd Knut avsluttet sin utdannelse som sivilingeniør på NTH etter krigen. Han fikk ordnet et studentvisum, og i 1946 forlot han Norge og reiste til New York.

I USA møtte han sin firmenning, Peg Lynch, som han giftet seg med 12. august 1948.

Odd Knut tok en mastergrad på College of Forestry, Pulp and Paper Department, Syracuse University i 1949 og jobbet ett år på Union papirfabrikk i Skien. Deretter begynte han hos E.D. Jones and Sons Co. (senere Beloit Corporation, Dalton Division) i 1950. Denne jobben førte ham over hele verden som selger av utstyr for papirproduksjon.

Odd Knut og Peg slo seg først ned i Connecticut før de flyttet til Massachusetts i 1970.

Odd Knut etterlater seg sin kone Peg Lynch (hans "marvelous Peggy" ), en datter, skribenten Astrid King, en svigersønn, komponisten Denis King, og et barnebarn, musikeren Alexander King. Alle hans venner og familie savner ham dypt og ønsker hans Vikingseilas en trygg reise.

Obit. Nekrolog. Original. English
Skrevet av Elise Astrid

Odd Knut Ronning, former Export Manager in charge of Foreign Sales at the Beloit Corporation in Dalton, died at his home in Becket last Wednesday. He was 96.

Many knew him as the dashing husband of radio and television comedy writer and actress Peg Lynch (he was once voted "New York's Handsomest Husband" by Radio and TV Magazine)--the welcoming, generous host, the ever-so-slightly formal but always jovial man who, to everyone's delight, played the piano and sang old time American standards in Norweigan, who would never let you sit there with an empty glass, the man who listened when you spoke, who stood up when you entered the room, who held doors open for ladies, the man who was at ease in any situation, a well-dressed, polite and perfectly groomed true gentleman , one you'd be grateful and proud to have on your arm, anywhere. I remember all these things about him, but I will also remember him as just plain Daddy.

A devoted son, then husband, father and grandfather, uncle and even fourth cousin by marriage---"family" was everything to Odd Knut. We could do no wrong in his eyes. Ever.

My father was born on June 6th , 1918 in Oslo Norway, where he attended local schools, often on skis. After a stint working at a paper company in Skotfos, he moved north in 1939 to Trondheim to study mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Norway, where he was the popular head of the Student Council.

His studies were interrupted on April 9, 1940 when he awoke to see German soldiers marching down the street--the beginning of their occupation of Norway which would continue until 1945. He and many of his fellow engineering students were hauled out of bed by the Gestapo and taken to nearby Falstad, a former prison turned concentration camp which was to hold several thousand prisoners of war, Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, political prisoners-anyone the Nazis didn't care for, including an American poker-player and an English lord who had been unlucky enough to find themselves in Norway when the war broke out and for whom Odd Knut, his English being excellent--his Norwegian father had spent time in North Dakota--later acted as translator (and I imagine fellow card player).

After my father's release from Falstad, due to a combination of his father's petitioning and it being Hitler's birthday-he joined the Norwegian Underground and took part in numerous acts of sabotage, including the destruction of the Nazi-commandeered ferryboat carrying heavy water and components bound for Germany across Lake Tinnsjo.

He completed his mechanical engineering degree after the war, secured a student visa, and in 1946 traveled to New York aboard the liner the S.S. Stavangerfjord, where, before heading up to Syracuse University, he found a phone booth, found a dime, and politely called his third cousin Peg to say "hello" at her Gramercy Park apartment, as per his parents' instructions.

My mother, frantically busy as usual at her typewriter writing a script-at the time, her 15 minute radio comedy series Ethel and Albert was on five days a week-grabbed the phone.

"Odd Knut from Norway!" she heard, in a thick accent.

My father identified himself a few more times before Peg stopped saying "What? Who??", after which he heard her put her hand over the phone and in a (slightly) muffled voice, call out: "Mother? It's some cousin from Norway! Do we have enough lamb chops to ask him for dinner?"

My parents were married on August 12, 1948. I doubt that a day went by, since that moment at the Little Church Around the Corner in Manhattan, that my father still couldn't quite believe his good fortune in snaring his "Peggy".

A masters degree at the College of Forestry, Pulp and Paper Department, from Syracuse University in 1939 was followed by a year in Norway working for the Union Paper Company in Skien, after which Odd joined the E.D. Jones and Sons Company in Dalton (later becoming the Beloit Corporation, Dalton Division) in 1950. By now an American Citizen, he and Peg settled first in Bronxville, New York, then Stamford, then Fairfield, Connecticut before moving to Becket, Massachusetts in 1970.

Odd Knut offically retired in 1986 and, when he was not studying Consumer Reports or reading Norwegian newspapers or tending his beloved twenty-eight acres--planting, weeding, sweeping pine needles off the drive--he devoted his days to traveling back to Norway, accompanying my mother when she performed at radio and television conventions around the States (the last one as recently as 2012), and visiting me and my family at our home in England. A firm believer in the highly questionable theory that "Vikings don't get sick", it was only in the last six or seven years that my father began to wind down and "indoors in front of CNN" began to have more appeal than tramping up and down pruning the euonymous hedge.

He is survived by his wife, his "Marvelous Peggy", one daughter, me, Astrid King, one son-in law, the composer Denis King, and one grandson, Alexander King. All of whom will miss him every day. And who wish his Viking longship safe passge.