Wednesday, December 16, 2009

What was lost is now found!

Ole Jette & Kira


For 50 plus years we have looked for my Grandfather Olsen's family in Denmark. My Grandfather died in 1953 His family in Denmark did not speak English and his children did not speak Danish, so the family lost contact with his family in Denmark after his death. In 1998 I posted a “looking for” on the Olsen Family Forum looking for anyone who might know the family. Nothing!! In 2003 I called the Kolding, Denmark paper to see if the paper would consider putting an add in the paper. They did!! And still nothing!! I was beginning to think I would never find my Danish family. I had given up hope of every finding them. I had teased my Aunt Arrine that grandfather must have been a criminal and he had come to America to get a fresh start.
I’m glad to say my Grandfather was not a criminal. I have found my Danish family. August 24 I thought I’d check my email one last time before I went to bed. To my surprise there in my email was a short note from Ole Olsen of Kolding Denmark. He had been looking for his American family for 30 years. He knew my grandfather existed but didn’t know his name or a lot about him. He had spoken to Otto Olsen a cousin in Denmark and he told him a little about my grandfather, where he lived in Florida, his name and date of his birth. From there Ole went on line and Googled my grandfather’s name. He found my post on the Olsen Forum.
Ole and I made contact the 25th of August 2009 and it has been a wonderful blessing. I am so excited! Ole and his wonderful wife Jette made plans to come America for Thanksgiving. I decided it would be a wonderful time to celebrate the lives of my grandparents so we put together a Olsen reunion. We decided Lakeland, Florida would be the best place for the reunion since that is where most of the family lives. We had a wonderful two week reunion. I can’t wait to visit them in Denmark and met the rest of my family.




Children of Ole and Rhoda Olsen: Otto (Red) Owen (blue) Lyra (pink) & Arrine (black)

Ole and Jette Olsen (of Denmark) with the children of Ole and Rhoda Olsen