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Finland, Inc.

News Report by Elaine Lillback

FHM member John Laituri spoke of Finland’s changes in its political system at the September meeting at the FHM.  His wife Millie introduced John Laituri as the speaker.  John is a 1944 graduate of Ohio State University in Chemical Engineering.  He has been the project manager of a multi-million dollar ammonia plant, a refinery heat exchanger designer, and a salesman of engineering services.  While working for the Fluor Corporation in Iran, he spent 1975-1978 in traveling through the Middle East.

Having visited Finland three times with his wife, he described the assets of the Finnish environment.  Finland found her freedom from Russia in 1917 by giving up some territory.  She also went from a forest based economy to an industrial power in 100 years.  She also has developed her educational system  as the best in the world.   However, her social security system is being challenged.  Finland’s workers are the best paid people in Europe.

Finland is the northernmost country of the European continent. One quarter of her land lies north of the Arctic Circle and almost all of Finland lies north of the 60th N. latitude. Even her capital, Helsinki, is the northernmost capital of the continent. 

With 130 square miles, her population of 5.4 million is concentrated in the southern region.  It is the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. She is warmed with warm ocean currents of the Gulf Stream carried by the west winds.  Her longest nights are 51, and her longest days are 73. Interestingly, her land is continuously emerging from the sea, growing 3 square miles every year.

Finland is the water richest country in the world; she is # 1.  The United States is # 45. This is according to the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) of 2005. The ESI is based upon 21 variables that include air quality, biodiversity, population pressure, water quality, and basic human sustenance. To illustrate: Finland has 180,000 lakes.  Her forests are her gold.  The wood is used to make exports, saunas, housing, and in selling machines, adding to her income.  Printing and writing are important. Laituri related that Finland's population is well supplied with cell phones: 96 % of the people carry phones.

Finland does not have natural gas. It does not have oil.  It has no coal deposits.  These all have to be imported.  Therefore the resourceful Finns have developed hydropower plants , nuclear power plants, secondary wood plants, peat farms which provide material for power, wind energy machines, solar energy panels, and extensive recycling procedures. Also used are biofuels and waste fuels for power.
Laituri kept a section of his presentation a secret, not even revealing his thoughts to his wife Mille. With a twinkle in his eye, John stated, ”When we have a woman president, we will be the strongest.” He stated that England, Germany, and Sweden have had women prime ministers and presidents and the leadership has been wonderful.

The recent elections have brought about the election of Jyrkki  Katainen, who will take the prime minister's office next May.  Until recently, the True Finns party had 6 seats in Parliament’s 200 chairs.  They now hold 3rd place ranking with 39 seats.  Their success is attributed  to how spending government money should be done, much like the Tea Party in the States.  There is financial difficulty; the Euro system is not working, and bailouts are not forthcoming. 

Finally, education finds the Finns on top, with excellence in math, science and all areas.   The children learn Finnish, Swedish and English in school.  There are no uniforms, no honor societies, no gifted classes, no standard tests, and all those things Americans hold dear.  Each class has two teachers; extra attention is given to slower students by one of the teachers.

Lovely refreshments were served by Helen Kasari, Elaine Lillback, and Ailiin Andrews.

 

 

Finnish Band Leaders Make Wonderful Music

News Report by Elaine Lillback

Waves of melodious music floated through my mind as Beverly Harbour introduced Dick Lehtinen, her father as speaker for the evening. Born in Cleveland, Lehtinen moved to Fairport in 1936 from where he graduated in 1946. His claim to fame is that he played the 1st chair trombone in the Fairport High School Band when he was in the 6th grade. In the summer of 1946 he made the all Ohio Band and 1st chair trombone under the direction of Paul Whiteman.

He served in the military after basic training, auditioning and passing to 1st Air Force band at Mitchell Field, playing lead trombone broadcasting over WNBC of NYC, playing in USO shows. He was out of military service in ’48.

Following his service experience, he went into engineering and was married to Helen Raudasoja and has two daughters, Janis and Beverly. Beverly introduced her dad, who is retired from Bendix Avionics where he served as Engineering Supervisor of production and Administrator to Director of Manufacturing in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.

Dick’s music career actually started in Wainionpaa’s sauna in Fairport where one evening, a man was trying to leave without paying for his bath. He said, “I don’t have any money. “ “ What do you have to pay with?”, asked Dad. “I have a horn, a trombone.” Dad with Dick standing by, said, “We’ll buy the horn for $15.00.”  As a result, that trombone has traveled around the music world of Dick since his 6th grade. With it, he tells the story of our area’s great band and orchestra leaders of 1936-46.

The Era of Finnish Band Directors (1936-1946) as Dick recalled, were fabulous. Starting with Karlo Maki, Lehtinen related that he was Conneaut’s band director, choir director, a N.E. Sectional Contest Judge, and made music roll in the area. Wayne Maki, well known musician was his brother.

 Urho Seppelin was Ashtabula’s band director, leading also Ashtabula’s Edgewood High band and later,  Fairport ‘s Band in ’52. He was given music to read and could play the music upside down after looking it over for three minutes. He was good.

 Coming from Warren, Ohio was the big man, Charles Luoma. He was the Band and Choir Director o at Fairport in ’50 and ’51. He was “taller than a mountain” according to Dick. Dick met him when he was in the 6th grade. The man looked at Dick and said, “Hey you dumb Finn. That was a good job.”

 Band Director from “43 to ’50 in Mentor was William Nordman. Before coming to Mentor, he had the combined bands of Cherry Valley at Rock Creek High Schools.  After that, he had the Band at Andover. He was a great violinist and clarinetist. His humor saved many a day; all loved him.

Fairview Park had Arthur Saarinen as Band and Orchestra Director.  They had District Contests and he served as a District Contest Judge. His daughter, Pat Saarinen Harrell taught at Mentor when Bill Nordman was there.

  Dick’s favorite of all Band Directors was Einar Helstrom. He taught and played all instruments. He placed 1st place in 8 of his ten years at Fairport. Twice he placed 1st in the State of Ohio and became the Director of Music in Portsmouth, Ohio schools. “He was the best director I’ve ever known,” said Dick.   We could hear that trombone of Dick’s throughout our imagination. All those Finnish Band teachers were great. What a gift of the meaning of SISU. “ Practice, Practice, and more Practice equates to a successful presentation!”

Suzanne Jokila, Barbara Ollila, and Lasse and Jovette Hiltunen served refreshments.

 

 

FHM BEGINS CAPITAL CAMPAIGN  

tThe Finnish Heritage Museum is embarking on a capital campaign to raise money to continue the remodeling of our facility at 301 High Street in Fairport Harbor, Ohio. TThe major focus is on insulation to lower our heating and cooling costs.

With the generosity of Fred's Appliance Repair located in Madison, Ohio, we now have a 40 inch 1080 DPI, LCD television which Mr. Fred Butcher donated to our cause. Our plans are to raffle off that television set in the next six months, with a delivery date set right before Christmas. What a surprise it will be for a lucky ticket holder.

Tickets are available from the Museum and from Museum members.