The Brothers: Kåra-Lars and Björs-Jonas

That Kåra-Lars and Björs-Jonas were close is probably not the right word, I would like to say grown in with each other. My father and brother Jonas used to - after 1948 when the telephone was connected - talk to each other for at least half an hour every morning at around 05.30. A need for contact that, with dad's move up to Kåra, has to be managed a bit remotely. It would be very interesting to know what they were talking about. It was almost always that one of the Björsungs slept over at home in Kåra or vice versa. It felt like we needed each other very much and there was room. The funniest thing was that we in Kåra borrowed brandy from Björs-Jonas and the Björspojkarna borrowed from Kåra-Lars. If we ever paid back, I have no recollection. A kind of growing up test I guess.

Now of course it is impossible, but if you could have met Kristoffers-Gunnar (the old man) you would have found "Gandalf the White" in Stene. The man who knew who was trustworthy, who knew who owed whom what, etc. Good man for a lot of people, stable and with a fantastic woman. Kresfers-Kerste was dry as a skin but the skin was tough. Eyes clear as blueberries and sharp as needlepoints when needed.

Björs was probably big, the family ruled over pretty much the entire village of Stene with Stenegård and Kusmyra included over 7 generations according to one of our elders on the Kåra side - a descendant of Fallins. A sister of my grandfather married, probably against the wishes of the whole family, one of the poorest top-rankers from Fallins up on the Grindstens-berget, but who turned out to be cannon wood - started a factory in Arbrå, built a threshing mill, etc. Had a son Ole Fahlin, who was employed as No. 124 in SAS as a pilot in the 20s and later emigrated to the USA and sold propellers to the USA Airforce. The old man came to dad's funeral, black-haired and wizened in his wife's hours despite his 82 or more years. You will find him on a website as one of the pioneers in aviation in the USA. Learn there is a museum up in Oshkosh about him. At that age he still had his pilot's certificate in order and piloted his aircraft over the West Coast of the USA. His sisters in Bollnäs thought he was a little vain because "he dyes his hair that rascal". But he was a great guy.

Kåra Lars-Erik (Lark)

Link Ole Fahlin: www.wingsofhistory.org