Colldén Family Grave

Around 1898 a plot in the cemetery in Göteborg, Sweden was purchased, apparently by Johan Bernhard Colldén. The first person buried in the family grave was Johan Bernhard's father, Johannes Andersson. In the coming years Johan Bernhard and his wife Ida and their children Annie, Edit, Daniel, Rut, Ebba, Ester, Maria, David, Lydia and Hellen would occupy the plot. Also, Hellen's son Roy and Hellen's husband Oscar were buried here.

See the computer printout FRΕGERUTIN - GRAVSATTA [GRAVE QUERY BURIED] for a list of those buried in the Colldén family plot including their internment dates.

Over the years various family members visited the grave. In 1934 Doris (Dollan) Rinell traveled with her parents from China to Sweden and stayed several months in Göteborg. Every now and then Dollan and her Aunt Ebba walked ten minutes or so to the cemetery. Aunt Ebba brought a scrub brush, a little container for holding water, soap and a bag of hazelnuts. At the beautiful and quiet cemetery they walked to the Colldén family grave with its stone-bordered plot and stone dove on a large stone cross. Filling up the container with water at a faucet a few graves away they returned to the grave plot, cleaned the stones or at least some of them and then sat on the stone border and opened the bag of hazelnuts. Squirrels who, apparently, knew the routine hopped up on their laps, climbed into the bag and exited with a hazelnut or two the shell of which they broke with their strong little jaws. Their job done, and their friends fed, Ludde and Dollan walked back to Hella's bakery, a bakery owned and operated by Ludde and her sister Ebba.

Among the other visitors to the Colldén family grave over the years was Dollan's children Meilynn, Carolynn (Cookie) and Lennart (Len).

The cemetery, Östra Begravningsplatsen, is within the city of Göteborg and within easy walking distance from the center of the city.

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