MY MEMORIES

Charles Glenn Petersen

Charles II (continued)

The name selection process was interesting to say the least. Winnie wanted to name him after her father, Keith. I had no problem with that but suggested we then use my father’s name, Thorvald, as a middle name. So it would be Keith Thorvald. To my surprise Winnie was opposed to that idea. Then she asked if we could at least use her father’s name as a middle name. I agreed if it could be Thorvald Keith. No way was that going to happen. I was disappointed and we were at a deadlock, so we settled for Charles Glenn Petersen, and since I didn’t want him to be called Junior, we add II as a suffix. As a side note, my brother sometimes calls him ‘The Deuce’, but for the most part we called him Charlie, a name I was never really fond of so I call him Charles.

Another side note, I was called Chuck for many years and Winnie had two other sisters with husbands called Chuck, so in family gathers at the Lockhart household, a number was added to each Chuck according to the order in which they joined the family. I was Chuck II. Many years later when I became a college professor I dropped the Chuck and became Charles except to the students in which case I was Dr. Petersen.

A third side note on this name issue. In the town where I was born almost everybody’s name ended in ‘sen’. For some reason once outside that community everyone wanted to spell my name as ‘son’. It is a battle that I have fought repeatedly to this day.

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