MY MEMORIES

Charles Glenn Petersen

1983 - Mississippi Years

Denmark (continued)

Verner also introduced me to my second cousin, Vagn Pedersen, and his wife, Inga. While we were having coffee she said to me, “You look just like our former Borgmester, Thomas Have (Mayor of Nykøbing. Mors).” Somehow this led to his brother, Hartvig, who had supposedly had information about our family line. The next thing I knew she was calling him and handed me the phone. We were then invited to Hartvig’s house for coffee. Fortunately, both Hartvig and his wife, Grethe, spoke English. We looked over his records and my records and determined that he was my Second cousin twice removed. Hartvig and I became lifelong friends.

As part of this 1996 tour, we also went to Germany via Bornholm, which was one of our golf outings. We took a German ferry to Sasnitz, which was in what was previously Communist East Germany. The next day’s drive to Berlin was an eye opener. That area looked just like every bad picture we had ever seen of East Germany. Berlin was a delightful place however, Hamburg was not. We took a ferry to Lolland, Danmark and we felt like we were going home or at least to a place where we felt very comfortable.

The opening of the Storebæltbro (Great Belt Bridge) in 1998 was a special event for me and Danmark. The bridge connects the Danish islands of Fyn and Sjælland a distance of over 11 miles. The high bridge span itself is just over a mile, 5,328 feet. As an aside, it is the second longest in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge at 4,200 feet is the seventh longest. I tell my Danish friends, ”Jeg var oer broen fire gang før broen var åben.” (I was over the bridge four times before the bridge was open.) Here is that story.