I came a couple minutes late to the North Chapel, as I went astray and almost
lost on the huge Northern Burial Ground, and entered just as the priest (Hanna
Stenberg, also active in the Stockholm Tolkien Society) said "We have gathered
here to...". I found a seat next to Mats D Linder (famous for the zine Summa)
and Martin Andreasson (Sverifandom's first Member of Parliament, the Riksdag).
Lars-Olov Strandberg, Swedish sf fandom's Grand Old Man and the first Swede to
be Worldcon GoH, was to be buried.
I estimate that 80-90 people had gathered, April 13th, this unfortunate day,
as the spring's sunrays filtered through the leaded, coloured windows. About a
third were fans or tolkienist, but I won't even begin to try to make a boring
list of names. (There were 76 chairs at the gathering afterwards, four were
free - 72 were used. But I guess about 10-15 didn't follow there from the
church.) The rest were his extended family and former staff from his workplace,
the insurance company Skandia, While Lars-Olov didn't have children, he had
three siblings with children and grandchildren. And of course he had lots of
friends who also helped to fill up the church.
It began with a "science prayer" written by the physics professor Bengt
Gustavsson. Science, arts and human nature dominated the priest's eulogy.
Science in the form of Lars-Olov's fascination for space and the universe.
Arts, of course, dealt with his interest in science fiction and fantasy
literature. And when it comes to human nature, the priest said Lars-Olov
basically constituted everything good in a human being: friendly and mild,
eager to help, keeping track of things in and leading clubs and organisations.
He was a member of the Liberal party (the party of Martin Andreasson) and also
active in a group called the International Friendship League.
But despite being a very peaceful man, Lars-Olov could be furious when ha saw
grand injustice," the priest said. (I myself only once heard Lars-Olov say "But
that was unnecessary!" during some mishap on one of the Minicons. But I heard
rumours that he physically wrestled during the early 1960's Nazi scandal in
SFSF, throwing the guy having Nazi sympathies from a meeting!)
Hymns sung were No 199, 204 and 207 in the Church of Sweden hymn book. Some
music was also played, incl a bit of jazz.
Afterwards we went to a guesthouse named Solnadal (just next to the
Karolinska Institute) and sat down to eat some light food and cake and coffee.
On the way there I met Sam J Lundwall sitting on a bench, resting (he had been
in the church and his by now old legs were tired, obviously). Hew pointed to a
badge and claimed he got it "because I won a Nebuls". Not quite, but his
Alice's World was Nebula *nominated* in the 1970's. Is his memory slipping? On
the way to the guesthouse I talked a bit with Henry Skoglund, relative to
Lars-Olov, who had fine anecdotes about his uncle (I think he is). I also
talked with Carolina Gomez Lagerlöf who knew about the unfortunate illnesses
that has hit the fan Olle S, who was there in a wheelchair due to general
weakness (Olle was according to Carolina near death last autumn - let's hope he
is getting better). I also talked with Susan Hende (Lars-Olov's niece)
conveying a message from Clas Svahn that his Archive of the Unexplained is
ready to take care of Lars-Olov's left-over photos, books, zines and papers.
The family is at the moment considering what to do with it, she said.
Johan Anglemark was toastmaster. Anders Stenström from the Tolkien Society
was one of the speakers and hailed King Theoden (Lars-Olov's alias in that
group). At my table I had some tolkenists, as well as another niece of
Lars-Olov, Martin A and wasshissnameagen(?). Karl-Johan Noren sang a filksong
to Lars-Olov, based on Carl Michael Bellman's old "Cheers to Gustav" written
for King Gustav III (founder of the illustrious comedy club called the Swedish
Academy). I reminded him that I had written a filk to Lars-Olov too, in 2005
when he was GoHing to Glasgow. It's in English and here
http://norensoversattningar.se/Filkwiki/index.php?n=Sång.StrandbergsSong
Before dashing off to the opening of an exhibition, which I did, let me end
this report with the end of "Strandberg's song", to the tune of "The King Song"
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_mQ75LThF4):
You are our oldest fan, hey mate,
but strong and in a happy state *
while we others fight Gafia all
half-sober but we have no fear
we raise our pints of golden bheer
In the light of slides now roars our cheer:
to Lars-Olov, hear our "Skål!"
--Ahrvid
* This was in 2005, OK!
--
ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx / Follow @SFJournalen on Twitter for the latest news in
short form! / Gå med i SKRIVA, för författande, sf, fantasy, kultur
(skriva-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, subj: subscribe) och deltag i
FANTASTIKNOVELLTÄVLINGEN 2017, info
https://www.freelists.org/post/skriva/Fantastiknovelltvlingen-2017 / Om Ahrvids ;
novellsamling Mord på månen: http://zenzat.wordpress.com/bocker C Fuglesang: ;
"stor förnöjelse...jättebra historier i mycket sannolik framtidsmiljö"! / Nu
som ljudbok: http://elib.se/ebook_detail.asp?id_type=ISBN&id‘86081462 / Läs ;
även AE i nya E-antologin Oskuld http://www.novellmastarna.se/Oskuld.htm / Och ;
fråga om hans sf-fanhistoriska uppslagsverk Fandboken / YXSKAFTBUD, GE VÅR
WCZONMÖ IQ-HJÄLP! (DN NoN 00.02.07)
-----
SKRIVA - sf, fantasy och skräck * Äldsta svenska skrivarlistan
grundad 1997 * Info http://www.skriva.bravewriting.com eller skriva- ;
request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx för listkommandon (ex subject: subscribe).