Dagmar's Stories

 My grandmother Dagmar, after living in Chicago for 40-some years, had returned to her beloved Norway. She had visited Chicago frequently but on her last visit to the US in 1983, at the death of my uncle,  I saw her for the first time as old and tired.  With her husband and all three of her children now gone and her grandchildren scattered in different states with lives of their own, I somehow knew that she would never return to the US.

In the late spring of 1984 I took a leave of absence from my nursing position and took my daughter with me to Norway to see Grandma. It was a five week visit and she introduced me to beautiful Norway. In the long evenings she shared with me photos and stories of my Norwegian ancestors and her life growing up in Norway. As well as I remember, I present here some of the stories she told me.

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♥  Our ancestor - "The German Princess"

♥  Stolen by the Gypsies

♥  Papa gave me an ugly doll

♥  Cooking on Papa's Boat

♥  The Baby Stealer

♥  Harald, my first love

♥ My "most beautiful" baby Gerd

♥  Grace cuts her head

♥  Arnold's "Sensitive" hearing

♥  Grandma & Grandpa's engagement portraits