by Dennis Dalman
The gnome came home – a little rough from wear but just in time for Christmas.
When the gnome was just 5 years old, it disappeared 45 years ago from the yard of Jack and Suzanne Toftey, Sartell residents who lived in St. Cloud at that time. The name of the 4.5-foot-tall gnome is “Nisse,” which is Norwegian for “gnome.”
Once upon a time, almost 50 years ago, the Tofteys decided to make a gnome. Once it was completed, the jolly figurine was placed in their yard in St. Cloud long before they moved to Sartell. But one morning five years later, Suzanne looked out a home window and noticed with a shock the gnome was gone (almost certainly stolen). The Tofteys gave up on ever seeing him again.
Nisse had been crafted from plywood by Jack, and Suzanne had painted him in a colorful way complete with gray boots, green jacket, white beard, a big red pointy hat, and a yellow sign Nisse was holding with the word “Velkommen” on it, which means “Welcome” in Norwegian. The Tofteys both have long been craft hobbyists; Jack was also the athletic director at St. Cloud Tech High School for years.
Nisse the gnome was created to display as a cheery welcoming figure to customers who would visit the arts-and-craft shows where Suzanne and others exhibited their works. It then became a decoration in their yard.
Suzanne is a superb, world-known rosemaling painter. Rosemaling is a style of decorative folk-art painting that originated hundreds of years ago in the valleys of Norway. It’s often used as colorful, often floral decorations on plates, cups, chairs, cupboards, boxes and – yes – gnomes. Suzanne’s rosemaling items have been exhibited and sold in stores far and wide, including in Norway where her decorated wares are very popular. Suzanne (nee Larson) is Norwegian at heart from tip to toe.
The Tofteys’ gnome had become a mere memory of the distant past. But then, flash forward 35 years to October 2017. One day, Suzanne and Jack had just had a bite to eat at Arby’s in St. Cloud. Back at their car in the parking lot, Suzanne happened to glance across the street to a strip mall. Suddenly, the ordinary day turned extraordinary.
Suzanne was flabbergasted, tongue-tied, stunned by disbelief.
“There!” she said, pointing, eyes wide with astonishment. “There’s my gnome!”
Jack looked, then looked again.
“It is!” he exclaimed. “It’s the gnome!”
It’s as if they were seeing a long-lost child, one who had run away 45 years ago and then suddenly found his way back again, out of the blue. There stood Nisse in front of the Uff-Da Vinyl Records shop in St. Cloud.
The Tofteys crossed the street and gazed with wonder at their long-lost Nisse. Jack walked into the shop and asked the owner, “Where did you get that gnome?”
The owner said he’d bought it from a woman who was selling objects that had accumulated for years in storage at her home. The Tofteys told them their story, and the owner, amazed, quickly offered to give the gnome back to them.
They politely declined. Both the Tofteys, though glad to see their Nisse again, decided he looked just fine and happy, that twinkle in his eyes, holding his welcome sign in front of that record shop.
New homecoming
After his nearly 50-year absence, five of those years outside of the Uff-Da Records shop, Nisse is now back home with Jack and Suzanne in Sartell.
What happened is that about a year ago, in the middle of pandemic isolations, the shop had to shut its doors. The Tofteys were sad and disappointed, having known so many people who loved that vinyl-records store, owned by a man named Jeff Pederson. Shortly after the store’s closing, neighbors of the Tofteys had a sly plot in mind: buy the gnome and give it as a surprise Christmas present to the Tofteys. But Pederson told them he wanted to keep the gnome as he had always been fond of them. Images of gnomes were featured in his store and on his website.
Then one day, the Tofteys woke up in their Sartell home. Suzanne looked out the window, just as she did nearly 50 years ago when she discovered the gnome was gone. And to her utter astonishment, there stood the gnome, perched in a snowbank.
“I was so happy – so happy to see him!,” Suzanne said. “Jack was happy too. We were totally surprised. We still don’t know for sure who brought him back to us. He was a bit faded, rusty around the edges, but I repainted him. Then I put Christmas decorations on him.”
And now, at long last, Nisse gnome is back at home right where he belongs, happily ever after.
Surrounded by gnomelets, Suzanne Toftey poses with her long-lost friend, the gnome that came home after nearly 50 years since she and her husband created it. The word on the sign the gnome is holding is the Norwegian word for “Welcome.”
