Cheryl Ganz is without a doubt one of the biggest names in American philately today. Her philatelic resume is long enough to fill an entire article in itself. Cheryl is the current president of the American Philatelic Society (APS) an organization she joined in 1976. She is the former Chief Curator of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Wahsingto D.C. Her responsibilities there included curating The William H. Gross Stamp Gallery, the largest exhibit in the world dedicated to philately. In 2018 she was added to The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain.
When I met Cheryl for the first time at the Great American Stamp Show in August 2023 in Cleveland, OH, I also learned a less known fact about her: Cheryl descends from Norwegian immigrants and is very proud of her Norwegian heritage. She subsequently shared her Norwegian family story with me. This story was first published in Norsk Filatelistisk Tidskrift (the premier Norwegian philatelic journal) issue 7, 2023. Since then, several people have asked me if I could translate this story to English. By popular demand, here is that story as shared with me by Cheryl.
Cheryl’s great-grandfather Thomas Johannesen (1854-1944) left Sandøya, near Tvedestrand, in 1889. Like many of the men who lived on Sandøya, he had been a sailor and worked as a ship’s carpenter. When he returned from a voyage, he discovered that his wife had died, and the next year his four-year-old daughter drowned. The widower summoned all his courage, determined to reinvent his life by emigrating to America, first with his brothers and later with his two children. They sailed for New York on the steamship Thingvalla. In New York, he met Sophie Olive Hendricksen (1858-1931), a young woman from Øyestad who had worked in Arendal for two years before emigrating with her brother in 1887. They married in the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, New York. Thomas worked as a foreman in a shipyard in Hoboken, New Jersey. They had three daughters, but the first died.
Thomas learned of an island in Wisconsin that reminded Scandinavians of their homeland. The hills and harbors lured Norwegians, Danes, and Icelanders to Washington Island. Located in Lake Michigan, the island offered both fishing and farming opportunities. In 1895, Thomas bought thirty acres on the island sight unseen. He traveled there by boat with his family and two other Norwegian immigrant families. They built a house the first year and later a barn. Cheryl’s grandfather George (1896-1988) was their first child born on Washington Island. Two more followed. The family farmed while Thomas traveled to work in the shipbuilding trade. Sometime after arrival in America, Thomas simplified his last name to Johnson, but on Washington Island there already was a Danish man named Thomas Johnson. So, Thomas took the middle initial “N.” This distinguished him as Thomas “the Norwegian” Johnson.
Many of the Johnson descendants, including Cheryl, are proud of their Norwegian heritage. Washington Island continues its tradition of celebrating Scandinavian heritage and even has a Norwegian stavkirke. Cheryl had the opportunity to go back to Norway and visit Sandøya in 2007. She and her niece were able to tour the family log home. They brought back jewelry for their Aust Agder bunads from nearby Arendal. A bunad is a traditional Norwegian formal attire and each region of Norway has their own design. Cheryl gets to showcase her Aust Agder Bunad back home as Washington Island has a Scandinavian folk dance festival each year. Cheryl and her mom help out by serving Scandinavian food at the luncheon.
As a philatelist, Cheryl collects airship mail and postcards, including the Wellman expedition in Spitzbergen and the Norge flight over the North Pole. She is a member of the Scandinavian Collectors Club in the USA. Over the years she has published several books on philately. Here most recent book, “U.S. Zeppelin and Airship Mail Flights” was issued in 2021 and can be ordered through APS (https://classic.stamps.org/Publications). In addition to doing research and writing, Cheryl is also a decorated philatelic exhibitor. She has exhibited extensively both in the US and Internationally. In 2006 she was featured in the Court of Honor at the 2006 World Philatelic Exhibition in Washington D.C. Her many awards include Aerophilatelic Hall of Fame, Federation Internationale des Societes Aerophilateliques, gold medal for outstanding contribution to aerophilately, and a Newberry Award for contributions to Chicagoland philately.
I feel very fortunate to have met Cheryl and I am thrilled to have connected with another Norwegian philatelist here in the US.