My grandmother Grace was an Irish farmgirl born in Wisconsin; she moved to Minneapolis as a young adult. There she met my grandfather, a swede who worked at the consulate, and they married. When America entered WWII, my grandfather Gösta was recalled back to Sweden. My grandmother had two young boys was pregnant with my mother, and I know the trip to Sweden on the ship made her extremely nervous, with U-boats prowling and ongoing war. It was not easy for my grandmother to adapt to her husband's country. Shortly after they arrived, her eldest son died from an ear infection. Antibiotics were not easily available. My mother was born in there Sweden a few months later, and the family remained there for 5 years, until my grandfather was reposted again in the states. When Gösta retired from the Swedish embassy, they remained in the US to be close to their children. Gösta died when I was a year old, and Grace accompanied his body back to Sweden to be buried in the graveyard next to their son. On that trip, she bought my cousins and I the traditional Swedish caps for young children.  This is a picture of me at age 2 wearing the cap. I still have the cap today.

– Kate Haley Goldman

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant