We left off the first installment of Preben's life story talking about how his maternal uncle Niels Anesen was an author and poet. When Preben was just three months old, the family traveled from Copenhagen to Sulsted (Jutland) to present Preben to his maternal grandfather, Søren Christian Christensen. Søren was a skilled craftsman who made barrels for butter and other foodstuffs.
Preben related that he was welcomed with a "poem of 16 verses by uncle Niels". (Letter dated August 11, 2011.) Here is the photograph taken on that occasion, with Preben and his five-month-old cousin Brita (Niels Anesen's daughter) sitting on Søren's lap.
During the first few years of Preben's life, the family lived in the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen. In 1926, however, they moved to Østerbro, a very nice section of the capital city. There they lived on Webersgade in a 5-storey house. Opposite their home was the Sortedam Lake, which freezes solid in the winter.
Early photos of Preben show him to be slender and very blond. Here he is at maybe age four observing a swan in the Copenhagen park Østre Anlaeg.
And, here he is by their home on Webersgade. The picture is captioned "Webersgade København Ø ... (we lived opposite)." (Undated letter received January 11, 2012.)
The childhood photographs invariably show Preben to be a properly dressed young gentleman. Here he is complete with necktie while visiting his lawyer father in the hospital where he was being treated for his medical condition:
Preben attended Øster Farimasgades public school in Copenhagen, beginning the first grade in 1930.
From the year 1930 when he was 7 years of age until 1941 when he was 18, Preben often spent summer holidays at Søren's home in Sulsted where he must have learned to speak in the regional dialect there in Vendsyssel (the northernmost section of Denmark, which includes Sulsted.) Below is a photo of the garden there:
After grade school, Preben advanced to Østre Borgerdyd Gymnasium in Copenhagen.
During those years we find a 1939 photo where Preben looks very much like a character out of a film by the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Preben wrote that this photo was taken at the "Østre Borgerdyd's camp school in Slagsbunde wood at Bureso." (Letter dated January 28, 2013.)
In the letter, Preben explained that the grounds were too small for one game so they played another. Whatever he is holding in this picture relates to that game. I am not sure but I think he meant that the grounds were too small for discus throw so they did shot put instead.
Preben graduated from Østre Borgerdyd in June 1942. Here is a group photo with his classmates wearing their student caps:
And here is another them of them, this time waving their diplomas. Preben captioned it, "Hurrah!!!!"
To be continued . . .
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