Siv Birgit Margareta (Svensson) Åhlenius' Obituary
On the seventeenth of February, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven, in the little town of Näs, just a bit south of Östersund, our mother was born. Siv Birgit Margareta grew up, however, on an island called Frösön attached to Östersund by a bridge. A lifelong love for this land never left her. Even as she became a beautiful young woman, moved to Östersund to work, married, raised three children, and left her beloved country never to move back, her heart remained in Frösön, in Jämtland, in Sweden.
As a child, she bicycled to the home of Sweden's famed composer Wilhelm Peterson-Berger and listened from the street as he played. Later she learned to play piano herself. In her teen years, she became a ski jumper which no doubt impressed a few of her male friends but perhaps not, initially, her parents, Bernhard and Svea. Surely there are untold stories about her escapades and those of her siblings Annie and Sven, and later Åke which would pique one's curiosity; especially after the story of 'the kick', 'the shoe', and 'the implanting' (don't ask!).
After high school she graduated college earning a degree in Administration. She worked as a department head at a large Swedish State organization with over thirty employees under her. She even tackled the difficult art of stenography.
She married in 1950, and within a few years, completed her family. She immigrated to the United States in 1958, settling in Miami. Amazingly, Mamma Siv picked up her career where she left off and went back to work at age 62, staying with David Lipman's law firm until after her 90th birthday. The Lipmans and all of her friends at the firm loved her and treated her like family, and she loved them in return.
Her love extended to her three children, eight grandchildren and four of their spouses, and four great-grandchildren.
She was calm and stoic in the face of crises. She instilled in us the Nordic qualities of honesty, fairness and hard work as did our Pappa. Family and friends were the beneficiaries of her baking skills as she made all the wonderful cookies and buns handed down from past generations. She insisted we attend church and learn about Jesus from early on. She never wavered in her devotion to us as she let go of any personal aspirations. She was quiet in her faith as befits the temperament of many Swedes, yet it was there. Near the end she gently nodded her head in silent agreement that her coming sleep would simply be a step into the arms of her Savior.
She slipped away at thirty-four minutes past one o'clock on the afternoon of July fourteenth, two thousand and nineteen.
What’s your fondest memory of Siv?
What’s a lesson you learned from Siv?
Share a story where Siv's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Siv you’ll never forget.
How did Siv make you smile?
