The childhood of Eva

Unfortunately, three of my grandparents died within a couple of years before I was born. Of my four grandparents, I only got to meet the mother of my father. She had been dead and had been revived. This had caused brain damage and influenced, for example, the way she talked. The closest I came to having a grandparent was Eva Granø. Eva was born in 1916. Eva was the daughter of Karla. Karla was my mother's father's sister. Eva's father was a deck officer of a ship. Eva never got to know her father. Eva's mother, Karla, was 17 years old, as she gave birth to Eva. Eva saw her mother Karla relatively little, as Karla went to Copenhagen to live her life. Eva was adopted by her grandparents.

Sports of Eva

Eva loved to play tennis. When I was a child young, I recall that, now and then, she played a little with me at the club Aarhus 1900, where she was a member. And when I came to visit her, we also sometimes watched tennis on television. Eva was well into her 70s before she stopped playing tennis with her friends. She went by bicycle between the club and her home in Højbjerg. 

Work of Eva

Eva communicated well in more languages, for example in English and Spanish. When Eva was in her twenties, she worked for a period of time in London. Eva showed me letters she received from people, who lived in Quito, Ecuador and had helped her and her husband in the house where they lived.  She explained to me that several years after she had returned to Denmark, she kept writing to people she had gotten to know in Quito, Ecuador.

Eva and her husband Poul Erik

Later in her life, Eva met Poul Erik Vang Granø. He worked as master beer brewer. Eva and Poul Erik traveled a lot. For example, they traveled through Italy in the 1940s. Eva and Poul Erik also traveled to Cairo, Egypt at the start of the 1950s. And in the mid 1950s, Eva and her husband went to live in Quito, Ecuador, where Poul Erik was the manager of a beer brewery. It was not least Eva, who inspired me to learn more about Ecuador. Eva and Poul Erik had two dogs. When Eva's husband Poul died in the mid 1960s in Ecuador, Eva returned to Denmark and moved into an apartment at Emiliehøj 1 in Højbjerg in the southern part of Aarhus.

Good times with Eva

Eva was a curious person. She loved to learn. I recall that she often cut out articles for me from Jyllands-Posten, a paper she read with much curiosity every day. Often, Eva and I had really good conversations about what each of us had been reading. An additional thing we had in common was a love for chocolate. Eva's favorite chocolate was a dark bitter Feodora chocolate. We both loved that chocolate. Every time I came to visit Eva at her apartment in Højbjerg in Demark, we enjoyed a piece of chocolate together.  When I got older, Eva also served a glass of Noilly Prat with the chocolate. Those were special moments we had together.  A precious gift, Eva gave to me one day, as I was visiting her in her apartment in Højbjerg, was a freedom fighter armband, which she had received earlier in her life. Eva told me very little about the story behind the armband. She just said, "this is for you. You will find out what it means." Another gift, Eva gave me, was this little tool with the words, "Little man, what now?" I often think about this - primarily because of the words that are written on it. When I look at the tool and the words, I get inspired to think about related questions such as: Am I doing the right things now? What should I stop doing? What should I start doing? Why?

My godmother Gerda was the youngest of my father's siblings. She had the nickname "Putte". She was educated as a graphic designer and worked for Jyllands-Posten for almost 5 decades. My mother told me that when I was a child, Putte and my godfather Lars sometimes took care of me when my parents had a need for it. I remember that Putte and Lars had a relatively big St. Bernhard dog that I liked a lot. One time Putte and Lars asked my parents what they should do when I was crying. Just turn on the vaccuum cleaner, my mother said. Then he will think he is at home and feel calm. It worked. Later in her life, Putte married Hans Rasmussen. Putte and Hans had two children, Carsten and Gregers. In the 1980s, when I attended high school, and in the 1990s, when I studied for a bachelor education and a masters education, I recall that I sometimes visited Putte, Hans and their two children Gregers and Carsten in their house at Valbyvej in Aarhus. I remember, for example, that Putte liked to play the guitar and sing. And as I did as well, we would sometimes sing songs, have a chat and a good laugh over a cup of coffee. After my father died, Hans said to me that he had asked my father a few times to treat me better. Putte died of cancer.

My godfather Lars was educated as typesetter. He worked worked for Scanprint in Aarhus for more than 40 years. He also worked as a model and was a goalkeeper on football teams based in Aarhus. Lars was married to my godmother Gerda only a relatively short time. Not long before my parents divorced in 1975, my godmother Gerda and my godfather Lars had divorced.  Lars had an interest in Thailand. Why? I was told by my mother that the father of Lars' brother's wife had started a garden center in Egå north of Aarhus in Denmark. Lars and his brother had the idea of collecting plants from exotic places around the world and bringing these to the garden center and thereby offer customers something unique. Lars and his brother traveled to, for example, Mexico and Thailand. In December of 2004, when Lars was in Thailand, he died with thousands of other people, as a Tsunami hit the place.

Anna Christoffersen, who was my mother's father's sister, married Harald Jensen. Anna and Harald had no children. Harald sold cars and was named "the car king" because he was quite good at what he was doing. My mother often visited Anna and Harald, who lived in a house close to the sea at Sejrs Allé in Risskov in Denmark. Anna and Harald felt sorry for and wanted to help my mother for various reasons: For example, Anna and Harald found that life was difficult for my mother because my mother's father Robert, who was a Danish policeman, had been in concentration camps in Germany during World War 2 with many other Danish policemen. Anna and Harald also felt sorry for my mother because my mother had a disabled brother, with whom my mother's mother spent much more time than she spent with my mother. When my mother was 12 years old, Anna took my mother to general education for a week and also sent my mother to a French food culture education for a week at Park Allé in Aarhus. Anna and Harald made a suggestion to my mother's parents that they would adopt my mother, if my mother's parents would like that. My mother's mother resisted.

Nancy was my mother's mother's sister. Nancy married Otto Pedersen. Nancy and Otto had a grocery shop in Risskov. My mother told me this story: Once a month on a weekend, my mother's mother came to the grocery shop to help her sister Nancy and her sister's husband to clean the two coffee roasting machines they had in the shop. On Saturday, my mother's mother put a particular cream on the machine, and on Sunday, she used a cloth to make the machines shine. 

My mother also told me that Nancy and Otto had chicken in the backyard that laid eggs. They also had a pig, she said. As the pig got larger they sold it in small portions and sold them in their grocery shop. On Sundays, Nancy and Otto went to the race course to watch horses race against each other. Otto had a dog that he went hunting with. My mother also said that they Nancy and Otto like to play cards.