First Friends in Canada

When my father was walking on the deck of the Stockholm he met another person who was not suffering from seasickness.  Her name was Signe Madsen and she was travelling with her two little boys to join her husband Kaj in Toronto.  Kaj had immigrated a year earlier to get established.  At this time my mother didn’t formally meet Signe but she had noticed her on the ship.

            One day a few weeks after arriving in Toronto my mother was out shopping for some groceries when Signe spotted her across the street.  Signe followed her home and knocked on our door.  When my mother opened the door she asked “Do you remember me?  From the ship.”  My mother said yes and invited her in for coffee.  She was so happy to be able to talk to someone in Danish.  As it turned out Kaj og Signe lived just a couple of blocks away from us.  Shortly afterwards they were invited to their place for afternoon coffee and my parents found lifelong friendship with the Madsens.

            Signe told Mor they were also living in a house with some Italians and she simply didn’t understand why the lady was always saying “Scuseme, scuseme.”  She had no idea what that meant  and thought perhaps the woman was very nervous.

            Many years later I spoke with Signe who told me how much she admired my mother.  She had noticed my mother on the deck the very first day of departure and believed Mor to be a princess because of her straight backed dignity and elegant clothes.  She put Mor on a pedestal and would copy her clothes and tastes.  It was very understandable since Signe was barely 19 years old and Mor was 24.

            We children stayed with the Madsens’ on Christmas Eve while my parents were in the hospital.  Our little sister Jill was born that evening, our first little Canadian.