May I have this Dance? The story of Ulla & Arne Ganstal’s 43-year adventure from Stockholm, Sweden to Vancouver

Ernst Harald Larsson was born in Flädie, located between Malmö and Lund, on October 15,1881. His parents bought a house and a general store in Lunnarp, and that is where he grew up and went to school. Lunnarp is a village just north of Ystad on the south coast of Sweden. Ernst was strongheaded and…

Staffan Lindgren was born in Norrköping, Sweden, on July 18, 1950. At age 11 he moved with his parents to Piteå in Norrbotten, where he grew up, and he considers himself a “norrlänning”. He was interested in animals from an early age, particularly insects and spiders, encouraged (or at least not discouraged) by his parents….

My father, Harold Swanson, was born in the family home in Spånga, Hanaskog, Sweden on September 16, 1899. His father had a sawmill business. Eventually the family moved to Agnesberg, also in Hanaskog. His father set up an oak flooring business and raised show horses there. My dad graduated from Malmö Tekniska Läroverk which helped…

Sigge (Alf Sigvald) Björklund was born in Lappfjärd, Finland on February 15, 1926. He immigrated to Vancouver in 1956. Upon arriving in Vancouver he lived with his sister Linnea and worked as an electrician. Being an avid cross country skier from Finland, he loved the mountains of the west coast but couldn’t find any suitable…

Britta Norman’s Bio (Prepared by Solvig, Per-Henrik, and Bjorn Norman) Britta Margareta Norman (nee Nilsson) was born in Östersund, Sweden, on Oct 18th, 1924. She was an only child and had a good upbringing in a large house built by her father. Some of her neighbourhood friends became lifelong friends. Her dad owned a lot…

Bo Fred Olsson was born in Hede, Härjedalen, Sweden. The Olsson family of 6 left Sweden by ocean liner from Gothenburg to New York in 1946 when he was 4 years old. They travelled across America by rail and entered Canada through the border customs in White Rock, British Columbia. Bo’s father was already a…