Holmquist Family

1. Lennart John Holmquist (July 20, 1950 -) married Jill Ann Martin (July 9, 1953 -) on November 24, 1982 at a small chapel Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center just outside of the town of Felton in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Lennart Holmquist and Jill Martin Certificate of Registry of Marriage (1982)

They held their reception at their cabin nestled among the tall redwoods. Jill is an American from Connecticut whom Len met in The Netherlands though they really started to get to know each other on a three or four day bus trip down to Greece, and a month camping with friends in a makeshift campground outside the Greek town of Lutza (Loutsa ?) near Athens.

Len's full first name, Lennart, is Swedish. Lennart's mother, Doris, while a student nurse at the Red Cross School of Nursing in Sweden, had a good friend by the name of Margareta Järpstrand. She was a fellow student. Margareta had a boy friend by the name of Lennart. Doris liked the name. When her son was born a few years later, Lennart's mother gave him the name. Lennart's father thought it an odd name, but went along with it. Husbands tend to give in to their wife's wishes in the first few days after the birth of a child. Fortunately, later when he was old enough to have an opinion of anything, Lennart liked his name. It looked good on paper and he liked the idea that the name was different.

For information on Len, Jill and Kristofer see Len's biography:

Lennart John Holmquist: Traveler

Jill is involved in the arts. In California she acted in two television commercials and plays, and directed Kids of Bristol in San Francisco and Shakespeare in the Park in Palo Alto, and a few small movie parts in Hollywood including The Flash. Previously in Europe she acted in Toymaker. In North Carolina Jill acted in several plays and taught acting. Jill's Bachelor of Fine Arts is in Theater and her Master of Arts in is Communications.

Art Exhibit

In North Carolina she occasionally auditions for plays, movies or TV shows. Here is Jill in 2013 identifying herself and her agency, Capital Artists, for an audition video she submitted for a TV series.

Capital Artists identification clip

She also earned a Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) through an intensive course given in Washington, D.C.. and also earned a cooking certificate in the same year.

In January of 2013 Jill received from the company '23andMe' the results of her DNA test. The results were quite interesting. Through Jill's mother, Mary Alice Martin, Jill is 99.6% European with 0.4% 'unassigned'. Of this 99.6% Jill is at least 69% northern European, 13.1% Ashkenazi Jew, 1.3 eastern European and 16.3% unassigned. Up to this time Jill had not knowledge through her family records or verbal tradition that she was Ashkenazi.Of the northern European Jill is at least 19.1% British and Irish, 2.6% percent French and 47.3% 'nonspecific, European.

Jill Holmquist Ancestry Composition - Mother's Side

Jill is a descendant of the Day family of North Carolina and Kentucky, USA

Jill and Len have one son, Kristofer John Martin Holmquist.

Lennart and his wife Jill and his son, Kristofer lived for several years in Switzerland. See Kristofer and Lennart's Switzerland website called:

Earthwander

See also:

Holmquist Chronology: Lennart Holmquist

1.1 Kristofer John Martin Holmquist (December 18, 1992 -) was born in Berkeley, California, and lived with his parents in Oakland, California at 530 Chetwood Street. His middle name of 'John' follows his father's middle name, his grandfather's middle name, his great-grandfather's first name, and the name his immigrant great-great grandfather used in the USA which was 'John' though his name in Sweden was Johannes. Kristofer's second middle name of Martin comes from his mother's maiden name.

Before the age of three he had traveled to Greece, Turkey and Ireland. In 1998 he moved to Switzerland along with his parents.

At age five Kristofer started kindergarten at the public school named Promenade in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Though not knowing a word of French he bravely set out for school every morning, book backpack on his back, which he called his 'bakkak', down the cobblestoned streets of the town pass town buildings dating from the 1600s toward the small lake harbor next to where his school was located, and up the school's stone steps. He gradually picked up French mostly from the friends he made in school, the closest friend being Gaitan Haas. They became buddies and spent many an hour together. Eventually, Kristofer spoke French like a Swiss national.

Art by Kristofer Holmquist: Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 2001

Along with his school Kristofer loved chasing pigeons in the town square, drinking water from the public fountains when thirsty, kicking his soccer ball in the square or the narrow cobbled town streets .When he learned to ride a bike, he zipped through the streets and alleyways on his two-wheeled machine. He joined a local soccer team which met for practice part way up the mountain behind Neuchâtel, playing soccer matches against local town and village teams. When a little older still Kristofer took the public bus to visit friends in another part of town or take the bus with a buddy or two to the local swimming pool complex. His father took him fishing on occasion down the lake coast or at Neuchâtel's harbor jetty or marina, fishing off the docks where the lake ferries would tie up after entering the harbor. And, he studied guitar with a excellent Brazilian guitar teacher, Jimmy Kostolias, whose apartment was set on the slopes of the town rising from the lake.

Port Neuchâtel, Switzerland: 2005

Except several months in Washington state Kristofer lived in Neuchâtel for about six or seven years becoming in many ways Swiss in his outlook and culture for now he was formed by two cultures, that of the American and that of the Swiss soaking up the strengths of each.

In 2006 or so Kristofer and his mom and dad moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he got along surprising well in school despite the fact that nearly all of his schooling had been in French.

He continued his soccer with a local American team, took rock guitar lessons for a while with a local African-American guitar player. Aiming to make soccer a profession he took private lessons from an excellent instructor from Cyprus. Kristofer's soccer skills are increasing by leaps and bounds.In 2010 in was awarded Most Outstanding Soccer Player of his high school, Carrboro High.

See the promotion video of Kristofer Holmquist

Kristofer's Birthday Party with Friends 2011

In 2012 Kristofer was freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic University in Troy, New York, with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Product Design and Innovation. .

Kristofer has kept up his French language with visits to Switzerland some summers, visits from Swiss friends, French classes in his high school where Kristofer has also studied Latin and Mandarin Chinese, and a class in French Civilization at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2012 with lectures in French. Kristofer also attended a semester at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), an engineering school. All classes were in French. In 2013 he worked at the Irish pub and restaurant Café du Cerf (Cafe of the Deer) in Neuchâtel.

After Switzerland Kristofer transferred to the University of Colorado Boulder, again majoring in Mechanical Engineering. During one break he traveled to Ukraine and stayed with a high school friend, Andrej, and Andrej's father. Andrej, Kristofer and another friend from high school days traveled to the Crimea to attend a outdoor concert for several days.

For more information on the town of Neuchâtel and its environs see the travel website put together by Kristofer's father:

www.earthwander.com

For a graphic representation of Kristofer's family tree see:

Martin/Holmquist Family Tree Prepared for Kristofer on his Second Birthday

For Swedish and Chinese heirlooms of the family see:

Rinell and Holmquist Heirlooms with identifications.

NOTES