Threads of Time: My Family’s Journey

As a grandmother to five wonderful grandchildren, my family history is a tapestry woven with rich stories and cherished memories.

On my mother’s side, my grandmother Ranghilde Safsten and grandfather Oscar Safsten hailed from Sweden. Last summer, I had the incredible opportunity to visit Umea, where I discovered a wooden beam in a farm building with my grandfather’s name carved into it from his youth.

On my father’s side, my grandmother Ora Duncan married my grandfather Christian Nels Hansen, whose father made a daring escape from the Danish Navy by jumping ship in New York harbor. The Duncan lineage traces back to Scotland, with ancestors who emigrated before the Revolutionary War.

• My grandmother Ora Duncan Hansen and my father Wally Hansen

• My grandfather Christian Nels Hansen. Hawaii 1969

• My grandfather Oscar Johannes Safsten as young man on a steamship

• My grandfather Oscar Safsten and grandmother Ranghilde Linde Safsten clowning around on a fence

• My mother Audrey Safsten Hansen as a young woman

• My father Wally Hansen after climbing Mt. Fuji

• My daughter's grandparents John Chew Sun Young and Amy