Astrid came to Holden with her husband, poet and lecturer, Ivar Ivask. Astrid was also a well-known poet with many honors. Originally from Latvia, she escaped to Germany in 1944 and studied languages at the University of Marburg. She received her masters degree then moved with her husband to the United States where Ivar was on faculty at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. They later moved to Oklahoma where Astrid served as an adjust professor teaching Russian, German and French.