Program:
“Chasing my Ancestors in a Volvo”
Karen Rademacher
In 2013, Karen’s father purchased a Volvo through the company’s “Overseas Delivery Program”. Karen, her husband and her parents all traveled to Sweden together to pick up the vehicle at the Gothenburg factory. They drove that Volvo all over Sweden for over two weeks, exploring the family’s ancestral farms and parishes. Once the vehicle was delivered to Colorado, they took it on further genealogical adventures, eventually re-tracing the lives of their immigrant ancestors on two continents.
Karen will tell her great-grandparents’ life stories by weaving together family lore, archive records, photos and letters, all the while showing how that Volvo automobile has taken her to everywhere her great-grandparents lived in both Sweden and America.
Karen Rademacher
Karen has been interested in genealogy since the late 1970’s, when an aunt on her mom’s side of the family self-published a book about her family history, which is half Swedish. Karen took this as a challenge to research her dad’s side of the family, which is all Swedish. She has been actively studying her family history ever since. In 2013, she traveled with her husband and parents to Sweden and visited all of their ancestral villages and churches. Karen joined SGSC in 2014 and is currently the SGSC webmaster.
Karen grew up in Arvada and graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in Civil Engineering. Karen and her husband Dale have four grown children and live in rural Weld County. She works at Northern Water in Berthoud as a water resources engineer.
Short: “Värmland”
Swedish Län Presentation
Kjell Andersson
Kjell shared history and background information about Värmland, a län on the western side of Sweden.