Piece by piece, Bert Lundh has been putting together the stories of the orginal 11 incorporators of Swedish Hospital in time for Swedish Medical Center's 100th birthday party on April 21.

Lundh is working with Nordic Heritage Museum Executive Director Marianne Forssblad to locate descendents of the 11 men.

"We've had quite a few calls from the descendents," said Lundh.

Living relatives of board members: Andrew Chilberg; Nils A. Johanson, M.D.; P.A. Hallberg; J.A. Soderberg; John Kalberg; Godfrey Chealander; N.J. Nyquist; Emil Lovegren; Israel Nelson; Gustaf Axel Edelsvard; and H.E. Turner are on Lundh and Forssblad's search list.

"A few of these fellows were born in America, but most came from Sweden. They were all hard workers, very active in their community and committed to making sure Seattle had a good health care facility," said Lundh.

The men took their civic responsibilities seriously. Eight of them became presidents of the Swedish Club, now known as the Swedish Cultural Center.

"All of them were high achievers," said Lundh.

Chilberg was the first president of the Swedish Club in 1892.

He was named the vice counsel for Sweden and Norway in 1879 and was elected treasurer of King County in the 1884.

As the first president of the Scandinavian American Bank he helped the bank's assets grow from $45,000 to ten million dollars.

"I've never seen a guy with that much background before. He has done so much," said Lunde.

Swedish Consul General of Los Angeles Tomas Rosander is just one of the prominent invited guests to the dinner. Swedish Medical Center Trustee Ned Turner, whose grandfather H.E. Turner was a founder will speak. Current Swedish CEO Rodney Hochman, M.D. and retired CEO Richard H. Peterson are the other speakers for the dinner program.

Lunde came to Seattle from Sweden in 1949 and owns the Porcelain Gallery in Magnolia. He spent his career in construction and helped found the Nordic Heritage Museum. He is now the President of the Northwest Kidney Center Foundation.

Forssblad is winding down her 27-year career as executive director of the Nordic Heritage Museum. She is retiring at the end of April and will move back to Sweden.

Dinner tickets are $100 each and can be purchased by calling 283-1090. The Swedish Cultural Center is located at 1920 Dexter Avenue.

People with information about the descendents of the Swedish Hospital founders can call Lundh at 284-5893.

Dean Wong may be contacted at 783.1244 or deanw@robinsonnews.com