    
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Administrative
Information
Scope and Content Note
Biographical Information
Lineage
Selected Search Terms
Partial Interview Transcript
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Information
Resources
Robert A. L. Mortvedt Library
Pacific
Lutheran University
Tacoma, WASHINGTON 98447
Phone: (253) 535-7586 E-mail: archives@plu.edu
New Land
New Lives Oral History Collection
Ralph (Carl Rudolph) Wickström
Strom
A Guide to His Oral History Interview |
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Administrative
Information
Creator:
Strom, Ralph (Carl Rudolph) Wickström
Collection Nr: t167
File Content:
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3 file folders
6 photographs
1 sound cassette
0 compact discs
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Processing Information:
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The
interview was conducted using a cassette recorder. A research
copy was also prepared from the original. To further preserve
the content of the interview, it is now being transferred
to compact disc. We deliberately did not transcribe the
entire interview because we want the researchers to listen
to the interviewee's own voice. The transcription index
highlights important aspects of the interview and the
tape counter numbers noted on the Partial Interview
Transcription are meant as approximate finding guides
and refer to the location of a subject on the cassette/CD.
Interviewed
by Inger Nygaard Carr
Transcribed by Mary Sue Gee, Julie Peterson and Becky
Husby
Encoded by Kerstin Ringdahl & Amity Smetzler
Recording Quality: Good
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Restrictions:
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The
collection is available for research.
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Preferred Citation:
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[Collection
Number, Collection Title]
New Land New Lives Oral History Collection
Scandinavian Immigrant Experience Collection
Robert A.L. Mortvedt Library
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447
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The
interview was conducted with Ralph Strom on April 23, 1982 in
Seattle, Washington. This interview contains information on
personal background, emigration, employment, family, church
and community life, a connection with author Kathryn Winslow,
and Swedish heritage. It also provides photographs of Ralph
Strom's home in Sweden, Ralph as a young man (Christmas 1912),
Ralph with the Lake McMurray logging crew (1913), Ralph and
his wife Edith (1922), and Ralph at the time of the interview.
The interview was conducted in English.
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Ralph
Strom was born Carl Rudolph Wickström on March 19, 1896 in a
farming village called Alvik near Luleå, Sweden. Ralph's father,
Carl Nyström, moved to America when Ralph was born and never
returned. Ralph's mother, Emma Wikström, remarried and had six
more children. When Ralph's stepfather won a lottery, the family
bought a new home in a neighboring village. Ralph and his family
were poor, but even in difficult times they were happy and had
festive holiday celebrations. Ralph's community was quite religious,
so a lot of the activities centered on the church. Ralph went
to school for four years and then spent most of his time working.
He started working in a sawmill when he was ten years old, having
convinced his employers that he was twelve. As the family grew,
Ralph's mother encouraged him to move to America, even though
he was only sixteen years old. A local woman leant Ralph the
money for the trip, and he departed in June of 1912. On his
trip out West, Ralph met three film stars-Dustin Farnum, William
Farnum, and Catheryn Williams-on their way to Montana to shoot
a movie. Ralph traveled with a neighbor from Sweden named William
Simon who helped him a great deal during the move. Ralph also
had help available from his mother's cousin, John Nordstrom.
Mr. Nordstrom had made quite a bit of money during the gold
rush in Alaska and had started a shoe store, which is now the
successful Nordstrom department store. Since Ralph was familiar
with logging, he moved to Arlington, Washington and found a
job in a camp called Carbon Hill. The conditions were bad, and
Ralph's situation got even worse when a depression in Seattle
made work scarce, leaving Ralph with little food and money.
Fortunately, Ralph became acquainted with a German boilermaker
who gave him an apprenticeship. He learned the trade while working
other odd jobs to make more money. Due to his valuable boilermaker
skills, Ralph was in high demand at the shipyards during World
War I. He worked in the shipyards until 1920. In 1922, Ralph
married Edith Holmquist in Everett, Washington. Edith had an
unfortunate accident before they met in which she broke two
of her vertebrae; she could not work full days because of the
pain. Ralph moved to Alaska where he worked as a boilermaker
for the railroad, and Edith joined him shortly thereafter. Ralph
quit the railroad when he got gold fever, finally settling in
a job working for US Smelting, Mining & Refining Company
until 1959. In 1939, while he worked for the mining company,
Ralph assisted author Kathryn Winslow as she researched for
her book called The Big Pan-Out. After living in Alaska, Ralph
and Edith returned to Seattle. Ralph is the oldest member of
the Boilermakers Union, and he also participates in the Swedish
Club. He has taken two trips back to Sweden and still speaks
the language. Ralph is proud of his heritage, but he maintains
that Swedes and Americans are equal.
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Full Name: |
Ralph (Carl Rudolph) Wickström Strom
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Father: |
Carl Nyström
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Step-father: |
Oscar Lundkvist
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Mother: |
Emma Wickström
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Maternal Grandfather: |
Agust Wickström
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Maternal Grandmother: |
Anna Lena Wickström
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Brothers and Sisters: |
Torsten Lundkvist
Allan Lundkvist
Astrid Larson
Märta Lundgren
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Spouse: |
Edith Maria Holmquist
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This collection is indexed under the following headings
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Personal Names |
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Wickström, Carl Rudolph
Wickström, Emma
Nyström Carl
Strom, Ralph
Wickström, Agust
Wickström, Anna Lena
Lundkvist, Oscar
Thyr, Ebba
Holmquist, Edith Maria
Winslow, Kathryn
Nordstrom, John
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Family Names |
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Strom family
Wickström family
Nyström family
Lundvist family
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Geographical Names |
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Alvik, Luleå (Sweden)
Sångenäs (Sweden)
Sunderby (Sweden)
Antnäs (Sweden)
Järnboås (Sweden)
Seattle (Wash.)
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Subjects |
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Family -- Sweden
Sweden -- Emigration and immigration
Alvik (Sweden) -- Emigration and immigration
Christmas -- Sweden
Lusitania (Steamship)
Railroad travel
Marriage service
World War, 1914-1915
Depressions -- 1929 -- Washington (State)
Carbon Hill Logging Camp (Arlington, Wash.)
Skinner and Eddy Shipyard (Seattle, Wash.)
Sweden -- Social conditions -- 1945-
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders,
Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers
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Occupations |
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Logging
Miners
Sawmill workers
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Genre/Form |
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Oral history
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Institution |
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Pacific Lutheran University. Scandinavian Immigrant Experience
Collection
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The
partial interview transcription highlights important aspects
of the interview. Numbers on the left may be used as guides
to important subjects. Two numbers separated by a slash indicate
that the first number is for cassette and the second for CD.
020 PERSONAL BACKGROUND: His name is now Ralph Strom. Before
he became a citizen his name was Carl Rudolph Wickström. He
changed his name because there were so many Wickströms, but
then there got to be more Stroms than Wickströms. Was born March
19, 1896 in a farming village outside of the city of Luleå.
The village was called Alvik. This is in the northern part of
Sweden in the provinces, which is called Norrbotten. Later they
moved.
075 PARENTS: Raised by his mother. Ralph's father went to America
about the time that he was born and never returned. His name
was Carl Nyström. He went to Colorado. Mother Emma Wickström
was a good caterer. Mother got married when he was 11 years
old. He got four half-sisters and two half-brothers. She married
Oscar Lundkvist. He was a laborer at different places, steel
mill.
140 NEW FAMILY HOME: Step-father won a lottery and it was enough
to buy a house. So they bought another house and moved to the
neighboring village.
160 CHILDHOOD: Raised in farming country, but they didn't have
a farm. Started working in the sawmill when he was 10 years
old.
178 GRANDPARENTS: Paternal grandfather was the governor of the
province for a number of years. His name was possibly Carl Nyström.
He lived to be 105 years old.
Maternal grandfather, Agust Wickström had about six brothers
and sisters so Ralph had lots of aunts and uncles. Agust worked
in the woods all his life. He was somewhat of a carpenter too.
Maternal grandmother died when his mother was 9 or 10. Her name
was Anna Lena Wickström.
263 BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Torsten was a carpenter in Luleå.
He was also a very good long distance skier. Allan came to the
U.S. to visit Ralph and stayed for about three months. Three
weeks after his return to Sweden he died of a heart attack.
He worked in the steel mill.
300 SISTERS: All of his sisters who are alive have been to the
U.S. to visit him. Oldest sister visited him last summer for
about four months (Astrid). His other two sisters have been
to visit too, Märta Lundgren and Ebba Thyr. They are all married
and live in Sweden.
340 SCHOOL IN SWEDEN: Had about five years of grade school.
He went to work when he was ten years old. He was large for
his age so he passed for 12, which was how old he was supposed
to be to work at the sawmill.
355 WORK AT AGE 10: Worked in the sawmill. There were men who
cut boards by hand. They didn't have dry kilns so they had large
stacks of lumber to air dry. There were men who would cut off
the ends of the boards with hand saws then the kids would come
and pick up these pieces. He made 75 Swedish cents a day. He
gave his mother the money.
405 CHILDHOOD: Had a nice childhood. His mother was nice. The
people were poor. He remembers the general strike they had in
Sweden in 1909.
420 WHY SWEDEN WAS POOR: When Bernadotte became King of Sweden
he signed over a 99 year lease that England would get the steel
industry and Germany the lumber industry. The Swedish people
were more like serfs to these countries. All the profits left
Sweden. In 1936 the lease ended. The working people lost the
strike.
455 MIGRATION TO BRAZIL: Many workers in the iron mines in northern
Sweden went to Brazil to settle down. The climate didn't agree
with them and they died. This was more evident of the labor
unrest in Sweden during this time period.
485 CHRISTMAS: No matter how poor they were they had fun at
Christmas time. They had Christmas trees and there were lots
of festivals.
493 CHURCH LIFE IN SWEDEN: The people were very religious. He
went to church as a child. People had cottages built around
the church and would go and stay for about a week at Christmas,
Easter and New Years. This was at the same church he was confirmed
in. He believes that this church was built by Catholics. The
name of it was Gamla Stadens Kyrka (the old town church).
649 CHRISTMAS FOODS: Lutfisk, frukt soppa, various cookies and
sometimes an apple. The food was cooked and then taken to the
village where they had their celebration in Missionshuset (the
Mission house). The preacher would come to this place and give
sermons.
688 COTTAGES AROUND THE CHURCH: (see counter I-493) The was
about twelve miles from where he lived. Each farmer had his
own cottage. Ralph's mother didn't have one. The only time Ralph
was in these cottages was for confirmation. It took two weeks
to be confirmed. He was 14 when he was confirmed.
717 SCHOOL: He hadn't quit school but had gotten ahead one year.
He learned fast. Kindergarten was supposed to be for two years,
but he only went for one. Then he went three years to the regular
school. He had four years of school when he should have had
five.
747 FOLK STORIES: There were quite a few stories, but he never
paid too much attention.
766 Worked in the sawmill every summer until he was 16 and left
for America. The last two years at the sawmill he got a raise
in pay to 1 Krone and 25 Swedish cents. He was stacking lumber
for ten hours a day.
787 REASONS FOR EMIGRATION: He was always figuring on leaving
to better his conditions. There was a lot of talk about emigration
then and so many had left.
797 EMIGRATION MONEY: Mother had worked at a wholesale grocery
business and she borrowed the money (600 kroner) from the lady
there.
820 MOTHER'S FEELINGS ON HIS EMIGRATION: The family was growing
and the house was small. He would have had to leave soon anyway.
She didn't want him to leave so early, but she thought it was
the best because he was so set on it.
824 EMIGRATION: Left in June of 1912. The lady from the wholesale
grocery business gave him the money and he promised to pay it
back.
835 WORK IN THE U.S.: He knew how to handle an ax because his
grandfather had taught him. He came to Seattle, Washington and
got a job in Arlington, Washington in a logging camp called
Carbon Hill (?).
840 SHIP TRAVEL: Came on the Lusitania in about six days. He
went from home to Gothenburg (Goetoborg), Sweden to Hull, England,
and then across England by train to Southampton, England where
they boarded the Lusitania. They stopped one day in Queenstown,
Ireland to take on immigrants there. The North Sea was rough
and Ralph got sick.
873 ENGLAND: Stayed in the immigrants hotels. He was surprised
how differently people lived in England than in Sweden. He remembers
kids' shining shoes on the street.
894 TRIP OVER THE OCEAN: It was beautiful. The Lusitania was
a big ship. The ship was segregated by ethnic background, Poles,
Scandinavians, and Greeks. They had a mess house were you got
your meals. The food was alright, but it was different than
he was used to.
910 FOOD IN SWEDEN: Lived on milk a lot. Didn't have soup with
spices in it. They had meat about once a month. The food was
spicy on the boat.
933 Landed at Ellis Island then went to New York and from there
he took the train to Seattle, Washington.
940 TRAIN TRAVEL: Went from New York central to Minneapolis.
When they got to Minneapolis, they took the Chicago - Milwaukee
and went through the Dakotas to Montana and then into Seattle,
Washington. When they got to the Dakotas a moving picture outfit
got on the train. Dustin Farnum, William Farnum and Catheryn
Williams were going to go to Montana to make a film. There was
a drunk on the train. Some of the girls started making fun of
his Swedish style clothes, but Catheryn Williams befriended
him. She sat by him, they couldn't speak to each other, but
his travel companion could.
975 TRAVEL COMPANION: Came with William Simon, a neighbor from
Sweden who had been here before. He had been on a visit back
to Sweden and was now returning to Seattle, Washington. This
man had tried real hard to get on the Titanic. This was the
same year that it sunk. This man was a big help.
1004 He remembers how the actress complemented him on his good
complexion. He attributed it to the Swedish climate. She was
a help to him also on the trip.
1017 IMPRESSIONS OF USA: Everything seemed big.
1021 TRAIN RIDE: Tiresome and hot. This was in July. It was
smoky because there were forest fires in the Cascade mountains.
1032 NORDSTROMS: Should have gone to work at Nordstrom's Shoe
Store. His mother and Mr. John Nordstrom, who started Nordstrom's
stores, were cousins. They were born in the same village in
Sweden. Mr. Nordstrom made his money up in Alaska during the
Gold Rush. He made enough money to start a shoe store at the
public market with his partner, Whalen (?) who made shoes. This
was in 1905. His mother asked Mr. Nordstrom if he wouldn't kind
of look after Ralph until he found something to do. He didn't
go to the Nordstrom's except to say "Hello" and that he was
going to work in a logging camp.
1060 LOGGING CAMP WORK: Got the job through his traveling companion.
He did pretty well and paid back the lady he had borrowed his
traveling money from after the first four months.
1070 SEATTLE: Went to a hotel. The lady at the hotel told Ralph's
companion that he should not let Ralph run around in the clothes
he had. Ralph didn't have any money so she took him down to
Lipman's and bought him a suit. He used to visit her. Her name
was Kitty Martin. From her he got a good impression. She paid
$16 for the suit and that was a lot. Stayed in Seattle for Friday,
Saturday, Sunday, and on Monday he went to the logging camp
and went right to work. During his days in Seattle he visited
people that he knew from the "old country."
1128 LOGGING CAMP: Called Carbon Hill. It was seven miles from
Arlington, Washington. Stayed there until Christmas. They had
to supply their own blankets. The bunks were three stories high.
They had straw for mattresses. There were lots of bedbugs. He
learned to count to 21 the first night he was there because
the man below him lay in bed with a hammer killing bedbugs and
counting them. There were 24 men in each bunkhouse. The conditions
and the food were poor. He got paid $2.50 per day which was
bad and paid $5.50 a week for board and room. The fallers got
$3.50-$4.00 a day and the buckers for $3.00 a day. Ralph was
a swamper and had to cut down the trees to make room to bring
in the chokers and haul the trees out.
1170 DEPRESSION IN SEATTLE 1914: He had no money. They stayed
in an old abandoned warehouse they call the Hotel DeGink (?).
The loggers had their own bedding so they would go to this warehouse
to sleep. In the daytime they would leave their blankets with
the saloonkeepers so they wouldn't be stolen. Ralph did this
for about two months. He had a little money for food. They would
get a meal once and awhile from the Salvation Army.
1195 FEELINGS ON AMERICA NOW: Still wasn't ready to go back
to Sweden. He knew he wouldn't live that way forever.
1200 BOILERMAKER WORK: Got acquainted with a German boilermaker.
(In the meantime he had worked in the woods off and on.) This
boilermaker got him into the Commercial Boiler Works as an apprentice
boilermaker. Had a room at the Union Hotel, which he paid $6
a month for. It was small room with a washstand and a bed. This
was cheap rent. Ralph was making only 16 cents an hour 10 hours
a day. This was fine until his clothes started wearing out.
1225 SECOND JOB: Told the man in the boiler shop that he wanted
a month off to go and visit his mother. He hadn't seen her in
over a year. But he didn't go home, he had a job lined up with
the City of Seattle to help log off the watershed at Cedar River.
So he got in a month's work there.
SIDE II
018 SECOND JOB: He got this second job in order to make enough
money to buy some clothes. He earned $65 as a bucker. Then he
returned to learn how to become a boilermaker. He wanted to
learn this trade.
045 RAN OUT OF CLOTHES AGAIN: This time the Lord came with a
snowstorm and Ralph and friends got jobs shoveling snow from
roofs. There was 6 feet of snow. Ralph got $60 from one building
and made about $200 in all by shoveling snow in 1916.
063 WAR: During WWI Ralph worked in the shipyards.
068 Bought clothes with the money he made shoveling snow. Then
he went back to work for the boilermaker and served out his
three years of apprenticeship. He didn't quite make the three
years because the war started he had to go work in the shipyards.
083 SHIPYARD: Worked during WWI at Skinner and Eddy shipyard
and J.F. Duthie shipyard both of Seattle, Washington. Didn't
have to go into the service because he was working in the shipyard.
Was made a riveter foreman at the Duthie shipyard at the age
of 21. This was 1918. They had to register for the draft in
1917. He had so much experience from boiler making that he was
needed at the shipyard.
140 CO-WORKERS: Many people of different ethnic backgrounds.
Didn't work with Swedes all the time. The people who immigrated
at that time were all good people. Ralph had a lot of Greek
friends. There were Czechoslovakians, Russians, and people from
all over the world. There weren't many blacks in Seattle at
that time.
176 FIRST BLACK PERSON: Saw him in Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden.
195 LANGUAGE: Started to pick it up right away. Read the papers
and learned from other people. Didn't go to school. Wasn't able
to lose his Swedish accent.
213 Felt at home right away in the U.S. He was young and people
were good to him. He worked hard and lived right and no one
abused him in any way.
233 SHIPYARDS: Stayed there until they were closed down in 1920
or 1919.
245 RIVETING: Was a riveter on the telephone building and a
medical building.
250 ALASKA: Was hired out as a boilermaker for the Alaska railroad.
Went up there in 1921 and stayed there until 1959. Was in Fairbanks,
Alaska. Was in Anchorage, Alaska first and was then transferred
to Nenana, Alaska. When the bridge was built across the Yukon
River the house they were living in was moved up to Fairbanks
and they were all laid off.
277 GOLD FEVER: Started working for the miners up there. Then
Ralph got the gold fever and didn't go back to the railroad.
He started prospecting. He and some other fellows got together
and took a large lease on some mining property. They didn't
make any money but they got lots of experience.
291 US SMELTING, MINING, AND REFINING CO.: They came into Fairbanks
and the manager, Norman C. Stines (?) offered him a job because
he heard what a hard worker Ralph was and all the experience
and skills he had. Ralph went to work for him from 1924 to 1959.
He got vacations in the wintertime to come out here. The wages
were pretty good. He never lost a day of work during the Depression.
328 SPOUSE: Married in 1922 in Everett, Washington. His wife
lived up in Alaska with him. He met her in Seattle, Washington.
Her name was Edith Holmquist. She was born in Sweden and raised
in Norway and came to Seattle when she was about 8 years with
her mother. Her father was an alcoholic and her parents were
divorced. That was something that you didn't do in Sweden in
those days. Her father stayed in Sweden. Her mother came from
the middle part of Sweden, Västmanland. His wife's grandmother
came from the town of Arboga, Sweden, which is one of the oldest
cities in Sweden. Edith's father came from the province of Hälsingland,
Sweden. When they lived n Norway they were in Hammerfest, which
is the northern most city in the world.
387 REASONS FOR EMIGRATION (WIFE'S FAMILY): Her mother thought
they would have a better chance here. Edith's mother was an
expert cook.
399 MEETING SPOUSE: they met in Seattle at her mother's home.
Her mother kept boarders in a pretty good-sized boardinghouse.
Ralph never stayed there but he would go there and have a good
home cooked meal once and awhile.
414 WIFE'S WORK: She was very unfortunate. She worked sorting
laundry in the Washington Laundry on Lake Union. While she was
working she slipped on the cement steps, fell, broke two vertebra
below her shoulder blades. There wasn't much knowledge in treating
this at that time so they just bundled her up. After that she
could never work a full eight hours under any circumstances
because her back bothered her so bad. This happened before they
met.
445 WEDDING: Beautiful marriage, but no children. He felt lucky
enough that he had steady work. She could only work in short
intervals. Ralph went to Fairbanks, Alaska in 1921 and when
he returned in 1922 they got married. They were married in Everett,
Washington. Ralph returned to Alaska and then she came later.
They lived out on the Creek Station (?).
495 MEDICAL CARE: Wasn't easy to come by in Alaska.
504 HOME: Built a 12 by 14 foot log cabin.
512 WEDDING: (See also II-365) They were married at some friends'
home near Arlington, Washington.
519 CHURCH LIFE IN ALASKA: There was no chance. He was living
out on the Creeks (?).
526 WORK IN ALASKA: After awhile he moved into a company house
after they were married and he became a winch man on the dredger.
Later he became a dredge master. He did that for 18 years. He
lived in the company house were they got free housing, lights,
fuel, and a pick-up. This was a nice place to live. He now gets
a pension from them. He worked there from 1924 to 1959 except
for five years during the war when they couldn't get enough
steel to run the dredges.
574 ASSOCIATED SHIPYARD, SEATTLE: Worked here when the Alaska
job closed down. Was riveting foreman for five years here during
the Second World War.
584 SWEDISH TRADITIONS: Wife did Swedish cooking. She made lutefisk.
593 LOG CABIN IN ALASKA: His friends told him that when his
wife saw that log cabin she would go straight back to Seattle,
Washington. There wasn't even a bedroom. When she came she said
that she had always wanted to have a dollhouse and now she could
live in one.
613 TRANSPORTATION IN ALASKA: Ralph got her a dog and a sled
so she could go wherever she wanted to . She was used to the
cold weather after being raised in Norway.
627 KATHRYN WINSLOW: She was a writer from Chicago who had had
a relative in the Klondike and was very interested in the old
Klondike. She came to Fairbanks, Alaska and was referred to
Ralph since he knew some of the old timers. In about 1936 she
wrote the book, "The Big Pan-Out." Ralph introduced her to several
people to get information for the book. Talks about Charlie
Andersen and the stories that had been told about him losing
his money. The book was a hit. He got a first edition copy from
her, but he lost the trunk with his books in it.
700 BOOK COLLECTIONS: Ralph's wife collected first editions.
She had some by Jack London, Rex Beach, Mark Twain and others.
They did a lot of reading. They lost them all in the trunk on
the Alaska Steamship.
723 CO-WORKERS IN ALASKA: He had Eskimos working for him. He
says Eskimos are the finest people in the world because they
are honest, reliable, and good workers. They have good characters.
He had some that would come to work every year and leave to
hunt seal in the fall. They are good to their children and their
children are well behaved.
750 WORKING CONDITIONS: Can't compare the conditions between
here and Sweden because he worked so little there.
770 CONDITIONS FOR HIM IN AMERICA: "Can't say nothing but the
best." He talks about how people say that you go bad as a result
of a bad environment, but he doesn't feel anyone could have
had a worse environment than he had. When he lived at the Union
Hotel, there were gambling houses on Washington Street. He used
to go in and "rubber neck." He had no money to play himself.
He even got shot in the leg in one place when it was held up.
He spent four days in the Seattle General Hospital. It was up
to the man himself how his conditions turn out. He was among
the worst gamblers and prostitutes and had no home life.
800 RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND: He was raised a good Christian. His
mother was very religious and he remembers what she had told
him. He had no use for crooked stuff.
810 CHURCH LIFE: Doesn't go to church. There wasn't a church
in Alaska within thirty miles and he was working so much.
828 ORGANIZATIONS: Belonged to the Masonic group in Alaska.
Belongs to the Swedish Club now. (Remembers now that it was
the Waldorf Hotel that he stayed in in Seattle during the war.
He belongs to the Boilermakers Union and is the oldest member
in Seattle. He joined in 1916. He belongs to the Retired Boilermakers
Club too.
870 VISITS TO SWEDEN: Has been back two times. Four years ago
he went and stayed five months. The first time was in 1948 when
his mother was sick. He got a letter from his brother telling
him of her illness so he left Alaska and stayed in Sweden for
twenty days. His mother didn't believe he was coming. They met
on the road, but didn't now each other. Another man on the road
had to tell him that he had passed her.
936 CHANGES IN SWEDEN: They are living good now. The people
who didn't have anything when he was a kid are living good now.
He believes people are more religious in Sweden than here.
958 EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON SWEDEN: Maybe financially they felt
the effects of the war.
962 SWEDEN'S RAW MATERIALS: They are short of oil and coal.
971 SECOND TRIP TO SWEDEN: That was when he really got to see
the country. He stayed for five months. Had a friend that had
come to the U.S. and then returned to Sweden that showed him
around. This man worked for Volvo in Sweden, for Boeing in the
U.S. and then returned to Volvo in Sweden. He drove Ralph all
around Sweden. He took him to Maelaren, which is where Swedish
civilization first started, Gripsholms Castle, and many of the
old places that he had read about when he was in school. Maelaren
lake goes from Gothenburg (Goeteborg) to Stockholm.
1014 HERITAGE: Never thought too much about it. We are all somewhat
proud of our heritage. There are good and bad Swedes. Swedes
are not better than Americans. They are equal.
1035 SWEDISH LANGUAGE: Still speaks the language.
1037 SPOKEN SWEDISH: Tells about how he can still speak the
language.
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