Alma Sigrid Kirstine Hansen

  Noted events in her life were:

• Baptism: Roskilde Kathedral, 1895, Sjalland, Denmark.

• Education: elementary, high school, and two years of business college, 1901~1912, Aalborg, Denmark.

"When I was 6 years old I started school at Miss Moller's private school. I went to that school 1 year, by that time the Latinshol had finished a new building for the first 5 grades. I continued school through high school after which I took 2 years of business College."

• Employment, 1912~15, Denmark.

"My first job was as a Salesgirl at Bruning's Parfumery which was a very interesting job, but poorly paid. I decided to try to get into an office and obtained my first job with Aalborg Margarine Fabrick. It turned out to be too difficult a job for a beginner. I had to take Shorthand and type German and English letters. I was only there a short time until I got another job with Munksguard wholesale in underwear, stockings, and woolyarn. I was the bookkeeper there for about 2 years."

• Engagement: to Hans Haakonsen, 1915~17, Aalborg, Denmark.

"In 1915 I was engaged to Hans Haakonsen from Stavanger, Norway. I had met him in 1912, he was at that time working as a draftsman for Stuka Shipbuilding in Aalborg, but went back to Norway in 1913. After our Engagement he wanted me to come up to Stavanger, Norway and look for a job so we could be near each other. I quit my job at Munsguard and went to Stavanger in 1916 where I got an office job with Lars Hendricksen and Roth. Hendricksen was in Import and Export business, also Insurance and Agent for Stavanger Sardins Noklefabrik. Roth was in Stockbroker business. He later started his own broker business and Petersen got into the business with Hendricksen. I liked the job very much and worked for them until summer 1917 when Hans and I decided to get married in the fall. I went home to Denmark to spend the last 3 months before our wedding sewing and buying things for our future home."

• Moved: Early marriage years, 1917~23, Stavanger, Norway.

"We started the day after we got married on our trip to Stavanger, Norway, where we were to live. Hans had started his own business the previous year in Langgatin, fabricating kerosene motors for fishing boats. We rented the 1st floor in Hans's father's house in Sverrisgade 1, Stavanger. The following year our first daughter was born, Anna Marie. Times started to get very bad due to the lst World War going on. Kerosene was not available, so nobody bought motors and Hans finally had to sell the business. He got a very nice job as draftsman with Stavanger Electric Company and he also taught in Technical school for boys in the evenings."

• Emigration: with her 3 daughters on S/S Stavangerfjord of the Norwegian-America Line, Apr 21, 1923, Stavanger, Norway.

"We arrived in New York on May 1, 1923 and processed at Ellis Island.

"Hans always had a desire to go to the USA, so when the war was over he applied for admission to emigrate. He got permission in the spring of 1922 and left on Stavangerfjord June 8, 1922. We had then 3 children. He was lucky to obtain work immediately and during the next year we saved up enough money to buy a ticket for me and the 3 children."

• Employment: a clerical worker at Olson Marine, 1943~44, Boston, Suffolk, MA.

• Employment, 1945, Englewood, NJ.

• Moved: Moved with Elizabeth and rented house on Everett Place for a year, then bought house on Murray Avenue., 1945~64, Englewood, NJ. Elizabeth married in 1945, and Hans was away most of the time, so Alma lived by herself. Murray Avenue was less than a block away from where Kris and Herb lived, however.

• Travel: to Europe and Scandanavia, 1964, Aalborg, Denmark. Went for a couple months after selling house in Englewood, NJ, then rented on Ivy Lane when she returned.

• Moved, 1970~74, Mount Desert Island, ME.

"In 1970 I moved to Mount Desert Island and rented a house. In 1972 I moved to Manset, Mount Desert Island and lived in blue house. In 1973 Jean Abbott got married in Mount Desert Island and lived in the blue house."

• Moved: to Lombard Road, 1974, Augusta, ME.

Alma married Hans Haakonsen, son of Hans Østanius Haagensen and Claudina Cecilie M. L. Jondahl, on Jun 25, 1917 in Aalborg, Denmark. The marriage ended in divorce in 1953. (Hans Haakonsen was born on Sep 17, 1893 in Stavanger, Norway, died in Dec 1953 in Oakland, CA and was buried in Oakland, CA.) The cause of his death was cancer of caecum.