On May 27, 2012, my mother passed away, she was my last link to the older generation. It is hard to say that death comes unexpected at 89, still she seemed to be flourishing after we moved her to a nursing home in January. She was eating better, playing cards with other guests all evening, and enjoyed the garden outside her room. On her last day, she insisted on bringing her morning coffee outside to watch the spring flowers and enjoy the sun. By 7 PM the same day she was gone.. A cold had developed into pneumonia which became too much for her weak heart.
My mother was born in Ludvika, and spent most of her life there, except for her later school years. She spent her whole working life at the local post office, which meant that she became a well-known person in the small town, and seemed to know everyone we met on the street. Around 1944 she met my father, Carl-Erik Elg, they married in 1946 and had a loving marriage until Carl-Erik passed away in 1993.
My mother´s main interests were gardening - in her final years she still insisted on having fresh flowers in her room every day - and travel. Long before international travel became a mass-market commodity, she traveled with Carl-Erik to many corners of Europe, to Australia and the US, and introduced me and my sister to international travel at an early age.
She was a modern woman in many ways. She insisted on her own career, although we had a maid to look after us children while we were small. Her parents divorced while she was young and both re-married. Although I am sure the process was hard for her at the time, they were able to stay on friendly terms, and we kids saw nothing out of the ordinary in having an extra set of grandparents around at Christmas and other family gatherings.
