Min Kalle, Min Kalle, Min Kalle

The Swedish forest

"After Oscar, there was Kalle. I believe he was older than my mother. Kalle had a girlfriend. He was engaged to be married to Rut Pettersson from Grönede, next door in Grönede, sister to Frida. They were going to build a house down between the school and the store in Kjettestorp. He had bought a piece of Dad’s land there and was going to build a house, and he was out in the forest cutting wood when a tree fell on him and it broke his leg. They used to say that the bones stuck out through the skin.

Of course, it took longer to get to the doctor then and in the end, he came down with a blood infection and there was nothing they could do about it. There were no antibiotics. So he just had to fight it on his own. Mormor couldn’t handle all that, so he stayed in guest room in our house at Kjettestorp. He had a

Sara sits on the top step
here, while Mom and
their brother Henrik sit
on the bottom step. This
was taken in 1927.

nurse who took care of him but nothing worked and he died. That was in 1929 and this was the first experience that I had with death. I remember that they combed our hair and washed our faces and told us that Kalle wanted to see us for a last time. We all went in and stood by his bed. Brita, the oldest, was 11 years old. Lennart was one year old. I remember how we stood there are Brita had Lennart on her arm. Kalle was so weak that he couldn’t say much to us, but he smiled at us and winked like he always did.

In the morning, Sara and I were sleeping in the master bedroom; they had a junior bed in there for the younger of the kids. Sara woke me up and pointed at Mother. Mama was standing in front of the mirror in the bedroom, combing her hair and crying. This may have been the first time I had ever seen my mother cry. Sara said, “I think Morbror Kalle has died.” She was right.

Rut Pettersson, 1919

I remember in those days, when more people died at home, they had something that they used to call the Sjunga-Ut – you “sang out” the dead. The undertaker had come with the casket and pastor would come and they would have some prayers and hymns and then the lid was put on the casket and that was never opened again. This is why I’ve been so horrified here to go and view the dead. I don’t like that. Anyway, I sat by Mormor while they were praying and singing and when it was over, Oscar and Ernst picked up the lid and screwed it in place and I remember how Mormor cried, “Min Kalle, min Kalle, min Kalle.” (That means "my Kalle.) Rut, Kalle’s fiancé, died not more than a year after Kalle. They used to say she died of a broken heart."

Note: This is the end of first side of first cassette. I couldn't find a photo of Kalle, but Ingalena and Moster Sara are going to look for one, so I'll update this entry when it is available.