Margaretha and Astor, Lennart and Annika

Well, then there was me. I never did like boys too much. They could be

Margaretha and Astor

good friends but if they tried to get serious, that was the end of it. I wasn't ready for that. Maybe God had other plans for me in California. Both Sara and Margaretha were married in the Kisa church and the custom then was to have a dinner afterwards in the bride's home. I took my vacations from work so I could be home and help get ready for both those weddings. I said over and over at that time that when I got married I was going to run away because this was too much work. Then when I got married here in California, Margaretha wrote, "You always said you were going to run away, but did you have to run so far?"

Margaretha and Astor

And then Margaretha. I don't think she ever really looked at anyone but Astor. Dad liked him well enough but he said they couldn't get married until Margaretha had an occupation and she had to work at it for a whole year before they could get married. Dad believed that everyone needed to know their own mind a bit. So Margaretha went to Linköping and went to beauty college. This fit Margaretha really well because she'd always had an eye for what looked good, and she had such a way of arranging simple things and making them look really nice. She lived with Hildegarde and Midi at the time.

Well, Farbror Folke didn't agree with this at all. He said it was sinful to focus on beauty. He tried and tried to talk her into quitting but Margaretha was determined. When she got through with beauty college, Dad helped her and she bought a place in Linköping. It was an apartment where there was a beauty

Margaretha doing Annika's hair

parlor at one end and living quarters at the other. I was working in Linköping at the time so I would go and visit her and she would come and visit me. When the year was up, they got married. Lennart and I were in on the ceremony as bridesmaid and groomsman. Then she sold the beauty parlor and she would fix hair for the neighbor ladies, Ingrid Davidson, Ingrid i Gräsvidra, Karin i Björndahl and others. They came and had their hair fixed at her place. Margaretha did well. She and Astor had three kids, AnnCathrine, Helene and PerAnders. When Astor got sick and he couldn't keep on farming anymore, they bought a beauty parlor in Valdemarsvik and moved there. Margaretha kept on there until she retired. She still lives in Valdemarsvik. It's been great fun to take the kids and family there to see them through the years.

Lennart and Annika's wedding

And then comes Lennart. He wanted to go into the military too, but Mama cried and cried and cried and cried. But Dad, he said, "Let the boy go." Dad remembered that he didn't get to do what he wanted to when he was young. So Lennart went into the Air Force and he learned to work on fine instruments. He also went to school some that way. Lennart had a couple of girlfriends but nothing serious. It just never felt right until he found Annika. Then he said to me, "This is It!" We were all happy he found Annika and then they had two boys, Magnus and Henrik.

The Boberg kids -- Sara, Gun, Brita, Lennart and Margaretha, Midsommar 1990